01 Sept 1999

Maybe it's because I'm a woman, but when I merge on to the multimedia super highway, I want to feel comfortable. I want this technology to work for me. I want to surf, baby. What I I don't want is to be wedged up against a wall, with nowhere to rest my PC (not to mention my handbag) and a phone jammed between my shoulder and my chin. These are the conditions for a super highway wreck, not a smooth ride into cyber space.

So, where am I? I'm unlucky enough to be 'test-driving' one of BT's new payphones. It looks like a regular payphone, attached to a wall, with a handset and a key pad, except that under the key pad it also has a video screen.

These multimedia phones are the public's gateway to new DSL (digital subscriber line) technology that phone companies around the world are starting to roll out. DSL essentially revs up the regular copper phone lines to carry data at speeds 20 to 40 times faster than conventional modems. BT will spend £250 million ($412 million) from now until March rolling out ADSL (the 'A' is for asynchronous) technology to phone exchanges covering six million UK homes, businesses and, of course, payphones.

With ADSL you can surf the Web and make a call on the same line simultaneously; receive full motion videos (although there is some debate if the 2 Mbit/s speed BT will offer is good enough for movie watching); and play interactive games closer to real time than ever before. It's basically turbo-charging the WWW, which has up until now been dubbed the worldwide wait.

Phone companies like ADSL because they can upgrade their legacy networks without digging them up and laying new wires. This saves them big money.

ADSL also serves as an antidote to cable companies who are beginning to serve up their own high-speed broadband networks using cable modems. BT has been trialling ADSL for years, but the cost of rolling the technology out was prohibitive and, in early market trials, users were not that interested in downloading movies onto their PCs. The Internet has changed the focus: there is a lot to do on the Web that has nothing to do with movie watching. People want fast Web access.

I almost added 'and they are willing to pay for that access.' Actually, the business model for anything Web-related is changing. Freeserve's idea of not charging subscribers for Net access attracted so many users, who in turn attracted advertisers and e-commerce retailers, that from an idea, Freeserve has become a £2 billion-listed company, less than a year after its birth.

I know, I know, Web stocks (including Freeserve) are under pressure. There is concern about the revenue model. All this is true. And the Internet is not going away. Someone - the end user, the ISP, the Web advertiser, the PC-maker - someone is going to be willing to pay for the high-speed connection that will drive take-up and usage. But, there's another pressure that is driving BT to ADSL. UK regulator Oftel has demanded BT unbundle its local telephone lines by 1 July 2001. This will allow other companies to upgrade BT lines. The spectre of allowing competitors direct access to its lines has lit a fire under BT's upgrade plans. The more established its ADSL business is by 2001 the better positioned it will be to face rivals.

BT has announced that it will charge wholesalers, like AOL, between £40 and £150 per upgraded line, depending on the speed of the modem leased.

These companies will then choose how they market the service to end users, likely subsidising the retail price, hoping to attract other revenues from, say, advertising. Of course, BT will offer its own ADSL service as well, using its BT Online brand, for example.

Providing two-way services, from pay-per-view movies to fast Web content, is not jut a wired phenomenon. Digital satellite broadcasters like CanalSatellite and Sky Digital are also getting in on the act. This Autumn, Sky launches its Open service. The Open joint venture includes BT, Sky, Matsushita and HSBC, and will provide limited surfing via a TV hooked to a satellite dish and a telephone line modem (inside the Sky Digital box).

About the same time as Open launches, cellular operator Orange launches limited Net access on its handsets. Full video capabilities (at slow speeds) are due next year. Wireless phone technology will improve when 'third-generation' licenses are awarded. These phones will be like mini PCs linked to a fast modem in the sky.

With all this competition, the focus falls on marketing, the quality of the system and content. Which brings me back to the phone booth. In the atrium of its London headquarters, BT has built a model home show-casing how ADSL will speed up the PC, the video screen in the kitchen and the TV.

By the home sits the payphone. Armed with a (gratis) £5 phone card, I tried it out, while juggling my bag and notebook. Using the touch screen I pulled up an on-screen keyboard, where I am supposed to type the Web address and press go. Sounds easy. It wasn't. Trying to type on a touch screen that is flat to the wall is unnatural. Then it couldn't find the site I wanted. I tried another. Same result. I tried to send an e-mail.

That was complicated as well. I had used up £1 and not gotten far. Suffice to say, that telephone companies are under attack from other carriers, particularly cable. Telcos like BT are making the right moves to keep up with their rivals and will probably do it as well as anyone. But my BT visit proved that the techies ruled the roost when it comes to this latest innovation. The phone I tested may not be the only version of a BT multi-media phone, but for the showcase, the awareness of customer needs seemed cloudy.

My BT test failed due to a lack of a table for my personal items, including my PC, (there was no connection port on the phone if I wanted to use it); no seat; and a badly designed keypad. I won't mention why the browser failed to find sites. I asked my BT minder why they hadn't designed the phones like the AT&T ones that litter US airports. The cubicles have seats, proper keypads and PC ports. "I've never seen those," he admitted.

I don't want to be too harsh on BT, it does lots of things fine, but come on guys. Remember BetaMax videos? It's not the technology, it's comfort for the consumer that matters.