Tsoft: xDSL - Digital Subscriber Line Dedicated Services

xDSL - Digital Subscriber Line Dedicated Services

[ Introduction | Pricing | Introductory Special | Cost Comparisons | Contact Us ]

Switch to Tsoft, get your first month of Internet service for free...
Tsoft will switch your existing NorthPoint or Covad DSL line to our Internet service for free, and your first month of Internet service is free (you'll receive a bill only for the NorthPoint or Covad DSL loop charge). Email sales@tsoft.com to get started now.

Get your DSL service with top-quality connectivity, sustainable pricing, from a company that's here to stay!

Jump to Low Priced Residential DSL

New lower pricing effective with May 1999 billings!

We will be requiring a signed contract for DSL service, but this contract has not yet been drafted. It will essentially be a promise to pay, and reiterate what is stated informally below, as well as reference a terms of service, subject to modification on reasonable notice. The TOS will basically cover general netiquette principals (no spam, no cracking, no denial of service attacks, no illegal trading in copyrighted material or other illegal acts).

Introduction

Tsoft now offers DSL services via NorthPoint, Covad, and Pacbell in the San Francisco Bay Area.

DSL is an "always-on", dedicated service, similar to T-1s or Frame Relay, available from ISDN speeds (144Kbps) through T-1 speeds (1.1Mbps both ways or 1.5Mbps download and 384Kbps upload). Like Frame Relay, DSL is distance insensitive within the service area, and with several competing telephone companies, DSL "loop" pricing (the line to your house or office) is significantly less expensive than Frame Relay. Frame Relay remains a win if you will be connecting multi-point, but DSL is ideal if you just want an Internet connection through the circuit (multi-point DSL is expected to be available by the end of 1999).

Tsoft's approach to pricing all of our services is to offer sustainable pricing, and quality service. Unlike lower cost cable modem service or lower-cost DSL services, we focus on providing the full throughput of your line on a statistically sustained basis to the Internet. Unlike our other dedicated services, we are trying a pricing model with DSL that will allow you to get in relatively low, with measured service and a usage cap. The included traffic is rarely exceeded for home users, as we intend, and our sustainable pricing model allows us to offer great performance without restricting our users from running servers and such; our philosophy is simple... if it's legal and you can pay your fair share for bandwidth, run as many servers, even high volume websites, as you want on your DSL line.

If you have any questions, please email or phone us and we'll be glad to answer them.

Service Pricing

The following fees are all payable to Tsoft. You receive NO bill from any telephone company, instead NorthPoint or Covad bills Tsoft for the DSL line itself, and we bill you for the DSL line along with Internet access. DSL line charges are for illustrative purposes only so you know roughly how much of your total fee goes to the telephone company (the cost of our backhaul circuit from the DSL provider is factored into other charges). Remember, an ISDN line gives you 128K access, but has additional per-minute charges from the phone company; there are NO per-minute charges with DSL! A T-1 line for 384K fractional or full T-1 service starts at $220 to the phone company, typically $350-450, depending on your distance from our San Francisco or San Jose locations. Keep all that in mind when comparing the costs to other services, since, for example, you may actually pay less for a dedicated 144Kbps DSL service than for a dialup ISDN connection, depending on your usage patterns. Also see our cost comparison discussion for help in analyzing this.

DSL service consists of a base rate with an amount of traffic that nearly all home users, and most small businesses, shouldn't exceed. There is a charge for additional traffic up to a certain point, then the price is capped. As an example, as of this writing, our most heavily trafficed parttime ISDN customers were using just over 2,000MB/mo, and we have a 30-person company also on ISDN doing about the same amount of traffic. Naturally, your usage may vary, and we anticipate that because of the dedicated nature of this service, many users may change their patterns in a way that increases total traffic somewhat; likewise, with faster speed services, you may find yourself doing more bandwidth intensive things just because it's there. If you are currently a Tsoft dialup customer, contact us and we can provide your total data transfered for each of the past few months from our logs; email support@tsoft.com and ask. As of 4/20/99, we have merged our two business grade DSL services so that you get the benefit of the lower price cap automatically with no need to commit to a flat-rate pricing.

