Chapter 4
How Do You Get Connected?
Getting Online . . . Choosing the Right Service for You
An Internet service provider or an online service? This can be a difficult choice. An Internet service provider (ISP) simply gives you Internet access and e-mail, while an online service gives you both of those things, plus extra content available only to their own subscribers.
Online services
There are four major online services: America Online (AOL), CompuServe Interactive, Prodigy Internet and The Microsoft Network (MSN). Online service providers offer fun and interesting content in addition to e-mail and Internet access. The content is broken into two groups—content provided by outside sources, like ABC News and Nickelodeon (provided under contractual relationships usually combined with advertising revenue sharing), and content provided by members, volunteer hosts and paid representatives of the online service. (I volunteer my time when I host and moderate areas online.)
The online services are like small towns on the entrance ramps to the information superhighway, complete with maps for helping you get around. Each one also offers chatrooms and discussion boards. You can wander around the "town" and never venture onto the Internet proper. Without leaving the online service's own territory, you can communicate publicly with fellow subscribers in two ways: posting and chatting. You can also communicate with people who are not on your online service via e-mail and access the Internet itself. It is often the best of both worlds.
Chatting takes place in aptly named chat rooms. They are usually dedicated to a single topic or interest (for these purposes, we'll skip discussion of the . . . um . . . "romance-related" rooms). Some chat rooms operate only on a preset schedule, while others are open all hours. AOL leads all of the other services in the chat room game.
Chatting, like IRCs, is a typed live conversations. You sit at your computer and type in your message. The instant it is sent, it appears on everyone's computer screen, where anyone in the chat room can respond to it and everyone can read that response. It is a large group conversation, in real time, but instead of words being spoken and heard and responded to in kind, they are typed and read and responded to in kind. It can get confusing, though, with many conversations going on at the same time. In addition, if you want to chat, you should learn some acronyms, as conversation shorthand. Without them, you'll be lost as people converse in shorthand around you. (I've shared a few in the Ms. Parry's Rules of Netiquette chapter.)
The more popular chats aren't special scheduled topic chats. They're the ad hoc, drop-in-and-see-who's-there chats. Sometimes the chat room has a designated topic, but it's usually something like "single parents" or "New Yorkers." In these unmonitored chatrooms, the conversation can quickly deteriorate, which probably accounts for both the chat rooms' extreme popularity among adults, and their corresponding risk to children.
An "event" is usually a special chat orchestrated by the online service, with a guest celebrity. Held in cyber auditoriums, they're promoted heavily by the online service. In most events members can't chat directly with the guest, but can post their questions and comments to a moderator who screens the questions, submitting some for the guest's response. Some terrific people appear as guests in cyberevents, and you might even get a chance to ask them the question you've always wanted to.
Discussion boards are bulletin boards. Just like tacking a note on a bulletin board at your local supermarket, any member can post a message on a discussion bulletin board. Then, whenever someone else wants to comment on the posting, answer the question or add a question of their own, they can post a reply or another message to the board. Instead of using thumbtacks and scribbled index cards, online service members use electronic posts. It's more high tech, but really the same thing. You can post something at a time convenient to you, and others can reply (or just lurk, which means you don't respond but just read what others have to say) when it's convenient for them.
Discussion boards are broken into topics located in separate topical forums, like Court TV Law Center (where I hosted the Legal Helpline for a year) or my Legal Discussion boards in Legal Information Network on AOL (keyword "lin"). My sister, as Kid Doc, has her own child health discussion boards in Thrive on AOL, too (keyword "Thrive"). (I couldn't help the shameless plugs . . . so shoot me!).
Chatrooms and discussion boards are two of the biggest draws for online service providers. Several media companies have great forums online, like Oprah (keyword "Oprah"), CNN (keyword "CNN") and ABC News (keyword "ABC"), where they can maintain closer touch with their regular viewers. (They're all wonderful sites, and if you haven't checked them out yet, I suggest that you do.) Even if they also have websites with the same content, the online service is a much more pleasant forum in which to navigate. That's the secret to the online service's real success, especially in capturing the beginners' market.
