But users may have to wait some more.
NEWS.COM talked to more than a dozen major ISPs to gauge their readiness to deliver 56-kbps service.
“We’re in anguish.
Both companies have developed protocols for transmitting data at approximately 56-kbps.
“It looks like a religious war.”
Other ISPs are trying to wait for the dust to clear.
“We don’t want to get locked into a proprietary technology.
“We don’t want to end up providing the wrong hardware.”
Even larger ISPs are trying to stay on the fence.
“We are still in evaluation mode.
“For us, the decision was easy.
If anyone has an advantage at the moment, analysts say it’s probably U.S. Robotics.
“Major onlines have really sided with U.S. Robotics.
I’d say they are still ahead,” said Wen Liao, a senior analyst atJupiter Communications.
“Based on our experience, local telephone lines generally do not support 56-kbps data flow very well.
That’s why AT&T hasn’t committed itself to anything yet.
Many of AT&T’s competitors agree that the hope of 56-kbps speed is not realistic.
“You need an extremely clear signal to connect at this speed.
ISPs aren’t happy about being put in this position.
They feel pressured by the two camps and remain unconvinced about which technology is actually better.
“We view all this as the interim until the market straightens out.
This depends on the pressure of the marketplace…what customers are [buying].
We’ll have early test pools…maybe either or both vendors, U.S. Robotics and Rockwell.
I’m irritated at how both sides are handling it,” Earthlink’s Dougherty said.
Paul Festa contributed to this report.
