AT&T Joins Prepaid Net Access Crowd

Find yourself dusting off that dial-up modem when your broadband connection goes on the blink? A growing number of pay-as-you-go Internet service providers have an offer for the occasional customer of analog Internet access.

These companies sell dialup Net access the same way purveyors of prepaid phone cards sell long distance talk time--by the minute.

This week, AT&T joins the fray with its own product: AT&T PrePaid Internet Service. You can buy eight hours of dial-up Internet access for $10, or 20 hours of service for $20. If you use AT&T's toll-free number, however, your total access time is reduced to as little as two hours for $10.

AT&T requires you to install its software on your PC to use its service. You can order a CD-ROM from AT&T or purchase one at selected retail outlets starting in November, AT&T says. The prepaid Internet service uses the WorldNet infrastructure, allowing local access from most places in the United States.

AT&T's pay-as-you-go program, like competing services, works best for people who need dial-up access to the Internet sporadically or when traveling. Services should also appeal to the privacy-conscious, since you need not reveal any personal data to purchase or use it. AT&T says you do need only supply a name and address to use its e-mail service.

Growing Selection

Prepaid services typically have one e-mail account and lack extras like Web hosting. Once you've opened an account, you can usually add prepaid minutes to your account service.

Phone giant Sprint already offers a prepaid Internet service. Other similar services are available from a company called Slingshot and one named MaGlobe. Each is competitively priced.

You can purchase Sprint's prepaid service at retail outlets ranging from some 7-Eleven stores to Williams Travel Centers. Introductory rates are $10 for three hours of Internet connection time through a local phone number. Or, you can call a nationwide toll-free number and get just one hour of Net access for $10.

Slingshot charges $10 for ten hours of local access, or two hours on a nationwide toll-free number. The client program is available as a software download at its Web site. Slingshot Startup Kits can also be purchased at CompUSA and Staples.

MaGlobe's introductory rate is $15 for 7.5 hours and 2.5 for toll-free access, and service can be purchased at its Web site. Accounts for each of the providers expire within a year of purchase.

Pay for Help

Each of these providers promotes itself as a trustworthy alternative to beleaguered free Internet providers. Indeed, the free Internet access field has fallen on challenging times. Like any dot com, most are struggling to support themselves; and they're redefining "free" in the process.

For example, NetZero offers ten hours of free advertising-sponsored Internet access monthly. But if you need technical support, it costs $15 per incident.

Others have scaled back their service or offer only regional access.

AT&T offers automated telephone tech support free of charge. Sprint provides free telephone tech support with a live technician, as does Slingshot. MaGlobe representatives say the company offers telephone tech support, but calls by PCWorld.com to its tech support line went unanswered.