The biggest advantage to these forums is that they're easy to use. Anyone can get online for the first time and start enjoying themselves within minutes. You don't have to worry about setting up your browser or configuring your e-mail. (I've given you a whole section just on e-mail later on in the chapter Person-to-Person Online . . . E-mail, so hold your horses.) It's all preset and automatic. Some people outgrow the online service eventually, but many of us still spend a large part of our online time in our favorite forums. It's often much easier than having to venture onto the Internet itself.
ISPs
Internet Service Providers, or "ISPs," give you direct access to the Internet. Aside from some limited content that some services use on their initial screen—called a "home page"—the content you get is the Internet itself.
Since content isn't an issue in comparing one ISP to another, the main choices among them relate to tech support and local access telephone numbers. (I'll explain all these in detail later.) Each carrier also supplies all the tools necessary to access the Internet. Usually for a flat fee of around $19.95 per month for unlimited access, an ISP will provide the user with the requisite software, Web browser and an Internet account. The account will include the basic features of Internet communication: an e-mail account, the ability to access websites and newsgroups, the ability to transfer files to and from different networks (FTP) and the ability to chat "live" with others on the Internet, using the IRC.
You can use a large carrier, with international access numbers (to let you surf while traveling) and more tech support, or a local carrier who may give you better service . . . because after all, you know where they live! It's a matter of weighing the features that work best for you.
The ISPs may also function as landlords to the tenants of the Internet for those interested in putting up their own website, by providing space on their computer "server" for websites. Some services, like Mindspring, also include website server hosting for a small site in certain packages for a flat monthly fee.
A server is a computer attached to the Internet and set up to hold information to be accessed from the Internet. You may also read about "host" and "client" designations. These define the role the computer is playing at the time. Is it asking for information?—then it's a client. Is it supplying the information?—then it's the host. One computer may play both roles, at different times. (Sorry . . . sometimes I get carried away. . . .)
Comparing ISPs with Online Services
Pepsi or Coke? Great taste or less filling? Butter or Parkay? Some things can never be resolved.
But there's no way out. In order to get online, you need an Internet account of some kind. There are two ways to get online. (Actually, there's a new third hybrid type of service that the Microsoft Network has spearheaded, but I couldn't think of any three-choice examples as good as these two-choice examples . . . ) You can use an online service provider (like AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy and The Microsoft Network) or a regular Internet service provider (like Netcom, AT&T, Sprint and MCI). That means you have to choose. (If you want to use special technology, though, you may not have a choice. You might have to use the service provider connected to the technology, like with WebTV or with the new cable high-speed modem access such as Time Warner's Road Runner or Comcast Cable's @Home.)
What's the Difference Between the Online Services?
If you decide you want to use an online service, you'll have to choose among them. There are four major online services. America Online is by far the most popular of the online service providers, with over eight million members. Until recently, CompuServe had always been known as the preferred service for professionals and businesses, and Prodigy had always been known as the family online service until AOL became more popular. The popularity of CompuServe and Prodigy has generally decreased as AOL's has increased.
MSN, Microsoft's online service network, is a hybrid. It works from a Web-based system, like a large website, rather than a special proprietary system like AOL. (It's the third type of system I mentioned: part ISP / part online service provider.) And when the dust settles we may end up with many more hybrid services, part online service provider and part ISP. Both CompuServe and Prodigy have also redesigned or are going to redesign their systems to look more like an ISP service.
America Online
"The Internet is too valuable a tool to be left to the techies of the world." That's how America Online begins its description of what it has to offer to members. It's the reason that AOL has grown so quickly and become so popular. AOL is not for techies . . . it's for everyone.
