Internet Brownout Halts E-Mail Computer Glitch Blamed For Interruption Of Service

In the latest outage to hit the Internet, a computer glitch at AT&T’s online service prevented more than 200,000 customers from receiving e-mail for more than a day, AT&T Corp. said Friday.

The trouble, which started at 11:35 a.m. PST Thursday, was traced to a computer that handles electronic mail for AT&T’s WorldNet, the nation’s second-largest provider of access to the Internet. The problem hadn’t been fixed by Friday afternoon.

The problem also has limited the ability of customers to send e-mail, if the recipient is among the roughly half of WorldNet’s 425,000 subscribers. Customers shut out of e-mail still can perform other functions, such as surfing for on-line information.

No mail was lost as a result of the problem because it is being stored in other computer data-bases, AT&T spokesman Mike Miller said. The problem was expected to be cleared up by Friday evening.

The Internet brownout is the latest glitch to bedevil service providers, coming after American Online’s 19-hour blackout of online service in August.

The quantum leap in the use of on-line and Internet services has produced a rash of growing pains. With many more people relying on the services for everyday work and communication, those pains are more noticeable than ever.

AT&T said it was the biggest problem to hit its on-line service since it launched WorldNet last March.

“We had experienced other e-mail problems in the past that were rectified. We’ve never experienced a problem like this one,” said AT&T spokeswoman Patty Allen.

The company was keeping customers informed about the problem through news groups and customer announcement areas in the on-line service. Customers also have been phoning the service’s help line about the trouble.