Business-Grade DSL Service

New lower pricing effective with May 1999 billings!

This services uses NorthPoint's DSL lines, or Covad's Telespeed DSL lines which includes a guarantee as to both packet loss and latency through their respective networks back to Tsoft (with service credits available from the telcos if targets aren't met), and receives a higher priority for repair. This service may be ordered at any address with NorthPoint or Covad service, and may be desirable even for residential addresses if you are hosting web sites and need faster repair times should the need arise, or if you need the faster upload bandwidths these lines can provide.

Service over NorthPoint Communications DSL lines:

Speed DSL
Line*^ Internet
+ Access Total
= Base $ Incl.
Traffic Extra
Traffic Price
Cap Traffic @
Price Cap

NorthPoint 144K or 160Kbps $75 $50 $125 3,000 MB $3/100MB $265 8,000 MB

NorthPoint 200Kbps $90 $55 $145 3,000 MB $3/100MB $365 10,333 MB

NorthPoint 416Kbps $125 $75 $200 3,000 MB $3/100MB $650 18,000 MB

NorthPoint 784Kbps $165 $140 $305 5,000 MB $3/100MB $965 27,000 MB

NorthPoint 1.0Mbps $199 $190 $389 5,000 MB $3/100MB $1150 30,366 MB

NorthPoint 1.5Mbps
(symmetric T-1 speed) $250 $250 $500 7,000 MB $3/100MB $1250 32,000 MB

*^ FCC and/or CPUC taxes apply to the DSL line portion, and are additional. Currently this is 4.22% of the DSL line charge.

Speed	DSL Line*^	Internet + Access	Total = Base $	Incl. Traffic	Extra Traffic	Price Cap	Traffic @ Price Cap
NorthPoint 144K or 160Kbps	$75	$50	$125	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$265	8,000 MB
NorthPoint 200Kbps	$90	$55	$145	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$365	10,333 MB
NorthPoint 416Kbps	$125	$75	$200	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$650	18,000 MB
NorthPoint 784Kbps	$165	$140	$305	5,000 MB	$3/100MB	$965	27,000 MB
NorthPoint 1.0Mbps	$199	$190	$389	5,000 MB	$3/100MB	$1150	30,366 MB
NorthPoint 1.5Mbps (symmetric T-1 speed)	$250	$250	$500	7,000 MB	$3/100MB	$1250	32,000 MB

IDSL is 144K service, and can be repeated; it is generally used only where line distance or quality precludes the use of SDSL.
SDSL is 160K or higher speeds and is used whenever possible.

NorthPoint one-time/setup charges:

Line Installation: ~~$375~~ FREE with no commitment (no early term charge)

or FREE INSTALL and 12th MONTH OF SERVICE FREE with 1-year commitment ($175 early term charge)

Inside wire: basic included with Line Installation

Hardware: one required but you may supply your own (plus sales tax):

Hardware	Price
FlowPoint 2200 SDSL router	$439 (reduced 9/1/99)
Netopia R7100 SDSL router	$425 (reduced 9/1/99)
3Com SDSL bridge	$249
Flowpoint 144 IDSL router	$349 (reduced 9/1/99)
Netopia IDSL router	$379 (reduced 9/1/99)
3Com IDSL bridge	$209

Service over Covad Communications DSL lines:

Speed DSL
Line*^ Internet
+ Access Total
= Base $ Incl.
Traffic Extra
Traffic Price
Cap Traffic @
Price Cap

Covad 144Kbps $90 $50 $140 3,000 MB $3/100MB $290 8,000 MB

Covad 192Kbps $90 $55 $145 3,000 MB $3/100MB $365 10,333 MB

Covad 384Kbps $125 $75 $200 3,000 MB $3/100MB $650 18,000 MB

Covad 768Kbps
$160 $140 $300 5,000 MB $3/100MB $960 27,000 MB

Covad 1.1Mbps $195 $225 $420 5,000 MB $3/100MB $1185 30,500 MB

Covad 1.5Mbps/
384Kbps $195 $225 $420 5,000 MB $3/100MB $1200 31,000 MB

*^ FCC and/or CPUC taxes apply to the DSL line portion, and are additional. Currently this is 4.22% of the DSL line charge.