AOL is undisputedly the most popular of the four leading online services. It also has the most discussion groups (25,000). According to industry reports, AOL has about 2 million child users, approximately half of the entire 1996 worldwide Internet children's population. One of the main reasons for its popularity with kids is the wealth of its child content. Outside child content providers like Nickelodeon, ABC Kidzine (from the ABC network), Disney.com, Highlights for Children, and DC Comics keep the content fresh and varied. (Some of these content providers are now also offering websites, so anyone with Internet access can enjoy them.)
AOL charges the same as most ISPs, $19.95 per month for unlimited usage. But for the same $19.95 you get much more.
The real power of AOL for its members of all ages is its chatrooms and its "channels." Each channel covers a different subject, represented by a different graphic which you can click on to get to the area of AOL that you want. One of the most popular channels on AOL is their "Kids Only" channel—recommended by more children I spoke with than any other children's online site.
Parents like "Kids Only" for more than its content. It's a childsafe environment, especially for the younger children. Parents can configure their AOL account so that when their child logs on with her username and password, she can only access "Kids Only" and can't get into any other area of AOL. The parental controls can block instant messages too (a smart thing to do for younger kids), which is a vehicle many adults use when trying to lure kids into private communications. You can also block their receipt of e-mail, a precaution you may want to take if your kids are young and you're not prescreening their mail.
"Kids Only" even has a homework helpline (so that you don't have to tell your child that you forgot how to calculate the square root of a number over twenty years ago). There are also additional parental control features, where parents can use Cyber Patrol's technology to filter what their children can access outside of the "Kids Only" boards. (We'll review Cyber Patrol later on in the Using Technology to Implement and Enforce Your Choices chapter . . . don't worry.)
For older children and teenagers, there are other channels with information on topics that they'll find interesting, like "Computers & Software," "Entertainment," "Games," "Sports," "Style Channel," "Life Styles and Interests" and "Music Space." There are also sections that they'll find helpful, even if not as interesting, such as "Learning & Culture" and "Reference Desk."
Older kids and teens also appreciate a couple of features unique to AOL, such as its Buddy List and Instant Messages. With the buddy list, a member can be alerted if any designated friends or family (who also use AOL) are online at the same time she is. She then can send an Instant Message to her buddy with a message that pops up on her buddy's screen. (This feature can be turned off if she is trying to get homework done and her friends' messages keep popping up; let's face it, they are probably more interesting than her research on the major export of Tunisia).
And here's another shameless plug of my sister's forum, Thrive. Deanna Aftab Guy, M.D. (my mother always makes me use the "M.D." part whenever I talk about DiDi) as "KidDoc" on Thrive, answers parents' questions in live chats and discussion boards. She's a terrific pediatrician and a very popular cyberceleb on AOL. (She must be great, since she gets paid to run her forums and I'm still an unpaid Host running my legal discussion boards . . . oh, well.)
Unfortunately, though, AOL's popularity has been its biggest problem since late last year. Until the end of 1996, AOL charged for hourly usage. Recently, with its new unlimited usage plan, the amount of time its users spend online has increased and many new people have signed on, putting an impossible strain on the service. Unable to handle the increased demand, it became known as "America Offline" by disgruntled users. Now, after AOL invested approximately $350 million to expand their capabilities, it's becoming easier to get online again.
I guess it's like having your favorite restaurant get a four-star review and then not being able to get a table without waiting an hour and a half. If the food is good enough you'll wait, and keep coming back. Even with the difficulties in getting connected to AOL, the variety and quality of content kept their user base intact. They'll complain, but they stay (or have come back). Our family reviewers tell us AOL is worth the wait.
CompuServe Interactive
CompuServe Interactive is free for the first month for up to ten hours, then there are two pricing options of $24.95 per month for unlimited usage, or $9.95 per month with five free hours included, and each additional hour charged at $2.95. According to the numbers provided by CompuServe, approximately five million home and business users subscribe to their service.
CompuServe currently has many areas of interest to children and teenagers. With "KidsNet," "eDisney," and "Tell Me a Story," CompuServe provides content to appeal to children from ages six to sixteen. It provides chat rooms where children, teens, and adults can converse in real time in a forum chosen for a particular content. There is a "Research and Reference" section that includes an online encyclopedia and a "Study Guide Forum" to help kids with study topics including literature, social science, and history, just to name a few.
