Jetstream to add voice to DSL mix

Framingham, Mass.

The biggest noise out of the world of digital subscriber line (DSL) is voice.

In three weeks, Jetstream Communications will introduce hardware and software that for the first time carve voice channels out of a 768K bit/sec DSL connection - and have bandwidth left over for data. For a corporate user, that can mean setting up branch office voice and data connections to the outside world over one regular telephone line.

"That could allow us to maximize our existing infrastructure and lower the number of phone lines into each building," says Glenn Botkin, intranet manager at Galaxy Scientific, an engineering firm in Egg Harbor, N.J.

It could also mean less maintenance for Galaxy's IS department because each regional office would not require all the phone gear it now does, Botkin says. In addition, if phone calls were shipped over the Internet, long-distance bills could be reduced, he adds.

Jetstream will make DSL routers and a gateway that will reside between data networks and the public phone network, said David Frankel, Jetstream founder and chief technical officer, last week at a conference session at DSLCon here.

While he would not detail the forthcoming voice products, Frankel said the routers will have both LAN and phone ports. The router will convert LAN and voice data to ATM cells and ship the data over a DSL link to a service provider network.

At the service provider, any standard DSL multiplexer that supports ATM will take in the traffic and forward it to a Jetstream gateway. The gateway will sort the voice from the data and convert the ATM voice back to standard voice traffic.

The voice will then be forwarded to the regular public phone network while the data will be shuttled to a data network.

One line will support up to 16 voice channels, Frankel says. Eight voice channels on a 760K bit/sec DSL line could support 32 telephones with each user able to get a phone line 99% of the time, he says.

According to Frankels' calculations, service providers could offer voice services over DSL for half the cost of regular phone calls, bundle in the data channel inexpensively or for free, and still make a profit.

Galaxy's Botkin says he would want to check out voice over DSL's reliability, voice quality and cost before committing to it.

Standard this week

Also at DSLCon, Geneva standards makers told conference goers that a standard for an easy-to-install DSL technology, called DSL-Lite, should win initial approval this week.

While DSL-Lite is slower than some other flavors of DSL, it is also easier to install, making it attractive to users and carriers.

Customers can install DSL-Lite products without relying on a service provider technician, and service providers don't have to bear the expense of sending a technician out to turn up each service.

Even though it is slower than other DSL flavors, DSL-Lite still supports 1.5M bit/sec downloads and 500K bit/sec uploads. It also supports a single analog voice channel on the same line.

Dell has already announced plans to install DSL modems in its PCs in conjunction with service providers.