Opening the residential market will bring about other changes that reduce cost. Once these modems become available in the retail consumer electronics market, prices will drop. It isn't relevant for SDSL and other xDSLs that require exclusive use of the loop. It is of limited benefit to CLECs who also offer voice because it only applies in the case where the ILEC is already offering voice on the loop. But this footprint fits the vast majority of residences and many small businesses, representing a huge and largely untapped market.
Analysts worry that the devil is in the details.
Usually someone forgot to install a filter on some device at the home or business. He believes that CLECs can address this concern by educating support staff to ask the right questions and by training installers to seek out and correct known sources of interference. In its ruling, the FCC found such equipment unnecessary on loops under 18,000 feet, but gave ILECs latitude on longer loops. The ILEC can recover the line conditioning cost from the CLEC, but the CLEC can decline conditioning if it would result in unacceptable cost or delay. This challenge doesn't end once the service is activated.