How do I find DSL Providers?

In addition to limiting your search a broker will also help you identify important facts about your new service. Remember to look at the extra charges like equipment and installation. Sometimes these charges are waived and sometimes they are not. Also be careful to note the commitment. Is it 1 year or two years that you're committing to? Many companies will offer bigger discounts but lock you in to a longer contract. Don't get caught! Make sure you know what you're getting into by going to a broker and comparing DSL Providers side by side.

A DSL Speed Test is a great way to find out what kind of speed you're really getting. Is your connection really slow or is it just the fast that you're working with an old, slow, or over tasked computer? Simply find the DSL Speed Test by performing a search on Google and you'll quickly be on your way to finding out what you're really getting. You'll have to shut down your programs that are accessing the net and then perform the test which takes 30 seconds or so. It's very important to shut down programs accessing the net because these will impair the test and will cause your connection to appear slower than it actually is since some of it is being used.

One last "gotcha" is the introductory price. DSL Providers may claim to give you service for $20 or $25 per month but it's likely an introductory price that lasts only a few months. If you're willing to sign on for the term, just make sure you know what you're paying when the introduction ends.

DSL Providers ?

In addition to limiting your search a broker will also help you identify important facts about your new service. Remember to look at the extra charges like equipment and installation. Sometimes these charges are waived and sometimes they are not. Also be careful to note the commitment. Is it 1 year or two years that you're committing to? Many companies will offer bigger discounts but lock you in to a longer contract. Don't get caught! Make sure you know what you're getting into by going to a broker and comparing DSL Providers side by side.

Baby Bells Match Cable in Q1 Broadband Gains

Starting off 2006 with another rousing performance, cable operators and phone companies scored record quarterly gains in broadband subscribers during Q1, boosting the total number of residential high-speed data customers to nearly 44 million in the U.S. and over 50 million including Canada.

With both industries going full steam, North American broadband providers collectively added 2.97 million high-speed data customers in Q1, according to the latest research compiled by Cable Digital News. This total breaks the old quarterly record of 2.84 million just set by the cable and phone industries in the final quarter of 2005. It also nudges the continent's residential broadband penetration rate over the 43% mark and the U.S. broadband penetration rate over the 41% mark.

In an interesting twist this time, cable modem and DSL providers split the broadband customer gains just about neatly in half, with the phone companies enjoying a very slight 22,000-customer edge in the U.S. and the cable companies enjoying an almost equally slight 28,000-subscriber advantage in Canada. With the two countries' broadband totals combined, cable operators ended up edging out the telcos by a scant 6,000 subscribers overall.

Thanks in large part to the growing deployment of their new voice-over-IP (VoIP) products and even newer "triple-play" bundles, U.S. and Canadian MSOs produced unusually strong broadband gains during the winter months. Cable operators netted nearly 1.49 million cable modem subscribers, up markedly from 1.30 million customers in the fall and 1.1 million in the year-ago period.

But U.S. and Canadian DSL providers, who have been outpacing their cable rivals for most of the past two years, pretty much matched the strong MSO subscriber increases. The phone companies signed up 1.48 million residential high-speed data subscribers in Q1, just a bit off their record haul of 1.53 million new customers in the


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DSL Service Providers

DSL beats cable in new subscribers

US DSL service providers signed up 200,000 more new subscribers in the last 12 months than cable operators, but the effort came at the expense of revenues, a market research firm said on Thursday.

Over the last four quarters, DSL providers averaged 1.4 million new subscribers while their broadband rivals averaged 1.2 million, Parks Associates said. The findings reversed the trend from the previous four quarters, which saw cable operators leading in new-subscriber growth by the same margin of 200,000.

The DSL comeback, however, had its costs. In the first quarter of this year, the average revenue per user for DSL services was US$34, compared with US$41 for cable modem services, Parks Associates said. The widest difference was US$18 between the DSL service provider with the lowest ARPU and the cable operator with the highest.

For the next few quarters, DSL service providers are expected to outpace cable operators in new-subscriber growth, the firm said. Consumer surveys found that among people intending to subscribe to broadband, 48 percent preferred DSL and only 18 percent chose cable.