Speed	DSL Line*^	Internet + Access	Total = Base $	Incl. Traffic	Extra Traffic	Price Cap	Traffic @ Price Cap
Covad 144Kbps	$90	$50	$140	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$290	8,000 MB
Covad 192Kbps	$90	$55	$145	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$365	10,333 MB
Covad 384Kbps	$125	$75	$200	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$650	18,000 MB
Covad 768Kbps	$160	$140	$300	5,000 MB	$3/100MB	$960	27,000 MB
Covad 1.1Mbps	$195	$225	$420	5,000 MB	$3/100MB	$1185	30,500 MB
Covad 1.5Mbps/ 384Kbps	$195	$225	$420	5,000 MB	$3/100MB	$1200	31,000 MB

IDSL is 144K service, and can be repeated; it is generally used only where line distance or quality precludes the use of SDSL.
SDSL is 192K or higher speeds and is used whenever possible (we can run 144K over a 192K SDSL loop)
ADSL is split-speed and is used for the 1.5Mbps/384Kbps service. It also can be used for 384K or 1.1Mbps symmetric service if you already have an ADSL router.

Covad one-time/setup or change charges:

Line Installation: $325

Inside wire: $88 first hour, $20 each addtl. $15 minutes (optional)

Covad's Early Termination penalty (1 year circuit commitment): $250 refundable deposit

Hardware: one required but you may supply your own (plus sales tax):

Hardware	Price
Flowpoint 2200 SDSL router	$395 (or used $295)
Efficient Speedstream 5250 SDSL bridge	$249
Flowpoint 2100 ADSL router (1.5M/384K service)	$395 (or used 2000 $250)
Flowpoint 144 IDSL router	$395

Change Covad DSL line from 144Kbps IDSL to or from any other speed: $199 plus a change in hardware.

Change Covad DSL line speed between any speeds faster than 144Kbps IDSL: $99 (change from SDSL to ADSL may require change in hardware)

Additional notes for both NorthPoint and Covad business-grade service:
These services come with one IP usable by your host or computer, or for use with NAT (Network Address Translation) to connect multiple machines.
Static IP subnet address blocks are available as follows:

3-bit subnet (router + 5 computers): $7.50/mo
4-bit subnet* (router + 13 computers): $15/mo
5-bit to Full Class C** (router + 29 to 253 computers): $25/mo

* Subnets of 4-bits or larger must be justified based on need.
** Subnets of 5-bits or larger are available on 384Kbps or faster service, and more than a Class C is available for no additional monthly charge, but an additional one-time activation fee (still requires justification based on need). Subnets of 5-bits or larger may be negotiated on 144Kbps service.

"Total Base" is the minimum you'd pay per month for the DSL service, including the line charge (not including optional services below or taxes).

"Included Traffic" is how much data transfer in+out you can do over the line to Tsoft and the Internet before incurring any extra charges.

All "Extra Traffic" on the DSL line is billed at $3 per 100 Megabytes transfered, rounded down to the nearest 100MB block.

The "Price Cap" is the most you will ever pay per month for the DSL service, including the line charge, bandwith, and IP subnet options (not including other optional services below).

"Traffic at Price Cap" is the approximate amount of Total Traffic on the line before you will reach the price cap, including the base charge plus any extra traffic, above which you won't pay anything.

Additional Services Included

Your business-grade DSL connection also comes with the following at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE!

Single modem dialup for backup and remote access. This dialup account is intended for occasional remote access--25 hours a month of usage are included, with extra hours billed at 50 cents per hour upto a maximum of $17. If you use this account as a backup because there is a problem with your DSL line, that time is not counted or charged against your hours.
Four (4) POP email boxes @tsoft.com
or optionally secondary MX service to your server.
Registration of and hosting of your domain name for email purposes (upto 2 domains included; all Internic fees additional), and of course pointing hosts to your network including to your web server, if desired.
or optionally secondary DNS servers if you host your own domain.

