ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240026
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on October 25, 1996.
Bedford CableVision will offer high-speed Internet-access service to
its Franklin County customers. That aspect of the company's plan was
incorrectly reported in a story Thursday.
Computer whizzes annoyed by the slowness of connecting to the Internet soon will be able to breeze through the process with a new service from Bedford CableVision.
The company announced Wednesday it will begin offering high-speed Internet access Nov. 1 over the same lines that provide cable TV. The new service is part of a $1.1 million upgrade of the company's system.
Bedford CableVision is offering the high-speed Internet service to its Bedford customers for $39.95 a month, which includes rental of the cable modem. Other cable charges will cost extra. The company's Franklin County customers will not be offered the service.
Chuck Flournoy, general manager of Bedford CableVision, said the transmissions over the new service will be 200 times faster than Internet access via phone lines.
Company officials said a recent study found that a five-minute-48-second music-video file would take nearly 13 hours to download via traditional phone lines, but that it will take less than two minutes over a cable modem.
The cable modems will send and receive data transmissions at 4 megabits per second and are manufactured by Zenith.
It is the first cable-modem service offered in central Virginia, said Bruce A. Rifkin, vice president of operations for Rifkin & Associates Inc., the parent company of Bedford CableVision.
"The technology we have deployed in Bedford is among the most advanced of any cable system in the country today," Rifkin said.
More importantly, he said, the implications for economic development in Bedford are dramatic because the area becomes immediately attractive to telecommuters and businesses that require an advanced technology infrastructure.
"We are setting the pace for Roanoke and Lynchburg," said Bedford Mayor Mike Shelton.
Lucille Boggess, vice chairman of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors, said the service will link city and county offices and will keep the schools and industry ahead in technology.
Cox Cable Roanoke and Tri-State Cablecomm in Botetourt also are developing plans for the cable Internet service.
Cox's parent company in Atlanta, Cox Communications, is introducing some projects next year, but the Roanoke company probably will not be taken into the system for about two years, said Sharron Davies, community relations manager.
Cablecomm does not have any Internet services, but has some projects planned for next year. The company might include the Internet cable service in a planned upgrade, said George Buchan, assistant manager.
In addition to offering the faster Internet service, Bedford CableVision said Wednesday it will also will offer standard phone-line Internet access. The dial-up service, available via standard 28,800 bits-per-second phone modems, will cost $21.95 for up to 75 hours or $27.95 for up to 175 hours a month.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB