> I have in front of me a "press release" style announcement from
> Livingston dated 2/27/97.
>
> According to this release:
> "Livingston's integrated central-site modem solution will be
> based on a software-upgradeable digital signal processor (DSP)from
> Lucent Technologies and will support the K56flex standard jointly
> established by Lucent and Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. This
> guarantees Livingston customers compatability with modem vendors
> representing more than 70% of the worldwide market."
>
> What troubles me is that I'm looking at getting our first PM-3, which
> will be our only box for a while, and I need to know how to handle that
> other 30%. Must I have a couple of USR's attached to something else to
> satisfy these users? Is this percentage even higher here in the *US*?
Yes, you need another box, and the only one available is USR's. Gosh,
monopoly? Money maker for USR? Yup.
The numbers aren't higher in the U.S., I'm willing to believe they're
lower if anything. 80%/20% is what I usually tell people.
> I work in a retail computer store and know that USR is *greatly*
> outselling all others.
It's the marketing that users see blindly and believe, I've shown a little
56k modem web page I wrote to a few users that were going to buy USR 56k
modems and it easily changed their mind, no problems.
> My feeling is that for a smallish ISP to survive, we need to concentrate
> on more savvy users and leave the initial support-intensive-phase users
> to the big boys. The "high-end" consumers are the ones rushing out to
> pick up the USR's, and now it looks like these folks are the ones that
> will not be happy with our choice of a PM-3.
First of all compare the quality of he USR TC and PM3. Use the one you
prefer.
Also remember the precentages - 70/80% vs. 20/30% - you can't make
everyone happy, and as an ISP your job is to make the most people happy as
possible.
> I freely admit that I'm a newbie in these matters and there are probably
> some serious flaws in my logic. All critiques and suggestions are
> welcome!
..just my $2
- Steve
- Systems Manager
- Community Internet Access, Inc.
- Gallup and Grants, New Mexico