Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday August 18 2002 — B3 itrcDsiAaimd aloft)® NEW YORK (AP) — Highspeed Internet connections may be getting cheaper but only if you’ll settle for a slower version of fast Hoping to attract Internet users who won’t pay the $50 or so a month for a typical broadband connection some providers are moving away from a approach and introducing a slower lower-price- d level of service 200 to 250 kilobits per second these “broadband lite” services are several times faster than a dial-u- p telephone connection but perhaps only a third as fast as a typical cable or DSL connection “It’s a little bit slower but a heck of a lot faster than dialup and well worth the money” said Steve Martin a longtime America Online customer who recently switched 66 Omul Communications one of the failures of the collapse is high-profi- le dot-co- m now taking another aggressive' stab at the powerful telephone and cable TV monopolies that dominate broadband Rejuvenated by a stint in bankruptcy the company recently launched a digital subscriber line or DSL service priced at $3995 a month with an introductory rate of $2195 for the first four months Charter Communications the nation’s fourth largest cable TV company has been offering broadband for $30 or $35 a month on most of its systems in 40 states for at least a year And Cox Communications the No 5 cable provider has been experimenting with a d service in Las Vegas where subscribers can get a broadband connection for $2695 per month The catch? With download speeds of lower-price- “It's addictive They can never go back' to dial-up- " —Charles Golvln Industry analyst to Covad at his home in San Jose Calif The speed probably won’t satisfy those looking to download music or set up a Web ' site But Martin a procurement officer for a technology company considers his Covad connection speed more than sufficient for checking downloading photographs and making travel arrangements ail “The killer application on the Internet is still and as long as that’s the case 200k (kilobits per second) is fine” said Mark Kersey an industry analyst for ARS Research It’s unclear yet whether tiered broadband will help reverse the price increases that cable and phone companies put in place as the dot-comeltdown wiped out competition from feisty rivals like Covad At the end of June the average monthly chaige for cable ' broadband was $4531 up from $3705 at the end of 2000 according to the latest market survey by ARS Research DSL prices averaged $5136 at midyear up : from $4884 at the close of 2000 ARS reported Tiered pricing isn’t exactly new to broadband For years customers willing to pay more than $50 a month have been able to get speedier connects But now possibly due to the renewed competition the big players are also toying with a ' tiered approach at the lower end AT&T Broadband which two weeks ago launched a faster tier of cable Internet service for $80 a month also plans market trials with a lower-spee- d version later this year Verizon Communications and SBC Communications the two largest local phone companies and providers of DSL both told The Associated Press they are mulling a cheaper tier of service ' m The move toward tiered pricing can also help cable companies allocate bandwidth more effectively in neighborhoods where network capacity is strained during prime-tim- e hours But most of the companies dabbling with a lower-price- d version of broadband are merely hoping to get dial-u- p users hooked on speed dent that even the most price- -' conscious subscribers will quickly recognize what they were missing without an connection "always-on- ” And even if it's not blistering fast they say it’s certainly speedier than a traditional telephone modem “It’s addictive They can never go back to dial-up- ” said Charles Golvin an indus- tty analyst at Forrester Research “The always-o-n' part is as important as the speed It’s the always-o- n part that gets people to change Broadband for a bigger market per second n 200-25-0 downloaded $30-4- £ kbps 0 s 56 kbps modem Up to $25 uL 1 SOURCES: Astociatod Pratt Coved Communication! Charter Communication! Vtruon Communication! unused network capacity “What these providers are discovering is that they all ' spent a decent amount of money to build out their backbones They have a good amount of capacity and a lotof it is not being utilized" - their behavior" Naturally because the profit But ideally for players both big and small any entry-levtier of service will serve as a stepping stone to higher-revenu- e plans According to Golvin and Kersey once people convert to broadband getting them to pay $10 more for faster service is easier than getting them to initially switch from dial-u- p which often entails hassles such as installation and address changes el ' said Kersey at ARS “Covad’s got this great backbone and only about 350000 people using it so why not persuade people to switch from dial- - offer- margins on entry-lev- el ings are less than robust there are questions about whether such business models are any more viable than they were boom during the dot-cor Covad believes its model can work now that regulatory changes allow it to provide DSL over a customer’s existing telephone line rather than a separately installed line Tiered broadband may also be a response to a glut of up?” m wi be heW August 20 and fiMMraMw M3 21" n &00pjn-ft00pj- Cache Chamber of Commerce North Entrance 160 North Main Logan Utah Rales are Great! £ $40-5- 0 VKi-- Workshop kbps 0 0 (speed ol typical broadband sendee) Kilobytes workshop to help you —t up and operate a smaN buolnoss - 600-75- Internet access to new customers by offering plans with graduated speeds and pricing SCORE l sponaorinfl f 1500 kbps $50-6- A few communications companies are hoping to bring broadband ARE YOU BfTERESIED Bl SIAKIEIQ YOUR OWN BUSINESS?? 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