Residential DSL Service (Pacbell DSL loop)

We are now accepting orders for this service, for immediate placement of the line order with Pacbell!
Click here to place to place an order or submit your address for pre-qualification to determine if you likely can get this type of DSL line at your location.

This service is provided over Pacbell DSL lines. Tsoft is presently only offering this service to residential addresses but may expand use of these loops to business addresses shortly. This service does not have the packet loss and latency guarantees of NorthPoint's service or Covad's business-grade TeleSpeed lines, and it has a lower priority for repair should a problem occur.

For this service only, the Pacbell DSL line is billed directly to you as the end user at the price indicated below. Prices listed below are for a one year commitment on the DSL line, with a $125 early termination charge billed by Pacbell if you cancel early; there is no commitment on Tsoft's service so you may switch to other ISPs. Even though there is this commitment, it is always wiser to commit because the cost savings in waived installation charges and reduced monthly charge on the line saves you more than the $125 even at day one. Tsoft sends you a separate bill for our services.

Speed DSL
Line*^ Internet
+ Access Total $ Incl.
Traffic Extra
Traffic Price
Cap Traffic @
Price Cap

384Kbps-1.5Mbps*/128Kbps $39.00 $25 $64.00 3,000 MB $3/100MB pending pending

1.5Mbps/384Kbps $129.00 $60 $189.00 3,000 MB $3/100MB pending pending

*^ FCC and/or CPUC taxes apply to the DSL line portion, and are additional.
* Downstream speed on this service is dependent on your distance from the Pacbell serving Central Office and other factors which effect the speed Pacbell's Alcatel ADSL equipment can provide over your line.

Speed	DSL Line*^	Internet + Access	Total $	Incl. Traffic	Extra Traffic	Price Cap	Traffic @ Price Cap
384Kbps-1.5Mbps*/128Kbps	$39.00	$25	$64.00	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	pending	pending
1.5Mbps/384Kbps	$129.00	$60	$189.00	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	pending	pending

Pacbell one-time/setup or change charges:

Line Installation: WAIVED with term commitment ($125 early term)

Hardware: one required but you may supply your own (plus sales tax):

Hardware	Price
Alcatel ADSL bridge (delivered by Pacbell)	$198
Cayman ADSL router (delivered by Pacbell)	$410
Flowpoint ADSL router (delivered by Tsoft)	$595

This service is Bridged or Routed. Each end customer has their own PVC (with secure ARP when bridged) and there are no security or performance issues with broadcast packets as there are with some other bridge implementations.
It comes with usable IP address for a host or computer on your side of the connection. While we don't mind if you use Network Address Translation (NAT), you will need to provide your own device to perform NAT functions, and Tsoft is not providing technical support for NAT configurations on this service.
Static IP subnet address blocks are available as follows:

3-bit subnet (router + 5 computers): $15.00/mo
4-bit subnet* (router + 13 computers): $xx/mo
5-bit to Full Class C** (router + 29 to 253 computers): $xx/mo

* Subnets of 4-bits or larger must be justified based on need.
** More than a Class C is available for no additional monthly charge, but an additional one-time activation fee (still requires justification based on need).

"Total $" is the minimum you'd pay per month for the DSL service, including the line charge (not including optional services below or taxes).

"Included Traffic" is how much data transfer in+out you can do over the line to Tsoft and the Internet before incurring any extra charges.

All "Extra Traffic" on the DSL line is billed at $3 per 100 Megabytes transfered, rounded down to the nearest 100MB block.

The "Price Cap" is the most you will ever pay per month for the DSL service, including the line charge, bandwith, and IP subnet options (not including other optional services below).

"Traffic at Price Cap" is the approximate amount of Total Traffic on the line before you will reach the price cap, including the base charge plus any extra traffic, above which you won't pay anything.

Additional Services

Your DSL connection also comes with the following at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE!

