AT&T WorldNet mops up its dial-up mess

The ISP's upgrades should cure dropped lines and congestion problems.

By Denise Pappalardo
Network World, 03/15/99

AT&T WorldNet is embarking on a multimillion dollar upgrade to prevent its network from being overrun by a fast-growing customer base and exploding Internet access traffic.

AT&T's ISP arm acknowledges that it was blindsided by a sudden increase in customers, 100,000 of whom jumped on the network in January after the ISP began offering unlimited usage for $21.95 per month.

And not only are more people using the network - they're staying on longer because they have unlimited access.

The result has been an increase in busy signals, slow connections and dropped lines, say WorldNet dial-up customers.

WorldNet is responding by upgrading dial-up points of presence in 59 cities across 24 states. In addition, the ISP is pushing to finalize its acquisition of IBM Global Services, a deal that will add 1,300 POPs in nearly 60 countries to AT&T WorldNet's network.

The upgrades can't come soon enough for customers such as Colorifics, a Columbus, Ohio, maker of dance costumes.

"It's been very difficult accessing AT&T's network recently, and it's gotten even worse over the last two weeks," says Scott Rice, vice president of operations at Colorifics, which uses WorldNet as its sole link to the 'Net. "It's not playtime anymore where [our employees] are going online to check basketball scores. The Internet's needed on a daily basis to search for new fabrics, braidings and sequins from our suppliers."

Another dial-up customer with offices in northern California, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New Jersey has been experiencing everything from slow connections to dial-up numbers that no longer seem to work.

A network executive at this firm, who asked not to be named, says he's surprised that an ISP the size of WorldNet would have trouble dealing with a growth spurt.

WorldNet has 1.5 million customers, 200,000 of which joined over the past six months. But such an onslaught is not unusual among ISPs. Consider that America Online has to handle more than 14 million subscribers, and Earthlink, a much smaller ISP, has to keep pace with its one million users.

Rose Klimovich, WorldNet's director of IP network services, reasons that the ISP really hasn't fallen behind with its network, but rather its customer base has grown faster than the company expected.

AT&T now is trying to readjust its network capacity plans by deploying up to 10,000 new modems per month as well as new access lines to many of its 500 POPs around the U.S., Klimovich says. She expects all modems on the ISP's network to be compliant with the V.90 56K bit/sec modem standard by mid-year.

WorldNet is also trying to make its customers aware of what it calls network "hot spots" - areas suffering from congestion or other problems - through Web site postings. Dan Schulman, an AT&T executive vice president, recently posted a letter to customers telling them how WorldNet is trying to address its current net capacity problems.

For some customers who use POPs in highly congested areas, WorldNet has offered toll-free dial access to uncongested POPs outside their regions at no extra cost. o