CompuServe has a Parental Control Center which allows parents to limit what their children can access online. In addition, as a member of CompuServe, you can download and use Cyber Patrol for free for one year. Although CompuServe's own parental controls cover a wide range of topics (a list of all the blocked topics are available online), they suggest using it in conjunction with Cyber Patrol for maximum protection. To turn on or shut off protection, your password is required. Then, you can choose to block sites and places on CompuServe, on the Internet, or both, as well as choose whether you want to block these areas permanently or only for one session. The program simply returns "Access Denied" if someone tries to go to a blocked area.
CompuServe also has many kids' sites. By simply searching for "kids" in the find menu, a range of links comes up. One such area is "Kids Central." It has a link to "Kool Kids Websites," which offers names of safe and kid-oriented pages. "Kids Central" also offers "Friends & Pets," a page of links to animal areas online; "Fun & Games," links to sites related to cartoons and kid-TV shows; and "Study Hall," with access to encyclopedias and educational sites. The online sites offered by the first two links seem thorough. Just about every hobby and/or activity is covered. "Study Hall" provides a lot of information as the search engines peruse CompuServe's own databases as well as information from the Web.
Another advantage to choosing CompuServe is that their technical support is very helpful, resourceful, and patient with any technical questions. This can be a big plus for any newbie struggling to get online. (They didn't know who we were when we called for tech support, and we called them repeatedly with lots of inane questions. They were always helpful and patient.)
Prodigy Internet
Prodigy Internet is available for $19.95 per month with unlimited usage, and together with Prodigy Classic has approximately 1.5 million users. New members join
Prodigy Internet, which is an ISP/online service provider hybrid service. Prodigy Classic is being phased out totally over the next year.
Prodigy doesn't have much in the way of its own kids' content, and mostly uses general Web content. Prodigy has "communities," approximately fifty different websites with hundreds of links on specific subjects. It also has multiplayer games, sports, music, and an education area. The education section includes Compton's Encyclopedia, which has over 37,000 articles plus images and sounds. So if your child is doing a report on Mozart, she can not only read about him, but also hear nine sound files of his great works.
Prodigy Internet also provides a compilation of educational reference websites including "Study Web," "WWWebster Dictionary," "Roget's Thesaurus," "Digital Library for School Kids," "Magellan Geographix," "Library of Congress," and the "Smithsonian Institute." But remember, these are websites, available to anyone on the Web. They are not proprietary or exclusive Prodigy content.
For your children's safety, there is also an "Access Control" area where parents can use Cyber Patrol software, without charge, to block chat areas or newsgroups completely, as well as blocking access to certain sites.
MSN
The Microsoft Network, which has over 2 million users, offers a number of different pricing plans to suit your needs. The Premier Plan is $6.95 per month and offers five hours of access monthly. Each additional hour costs $2.50. This same plan can be bought
on a yearly basis for $69.95. With this, you get 12 months for the price of 10. The Premier Flat Rate Plan is $19.95 a month and offers unlimited access. The Premier Destination Plan is $6.95 a month and is meant for those who already have Internet access. With the $6.95 plan, you get full access to MSN's programming (including Disney's Daily Blast).
MSN's areas are broken into channels. Channel 1 is the news channel, 2 offers entertainment, 3 is education, 4 is lifestyle, 5 is for young adults, and 6 is for kids.
MSN has perfected the hybrid model. I consider MSN more of an ISP than an online service provider. It is Web-based (which means it's harder for newbies to navigate), but also provides its own content. Once you've perfected the use of a web browser, it becomes easier.
One of the best things about MSN is Disney's Daily Blast, a family site filled with lots of . . . (surprise!) Disney content. (It's available to anyone with Internet access for $4.95 per month at www.disneyblast.com.) Although I don't recommend paying for kids' content generally, given the amount of free kids' content available, Disney's Daily Blast is a great site. Since it's included in MSN, you get an ISP and Disney's Daily Blast for the price of an ISP alone.
