Broadband Applications and the Digital Home
A look at the ways consumers will use broadband access and what the key applications will be for provider and consumer.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Broadband Applications and the Digital Home
Chapter 4: Broadband In The Home
K E Nolde
4.1 Introduction
To drive down costs and ensure as competitive a product offering as possible, each area of the broadband delivery needs to be examined carefully to see if there are ways in which costs can be reduced. A good example of this is in the home installation where the recent launch of self-install ( Plug & Go ), which allows the customer to install the modem and drivers, has led to the reduction in the price of the broadband service. The main areas where savings could be made are in the registration process, installation of the customer premises equipment (CPE), and in the regulation of the broadband service which affects the delivery process.
4.1.1 Regulation
For regulatory reasons, and other operational factors, a telco, in this case BT, has a number of different roles and responsibilities in the delivery process. For example, the customer registers for service and makes a contract with an Internet service provider (ISP) (in this case BTopenworld); their request for service is in fact dealt with by BT Wholesale, the supplier of the ADSL service. This wholesale/retail split ensures that other ISPs also have access to the ADSL service on the same terms and conditions as BT s own ISP (BTopenworld). While this is good from a regulatory point of view, it has, to date, been difficult to ensure a seamless customer experience as the customer has to deal with different parts of the telco at different times during the installation cycle. This adds unnecessary...
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