Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
story category Line Powered Voice in 8 New Markets
While our users continue to work out the kinks
(old news - 10:16AM Monday Mar 20 2006)
tags: coverage · business · VoIP
Earthlink's new faster 8Mbps ADSL2+ and line-powered voice service will "soon" be available in eight additional markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, and DC. The service, already available in Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle and San Jose, offers 1.5Mbps DSL with 500 minute VoIP for $49.95 a month; 1,5Mbps DSL & unlimited local and long-distance calling for $64.95 a month; or 8Mbps (or best effort) ADSL2+ with unlimited VoIP for $69.95.

The interesting bit is that line-powered voice needs no consumer side hardware, works through every jack in the home, and receives its power from the jack just like regular phone service. The service functions much like typical POTS until it hits Covad/Samsung DSLAMs, with traffic routed over Covad's nationwide UNE-L network, avoiding bell infrastructure.

Our users have been playing guinea pigs for the new service, with resident Covad techs helping them resolve some early adoption issues with the technology. Also see this thread.

Related:
  1. Next Gen BPL
  2. Product Spotlight: magicJack VoIP Service
  3. Friday Evening Links
  4. Tuesday Morning Links
  5. Verizon's Open Development Initiative? So Far It's A Joke
  6. Comcast Struggles With Subscriber Additions
  7. What Network Neutrality Is REALLY About
  8. Oregon Regulators Approve Verizon/Frontier Deal
Forums » Line Powered Voice in 8 New Markets
view: topics flat text 
Post a:

wmcbrine
Touched by His Noodly Appendage

join:2002-12-30
Laurel, MD

Upload speeds

Couldn't find these anywhere except in the linked thread: 1.5 Mbps up for 8 Mbps down; 384 Kbps up for 1.5 Mbps down.

King P
Don't blame me. I voted for Ron Paul
Premium
join:2004-11-17
Inman, SC
·Windstream
·Charter Pipeline

Re: Upload speeds

Those are pretty good upload speeds too. I currently have 1.5 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up from Speakeasy (via Covad). I can't wait until Covad unleashes ADSL 2 in my area.
--
Forget 'em, Support the Indies.»www.ind-music.com

Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL

Re: Upload speeds

This is good news for me since I live in Miami, that means my CO is ADSL2 compatible and Speakeasy might be able to arrange something with Covad to move me to a package if not just wait till they support it.

webtechy

join:2002-02-28
Santa Clara, CA
»www.earthlink.net/voice/bundles/···mephone/

Interesting how Covad is cheaper from anyone else excep for Covad when it comes to home users

kapil
The Kapil

join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL


1 edit

Re: Upload speeds

There are some contractual obligations which prevent Covad from competing with its partners. Besides, it's a better strategy....this way cash-strapped Covad only has to bill, support and deal with 100 resellers instead of 100,000 end users which probably results in higher profit margins and less headaches. This also frees Covad to concentrate on "business" customers who tend to generate higher revenue per circuit with much, much lower churn rate.

sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
·Optimum Online

Re: Upload speeds

said by kapil See Profile :

There are some contractual obligations which prevent Covad from competing with its partners.
Not at all true.
--
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity

kamm

join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·T-Mobile US

said by wmcbrine See Profile :

Couldn't find these anywhere except in the linked thread: 1.5 Mbps up for 8 Mbps down; 384 Kbps up for 1.5 Mbps down.
Where do you see this? It's pretty great upload speed!

kapil
The Kapil

join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL

Chicago!!!

Chicago is on the list! Yay!!!

Goober
Premium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..

Re: Chicago!!!

said by kapil See Profile :

Chicago is on the list! Yay!!!
I wonder if that means Chicagoland as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I would sign up in a heartbeat.
tquan

join:2001-09-13
Mountain View, CA

Re: Chicago!!!

in san francisco and san jose, most if not all suburban areas of the cities were covered.

Goober
Premium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

Re: Chicago!!!

Thanks for that! I hope it's the same here.

filthyfooker

@mindspring.com

Re: Chicago!!!

me too.

Orland park is in desperate need of some 8 mbps connections.
besides overpriced comcast....
GhostDoggy

join:2005-05-11
Duluth, GA

I'm betting only a limited number offices will be used.

I cannot imagine COVAD and Earthlink actually deploying to beyond the CO-installed equipment. And BellSouth has a ton of remotes that COVAD doesn't have. I'd be curious to know the failure rates (i.e. those applied for and not serviceable) in BellSouthland.

roamer1
sticking it out at you

join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:


1 edit

Re: I'm betting only a limited number offices will be used.

said by GhostDoggy See Profile :

I cannot imagine COVAD and Earthlink actually deploying to beyond the CO-installed equipment. And BellSouth has a ton of remotes that COVAD doesn't have. I'd be curious to know the failure rates (i.e. those applied for and not serviceable) in BellSouthland.
Last numbers I heard were that in metro Atlanta, only 40% or so of lines are serviceable by Covad for anything other than IDSL, and most of them are ITP and in Clayton County...the percentage of lines serviceable by Covad is close to zero in many Northside suburban areas (Alpharetta, Kennesaw, Suwanee, etc.)

