BellSouth Corp. (www.bellsouth.com) tells XCHANGE magazine that it will “very shortly” announce new business digital subscriber line (DSL) options with higher upload speeds, more symmetry and the ability for business customers to use their own BellSouth-approved customer premises equipment.
“We are working to enhance the business user experience and widen the gap between what a consumer product looks like [and] what the business product looks like,” for DSL users, says Rich Wonders, senior director of broadband marketing at BellSouth.
Last year BellSouth introduced three business DSL options, including FastAccess for Business, a 1.5mbps downstream/256 kbps upstream ADSL connection packaged with five e-mail addresses, 10 megabytes of web space and dynamic IP addresses.
FastAccess for Business Static IP adds to the first option static IP addresses, which allow users to be more easily found on the web and more quickly authenticated by their remote corporate LAN, Wonders explains.
The third business DSL option from BellSouth is FastAccess Telecommute Solution. Targeted for larger corporations, the product combines the base business DSL along with software and support tools for corporate administration of the service. (BellSouth offers a “differentiated” help desk and on-site installation for its business DSL services, adds Wonder, noting the 96 percent of its residential DSL customers today self-install the service.)
“Last year we made a strong push into business [DSL] because we already have a strong base of business customers that wanted an alternative [to other DSL providers] from BellSouth,” Wonders says. “They liked the technology, but wanted the predictability they get from BellSouth. The other motivator is the economics of this – business products provide higher margins.
“But clearly we recognize we don’t have all the [DSL] products we want in the hands of our business customers,” he adds, referring to the company’s near-term plans to enhance its business DSL offerings.
