StarNet accelerates dial-up

Wholesale dial-up ISP StarNetTM today launched a new dial-up acceleration service that it claims will allow customers to access web content at speeds approaching broadband.

Called MegaSpeed, the dial-up optimizer resides on servers at the edge of the network and uses a combination of caching and compression technologies to push fast web content to dial-up users. StarNet said the service will increase browser-based download speeds by as much as five times and is 30% faster than other acceleration technologies on the market. StarNet plans to offer the service to its 600 ISP customers for resale. ISPs such as EarthLink and United Online (which runs the Juno and NetZero services) plan to offer acceleration software packages to customers as a premium service, charging $5 to $7 over their regular dial-up fees, said Russ Intravartolo, StarNet CEO.

“It’s a great option for someone who’s on the fence about broadband,” Intravartolo said. “There are a lot of people out there who just want something faster than dial-up but don’t want to pay the costs or face the hassle of getting a broadband connection.”

StarNet serves many of the country’s small “mom and pop” and budget ISPs, many of which are charging $10-$15 a month for dial-up access. Even with an added charge to use the acceleration technology, most customers would be paying around $15 to $20 a month for the new service, a far cry from the $40 to $60 a month cable providers and telcos are charging for a broadband connection. But broadband prices are dropping rapidly. Carriers such as SBC and Verizon have lowered their standard DSL charges to $35 a month, and Qwest even offers no-frills--not even an e-mail account--DSL for under $25. The difference between broadband and premium dial-up pricing is rapidly shrinking.

While the MegaSpeed service currently only works with browser Web content, Intravartolo said StarNet plans to introduce e-mail compression and video and download acceleration software in the third quarter.