THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608290397
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 100 lines
The people who operate ExisNet, one of Hampton Roads' largest Internet-access providers, got a rude awakening Wednesday morning.
Sometime around 3 a.m., without warning, Bell Atlantic-Virginia changed the phone number that thousands of ExisNet customers use to connect their computer modems to the Internet.
It was an honest mistake, Bell Atlantic said. But the result was a public relations nightmare for ExisNet, said Steve Haynes, president of the Virginia Beach-based company.
``We had all kinds of people and businesses who couldn't get on the Internet, and they all thought it was our fault. . . . Our phones were ringing off the hooks. We had people at our doors in the morning.''
Bell Atlantic restored the right data-line number at ExisNet less than an hour after the problem was brought to the phone company's attention.
But Haynes and some other Internet-access providers said the episode raises troubling questions about the phone company's role in the changing telecommunications environment. Some say Bell Atlantic has a conflict of interest.
That's because Bell Atlantic, the very same company that ExisNet and other Internet-service providers depend on to connect their customers to the increasingly popular global computer network, is becoming a direct provider of Internet services itself.
The state's largest local phone company is already providing Internet access in some parts of Virginia. It plans to introduce the service in Hampton Roads in the fourth quarter of this year.
``How can I compete in the marketplace with a giant like Bell Atlantic that controls my spigot?'' ExisNet's Haynes said. He plans to file a complaint against the phone company with the State Corporation Commission, he said.
Alan R. Wickham, operations manager for the commission's telecommunications division, said Haynes raises an interesting question. With recent changes in federal and state laws andregulations turning telecommunications into a competitive free-for-all, he said, there will be lots of ticklish new problems unearthed.
If nothing else, ExisNet's problem confirms a growing dependence on the Internet. The phone-line foul-up was fixed at about 9:15 a.m., after six hours. It was long enough to disrupt the routines of many of ExisNet's customers, who wanted to read their electronic mail, check the news from a distant city or join in their favorite on-line discussion group.
Bell Atlantic freely accepted blame. ``Yes, it was our fault,'' said Paul Miller, a phone company spokesman.
But he rejected the contention by ExisNet's Haynes that the foul-up reflects a potential conflict of interest for the phone company. He said Bell Atlantic's Internet-services group, with which ExisNet will compete, is operated as a separate subsidiary from the group that provides ExisNet's phone service. ``There is no cross-pollination there,'' Miller said. ``It just so happens we have a common parent.''
And ExisNet and other Internet providers will soon be able to bypass Bell Atlantic to purchase their local phone services from other companies, Miller said. AT&T Corp., MCI Communications Corp. and Cox Communications Inc., among others, have applied with the state commission to offer local service. Those companies will compete with Bell Atlantic and GTE-Virginia, the other big local-service provider in the state, as early as next year.
Haynes said he is anxiously awaiting the choice because Bell Atlantic has consistently provided poor service to his company. Last year, he said, the phone company printed a wrong number for ExisNet in the Yellow Pages. Bell Atlantic also has been slow to fix service disruptions, he said.
At least one other Hampton Roads Internet-services provider voiced similar complaints. Ben Loyall, president of Widomaker Communications Services of Williamsburg, said he has had several serious problems in the past two years with Bell Atlantic. In some cases, phone lines were mistakenly cross-connected, he said. In other cases, the phone company assigned him numbers that didn't ring into his office.
``Their technicians are all really friendly. The people you talk to on the phone are great people,'' he said. ``They're all trying their best, as far as I can tell. But the machine is so big that somewhere along the line things don't flow.''
Tom Manos, president of network services for Norfolk-based InfiNet, said the issues raised by the other Internet providers are important. But InfiNet's own experience with Bell Atlantic has been generally good, he said. ``If they fall down anywhere, it's anticipating our growth,'' he said. ``But for the most part we're appreciative of their service.''
Manos said he was initially worried when he learned that Bell Atlantic would compete against InfiNet as an Internet-access provider. ``But I have honestly elected to say that they know better than . . . to give us poor service,'' he said.
The problem the phone company faces, he said, is ``everybody expects them to be perfect.''
ExisNet's Haynes said he's not asking for perfection, just accountability. He thinks Bell Atlantic owes him a public apology. A full-page newspaper ad would do, he said.
That's out of the question, Bell Atlantic's Miller said. ``I believe we've already apologized to him.'' ILLUSTRATION: BUMPS ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
[Color Photo]
LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Steve Haynes, ExisNet's president, stands behind a bank of U.S.
Robotics Couriers 33.6 V Everything Modems, which are used to serve
his company's subscribers in Hampton Roads. by CNB