America Online classic blast from the past.

I'm just bored and I was surfing through the archives and came across this article from my hometown newspaper, The Arizona Republic.

In November 1996, America Online announced, for the first time, that they would charge a flat rate for unlimited usage. Once that went into effect the following month, the results were disastrous!

You may notice that this article ran before high-speed Internet was available. If my memory is right, I don't think 56K modems existed back then either!

Also there is a reference to USWest, a Denver-based phone company which served mostly the western part of the United States (except California and Nevada). A couple of years later, it would be taken over by Qwest.

Anyway, here's the article on AOL's first public relations nightmare, which ran on December 11, 1996. Enjoy!

<< HUGE JUMP IN AOL USAGE KEEPS MANY OFF LINE

By DAVID HOYE, Staff writer, The Arizona Republic

America Online's success is spelling major headaches for customers, including many in the Phoenix area.

Since announcing a flat-rate pricing plan, which became effective Dec. 1, the world's largest commercial online service has added customers by the hundreds of thousands.

All those callers, coupled with the fact that customers are staying logged on longer, are swamping AOL's electronic network, which provides local dial-up numbers in major cities across the country.

In Phoenix and other cities, including Denver and Los Angeles, customers report constant busy signals or "all circuits busy" messages when they use the 28.8 kilobit-per-second lines to connect with AOL.

Callers using slower dial-up lines, such as those that provide service at 14.4 kbps, report fewer problems connecting with AOL.

"The surge in demand has been beyond belief," said Ann Brackbill, a spokeswoman for AOL's Network Division.

Brackbill would not provide specific membership totals, but said the company added about 275,000 new members in October alone, which helped push AOL's total membership to more than 7 million.

She attributed the spike in demand to AOL's unlimited $19.95-a-month pricing plan. Under the plan, a customer could remain online virtually all day and never pay more than $19.95.

AOL's old pricing plan, which is still available to existing customers, cost $9.95 a month, but included only five hours of online time. Each hour over that was billed at $2.95, which left heavy users with monthly bills of $30, $40 or more.

Brackbill sympathized with customers unable to connect, but said AOL is doing all it can to meet the increased demand.

Brackbill said AOL now handles 8.5 million online sessions each day, up from 3.8 million daily sessions a year ago. Additionally, she said, average call lengths have increased by 15 minutes.

She pointed out that AOL is in the midst of a $250 million upgrade, which should double the system's capacity by next summer.

The plan, announced Dec. 2 by AOL Network division President Robert Pittman, includes adding modems and other computer hardware and increasing the number of customer service centers around the country to five.

"We've been working around the clock. We've been adding tens of thousands of modems," she said. "We want people to use the system and continue to have a good experience."

That hasn't been happening in Phoenix, where AOL customers have had problems connecting with the system for up to a week.

For example, callers using one of AOL's 28.8 kbps lines serving Phoenix, 602-241-7800, report almost constant "all circuits are busy" messages. Other high-speed numbers appear to always be busy.

Jim Roof, spokesman for USWest in Phoenix, said the 602-241-7800 line gets so many calls that automatic safety measures have been kicking in to turn excess callers away.

Without such controls, he said, the AOL callers would overwhelm the telephone company office that handles the 602-241-7800 line, and would begin affecting non-AOL related telephone service in other parts of the Phoenix area.

"They've created a tremendous demand for their product," Roof said of AOL.

The situation has proved frustrating to many computer enthusiasts and businesses, which have come to rely on E-mail and other services provided by AOL.

Rich Motzer, who operates a computer consulting business in the Valley, said he was particularly upset because he has helped many of his customers go online using AOL.

Now, he says, they can't connect with AOL and they're turning to him for answers.

"I just don't think AOL was prepared," he said. "They should have foreseen the increase in people."

Brackbill called the situation temporary, but added that AOL customers should expect difficulties in connecting with the service to continue for at least two months.

Meanwhile, she urged customers to try logging on at off-peak times, avoiding the most popular period of 7PM to 11PM.

Brackbill also suggested that those able to get online check out the AOL Insider, using keyword: insider. The area provides tips on improving online sessions, and addresses the problems customers have had with busy signals.

Copyright 1996 Phoenix Newspapers Inc. >>