Speedy DSL Corporation

CASE BODYAs she rides the bus to her internship with Speedy DSL, Susan Katz thinks back over the two years. When she walked at graduation with a B.S. in Marketing, she imagined the walk was from college to a position with a marketing firm. Susan's GPA was good and she had excellent recommendation letters. Susan had served as an officer in the college's marketing association and felt her future was bright.As the months passed by, with many applications and few interviews, she realized that finding a job was a real challenge. The local unemployment rate was 11% and many of her friends were still searching for work. Susan lived with her parents while looking for work. Her Dad had turned their basement into a studio apartment. Susan worried about the financial burden this placed her folks.But things were looking brighter. During the summer, Susan designed and implemented the marketing plan for a charity golf tournament. Robert Baker, the Marketing Director of Speedy DSL, was so impressed that he offered Susan a six-month, paid internship. Speedy DSL is a local, Internet service provider.Susan had loaded her office cubical with marketing, economics, and accounting textbooks. After four months and a few committee projects, Susan felt she was doing well and getting to know several people in the organization. After sitting at her desk, Susan opens her laptop to review a report the broadband market and Speedy DSL.U.S. consumers purchase broadband or high-speed Internet from a communications company (e.g., cable, telephone, Internet service provider (ISP), or satellite company) that provides a physical connection from a computer at the consumer's home to the company's network. Broadband speeds vary with the type of technology used (e.g., cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), satellite, wireless, or fiber optic). Consumers are charged higher monthly fees for faster speeds. Typically, the fastest speeds are delivered by fiber optic cable (e.g., Verizon FiOS).In October 2010, nearly 85 million U.S. households had to the Internet at home. Of those, 48% have cable access; 35% have DSL; 9% have mobile; 5% fiber optic; and 3% satellite (U.S. Census, 2010). Broadband infrastructure has been deployed to more than 98% of all households. Yet, only 72% of households have purchased broadband (NTIA, 2013). However, the number of broadband connectivity purchases is expected to increase tremendously with the growth of on- line activities, such as, e-commerce, online gaming, telecommuting, distance learning, and telemedicine.Cable and DSL are the main sources of household Internet and they are the biggest rivals in the broadband market. Both offer an always on connection between the residential computer and the Internet. Cable and DSL work by providing last mile access (i.e., the final leg of a telecommunications network) from the ISP to the residence. Cable companies use their cable television network and coaxial cables to connect users to the Internet. Cable bandwidth is shared across users so connection speeds can slow down during peak usage (i.e., when lots of people try to the Internet at the same time). Theoretically, residential Cable download (upload) speeds can reach 100 (20) Megabits per second (mps).DSL uses existing telephone networks and copper wires to connect residential users to the Internet. Unlike Cable, DSL speed depends the distance between the user and the local telephone company's central office. Download speeds residential DSL are typically limited to 40 mps. Thus, Cable is considered faster than DSL. However, DSL speeds are more constant throughout the day as a user's broadband is not shared with his/her neighbors (Goldstein, 2010).Speedy DSL Corporation is an independent DSL provider that rents the local telephone company's lines in order to provide Internet to customers' homes. Getting an Internet connection requires the installation of equipment at both ends of the phone line to support broadband transmissions. …