Internet Provider Can’T Keep Up Uswest.Net Hits Backlog; Customers Get Busy Signals

USWEST.NET is a victim of its own success.

Customers of the Internet service provider report they are unable to get online at peak hours.

Spokeswoman Lynn Espinoza said there have been problems in Spokane because response to a promotional offer last fall far exceeded expectations.

The offer, terminated Jan. 31, gave computer users a free 56-kilobit modem in return for a one-year subscription.

Espinoza said Spokane residents jumped at the opportunity.

“We got caught,” she said. “We’re scrambling to add capacity.”

USWEST.NET doesn’t get preferential treatment for new lines from U S West Communications, its parent, Espinoza noted.

The orders are processed by U S West as they come in, and other Internet service providers are ahead of USWEST.NET on the order list, she said.

Espinoza said the company is working to double its Spokane Internet capacity within the next two months, possibly sooner.

Earl Reed is among USWEST.NET customers having problems with the service. Thursday night, he said, he set his phone to dial into the company’s servers every minute. He gave up after two hours.

“There’s not much you can do if there’s a busy signal,” he said.

Reed, who handles information systems for Spokane Mental Health, said he frequently used the Internet service to download non-patient files for homework. “There’s no way I could dare do that now,” he said.

Espinoza said Internet overload has become a regular post-holiday phenomenon. Recipients of new computers get on the Web and tie up lines during peak-use hours, she said.

Gary Gardner, executive director of the Washington Association of Internet Service Providers, said the wait for new lines is widespread in Washington, with the backlog in some counties stretching out six to eight months.