CUPERTINO, CALIF. - A low-cost digital subscriber line (DSL) service from Covad lets far-flung remote users connect to corporate headquarters across the country with a guaranteed quality of service.
Competitive local exchange carrier Covad last week introduced TeleSpeed Remote, a high-speed WAN service that connects sites nationwide over an ATM backbone, using DSL to tie in remote sites at speeds between 144K bit/sec and 1.1M bit/sec.
The flat-fee TeleSpeed Remote service can save customers money over long-distance ISDN, which is billed based on usage. TeleSpeed Remote is also priced less than a T-1, which can run $500 to $1,000 per month.
To the end user, TeleSpeed Remote acts like a frame relay or ATM link into a corporate site. However, instead of requiring a DSU/CSU, a customer uses a modem that turns a phone line into a DSL pipe.
Until recently, customers in DSL service areas could access other sites within their metropolitan area, but not sites in separate cities or states.
Covad's TeleSpeed Remote is made possible via an agreement with AT&T and Qwest, and Covad offers DSL service that connects eight metropolitan areas: Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The service will expand to 22 metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta, Chicago and Miami, by year-end.
For Symantec, makers of network software, TeleSpeed Remote is a way to eliminate long-distance ISDN bills that were totaling thousands of dollars per month, according to Michael Medwid, Symantec's senior communications analyst. Instead of dialing directly in to the corporate site in Cupertino, Calif., via ISDN, remote Symantec users are now connected by DSL to a Covad point of presence (POP).
Traffic bound for Symantec headquarters leaves the end-user's home, travels the DSL line to the Covad POP, drops onto a Qwest or AT&T long-distance link to another Covad POP, and is backhauled to Symantec's headquarters via a T-1.
Covad bills a flat fee for each remote site; T-1s and T-3s are priced separately (see chart).
Recently another DSL service provider, Network Access Solutions in Sterling, Va., started offering DSL services connecting cities, but its service area is restricted to the Northeast (NW, Feb. 15, page 27).
Covad: (888)462-6823
Price per month |
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| Speed | Less than 500 miles | More than 500 miles |
| 144K bit/sec | $135 | $145 |
| 192K bit/sec | $135 | $145 |
| 384K bit/sec | $205 | $220 |
| 768K bit/sec | $305 | $340 |
| 1.1M bit/sec | $360 | $405 |
NOTE: Prices do not include T1 ($975 per month) or T3 ($4,000 per month) connections between the Covad network and a central corporate site.
