Ameritech Announces DSL Service Now Available for More Than 100,000 Columbus Homes, Businesses

Say Hello to Super Fast Internet: Fueled by Project Pronto, Company Brings DSL Broadband Service to Columbus Neighborhoods

, , August 09, 2000

With the progress of the ambitious Project Pronto initiative, the future of the Internet is now available to 100,000 Columbus area residents and businesses, Ameritech announced today. The company's announcement heralds the widespread rollout of Ameritech's high-speed, broadband Internet service in Ohio.

From Dublin to New Albany, Upper Arlington to Westerville and Worthington, a largely increased number of Columbus area residents now have DSL service available to them. Citing its commitment to bringing high-speed Internet access to its customers throughout Ohio, Ameritech today released the current list of neighborhoods and towns in which DSL is partially available. The list will continue to grow, reaching nearly 80% of SBC's customers by 2002. Many customers in these communities can now subscribe to SpeedPath, Ameritech.net's high-speed Internet access service powered by Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.

"Ameritech understands the importance of reliable, high-speed Internet access to Ohio residents and businesses," said Jason Few, vice president of SBC Broadband Communications. "We're making a concerted effort to make DSL services available as fast as possible on a wide-spread basis. City and suburban customers now have access to DSL services, and we expect to make service available to many more residential and business customers this year."

DSL today enables Ameritech customers to access the Internet or corporate networks at speeds up to 50 times faster than conventional traditional 28.8 kilobits per seconds (Kbps) analog modems. DSL also is an "always available" connection that eliminates the need for dial-ups.

The DSL deployment is part of Project Pronto, a $6 billion initiative that will transform Ameritech's parent company, SBC Communications, Inc., into America's largest single broadband provider. Project Pronto will make SBC's DSL service available to approximately 77 million people by 2002 and will dramatically increase the speed of DSL service.

"Wide-spread DSL availability in the Columbus area is the most visible benefit of Project Pronto," said Few. "Pronto also is an important long-term investment in the states we serve. With the technology we're making available, we're ensuring our communities can access advanced services as they're introduced - giving our customers continual access to the leading edge of next-generation products and services."

To receive service today, the distance from customers' homes to a DSL-equipped central office must be no longer than 12,000 feet, or 2.2 miles, and must meet certain transmission criteria. As Project Pronto moves forward, Ameritech is deploying fiber deeper into neighborhoods and installing neighborhood broadband gateways to bring capabilities now housed in central offices closer to customers to virtually eliminate the distance limitation in neighborhoods where the gateways are deployed.

Currently, Ameritech.net's SpeedPath 768 service provides downstream connection speeds up to 768 kilobits per second - 25 times faster than traditional 28.8 Kbps analog modems - and an upload connection speed up 128 Kbps. Through a special promotion by Ameritech.net, SpeedPath 768 is available for $39.95 per month with free modem, network interface card and installation² with a one-year term commitment.

For even higher speed, Ameritech offers additional SpeedPath options with downstream connection speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second - 50 times faster than a 28.8 Kbps modem - and upstream connections speeds up to 256 Kbps. Downstream connection speeds vary, depending on a customer's distance from the central office and other factors.

Residential consumers in Columbus can call 1-800-910-4369 for more information. Business customers can call 1-800-TEAM-DATA (832-6328) for more information. Residential and business customers are also encouraged to visit http://www.ameritech.com/Tools/goto2?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eameritech%2Enet for more information. Web site visitors can enter their area code and prefix to determine if a DSL-equipped central office serves them.

¹ SpeedPath service is provided by Ameritech Corp.'s ISP subsidiary, Ameritech Interactive Media Services.

² Additional charges for line conditioning may apply. A charge applies for early termination.

Ameritech is the premier provider of communications services in the Upper Midwest, with nearly 20 million business and residential customers ? more than 22 million access lines ? across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. It is a company of SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, SBC Telecom, Nevada Bell, SNET and Cellular One - and world-class network, SBC's subsidiaries provide local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, paging, high-speed Internet access and messaging, cable and satellite television, security services and telecommunications equipment, as well as directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 61.2 million access lines, 12.2 million wireless customers and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring SBC service to an additional 30 markets. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in more than 20 countries. With approximately 219,000 employees, SBC is the 13th-largest employer in the U.S., with annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.