6.0 Cost of Access to the Internet
Internet access service is now a commodity. Thousands of service providers supply service to millions of users. The two principal ways to gain access to the Internet are through direct connection via an Internet Service Provider, and through indirect connection via a timesharing service.
A random sampling of a few dozen Internet service providers from a list of 1300 service providers listed at one WWW site (http://thelist.com/) gave the (rough average) results indicated below (Internet access only, not telecommunications cost).
28.8 Kb/s dial up service $27/mo
ISDN dial-up service (64 Kb/sec) $60/mo
56 Kb/sec, dedicated $300/mo
T1 (1.15 Mb/sec) dedicated $1300/mo
Recall from the discussion above that this is one component of three required for Internet access: Internet Service Provider, local telecommunications access, and a local piece of hardware to connect from the telecommunication connection to your computers.
The local telecommunications access varies widely from state to state (depending on the state regulatory situation), but in California, for example, a very rough approximation is that the telecommunication costs are about equivalent to the ISP costs.
The hardware required ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and within the first year will generally be small compared to the combined service and telecomm costs.
Many users of the Internet gain access to the Internet through VARs that run timesharing systems. These timesharing systems tend to be thematic (oriented toward a particular market segment) and typically supply restricted access to the Internet (via the WWW, telnet, and ftp). Delphi, America Online, and Prodigy are such VARs, and Microsoft and AT&T have recently announced similar services. By way of example [NYT-9-20-95], AT&T’s new "Business Network" provides access to business bulletin boards and "access to the World Wide Web via Netscape Communications Navigator software that is included in the package, Internet chat groups and discussion groups related to business topics orchestrated by AT&T." "The service will cost $39.95 a month for the first 10 hours of use and $2.95 for each additional hour." The Microsoft offering is similarly structured. These services can usually be accessed through the Internet, but the most common way is by dial-up access to the timesharing system (and from there through a gateway to the Internet). AT&T is also an Internet Service Provider through its "AT&T World Net Service".
[Go To Next Section]
[Go To Last Section]
[Go To First Page]