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(Taken from InformationWeek Daily! Business Innovation Powered By Technology brought to you by InformationWeek magazine To subscribe, go to http://www.informationweek.com/magazine) The DSL Tale Continues: Hurry Up And Wait A class-action lawsuit filed against SBC Communications Inc. accusing the company's Southwestern Bell unit of failing to deliver promised transmission speeds to digital subscriber line customers is the latest chapter in the nationwide woes plaguing DSL. As tales of installation delays, unreliability, and unrealized transmission speeds mount, the hoopla surrounding DSL is quickly turning into frustration. Analysts say that while service providers are doing all they can to deliver DSL as promised, they have a long uphill climb in front of them. "The vendors who designed DSL did not design it to work on outside loop infrastructure," says Lisa Pierce, VP and research leader at Giga Information Group. "It was designed almost in a vacuum." According to Pierce, the biggest problem is the lack of standards that would ensure interoperability between vendors and thus more choice for DSL subscribers. She said she doesn't expect the situation to improve soon. "The problems can only be solved by spending lots of money," she says, adding that with residential service bringing in just $40 to $60 a month, the impetus to make the needed investments isn't there. The suit against SBC, filed in Nueces County, Texas, alleges that Southwestern Bell not only failed to deliver promised data-transmission speeds, but even capped access speeds to newsgroups and E-mail in order to preserve precious bandwidth. Attorneys at Berg & Androphy, the Houston law firm that filed the suit, could not be reached for comment, and plaintiffs have been instructed not to comment publicly. Pierce says the suit likely will be ineffective even if it's successful: "Even if they made their case, the likelihood that SBC could do anything more than they're already doing probably wouldn't be there." - Tony Kontzer

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