AT&T WorldNet revamps pricing
AT&T's Internet access service announces a new pricing plan and other special new features, including instant messaging and free holiday conference calls.
A new $21.95 per month plan gives you all-you-can-surf access, and includes six email IDs for families with multiple users, and 30 megabytes of space for personal Web pages. This plan complements AT&T WorldNet's other monthly plans including the hourly plan at $9.95 for 10 hours and the $14.95 promotional pricing plan which includes 150 hours of Internet access. The $14.95 plan is available for 12 months for AT&T long distance customers and for 6 months for non-AT&T customers. Additional hours are 99 cents each for all limited plans.
The move comes after AT&T WorldNet, and other Internet service providers, including GTE Internetworking, MCI Internet (which is now owned by Cable and Wireless), and Pacific Bell put a cap to their unlimited plans to wean out "bandwidth hogs" and free up their networks.
AT&T WorldNet previously priced its unlimited fare at $19.95, but put a 150-hour cap on that service in May after the company found that only 3 percent of users were draining most of the network resources.
AT&T said, however, that they continued to get requests from their users to reinstitute unlimited services.
"Since then we have significantly increased the capacity of the network and we can now support both the growth in users that we have experienced as well as that kind of unlimited use," said a AT&T spokeswoman.
AT&T also introduced its I M Here instant messaging technology, which lets users trade voice and text messages with anyone on the Internet regardless of their Internet service provider.
AT&T I M Here was developed using Tribal Voice's PowWow communications technology and integrated within AT&T's WorldNet service.
Using Tribal Voice technology, AT&T WorldNet members can host a ten-person PowWow Community free for one year.
AT&T is also offering free ten-minute conference calls using AT&T Click2Dial Conferencing during the holidays.
To make a free call, a user goes to www.click2dial.att.com, enters his or her phone number and the numbers of the people to be called, and a credit card number. The AT&T Click2Dial Conferencing acts as a virtual operator and places all the calls. Only the call host needs to have Internet access and a separate phone line. The other participants only need a phone.
The free conference calls are available from 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, December 24 through midnight on Friday, January 1, 1999.