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INTERNET
The need for high speed

BY DORIE CLARK

With trendy Internet “incubators” like I-Group Hotbank nestled in Back Bay brownstones, and start-ups radiating out as far as Route 495, Boston is the East Coast epicenter of high tech. But only, it seems, from nine to five. It wasn’t until last fall that Cablevision began offering high-speed-cable Internet access to residential customers in the city — and even then, it was on a microscopic scale. (A competitor, RCN, offers cable Internet access on a street-by-street basis in Boston, and in parts of Brookline.)

When technological giant AT&T Broadband took over Cablevision in January, some hoped the limited rollout would go big-time. Ken Granderson, the founder of Inner City Software in Dorchester, would eagerly sign up for high-speed-cable Internet access — if he could get it. “It’s been a source of frustration,” he says. When an AT&T Broadband employee told him recently that service was on its way, he was wary: “I’ve heard that for a while.”

Indeed. “We don’t currently have a plan with times and dates” for when Boston and Brookline customers can sign up for the service (which costs $49.95 a month), says AT&T Broadband spokeswoman Jennifer Khoury. “We’re in the process of assessing where [Cablevision] offered service, and doing engineering estimates.”

But across the river, residents have reason to gloat. AT&T Broadband customers in Cambridge have been enjoying the service for nearly five years, making their city one of the first in the nation with high-speed-cable Internet access. In Somerville, AT&T Broadband has offered high-speed access since last July — and, even more vexing to their aspiring-to-be-wired Boston counterparts, residents have a choice of providers, since RCN has wired almost the entire city. For now, if you want whip-fast downloads and you live south of the Charles, you’ll likely have to settle for the sometimes slower DSL service from Verizon, which transmits data over phone lines and is available for $39.95 a month — that is, if you live within range of a telephone switching station (call Verizon at 877-525-2DSL to see if you’re in range). Or you could always stay late at work.






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