G.lite modems, which, reportedly, will begin showing up in retail outlets in the next month. Compaq Computer is equipping PCs with the needed hardware and other companies including Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, British Telecommunications, Lucent, GTE, Intel, MCI WorldCom and Microsoft have announced services or hardware. Since G.lite is based on the same underlying technology as standard ASDL, the equipment is expected to be compatible with both systems. The tradeoff for the increased availability of G.lite is lower speed. Except for the few areas where two-way service is available, cable modem service currently requires a telephone line for upstream transmission.
Cable is also a shared system.
With a large number of users sharing bandwidth, both performance and security concerns become critical. Finally, like full-rate ADSL, cable requires that a technician be dispatched for installation. With approximately 500,000 cable modems already in use and an estimated 2,000 more being deployed every day, cable will continue to be a factor in broadband Internet access. But, it now has some serious competition. G.lite is going to turn up the heat on the cable companies, notes Peden.