Nevertheless, DSL providers will eventually have to boost ARPU through service bundles, Parks Associates said.

"Cable operators have leveraged their bundling strategies to conceal broadband price differentials and maintain strong subscriber growth


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DSL Providers

DGAP-News: QSC: Strong growth in all segments

Cologne, May 30, 2006. QSC AG has published its quarterly report for the first quarter of 2006. There were no material deviations from the preliminary results that were published on May 15, 2006.

QSC grew its revenues by 31 percent in the first quarter of 2006 to EUR 54.4 million, as opposed to EUR 41.5 million for the same quarter the year before. All four segments contributed to this revenue growth. Revenues with business customers rose by 43 percent in the first quarter of 2006 to EUR 17.5 million. At EUR 14.4 million, revenues with large accounts were up 14 percent over the first quarter of 2005. Unusually high, non-recurring service revenues in connection with new projects during the first quarter 2005 partially obscured the company's progress in its underlying business during the first quarter of 2006. Revenues with resellers in the Wholesale/Resellers segment rose by 49 percent to EUR 7.6 million in the first quarter of 2006. "QSC continues to grow strongly in all strategic lines of business," notes QSC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Bernd Schlobohm.

With revenues rising by 31 percent, QSC succeeded in sustaining its disproportionate growth in profitability during the first quarter of 2006: Gross profit rose by 52 percent to EUR 16.4 million, while EBITDA increased by a strong 85 percent to EUR 2.4 million. During the first quarter of 2006, the company also made progress in its segment results: Its EBITDA margin, the crucial performance indicator in gauging profitability, stood at over 50 percent in the three strategic segments of Large Accounts, Business Customers and Wholesale/Resellers.

As a result of the targeted expansion and upgrade of its network, capital expenditures rose to EUR 7.3 million for the first quarter of 2006, as opposed to EUR 4.7 million in the same quarter the year before. During the coming quarters, as well, QSC will continue the demand-driven connection of further cities to its DSL network and the upgrade of this network with ADSL2+ technology. Overall, the company is planning on capital expenditures totaling between EUR 20 and 25 million for the current fiscal year.

During the first quarter of 2006, the company's workforce rose to 465 people; this increase of around 75 employees over the year before was essentially attributable to the acquisition of Bonn-based DSL service provider celox with a workforce of nearly 60 people.

Given the very good development of its operating business in the first quarter of 2006, QSC is reiterating its forecasts for the full fiscal year: The company anticipates revenues of over EUR 240 million and an EBITDA of between EUR 15 and 20 million. QSC plans to cross the profitability threshold and move from a net loss to a net income position by year-end. "QSC got off to a good start in 2006," says Chief Executive Officer Dr. Schlobohm. "In particular, the strong growth in our strategic lines of business will again lead to corresponding revenue and even stronger profitability growth in the coming quarters."

In millions of euros (EUR) Q1 2006 Q1 2005 Change Revenues 54.4 41.5 +31% Network expenses 38.0 30.7 +24% Gross profit +16.4 +10.8 +52% Other operating expenses 14.0 9.5 +47% EBITDA +2.4 +1.3 +85% Net loss -3.0 -5.1 +41% Capital expenditures 7.3 4.7 +55% Liquid assets as of March 31 43.1 31.3 +38% Workforce as of March 31 465 389 +20%

The complete 3-months report is available at http://www.qsc.de/en/investor_relations/index.html

Queries to: QSC AG Arne Thull Investor Relations T: +49(0)221-6698-724 F: +49(0)221-6698-009 E: invest@qsc.de

Notes: This corporate news contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the US "Private Securities Litigation Act" of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and forecasts of future events by the management of QSC AG. Due to risks or mistaken assumptions, actual results may deviate substantially from those made in such forward-looking statements. The assumptions that may involve material deviations due to unforeseeable developments include, but are not limited to, the demand for our products and services, the competitive situation, the development, dissemination and technical performance of DSL technology

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DSLPROVIDERS