Even though there isn't a lot of MSN kids' content, what they have is first rate. "Scrawl," an interactive participant computer game, works like the game Pictionary. You play it "live" with other people online. Microsoft seems to have found a special niche in game sites. "The Zone," according to our teenage (and adults who wished they were) reviewers, is one of the hottest sites on the Internet.
Another popular feature is their "Computing on MSN." Diehard Microsoft fans join with newbies in exploring every conceivable computer topic. Even Microsoft-bashers have to agree that computing is what Microsoft does best. (I used to get an immediate argument from my Mac-user friends. But since Bill Gates and Apple have decided to cooperate recently, their arguments have turned to mere grumbles.)
Comparative Online Service Information
I've compared certain online service information in another chart. It makes it easier to compare the key information of each. (Note that this information is current as of Fall 1997, but may change.)
Comparative Online Service Information
Online Default Available System No. of Pricing Parental
Service Web for OS Require- Users Control
Browser ments* Features
America Internet Windows Windows 3.1 8 million $19.95 / mo. Can restrict to
Online Explorer 3.1 or 4 MB RAM unlimited "Kids Only" and
(AOL) (can higher 5 MB HD usage; or use other "Parental
download Windows 95 $4.95 / mo. Control" features
Netscape Mac 8MB RAM 3 hrs. free and although it
Navigator) 5 MB HD (each add. doesn't offer
hr.$2.50) Cyber Patrol it
uses their technology.
CompuServe Internet Windows Windows 3.1 5 million 1st mo. free "Parental
Interactive Explorer 3.1 or or higher up to 10 hrs. Control
(CSi) higher 8 MB RAM then: Center"
(16 MB $24.95 / mo. allows parents
Mac recom-- unlimited to use Cyber
mended) usage or Patrol
$9.95 / mo.
5 hrs. free
(each add'l
hr. $2.95)
*Minimum MB RAM; Available Hard Disk space.
Although each online service offers e-mail and Internet access, the other features of each are different.
Comparative Online Service Information
Online Default Available System No. of Pricing Parental Control
Service Web for OS Require- Users Features
Browser ments*
Prodigy Internet Windows 3.1 Windows 95: 1.5 million $19.95 / mo. "Access Control"
Internet Explorer or higher 16 MB RAM unlimited area, block chat
(can 45 MB HD usage; or or newsgroups
download Mac (includes $9.95 / mo. and Cyber Patrol
Netscape adding 10 hrs. free included
Navigator) Internet (each add'l
Explorer) hr. $2.50)
Windows 3.1:
16 MB RAM
30 MB HD
(includes
adding
Internet
explorer)
The Program Windows 95 Windows 95: 2.3 million $19.95 / mo. If activated, can
Micro- Viewer 8 MB RAM unlimited use the PICS
soft (based on 50 MB HD usage; or, standard with
network Internet $6.95 /mo. default set to
(MSN) Explorer) 5 hrs. free RSACi ratings**
(each add'l
hr. $2.95)
*Minimum MB RAM; Available Hard Disk space
**These are described later in the book in the Rating the Web . . . PICS, the Platform for Internet Content Selection chapter.
Although each online service offers e-mail and Internet access, the other features of each are different.
If You Choose an Online Service . . . How Do You Get Signed Up?
Getting the software you need to connect to an online service isn't an issue if you have a computer manufactured in the last few years. Most computers already have the online services software preinstalled. If they don't, you probably receive ten copies of the installation software each day. Stop tossing them, and install the one you want to try. (Remember that you can change your mind, and many services will give you a free trial period to try them out.) If you can't find a copy on your hard drive or in your mail (or from your friends) the telephone numbers for the online services are listed in the directory in our Appendix. You can call the companies and they'll be thrilled to send you free software. (And you should note that the MSN software preinstalled on your computer may be out of date. Mine was. Just call for an updated copy.)
