ISPs who suck, ISP Hall of Shame, Metricom, Ricochet, Rhythms DSL, Covad, DSL.net, AT&T Wireless
ISPs who suck, ISP Hall of Shame, Metricom, Ricochet, Rhythms DSL, Covad, DSL.net, AT&T Wireless
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Metricom Inc. (NASDAQ: MCOM) operates the Ricochet wireless network. They have 128K wireless modem service which isn't good value for the price, but it's adequate for people on the go (in the metropolitan areas which have decent coverage). However, Metricom is strapped for cash and may not be around for much longer. They had enough dough to last through June, but they conjured up a few extra bucks and now have enough cash to last through August. They allegedly have about 40,000 subscribers. In the words of one analyst, that's the same as zero subscribers.
Chapter 11 for Metricom, baby! They've lost something like half a billion dollars. Yes, that sort of behavior earns you FC points. Nasdaq halts trading of MCOM pending "additional information."
Metricom, with its red letter stock symbol (NASDAQ: MCOMQ), receives its delisting letter from Nasdaq. The bankrupt ISP also plans to auction off its assets; what happens to its 51,200 subscribers is unclear, but service is to be suspended in a couple of days. I can't believe that employees will be sticking around to the end.
Pud speaks! 200 FC points. As I predicted, Metricom enters the FC Hall of Fame. There are already reports of Ricochet subscribers being disconnected and employees being given one week severance.
Metricom is expected to shut down its 17-city wireless network today. Their assets will be auctioned off on the 16th to deal with their $1 billion debt load.
Reports are surfacing that Metricom has turned down Aerie Networks' $20 millon offer for its assets.
This is actually good news in a way. Well, at least it's cool.
A small part of the Ricochet wireless network was temporarily reactivated in the area of the World Trade Center attacks to aid the efforts of the relief workers. The City of New York is footing the bill to run the network through the end of October, including keeping a Metricom employee 24x7 in the San Jose network operations center. Other former Metricom employees in New York are volunteering their time to make the network run.
Metricom is accepting Aerie Network's second bid at $8.25 million for certain assets and intellectual property. The highly prized radio frequency rights, valued at $50 million, are not part of the deal.
There is some talk on the 'net that Aerie Networks will attempt to resurrect the Ricochet wireless network in a few months. Allegedly, since the company acquired the network assets very inexpensively, they can afford to offer service at a much lower rate than Metricom did, maybe even as low as $50/month.
The city of Denver has initiated a four-month trial run with the resurrected Ricochet network to see whether it finds it useful to keep around. Uh, huh.
Aerie Networks has tentatively scheduled a return to limited markets including those of Southern California in the spring and the SF Bay Area this summer. About half of Metricom's Ricochet customers were in the Bay Area. Differences? Not a lot of specifics but Aerie will be selling the modem for about a hundred bucks and service will be $44.95 per month. When Metricom ran the network, the modem was a costly $300 and the service was a painful $80 per month.
The struggling rebirth of the Ricochet network fails. Again. Dozens of customers in Denver and San Diego distraught.
Today, August 2, 2001, Englewood, Colorado-based Rhythms NetConnections, with whom Telocity was unable to set up my new DSL service, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. They say they will try to reorganize, but if they can't, they'll sell off assets and ride off into the sunset, just like dead competitor NorthPoint Communications.
Awesome! 199 FC points for Rhythms demise!
The following hit PR Newswire today:
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Rhythms NetConnections Inc.
(OTC Bulletin Board: RTHMQ), a provider of broadband communication services,
said today the Company sent 31-day service termination notices to all of its
customers last evening. During the next 31 days, Rhythms intends to assist
its customers in transitioning their existing digital subscriber line services
to alternative broadband providers.
The Company is also reducing its workforce today by approximately
700 employees, or approximately 75 percent of its total workforce.
Approximately 85 percent of the affected employees are in Colorado.
Rhythms is going to join NorthPoint in the DSL cemetery, albeit in a slightly gentler way than NorthPoint's pull-the-plug-from-the-wall, disgracefully rapid exit.
There are reports that the FCC will order bankrupt Rhythms NetConnections to keep its network alive to give stranded customers more time to find alternate service providers. Hey, guys, where were you when NorthPoint pulled the plug?
The FCC has given Rhythms permission to shut down their DSL network; it may occur as early as midnight. Telecom giant WorldCom is interested in obtaining some of the defunct DSL network's assets.
That leaves the ailing Covad Communications the sole player of the big three DSL providers. And today, August 7, 2001, there's talk about a probably trip to the bankruptcy court in mid-August in order to do something about the $1.4 billion debt. It trades over the counter now that it's been delisted from Nasdaq (OTC BB: COVD.OB).
On July 27, Covad announced that it had purchased FirstWorld Communication's DSL subscriber list.
At least in my neighborhood, consumers can't go to Covad and say, "I want a DSL line." Covad sells DSL to ISPs (like the aforementioned EarthLink). With Covad's precarious financial situation, there's just no way I'd sign up for DSL service if there's a good chance that the line will go dead in a few months down the road. I learned my lesson with Telocity via NorthPoint.
Hey Pud, thank you for the 196 FC points from a couple of days ago! Chapter 11 should let them restructure their debt and keep them alive for a few months after which, they need $200 million to to alleged reach positive cash flow by the end of 2003. That is one heck of a long way away.
Covad Communications Group (OTC BB: COVD.OB) hits a new 52-week low of $0.32 per share today.
Media reports are indicating that Covad Communications Group is attempting to emerge from bankruptcy.
I went to the DSL.net corporate site to check availability, but they force you to give up your personal information so I backed out. They offer static IP SDSL and claim speeds up to 1.5Mbps. I visited DSL Reports and plugged in my ZIP code; apparently, I do not live in DSL.net's service area.
New Haven, Connecticut-based DSL.net, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSLN) closes at $0.15 per share, a brand-new 52-week low after hitting an intraday low of $0.14 per share.
Pud reports that DSL.net is giving 80 folks the axe. 90 FC points and a Hall of Fame induction. He claims the company is toast and the rest of the people will be gone soon.
Sprint (NYSE: FON) offered ION (Internet On-Demand Network), which includes 8Mbps upstream/1Mbps downstream, voice-over-IP, etc. Again, Sprint doesn't provide ION services to people in apartment/condo complexes with more than four units. This services was announced in 1998 with big fanfare, etc., sort of like a successor to the expensive Sprint DRUMS network.
Reports are surfacing in the media that Sprint may cancel their ION project. A final decision is supposed to be reached at the end of the month, but "sources familiar with the situation" are betting on the costly project's demise after three years of inexorably slow development.
Sprint shutters its money-losing ION division amidst a series of cost-cutting moves (including laying off 6,000 employees). 129 FC points.
I guess AT&T Wireless, Ma Bell's wireless spin-off, has a fixed wireless broadband solution.
AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE) is calling it quits on its fixed wireless service, canning 1,000 employees and stranding 47,000 customers.
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| Last modified on
Tue Dec 2 01:35:19 GMT 2003
by tarahertz@yahoo.com |
Copyright © 1999-2003 Tara Hertz. All rights reserved. |
ISPs who suck, ISP Hall of Shame, Metricom, Ricochet, Rhythms DSL, Covad, DSL.net, AT&T Wireless