It's a simple little device, easy to describe, and it could eliminate dialup in urban areas just by making it easier to upgrade to DSL.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [June 7, 2006]

We've been advising ISPs for years to start selling services and stop selling technology. In fact, we've been quoting other ISPs offering the same advice. We've quoted the ISP-Lists, we've quoted John McKown, we've quoted Robert Schovenberg, and many others.

It seems, however, the equipment providers, both hardware, like Emeryville, Calif.-based Netopia, and software, like CM4all's Schovenberg, are ahead of the game on this. Last week, we wrote about Enure's network troubleshooting solution in the article Solving the Home Network Problem—Really!.

Today, we're talking about a very simple little product from Netopia called 3342N Pocket Modem, which the company bills as the "world's first self-installing ADSL2+ modem."

It's a modem on a USB cord with flash memory that holds the self-install software. It's powered from the USB, meaning no batteries.

If it's easy for the user, it's easy on the ISP
The user connects the device (pictured at right) to a USB slot on their computer (Windows XP only), and the software performs the setup. If the DSL environment is DHCP, it can obtain the settings from the server. If it's PPPoE, the user may need to enter their user name and password—but they need enter nothing else.

It changes the dialup settings on the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser (see image at right) so that the computer of the new DSL user doesn't try to dial a connection when the user opens their browser, a frequent problem at telco call centers, says Brad Miller, Netopia's vice president of marketing.

He adds that the product is not just a dumb modem. It is TR-069 compliant and can be remote managed. "And it supports firewalls and VPNs," he claims.

The postal service truck roll
Telco customers are enthusiastic about being able to snail mail the equipment. "This reduces customer acquisition costs," Miller says. "In addition, by enabling self installs, we believe that we will virtually eliminate support calls associated with new hardware."

Telcos have dropped prices so far—often below the price of dialup—that they now know that for those still on dialup, price is not the obstacle preventing them from upgrading to broadband, Miller says. Instead, it's the perceived hassle of making the switch.

"We are reinventing the marketing pitch," Miller says. "Right now, the marketing is all about price. Now we can also say that switching is easy."

One telco customer, he says, is in the process of obtaining approvals to trial a deployment in which they will pre-provision the DSL lines at the CO. Where the lines don't require condition, the cost is virtually zero. Then the telco will mail the modem to the customer, and offer free DSL for a limited time, after which the telco will start charging it.

"I have a tag line for this offer: if you can find a USB port, you're on the internet!"

Pricing and availability
The product is available now. Miller did not say what the price was, but did say it's at the low end of modem prices, and that volume discounts are available.

—End