Single modem dialup for backup and remote access. This dialup account is intended for occasional remote access--25 hours a month of usage are included, with extra hours billed at 50 cents per hour upto a maximum of $17. If you use this account as a backup because there is a problem with your DSL line, that time is not counted or charged against your hours.
Two (2) POP email boxes @tsoft.com
Registration of and hosting of your domain name for email purposes (upto 2 domains included; all Internic fees additional), and of course pointing hosts to your network including to your web server, if desired.
or optionally secondary DNS servers if you host your own domain.

Residential DSL Service (Covad DSL loop)

We don't know when we will be able to accept orders for this Covad service. We cannot accept orders just yet because we're waiting for Covad to provide a promised way to buy these lines through resellers (read larger ISPs) since they are refusing to sell these lines direct to smaller ISPs. When we are able to order them we will still be providing the Internet connectivity but probably receiving the connection to Covad's network via another company, as yet to be determined. Because of this and the high startup costs for Covad's service, we expect to be offering DSL over Pacbell lines by mid-June.

This service is provided over Covad TeleSurfer residential DSL lines and may only be installed at residential addresses. It does not have the packet loss and latency guarantees of Covad's business-grade TeleSpeed lines, and it has a lower priority for repair should a problem occur.

Speed DSL
Line*^ Internet
+ Access Total
= Base $ Incl.
Traffic Extra
Traffic Price
Cap Traffic @
Price Cap

384/128Kbps $50.95 $25 $75.95 3,000 MB $3/100MB $395.95 13,667 MB

384/384Kbps $59.95 $35 $94.95 3,000 MB $3/100MB $584.95 19,333 MB

768/384Kbps $59.95 $45 $104.95 3,000 MB $3/100MB $699.95 22,833 MB

*^ FCC and/or CPUC taxes apply to the DSL line portion, and are additional. Currently this is 4.22% of the DSL line charge.

Speed	DSL Line*^	Internet + Access	Total = Base $	Incl. Traffic	Extra Traffic	Price Cap	Traffic @ Price Cap
384/128Kbps	$50.95	$25	$75.95	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$395.95	13,667 MB
384/384Kbps	$59.95	$35	$94.95	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$584.95	19,333 MB
768/384Kbps	$59.95	$45	$104.95	3,000 MB	$3/100MB	$699.95	22,833 MB

Covad one-time/setup or change charges:

Line Installation: $325

Inside wire: $88 first hour, $20 each addtl. $15 minutes (optional)

Covad's Early Termination penalty (1 year circuit commitment): $250 refundable deposit

Hardware: one required but you may supply your own (plus sales tax):

Hardware	Price
Efficient Speedstream 5250 SDSL bridge	$249

Change Covad DSL line from 144Kbps IDSL to or from any other speed: $199 plus a change in hardware.

Change Covad DSL line speed between any speeds faster than 144Kbps IDSL: $99 (change from SDSL to ADSL may require change in hardware)

This service is Bridged-only, however each end customer has their own PVC and there are no security or performance issues with broadcast packets as there are with some other bridge implementations.
It comes with 2-bit static subnet, for our router and one computer on your side. While we don't mind if you use Network Address Translation (NAT), you will need to provide your own device to perform NAT functions, and Tsoft is not providing technical support for NAT configurations on this service.
Static IP subnet address blocks are available as follows:

3-bit subnet (router + 5 computers): $15.00/mo
4-bit subnet* (router + 13 computers): $25/mo
5-bit to Full Class C** (router + 29 to 253 computers): $35/mo

"Total Base" is the minimum you'd pay per month for the DSL service, including the line charge (not including optional services below or taxes).

"Included Traffic" is how much data transfer in+out you can do over the line to Tsoft and the Internet before incurring any extra charges.

All "Extra Traffic" on the DSL line is billed at $3 per 100 Megabytes transfered, rounded down to the nearest 100MB block.

The "Price Cap" is the most you will ever pay per month for the DSL service, including the line charge, bandwith, and IP subnet options (not including other optional services below).

