NWA-PCUG 03/99 NewsLetter Article 18861 N. Hwy 112, Springdale, AR 72762-9303 Ken's Korner Bulletin No Bill Pending on Internet Access Charges; Other Developments May Have Triggered Warning By Ken Fermoyle During February I received several doomsday e-mail messages like this one: 'Subject New Internet Usage Charge There seems to be another of those "quiet" bills that go through Congress and come back to bite us later. You may wish to reply or pay higher phone bills in the future. Congress will be voting in less than two weeks. CNN stated that the Government would, in two weeks time, decide to allow or not allow a charge to your phone bill equal to a long distance call EACH time you access the Internet.' I've seen reports similar to this three times in the past 14 months or so, and they have all been hoaxes or the result of misunderstandings. I checked with several sources, including my local congressman and some major computer publications, and there is no basis for this one either. NWA-PCUG Editor Note: I and several other members have received the same assurance from our local congressmen. What might have triggered it is the current hassle between cable companies and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) over use of cables for access to the Internet. Simply put, the situation is this: The ISPs, joined by America Online (which is an online service with its own gateway to the Internet, not a true ISP), want to provide cable access to the Net for their customers. They argue that they should be able to buy this access from cable companies and resell it to their customers. This is essentially how they provide dial-up access via telephone lines now. Cable companies contend that they have spent billions to install the necessary cable infrastructure and they should not be required to share it with competitors. Both sides have a point. Cable companies have spent a great deal on their systems, but they would not be giving away access for free. ISPs would have to pay them for use of the cable systems. They also claim that opening up their cable systems to ISPs would reduce the value of the service to their customers. Internet cable access is somewhat akin to the old "party line" type of telephone service; the more people you have using a given service, the slower that service becomes, due to bandwidth limitations. ISPs argue that allowing cable companies sole use of the cable systems would give them a monopoly on a type of Internet access that is expected to become very popular because it is much faster than dial-up telephone access. However, another technology promises to become a major player in the Internet access free-for-all currently brewing. (Have you noticed all the recent major acquisitions and mergers of telephone, cable and other communications giants? All of them are driven by efforts to get a major share of the huge new market evolving with the convergence of telephone, cable, computer and digital technologies.) The new technology is called DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). It brings high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines. xDSL refers to different variations of DSL, such as ADSL (Asymmetric DSL). Assuming your home or small business is close enough to a telephone company central office that offers DSL service, you may soon be able to receive data at rates up to 6.1Mbps (millions of bits per second), enabling continuous transmission of motion video, audio, and even 3-D effects. More typically, individual connections will provide from 1.544Mbps to 512 Kbps downstream and about 128 Kbps upstream. A major DSL line advantage is that it can carry both data and voice signals and the data part of the line is continuously connected. And, of course, it makes use of the telephone lines that blanket the country. I got some afield from my original point (reassuring readers about Net Access Charges), but perhaps this brief summary will give you a better idea of what's happening in today's seething cauldron of mass communications brought on by the Internet explosion. Ken Fermoyle, columnist (Ken's Korner) & publisher Fermoyle Publications, (818) 346-9384 22250 Capulin Court, Woodland Hills, CA 91364-3005 Newsletters, Editorial Services, Graphics & Web Design "In the beginning was the Word..." And don't you forget it!