
   [LINK]
   [INLINE]
   Home
   News
   Money
   Sports
   Life
   Tech
   Main Categories
   Tech briefs
   Web Guide
   Tech Investor
   Answer Desk
   Product reviews
   Game Zone
   More Tech
   Columnists
   Shareware Shelf
   Week in review
   FAQ/Tips
   News archives
   Talk Today
   Weather
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   05/04/2001 - Updated 08:20 AM ET
   
   Soaring Net use strands callers with busy signals
   
   By Andrew Backover, USA TODAY
   
   As Internet use grows, more Americans see an unwanted consequence:
   local phone lines so clogged that they can't make phone calls or jump
   online.
   
   Regulators say the problem is likely to spread as more people buy
   second phone lines and spend more time online.
   
   Phone companies are adding capacity, but hot spots of poor service
   continue to pop up.
   
   "It's probably going to get worse next year," says Heather Murphy,
   spokeswoman for the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates
   utilities. "We're becoming a more Net-enabled community."
   
   The Federal Communications Commission doesn't break out such
   complaints separately, but anecdotes abound:
   
   &#149; This week, Florida regulators said rising Internet use was the
   reason callers couldn't make calls between Tallahassee and Bristol.
   Phone firm GTCom is adding capacity, officials say.
   
   &#149; This winter, Arizona residents in a half-dozen trailer parks
   complained sporadically to regulators that they couldn't make calls
   for several hours during late afternoons and evenings. Officials
   speculate the problem occurred because vacationing retirees were
   spending so much time online.
   
   &#149; In Brooksville, Maine, one outage in February appeared linked
   to a service by Verizon Communications that gave residents in remote
   areas more choice of Internet service providers (ISPs), resulting in
   new demand. "They just underestimated the load," state regulator Phil
   Lindley says.
   
   &#149; Illinois ISP Cumberland Internet in December asked two phone
   firms for more capacity because customers couldn't get online. "It
   happens over and over," Cumberland's Clair Kaye says.
   
   While regular phone calls last six minutes to 10 minutes, on average,
   Net sessions average more than an hour, says David Bolger of the U.S.
   Telecom Association.
   
   Vermont regulators required Verizon to refund $30,000 to consumers
   because Verizon failed to deliver dial tones fast enough last year.
   Verizon is adding equipment to process more calls. And it is trying
   to get heavy Internet users to use digital subscriber lines, which
   use a separate network. "We are responding to a lot of these hot-spot
   areas. It happens all over," says Paul Lacouture, Verizon's president
   of network services.
   
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   Travelscape.com
   [INLINE]
   Front Page News Money Sports Life Tech Weather ShopTerms of
   service Privacy Policy How to advertise About us
   © Copyright 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.[INLINE]
   Shop.USATODAY.com
   [INLINE]
                             Exclusive Offers!
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE] [LINK] [INLINE]
   [INLINE] eVineyard [INLINE]
   [INLINE] $10 off your next purchase of $50! [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE] [LINK] [INLINE]
   [INLINE] Sears [INLINE] [INLINE]
   [INLINE] 10% off photo packages! [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE] [LINK] [INLINE]
   [INLINE] Discovery Store [INLINE]
   [INLINE] 15% off your next purchase! [INLINE]
   [INLINE]
   _____________________________________________________________________
   
   [INLINE]
                           For Other Great Deals
   Click Here!
   [INLINE]
   [INLINE] [INLINE] [INLINE] [INLINE] [INLINE]
