Subject: Re: (usr-tc) ISPCon/3Com Open Meeting

From: Allen Marsalis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 01:43:36 +0000

At 06:29 PM 10/15/99 -0400, Lon R. Stockton, Jr. wrote:

>In other words, it's my theory that 3com is now more interested in big
>telcos. Integrating the TC and phone switches and stuff like putting
>ADSL and traditional dialup in the CO. $Billions is an understatement

Bingo.  Last year, our 3com rep told us that if they sold one contract
to a single <unnamed> telco that they were working with, the sale would
constitute as many ports as they have sold in their history to date..
I doubt the deal ever happened though..

During the 80's recession, our local government spent millions trying
to lure McDonald Douglas into building a new factory at our city.
We lost the 'beauty contest' hosted by a dozen cities. In fact, the
new factory was never built at all.  What about the little guy?  The
ones who really keep the city going?  Where is our tax abatement?
and other incentives?  If only they had spend their efforts and money
in a way that would have really helped people in our area...

>
>My only wish is that I didn't pick up on this earlier....

I have no regrets..  x2 was a big deal in our area (we certainly helped)
and being the first 56k provider in our area was a big win for us.
USR made that happen..  I liked USR..  It's 3com that I feel ill about.
USR designed nearly all the hardware before the merger.  It's been
nearly 2 years now..  What has 3com created or added to the mix
to make it a good merger?  OSPF?  great!  only took 3-4 years..
Where is the SS7 gateway?  higher density modems per DSP?  VoIP?
cool PPC code features and all that jazz?  Aren't 2 of the 3 PPC's
on the board doing nothing?  Do we use 3com switches or routers?
no we use cisco, foundry, etc..  I just don't see the overall
purpose/benefit of the merger..

Perhaps it's not only about humongous telcos on the one side, but
about CPE on the other..  something we buy very little of.. and we
are stuck in the middle... 

>
>The other saving grace is this mailing list, and the handful of 3com
>people that populate it. I actually hesitate in bashing 3com on here
>because the 3com people that actually see it aren't the problem, and
>they're more deserving of praise rather than seeing stuff that'll just
>alienate them more and make 'em think I'm an ingrate.

agreed.

Allen

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From: "Lon R. Stockton, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 03:09:20 +0000

> USR made that happen..  I liked USR..  It's 3com that I feel ill about.

Agreed here too. Getting my TC rack was a big win for us, and having it
still is. We were first with x2, first with v.90, and our v.90 *still*
walks all over my competitions' PM-based dialup pools. And we're still
the only provider in town doing ISDN, which is the best thing you can
get here aside from a dedicated line. (and we're served by Sprint, who
has some really good ISDN BRI pricing...only about $5 more than two
regular phone lines and flat-rate to boot...not to mention that inbound
PRIs are about 1/2 the cost of CT1's).

> Do we use 3com switches or routers?  no we use cisco, foundry, etc..

I'm actually a fan of their switches. But one doesn't have the same
problems...either a ethernet switch works or it doesn't. If it's
broken, either it's under warranty or it's not. No contracts, no
tech support needed. But yeah, we're using Cisco routers...but even that
may change. Am looking at all the PCI-based WAN cards nowadays and
great strides in Linux networking (or the already good networking in
the *BSD stuff) with great interest.

Not to mention the product brochure I got the other day...PCI based
card that works like a HDSP...plug in a PRI and get 23 modem ports
available to your Linux or NT box. Definately on my list of 'keep an
eye on' products.

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