Internet Access: Ease Broadband Jitters
Wary that your broadband provider may suddenly evaporate? Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself.Tom Spring
Change is the only constant, an old saying goes, and boy, when you're talking about broadband Internet access, is it ever true. As service providers go bankrupt, consolidate, or disappear, analysts say consumers should prepare for more dips and twists on this Internet roller-coaster ride.
The cable ISP landscape--rocked last fall by the Excite@Home shutdown--is especially ripe for shakeups in 2002, analysts say. Comcast Corporation's purchase of AT&T Broadband, which absorbed Excite's customers, could spark additional cable and ISP consolidation, according to Patti Reali, principal analyst with Gartner Dataquest.
What does this mean for the consumer? Watch for more changes to e-mail addresses--along with sluggish Net access and intermittent outages--as AT&T Broadband, Comcast, and Cox Communications subscribers make transitions to new networks.
Additionally, "innovation is going to be slower than if we had vibrant competition," says Joe Laszlo, an analyst with Jupiter Media Matrix. With fewer providers around, the broadband ISPs won't have to worry that their rivals may try to offer better features or steal customers.
Control Your Destiny
Even if you weren't affected by the Excite@Home closure or the AT&T Broadband buyout, you might have been a victim of a DSL provider's bankruptcy last year. But there are several ways to protect yourself from future turmoil:
Get a backup Internet access account, either prepaid or through a second service. Prepaid Internet dial-up access--offered by vendors such as AT&T, MaGlobe, Slingshot, and Sprint--operates much as prepaid phone cards do, and also is handy when you're traveling. For example, Sprint sells a $10 card that gives users 8 hours of Net time.
Use a second provider to gain a backup e-mail address, such as a free Web-based account from Microsoft's Hotmail or Yahoo Mail. Executives of the big new cable broadband entity that will be known as AT&T Comcast are already warning that it may be necessary for millions of their current customers to change their e-mail addresses after the merger, so taking a little preventive action couldn't hurt.
Evaluate other companies for price breaks. In 2002, you'll likely find cheaper rates from a competing ISP selling service on your existing cable network. Both AT&T Comcast and AOL Time Warner promise to open their networks to ISPs such as EarthLink and Microsoft's MSN.
Don't throw your records away. If you think the future looks bleak for your ISP, be sure to keep complete billing records in case you need to ask for a refund. If you become convinced that your ISP is sinking, do your homework and find a reliable replacement.
With all this uncertainty in the air, why not return to less-shaky dial-up service? Modern cliché or not, it's true: Once you have broadband, you just won't want to go back.