Welcome to the Zoom Town: Cincinnati Bell builds DSL-based Internet community

A week after Cincinnati Bell announced deployment of its asymmetrical digital subscriber line "Zoom" service, the carrier said it will also launch what it calls the nation's first on-line community built around high-speed access.

Aptly named Zoom Town, the service will provide an opportunity for businesses to set up on-line shops, as well as a place for both residential and business customers to receive e-mail, purchase goods, access video applications and find out all the goings-on in the Cincinnati area.

"It's primarily a tool to simplify the connections between residential customers and businesses and business-to-business customers, while providing services that are enhanced by the high bandwidth ADSL can provide," said Mike O'Brien, a senior vice president for the carrier.

To get the service going, Cincinnati Bell contacted businesses that had Internet experience and a strong Cincinnati base, said Dennis Hinkel, vice president of network architecture and planning.

Both local and wider-scale businesses have found it an appealing opportunity, O'Brien said.

Zoom Town is included in the three ADSL price packages offered by the carrier: ZoomSpeed for $29.95 a month, TurboZoom for $59.95 a month and HyperZoom for $159.95 a month. Cincinnati Bell uses equipment from Cisco Systems and offers line qualification over the Web.

It's the pricing of the service that makes the announcement significant, said Jim Wahl, an analyst with The Yankee Group. "It eliminates all the up-front charges, so it's a very compelling offer from a residential standpoint," he said.

Offering an on-line community is a good way to build up a subscriber base, he added.

In addition to a television and print advertising campaign, the carrier will send demonstration videos and CD-ROMs to residential customers, O'Brien said. Cincinnati Bell hopes to make ADSL service available to 85% of its customers by the end of 1999.