Digital Subscriber Lines

Microsoft Corp.'s MSN division is ending a two-year deal with BellSouth Corp. in which MSN leased digital subscriber lines from the regional telephone company and resold them under the MSN name to customers wanting high-speed Internet access. Subscribers have until Nov. 12 to transfer their accounts to BellSouth's management or other carriers but will receive free MSN 8 software and services for a year, MSN group product manager Lisa Gurry said.

The federal government's latest annual report on the availability of high-speed Internet service throughout the country contains 19 pages of detailed data -- pie charts, bar graphs, maps and column upon column of numbers and percentages. Most of them are useless. The Federal Communications Commission considers any Internet connection faster than 200 kilobits per second to be high speed, even though that's too slow to effectively watch streaming video and download large files.

TECHNOLOGY The number of high-speed lines connecting U.S. businesses and homes to the Internet jumped 18% to 23.5 million lines during the first half of 2003, according to statistics recently released. High-speed Internet service via cable showed a 20% jump, narrowly outpacing the 19% growth in digital subscriber lines offered by traditional telephone lines, according to the Federal Communications Commission. There were 13.7 million lines served by cable versus 7.7 million DSLs.

* Wal-Mart Stores Inc. expanded a $4 offer for some generic drugs to 11 more states in its plan to reach all 50 states by as early as January. * VaxGen Inc. of Brisbane, Calif., said the U.S. government extended to Dec. 18 the deadline to resolve issues that caused tests of an anthrax vaccine to be put on hold.

* Covad Communications Group Inc. reported an operating loss of $159.9 million, or 93 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter, far better than the $1.35-a-share loss analysts expected. The struggling seller of digital subscriber lines for fast Internet access said revenue more than tripled to $71.2 million from $20.8 million. * Avnet Inc., a distributor of computer parts, said fiscal fourth-quarter sales will come in 25% to 30% lower than the $3.

For the first time, U.S. local telephone companies have sold more high-speed Internet connections than cable providers have, a milestone that could intensify competition and lower prices. After taking a leisurely approach to high-speed Internet access for years, phone companies now see broadband as essential to their survival, committing billions of dollars to extend their networks, market their services and offer extras such as free wireless home-networking gear.

This may be the summer of broadband. As phone companies scuffle with cable providers to push high-speed Internet service, former dial-up customers like Bill Rowe are getting online faster and for less. The corporate buyer from Manchester, N.H., has his pick of three providers of so-called broadband access -- at a price that is half what it was five years ago.

Covad Communications Chief Executive Robert E. Knowling Jr. strides into an austere conference room, ignoring the usual introductory pleasantries as he settles into a leather chair, Diet Coke in hand. "We've got way too many spare cubicles," Knowling says of the smaller of the two high-speed Internet company's Santa Clara, Calif., offices that he's just decided to close. "I go all around the country and I never hear people complaining, 'Bob, we ain't got enough space.'

Let there be no doubt: 2000 was indeed the year for high-speed Internet access, and especially for digital subscriber lines, or DSL--the broadband technology sold and incessantly advertised by phone companies nationwide. DSL providers, who started the year at a near-standstill compared with rival cable modem services, rocketed into neighborhoods throughout the year, adding customers at the frenetic pace of more than 1,300 subscribers a day.

* Wal-Mart Stores Inc. expanded a $4 offer for some generic drugs to 11 more states in its plan to reach all 50 states by as early as January. * VaxGen Inc. of Brisbane, Calif., said the U.S. government extended to Dec. 18 the deadline to resolve issues that caused tests of an anthrax vaccine to be put on hold.

NetZero, the Internet service operated by United Online Inc., will begin offering broadband Web access under an agreement with Verizon Communications Inc. as part of an effort to stem the loss of dial-up customers. NetZero will offer digital subscriber line access at speeds of as much as 1.5 megabit per second where Verizon has DSL service, including California, Woodland Hills-based United Online said. The agreement marks United Online's entry into the market for high-speed Internet service.

One mysterious charge is taking the place of another on the bills of Verizon Communications Inc.'s high-speed Internet customers. Verizon told its digital subscriber line, or DSL, customers in e-mails over the weekend that the Federal Communications Commission had allowed it to eliminate Universal Service Fund fees of $1.25 to $1.83 a month. The fees had been used to help defray the cost of phone service in rural and poor areas.

Yahoo Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have teamed up to launch a cheaper high-speed Internet service designed to compete against cable operators and dial-up service providers. For $14.95 a month, subscribers will be able to download Web pages via a digital subscriber line, or DSL, at speeds of up to 768 kilobits per second and upload data at 128 kilobits.

An unusually widespread and lengthy outage of high-speed Internet service knocked as many as 14,000 West Coast companies off the Web and off e-mail Thursday and Friday. Subscribers to a business DSL plan offered by AT&T in California and at least four other states were affected, beginning at about 6 a.m. Thursday, said AT&T spokesman Andrew Backover. By the end of Thursday, about half of the subscribers were back online, with everyone reconnected by late Friday afternoon.

Verizon Communications Inc. made it easier for customers of its high-speed Internet access to switch phone-service providers, responding to government officials' concerns that the company was limiting consumer choice. Users of Verizon's digital subscriber line Web service can now change providers and keep their phone numbers. Public officials including New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer say forcing DSL subscribers to also buy local-phone service thwarts competition.

BellSouth Corp. and the other big local U.S. telephone carriers won a decision barring states from requiring them to offer stand-alone high-speed Internet service to customers who buy voice service from a competitor. The Federal Communications Commission, by a vote of 3 to 2, approved BellSouth's request to preempt states from imposing such a requirement, stating that it violated federal communications laws and regulations.

Microsoft Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., the biggest U.S. telephone company, said Thursday that they will launch a co-branded high-speed version of the software giant's MSN online service. The digital subscriber line broadband service, to be built on Verizon's network using phone lines to deliver high-speed Internet access, will be launched next spring. It will offer customers a portal with exclusive broadband content, the companies said.

Under the first such agreement reached without federal regulatory intervention, high-speed Internet provider Covad of San Jose will rent lines from Qwest Communications International to sell DSL service. Covad Communications Group Inc. will share lines with Denver-based Qwest in the regional Bell company's seven-state area. The Federal Communications Commission had mandated such deals until August and individual states set the rates Bell companies would be paid.

This may be the summer of broadband. As phone companies scuffle with cable providers to push high-speed Internet service, former dial-up customers like Bill Rowe are getting online faster and for less. The corporate buyer from Manchester, N.H., has his pick of three providers of so-called broadband access -- at a price that is half what it was five years ago.

After an eight-month delay, AT&T Corp. entered the nation's biggest broadband market by offering DSL to most of California's consumers. AT&T's digital subscriber line service is now available in the territory covered by SBC Communications Inc., the state's dominant local phone company, AT&T said. The company originally had planned to roll out its DSL service in the state in September.