-SC
--
"it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend

XBL2009
------

join:2001-01-03
Chicago, IL

at&t

Do you still need to pay your local phone company or is it a complete deal ?
tquan

join:2001-09-13
Mountain View, CA

Re: at&t

in this plan, you don't pay your local phone company at all (of course, some portion of the plan cost includes renting the dry pair from your local phone company, so you're still paying them, just indirectly)

garagerock
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Louisville, KY

Re: at&t

if they will rent you a dry pair...
tquan

join:2001-09-13
Mountain View, CA

Re: at&t

it's not the end-user/consumer renting the dry pair, it's covad. covad would not be announcing these areas for LPV deployment if they hadn't already secured the agreements with the local telcos for getting the needed dry pairs.

I have the service, so speaking from experience....my local telco (SBC) and Covad have never been on the best of terms, but in the case of my install, SBC provided the dry pair to Covad on time as scheduled.

loadmaster

join:2001-01-10
San Jose, CA

Re: at&t

So what happens if your line goes down due to line specific issues? Many times SBC have worked on lines on my street and cut my lines. Today I call SBC they fix it. If I get this VoIP service and at7t (SBC) again cuts me line do I call SBC or Earthlink? If I call earthlink how long would it take for them to get at&t out to fix it?

BOGBS
Premium
join:2004-05-11
Saco, ME

Re: at&t

basically, you'd have to call earthlink, and they'd most likely put in a ticket with SBC (or local RBOC) with a 24hr commit. Sometimes this can be pushed up by escalation (or at least in Verizon land)
tquan

join:2001-09-13
Mountain View, CA

you call earthlink. earthlink works with covad and the local telco to get the right party out there. the turnaround is relatively quick, in a support call I had, it was hinted that a call from earthlink/covad to SBC regarding a line issue is normally handled by SBC within 24 hours. SBC did meet that time window for the issue I had. not sure if SBC is contractually obligated, if this is an important concern for you, ask before signing up...

of course, YMMV. if your local phone co is really bad service wise (cutting their own lines? yeesh), going into this plan won't make things better as in the end, the copper from the CO to your house is still theirs.

garagerock
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Louisville, KY
ah, so it's just like the biz class SDSL solution they offer....

Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA

Nice

Good for them. I hope it does well.

I definitely like the 8/1.5 and unlimited VOIP for $70. Not bad at all.

Adam
olegy

join:2003-06-02
San Diego, CA

How far away from CO?

How far away from CO to get 8/1.5 service?
I'm in San Diego and very interested.
tquan

join:2001-09-13
Mountain View, CA

Re: How far away from CO?

although I don't know exactly, I suspect you'd have to be pretty close. folks on the service at 10,000 feet out report topping out at ~5Mbps/800kbps.

riturno

join:2004-04-20
Dallas, TX

Fees?

This seems like a reasonable price for the service. For me best efforts would be 6 / 768.

What galls me is the fact that they cannot tell me the additional fees that they would charge. This seems to be typical, but does not make any sense to me. If they can create an invoice for billing, they should be able to calculate fees for a location. I cannot imagine that they would be more than att, but who knows?
tquan

join:2001-09-13
Mountain View, CA


1 edit

Re: Fees?

I have the $70 LPV plan, and my additional fees look like this:

02/20/06 **USF Fee Recovery 1.84
02/20/06 *Federal Excise Tax .75
02/20/06 *Utility Users Tax .60
02/20/06 **Cost Recovery Surcharge .55


I'm sure things like the utility tax will vary by area.

riturno

join:2004-04-20
Dallas, TX

Re: Fees?

Thanks for the information.
grandpinaple

join:2006-01-03
New York, NY

Thank You Come Again

A very good deal. For NYC it will definately tide us over until FIOS. We have been stuck with TWC 384 upload for a while now.

kamm

join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY
·T-Mobile US


1 edit

Re: Thank You Come Again

said by grandpinaple See Profile :

A very good deal. For NYC it will definately tide us over until FIOS. We have been stuck with TWC 384 upload for a while now.
Exactly. I'm already paying more for my NYCT 5M/384k cable and P8 VoIP together...

EDIT: after further inspection it seems I'm paying almost the same.

roamer1
sticking it out at you

join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:


1 edit

Atlanta/Miami = pointless

Covad has very little coverage in Atlanta and Miami (thanks to BellSouth's love of DLCs/remote DSLAMs/FTTC), so why even bother with them?

-SC
--
"it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend
Forums » Line Powered Voice in 8 New Markets


Thursday, 10-Dec 07:18:09 Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo | feedback | contact
over 10 years online! © 1999-2009 dslreports.com.republican-creole