"Traffic at Price Cap" is the approximate amount of Total Traffic on the line before you will reach the price cap, including the base charge plus any extra traffic, above which you won't pay anything.

Additional Services

Your DSL connection also comes with the following at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE!

Single modem dialup for backup and remote access. This dialup account is intended for occasional remote access--25 hours a month of usage are included, with extra hours billed at 50 cents per hour upto a maximum of $17. If you use this account as a backup because there is a problem with your DSL line, that time is not counted or charged against your hours.
Two (2) POP email boxes @tsoft.com
Registration of and hosting of your domain name for email purposes (upto 2 domains included; all Internic fees additional), and of course pointing hosts to your network including to your web server, if desired.
or optionally secondary DNS servers if you host your own domain.

Additional Services Available (both grades of service)

Option: Additional POP email box on our server @ $3/mo.
Shell account (first): $6/mo.
- Included: 40MB of disk space
- Included: 500MB/mo. of Web/FTP data serving
  (Note that this traffic is not cumulative with traffic on Measured DSL service).
- Included: CGI-BIN directory; scripts run as your UID
- Option: Additional disk quota 5MB block @ $1.50/block/mo.
- Additional: 100MB of Web/FTP data serving @ $3/block
- Option: Virtual Web/FTP hosting @ $7/mo. (max 3 per shell at this price)
Shell account (second and beyond): $12/mo.
- Options for additional shell accounts... same as for first shell.
Upgrade dial backup to 2B ISDN or Multilink Analog: $5/mo. base to maximum $35/mo total.

Covad (ONLY) Refundable security deposit

The following early termination charge does not apply to NorthPoint lines as there is no commitment on the line itself. Note however that you may agree to pay an early termination charge to Tsoft separate and in addition to this early termination charge even on NorthPoint service if you commit to a term of service in exchange for reduced or waived install and/or discounted service.

Tsoft requires a $250 refundable deposit when service is provided over Covad DSL lines. This deposit is required as security against Covad's early termination charge (see below), and is refundable after one year if the following conditions are met:

You have made payments on time throughout the first year of service; if you were late with any payments, we may continue to hold your deposit as security against any charges.
If you are continuing with our DSL services, we will apply the deposit as a credit to your account rather than refund in cash. If the credit would be for more than three months of your continued service, you may request a cash refund of the excess instead of a credit.
In any case, if you terminate service with us, the deposit is first applied against any payments due to us, and the excess, if any, is refunded to you.

We may require an additional deposit equal to one month's of total service charges for those customers who are late with payments habitually. Because of the hard costs we must collect and are liable to Covad for each customer (the DSL loop), we intend to enforce our billing policies stringently for DSL customers. It is very easy to avoid this deposit requirement, simply remit payment on time each month.

NOTICE: Tsoft holds deposit funds co-mingled in its general account, and does NOT pay interest on the funds.

Covad's service requires a one-year term commitment for the DSL line. Tsoft does not require any term commitment from our customers for our service, but may offer reduced or waived install and/or reduced monthly service charges in exchange for a term commitment to our service. Covad's early termination charge of $250 applies if you disconnect the Covad DSL circuit within the first year (of course, if you're near the end of the term, it may be advantagious to just pay the loop cost until the service reaches the 1 year mark). Covad's early termination charge does not apply if service is terminated for the following reasons:

You want to switch ISPs to another Covad-partner ISP; just Covad's $99 service change charge applies.
You disconnect because you are moving locations, as long as you reorder Covad service at the new location; just the service activation charge (currently $325) from Covad applies at the new location; early termination charge at the old are waived, and the term commitment period restarts at the new location.

Cost Comparisons

Our comparison section needs revising with our new lower pricing and will be back shortly...

All terms and parameters of these accounts, both explicit and implied, are subject to change without notice prior to the account being implemented, and with reasonable notice (generally 30 days) after the account has been activated. Tsoft may, in its discretion, "grandfather" advantagious terms and/or pricing for an existing customer or group of customers.

Questions? sales@tsoft.com