High speed Internet provider Covad Communications intends to
hook-up a virtual hotshot to bring more users to broadband
connectivity via its services.
The company is pitching a three-step self-installation kit to users that it
hopes will secure a place for it in the consumer marketplace — which is
being heavily courted by large telecommunication companies like Verizon and
AT&T.
Typically, a DSL technician is required to hook-up a new consumer. Now, once
a DSL order is placed and approved through an affiliated Internet or
broadband service provider, or at Covad’s Web site, a DSL
JumpStart kit will be shipped to the customer’s home within approximately
ten days.
Covad said the 30 minute installation process would include jerry rigging a
consumer’s house by attaching DSL blockers to every telephone; connecting
the DSL modem to the computer; and installing software that would
automatically connect the consumer to the Internet.
In a statement, Eric Moyer, director of consumer product marketing for
Covad, said “The DSL JumpStart Kit enables Covad to offer a consumer
broadband solution that eliminates the associated costs, time and hassle of
sending a DSL technician to a consumer’s home.”
The DSL JumpStart Kit is currently available through Speakeasy.net. Within
the next few weeks, the company said additional Internet and broadband
service providers affiliated with Covad, such as Juno, AT&T and Prodigy
would be offering the kit.
A spokesperson for the company told InternetNews.com that pricing would vary
based on which Internet Service Provider (ISP) offered it. The price would
hover around $250, the spokesperson said.
Whether consumers are willing to spend that amount depends on the whether
the allure of DSL connectivity sways users to pay the hook-up cost. The
company faces a significant hurdle: Many consumers still don’t have
broadband access in their neighborhoods.
But for those who do, the possibility of surfing the Internet while
simultaneously chatting on the phone may assign on-foot technicians to
other tasks — at least if Covad has its way.