Unlimited access?

[Steve]

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Parsing the Promise of 'Unlimited' Access

Matt Richtel
NY Times 1/27/99


The standard deal offered by many Internet service providers promises
"unlimited access" to the Net for $19.95 a month. It's an alluring
sales pitch, with one catch: when subscribers seek to take full
advantage of the deal, they may find themselves logged off instead. 

It turns out that many ISPs, including some of the nations largest
providers, discourage users from maintaining a continuous connection
to the Net, or from spending several hundred hours a month online.
Violators can receive warnings, have their session disconnected, or
be terminated from a service altogether. 

Some consumers and consumer advocacy groups contend the ISPs'
advertising policies are misleading and inconsistent, but the ISPs
disagree. They say they do indeed offer unlimited access -- as long as
subscribers are actively using their connection, and not remaining
idly logged on. 

Still, some ISPs acknowledge they have struggled with the widespread
and seemingly accepted use of the marketing term "unlimited," saying
it puts them in an awkward position. 

"It's like with President Clinton," said Steve Dougherty, director of
Internet operations for EarthLink Network Inc., a San Diego-based ISP.
"It depends on how you define 'access.'" 

EarthLink, which has more than 1 million users, specifically notes on
its Web site that the company offers unlimited access. Dougherty said
access is indeed unlimited, but there are exceptions -- exceptions
that are characteristic of other ISPs. According to the company's
terms of service agreement, subscribers are not permitted to use the
service on a "standby or inactive basis." 

In other words, a subscriber cannot simply log on, then leave the
connection open while not making any active use of it. The policies
of ISPs vary, but, generally the companies employ software to inform
them when a subscriber is continuously logged on for an extended
period, say 10 hours a day. If an ISP detects an idle connection, it
will automatically log off the client, or send a warning. 

Some ISPs periodically send messages asking if a subscriber is still
using a connection. America Online for example, checks in with users
every 10 minutes and, if it gets no response, logs off the account,
said Wendy Goldberg, a company spokeswoman. Generally, ISPs wait 30
to 45 minutes without activity to log off an account, said Todd
Erickson, managing editor of Boardwatch Magazine, an industry trade
publication. 

Some Internet users try to circumvent this policy by using software
that implies there is ongoing activity -- as if the individual were
actively surfing the Net or sending e-mail. Other software programs
automatically dial in to the ISP as soon as the connection has ended.
Both types of programs are prohibited by EarthLink, and also commonly
by other ISPs. 

In addition, many ISPs do not permit subscribers to use their
accounts to host Web servers, the type of computer that typically
hosts a Web site, because the Internet connection must be maintained
continuously. 

Dougherty said EarthLink believes its plan can properly be defined as
unlimited, when the term is meant to define access by a person who is
actively using the Internet. If people want a connection to use for a
Web server or e-commerce business, he said, they should invest in a
dedicated access line. 

Yuric Hannart, a manager at Netcom Online Communication Services, an
ISP in San Jose, echoed a common theme in noting that the problem
arises in a tiny fraction of subscribers -- although those
subscribers account for a significant portion of the service's use.
He said that 3 percent of Netcom's subscribers account for 30 percent
of the total time spent online by Netcom users. Hannart said the
company only terminates a particular individual's connection when the
pool of modems subscribers dial into becomes so overloaded that no
one else can log on. 

Ed Hansen, spokesman for Mindspring Enterprises Inc., an
Atlanta-based ISP, said the company stands by its policy of offering
unlimited access for $19.95 a month. However, Hansen said Mindspring
begins to monitor an account when a subscriber logs "somewhere
between 150 and 300" hours per month, and may terminate a user's
connection if they use software to keep an otherwise inactive account
connected. 

"We have unlimited access," he said. "However, we have other terms of
service." 

Some consumer advocates contend the distinction made by Hansen and
others is a specious one. Charles Langley, a consumer advocate for the
Utility Consumers' Action Network based in San Diego, said the ISPs
are using misleading advertising tactics. "They should qualify it. They
should call it virtually unlimited," he said. "It's sort of like 'sort
of pregnant.'" 

At the same time, Langley conceded that subscribers who are using
their dial-up connections to host Web servers are probably taking
advantage of the system and should obtain a dedicated line to the
Internet instead. 

Not all Internet users think these policies is fair. Mike Swickey, a
resident of Oklahoma City, canceled his EarthLink account a month ago
after he said he received three warnings last year regarding his use
of the service. He said he and his wife have been known to spend 16
hours a day logged on tending to a freelance Web design business. He
said they are not actively surfing the Web or hosting a Web server,
but are waiting for e-mail that is pertinent to the business. 

"I'm actively using the service, but they insist I'm not because I'm
not surfing the Web," Swickey said. 

"They reel you in; you go to their Web site and you see the big
starburst with 'unlimited' in the middle," he said, speaking
generally of ISPs. "There shouldn't be any debate about what that
word means." 

EarthLink contends that it readily lives up to the unlimited moniker
when the connection is being used actively. One time, Dougherty said,
EarthLink found out a woman was using the Internet for 17 hours a
day. They initially warned her the time was excessive, but it turned
out she was a paraplegic who used her connection to stay in touch
with the world. EarthLink deemed the use to be appropriate. 

Some ISPs contend that it is consumers who are being unfair. Greg
Ryan, president of Exec-PC, the dominant ISP in Wisconsin, with
85,000 customers, said the most egregious users are effectively
running servers out of their homes, and keeping connections
established around the clock.

"They're happy to take advantage of what is essentially a loophole in
the system," he said. "We're not going to let them take advantage of
that anymore." 

Ryan said that Exec-PC is among the ISPs considering creating a
tiered pricing system to charge heavy users a higher access rate.
Exec-PC avoids calling its service "unlimited," Ryan said, favoring
the label "no set time limits" to stave off potential lawsuits. 

Meanwhile, Exec-PC is not alone in considering adding a tiered
pricing structure. AT&T WorldNet offers 150 hours of access for
$19.95 a month, while IBM offers 100 hours a month for the same
price. Each charges a fee for additional hours subscribers are logged
on. 

But AT&T, which introduced the 150-hour plan early last year, found
that consumers still wanted an "unlimited" plan. So the company
introduced one in December, priced at $21.95 a month. 

The pricing situation remains very fluid, said Drew Ianni, an analyst
with Jupiter Communications, an Internet research firm. Ianni said
competition may dictate that companies need to offer unlimited access
for $19.95 or even lower, particularly if some of the ongoing
experiments in free, advertiser-supported Internet access pan out. 

The situation remains somewhat awkward for ISPs. The president of one
small ISP in San Jose, who asked to remain anonymous, said the
definition of "unlimited" is "something ISPs don't want to talk about
with the lights on." 

"They don't want to talk about it," he said, "because it's really not
unlimited." 

Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company 






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