Are the high hopes of DSL vanquished? - San Francisco Business Times:

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Though few of these companies were based they provided much ofthe area's high-speedc Internet access favored by small to midsizee companies. Just last year DSL was heralded as the Holy Grai lof telecommunications. The knights of DSL's Rouned Table seemed poised to challenge the Regional Bell operatinhg companies for their share of thefledgling realm, intent on building a Camelot of competition. Although most of those knights are scatteresor dying, DSL hasn'yt collapsed entirely.
Now a new breed of digital subscriber-lines company is emerging, joining the survivors in targetin small businesses that employ fewer than100 people, and for whom fasterf T1 lines often prove too expensive. DSL lets customers downloadf large files and establish access to virtualprivats networks, which let employees access the company's network from remote locations. Even Verizon Communications, whichb tended to overlook the small-business DSL market, is now expressiny an interest. Verizon, in fact, dominates the DSL scene.
competitors must rely on Verizon's copper wire to do Nevertheless, in recent weeks, California companies such as and DirecTc have begun offering DSL promotionsz to capitalize on the bankruptcyof Excite@Home which provided high-speed Internet servic e to the country's major cable companies, including Philadelphia'a Comcast Corp. The price difference between DSL and T1 access canbe great. A T1 line start in the $400 per month range while businessees can find DSL prices that starft as lowas $80 to $250 a In its bid for business in Philadelphia, DirecTVg has launched an aggressive marketing relying on television and radio ads.
Also pickin g up customers are Sprint and which began providing DSL service to small and midsizse businessesthis year. One newcomer is Broadview Networks, whicg is rolling out digital-subscriber line service in Philadelphia. The New York-based company's package includes fax and Internet service to small and midsize businesses andhome offices. Broadview's serviced lets customers combine high-speed Internet and voice services over a singlescopper wire. The company has a salese office and network operations center in Horsham and a second salese officein Philadelphia.
Ken Shulman, chief technology officer of Broadview Networks, said his company'sw customers can expects deep savingswover Verizon's price. Philadelphia's Bandwave Systems uses a different reselling DSL service from a numberfof providers, including Verizon, to business customers. The companyh doesn't compete on price, but on service, said Bandwavew President Tom Azelby, who startec the seven-employee company last year with his former college As such, it serves as an supports a company's network and provides customerr service to small "A year ago everybody was out there, everybodyg was selling it, there were plenty of companies delivering it, but nobody was delivering it well," Azelby During the past year, Azelby switched customerse between DSL providers as those bankruptcies loomed.
The shakeout isn't over just yet; many localk businesses continue to struggle to receiveconsistenft high-speed Internet service. "A lot of the companies that used to delivet DSL are no longer serving inareas we're buildingh in," said Skip Gosnell, president of In4Structures, a technologyy consulting company majority owner by Bala Cynwyd's Keating Construction Co.