The software walks you through installation. You can get online right away, but need to give a credit card number to charge service to. (Once your membership has been confirmed, if anyone sends you an online message asking you to give them your credit card information again, for any reason, don't! It's a scam hackers use to get your credit card information.)
The hardest part about getting started is finding a screen name you like. On AOL, after they tell you that the screen name you want is taken (with eight million members, you run out of choices fast), they'll offer you some gibberish of name and numbers. Don't take it. Hold out for a better offer.
A hard-to-remember e-mail address is as bad as a hard-to-remember telephone number. You can use spaces to break up parts of a name, and that sometimes makes it easier to get a real name. But be prepared to get lots of e-mail that belongs to the person who uses the same name but without the space. If you forward it to the right person, they might even forward some of your mail that they get back to you.
Remember not to let your kids use their real names as a screen name . . . it's not a safe thing to do.
If You Decide to Go with an ISP . . . How Do You Select the Right One for You?
You'll want to find the best combination of price, easy setup, good tech support, local access numbers and Web browser selection. While you're at it, you should also check to see if they offer newsgroups, FTP and compression software. (The hybrid online service providers, like the Microsoft Network and Prodigy Internet, are something to consider as well. MSN is by far the larger of the two, and when its credentials are compared to many of the ISPs, it looks even better.)
When you choose an ISP, remember that you'll probably need a lot of tech support in the beginning. That means you want an ISP with a lot of patient people to answer all your questions. If they're not patient with your questions now, it's unlikely that they'll be patient with them later. So courtesy should play a large part in your decision.
I've included the telephone numbers for each of the big five ISPs, as well as MSN, in the directory in the Appendix. There may be others you want to call as well. Ask around. There's even a great list you can access online at www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Compare/ISP/sample.html. (The C|Net site is a great resource for most Internet-related information. This is only one of their very helpful lists.)
When you call an ISP, ask the following questions:
1. What are your local access numbers in my area?
Check to make sure with your local telephone company that these are truly toll-free numbers. If they're not, you may be able to make special arrangements with your local telephone company to add another number to your local access for a flat additional monthly charge. Depending on how often you use the Internet access, you could save a lot of money.
2. How many modems do you have per user? When are your peak times? Can you handle high-speed modems?
Make sure that they have enough access available during the times you are most likely to be surfing. And the recommended user-to-modem ratio is ten to one.
3. What programs do you have other than unlimited access?
How much do you expect to use the Internet service? You might be surprised to see how much fun it is to surf the Web. But if you just want to test the water, try an hourly rate plan. Nothing's etched in stone. You can always upgrade to an unlimited time plan later. Just make sure there's no set-up fee that you would have to pay to change plans.
4. What hours are your customer tech support numbers staffed? How many people answer your tech support lines?
Make sure that there are enough people working when you're likely to be using the service and needing support. The traffic gets heavier, typically, once the West coast gets home from work, around 8:30 p.m. EST. Take that into consideration when you set your surfing schedule.
5. Will you walk me through installation?
It's comforting to know that you'll have this available even if you don't need it.
6. Do you provide compression, Usenet, FTP and Gopher software?
Even if you won't use it often, get it . . . (what the heck).
7. What browser do you offer? Which version? Do you have support if I need help installing another browser?
I prefer when they use both Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator, so you can have an option available when you want it. Both are available on the Web, though, and you can use either Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator with any ISP.
8. For Mac users: Do you have Mac service? Do you have Mac tech support people? How many?
Bad enough that everyone except graphic designers makes you feel like a second-class citizen—you should be able to get knowledgeable tech support when you need it.
Head-to-head, here are the basics on AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Mindspring, Netcom and MSN.
Head to Head Comparing Internet Service Providers
ISP Approx. Maximum Rates for No. of Web FTP, Tech
no. of modem for local Browsers news- support
subscribers speeds unlimited access Offered groups
usage* numbers and
(POPs)** Gopher
AT&T 1 million 28.8 $19.95 200+ Explorer all 24 hrs.
