ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701280130
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
Two Internet service providers in California have started offering lifetime access to the global computer network for a one-time registration fee, taking to new heights the flat-rate pricing favored by many companies in the Internet business.
TGGH Inc., a small company in San Jose, this week launched a service called bigger.net that will give users unlimited Internet access for a $59.95 fee. Last month, Hyper Net USA Inc., also in San Jose, began offering a similar service called Cyber FreeWay for a sign-up fee of $29.95.
Both companies hope to make money by selling advertisements, which will appear in a small window on a user's computer screen. If a user closes the ad window, the connection to the Internet is broken, said Jeff Fortin, TGGH's chief executive.
``We're trying to hit those people who don't want to be shelling out $20 a month for Internet service,'' Fortin said. ``We think there are a lot of those people out there.''
America Online Inc., which started offering unlimited use of its service for $19.95 a month starting in December, has been beset with severe congestion as a result. Other companies, such as CompuServe Inc. and Netcom On-Line Communications Services Inc., have discontinued their flat-rate monthly pricing because they concluded it was a money-losing business.
The bigger.net and Cyber FreeWay services are available only in the San Francisco area. Fortin said he plans to expand his service to Los Angeles and San Diego by April and wants to offer it in the Washington and New York areas by June.
Fortin said he intends to avoid the problems plaguing AOL by initially limiting the service to 15,000 customers. By the end of February, he plans to expand to handle about 100,000 users. ``We'll slow down if we have to,'' Fortin promised. ``We're not going to oversell our service.''
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