Regulators Explore Ways To Ease Internet Congestion Fcc Hears Testimony On Strategies To Improve Connections

With Internet usage soaring, federal regulators began Thursday exploring ways to ease network congestion by giving companies incentives to provide more high-speed connections into homes.

It’s the first Federal Communications Commission hearing on the problem and comes on the same day another technical glitch temporarily stopped customers of the nation’s largest Internet provider, America Online, from getting electronic mail. The trouble came as AOL was working on its computers to increase its system’s capacity to handle a surge in on-line usage.

Contributing to network congestion is flat rate pricing by AOL and other companies that gives customers unlimited Internet access.

The FCC didn’t lay out any proposals, but used the hearing to collect information.

The goal is to provide “a climate in which we can create the maximum incentives” for companies to provide faster connections, said FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.

Faster connections could be achieved in several ways, including making high-speed digital phone lines, called ISDN, available to more residential telephone customers; using a technology that can provide higher speeds over existing copper phone lines into homes; and using coaxial cable with special modems.

The congestion issue has pitted Internet providers and computer companies against some of the nation’s local Bell telephone companies, notably Pacific Telesis and Bell Atlantic.

The phone companies contend that soaring Internet usage could cause a breakdown in the public telephone network. They want America Online and other Internet providers to pay them for using local lines to route Internet traffic.

The absence of such compensation “has now become a critical roadblock to the development of new, more efficient products for the rapidly growing Internet markets,” Lee Bauman, a Pacific Telesis vice president, told the FCC.

But Internet and computer companies say congestion is coming from growth in other communications traffic, not just Internet usage. Phone companies’ claims of a network overload are greatly exaggerated, they say. They also oppose financial compensation, which would likely be passed onto customers in the form of higher bills.

“If the commission awards large new fees to (local phone companies) for access to the (local phone networks), there will be a significant risk that the only winners will be the phone companies while consumers and the entire Internet on-line industry will lose,” Matthew Korn, America Online vice president, testified.

FCC Commissioner Susan Ness advised participants that “the discussion shouldn’t only be about money, but should be focused on technology.”.

As is the case with AOL customers, most Internet connections begin with a dial up phone call. To handle the flood of Internet and other data traffic, telephone companies say they need to upgrade their networks, which were designed to handle voice, not data.

While voice calls last on average three or four minutes, people are on-line an average of 28 minutes.

Beyond upgrading local phone networks, faster connections can also be achieved with changes to the networks of Internet service providers and to “server” computers from which people get information, for instance, FCC officials say.

Right now, most home computer users access the Internet with modems that move data at 28.8 thousand bits per second.

In some markets, people can buy higher speed digital lines from local phone companies and even faster connections from a few cable companies.