Laying down the law on cable Internet: AT&T@Home must live up to town's standards

It's not quite a reverse speed trap on the information highway, but it does set some rules of the road. Fremont, Calif., last week became the first town to set customer service standards for Internet access via cable network.

The move came during an Oct. 5 Fremont city council meeting, when an advisory panel presented its proposal for improving the cable Internet service provided by AT&T@Home, AT&T's version of Excite@Home delivered over hybrid fiber/coax.

"Customer service standards for cable video are nothing new," said Dan Checa, a senior analyst with DeLand Consulting. "As video and data converge, maybe this is the wave of the future."

The Fremont panel's recommendations, adopted by a 4-0 council vote, resemble those imposed on the local cable franchisee, which is also AT&T. >From now on, AT&T@Home's Fremont operation must answer 90% of all customer calls within 30 seconds, provide a dedicated e-mail address for complaints and restore lost Internet service within 24 hours 95% of the time. The Internet provider must also connect 95% of new subscribers in seven days and all of them within two weeks.

If the performance standards are not met, the Fremont council can fine AT&T@Home up to $9000 every three months or require the company to provide certain services for free.

Despite pressure from subscriber groups, the council decided not to hold AT&T@Home to its advertising promises about the download speeds cable Internet can provide. Like most cable Internet providers, AT&T@Home says it offers speeds "up to 100 times faster" than a dial-up connection over a 56K modem. But the council said such standards would be difficult to measure and enforce and probably would be made obsolete by changes in technology.

AT&T@Home has offered to go into individual Fremont neighborhoods and measure access speeds to help consumers decide how they want to reach the Internet. A spokesman said the carrier would meet Fremont's standards.