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.