Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company  
The Boston Globe
October 17, 2002, Thursday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C4

LENGTH: 528 words

HEADLINE: EARTHLINK DEBUTS ON AT&T NETWORKS OFFERS HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SERVICE

BYLINE: By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff

BODY:
EarthLink yesterday became the first Internet service provider to offer high-speed access over AT&T Broadband cable modem networks serving 3 million homes in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Atlanta-based EarthLink is offering a $42-a-month broadband service, $1 cheaper than the standard package for AT&T customers who buy their cable modem rather than renting it and also take cable television or digital phone service from AT&T.

    The EarthLink offering includes eight e-mail addresses per subscriber, compared to six for AT&T. It also includes some other features not available from AT&T, such as software to block "pop-up" Web ads, an instant-messaging service, and 20 hours a month of dial-up remote Net access, compared to two hours for AT&T that require a $10 sign-up fee.

After years of promises to move toward open access for other ISPs in Massachusetts, AT&T Broadband's deal with EarthLink is the first to hit the market. AT&T also has reached an agreement with Net1Plus, a 15,000-subscriber ISP based in Leominster, but no service launch has been announced.

AT&T and AOL Time Warner are also working on bringing a broadband version of AOL to AT&T systems as soon as next year as part of their deal to unwind AT&T's 25 percent stake in Time Warner Entertainment.

AT&T's cable modem services offer download speeds of up to 1.5 megabits per second with upstream speeds of up to 256 kilobits per second.

US Representative Edward J. Markey, a Malden Democrat who has been a leading advocate of open access for cable broadband systems, praised the EarthLink service launch as "an important down payment on the commitment AT&T has made to me to implement additional ISP choice for consumers . . . across Massachusetts."

Markey added, "Massachusetts consumers and workers are clear winners if the Internet is allowed to thrive with such an open architecture."

Staci Parker, the EarthLink vice president of cable sales, said a key marketing focus will be to persuade existing EarthLink dial-up customers to upgrade to a broadband version. EarthLink will offer the first month of service free and "has no plans any time soon to change the pricing," Parker said.

EarthLink offers high-speed service to 604,000 subscribers nationally over cable modems, telephone digital subscriber lines, and two-way satellite systems. It also has 4.3 million subscribers for its $22-a-month dial-up Internet service. EarthLink sells broadband access in all 39 Time Warner markets nationally and AT&T's Seattle market. With the New England deal with AT&T, it now can reach cable modem markets totaling 23 million homes.

Jennifer L. Khoury, an AT&T Broadband spokeswoman, said the company expects to see few defections of existing customers to EarthLink because it is only $1 a month cheaper, and AT&T customers can get $5 discounts for combining broadband Internet with phone and cable TV service.

"We think it is going to mean significant incremental customers" for AT&T, Khoury said. EarthLink and AT&T are not disclosing how much EarthLink will pay for using AT&T's networks.

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.

LOAD-DATE: October 18, 2002