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Cable modem competition speeds up
By DAVE GUSSOW, Times Personal Technology Editor
© St. Petersburg Times, Road Runner is getting some company in the high-speed lane for cable Internet access, but consumers hoping competition would lead to lower prices may be disappointed. Service from EarthLink is scheduled to start Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area over the same lines that carry Time Warner's cable service. And, at some point, America Online and Juno (www.juno.com) also will be available in the fast lane. According to its Web site (www.earthlink.com), EarthLink has an introductory price of $41.95 a month with free installation. But its regular price will be $49.95, or $5 a month more than Road Runner, which recently raised its rate from $39.95 a month. Some areas of Pinellas County already have another choice, Verizon's WorldWind service (www.gtecablemodem.com), which costs $41.95 a month. Until now, buying cable modem service from Time Warner meant getting its Road Runner service, like it or not. Those who wanted to continue connecting through America Online, the most popular online service, have had to pay AOL an additional $9.95 a month. The Federal Communications Commission forced Time Warner to open its cable lines to competing services as part of its approval of Time Warner's merger with AOL. EarthLink also has to launch in a market before AOL is offered directly over Time Warner cable. EarthLink officials refused to talk about the service or its plans before its official start-up in the bay area. EarthLink of Atlanta, the third-largest Internet service provider behind AOL and Microsoft's MSN, is a publicly traded company founded in 1994. It merged last year with Mindspring. The company has received high marks for customer satisfaction for its dial-up service, ranking third in a survey in Consumer Reports magazine's September issue and second in a study from J.D. Power and Associates. In addition, J.D. Power's study ranked Road Runner and EarthLink the top two for high-speed service. EarthLink also offers digital subscriber line service, which is carried over phone lines. Most high-speed providers have been raising rates this year, with $45 to $50 a month the average range. Cable access generally is faster and less expensive than digital subscriber lines. Verizon Online, for example, charges $49.95 a month for its most popular consumer DSL plan. Only 5 percent of U.S. homes have high-speed Internet access, according to the Yankee Group, a market research company in Boston. Those consumers enjoy faster downloads and improved quality for music, video, games and other online activities. But the majority still use slower dial-up connections over phone lines. Dial-up access typically costs from about $19.95 a month to AOL's $23.90. Road Runner says it has more than 150,000 subscribers in the bay area. People who want EarthLink do not have to subscribe to Time Warner's cable TV service, but the bill will come from Time Warner, according to EarthLink's Web site. EarthLink will handle customer support.
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From Tech Times
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