(hourly 3.0 7 days
plan a week
available)
MCI 250,000 33.6 $19.95 300 Explorer No FTP 24 hrs.
(56.6 by (plus $4.95 3.02 7 days
10/97) shipping and a week
handling)
Sprint 150,000 28.8 $19.95 220 Netscape all 24 hrs.
(hourly plan Navigator 7 days
available) 3.0 a week
(default)
Explorer
3.0
Mindspring185,000 56.6 $19.95 235- Explorer all 24 hrs.
(plus $25 240 3.1 7 days
startup fee) Netscape a week
Navigator
3.0
Netcom 580,000 28.8 $19.95 330 All users: all 5 a.m.-
—— —— Netscape 9 p.m.
56.6 $24.95 for 3.0 free,
premium premium 24 hrs,
plan plan Windows & 7 days
access 95 only: a week for
Explorer pay-per
3.01 call
support
-------
Premium
gets free
calls
MSN 2.5 28.8 $19.95 460 Explorer Need 7am-2am
million —— —— 3.0 third- wkdays;
56.6 $49.95 for party 10a.m.–
premier premier plan client 8p.m.
plan for weekends
available Gopher
*Some providers may offer special introductory rates and/or prepaid plan discounts, as well as other plans.
You should call around to find out.
**"Points of presence."
Confusing Matters Further . . . Using a Cable Company as Your ISP
The most promising of all the new high speed and access technologies is cable Internet access. Cable companies throughout the United States are jumping on the Internet access bandwagon. Their cable access technology permits access at 2–5 million BPS, several hundred times faster than a 28.8 modem.
Although cable modems hold tremendous promise, they aren't available everywhere yet. Before they can reach their full potential, cable connections everywhere will have to be upgraded to permit two-way communication by hybrid fiber coaxial systems. Until then, the cable companies are offering cable ISP service only in limited markets.
Time Warner currently leads the cable modem pack with its Road Runner cable Internet service, although the total number of households accessing the Internet with cable modems may be less than 100,000. (Just to contrast, about 120,000 households access the Internet using WebTV.) According to one estimate, though, there will be at least 3 million households connected to the Internet through cable modems by the year 2002. (But that may be a gross under estimate since Time Warner tells me they expect to have 2 million households connected by year-end 1997, and that doesn't include all the households connected by Comcast, TCI and Cox cable services through @Home, which I've discussed below.)
Cable companies are in the content business. And they're using their content to supplement their Internet services. Time Warner is tapping into the extraordinary content resources of its "Pathfinder" search engine / content collection, to provide special content to Time Warner Internet Cable subscribers. (Pathfinder is my favorite popular information search engine.)
In addition to providing faster access and their regular content available in all markets, the cable companies are providing special local content, like local news and weather too. Comcast (the fourth largest cable TV provider in the U.S.), has joined forces with its cable partners Cox and TCI in introducing @Home (pronounced "at home"). @Home is a good example of how a provider can blend material from its content provider partners and from its local cable companies. @Home uses its www.InYourTown.com website for local content, providing local events, news and weather.
It will be interesting to see how the cable content changes the Internet industry's content model.
A cable modem costs about $400, roughly two to three times its standard analog modem equivalent. One major benefit, in addition to speed, is that for about $150, the cable company will install and setup your modem. This is a big advantage for those of you who are technology-challenged.
However, the increased convenience and speed cost more. Most ISPs offer unlimited Internet access for a flat fee of $19.95 per month. @Home, as an example, costs $39.95 per month for unlimited Internet access and e-mail service, although they reduce the monthly charge to $29.95 per month if you purchase the modem from them.
But for the $10–$20 per month additional cost over a standard ISP, you are surfing at hundreds of times the speed of your old 28.8 baud modem. A file which takes over six minutes to load using a 28.8 modem takes only one second on a cable modem. Having been kept waiting forever trying to download long documents and fancy graphics one time too often, I think $10 is a small price to pay for instant access.