By Cindy Ellen Russell, Star-Bulletin
Ken Miyasato, front, GTE manager of market development, is among the
people at Hawaiian Tel responsible for bringing the company's digital
Internet access to Hawaii. Behind him on the computer screen
is GTE spokesman Keith Kamisugi.

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GTE sets new
speed limits on the
information highway

Hawaiian Tel's service starts
next week and operates many times
faster than PC modems

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

There's lightning in that telephone line -- a new high-speed Internet connection that can get your computer across cyberspace and back in a blink.

But can GTE Hawaiian Tel's "asymmetric digital subscriber line," 50 times faster than most computer modems, compete at nearly twice the cost of its competitor?

The company plans to debut its blistering delivery system Tuesday in the downtown and Kaimuki areas. Fees will range between $60 to $70 for basic 256 kilobits-per-second service to about $150 for the fastest 1.5 megabits-per-second data delivery.

256 kbps is about six times the fastest delivery speed typically available on computer modems that receive and send information on phone lines.

GTE is adapting its copper telephone lines for the high-speed service, to be extended to Aiea, Aina Haina, Kailua, Kaneohe, Koko Head, Mililani, Moanalua, Pearl City, Punahou, Waipahu and Hilo by the end of the year.

Arguably faster and considerably cheaper is Oceanic Cable's "Roadrunner," introduced last November via fiber optic television cables at a monthly fee of $39.95.

Roadrunner claims to be faster with a maximum capacity of 10 megabits per second.

"Roadrunner is faster," said Oceanic spokesman Kit Beuret. "It's less expensive. It provides the hardware. It provides the Internet."

Both companies are offering upload speeds -- the rate at which a user can send information -- of up to 768 kilobits per second.

GTE spokesman Keith Kamisugi said the company's telephone lines will provide consistent speed while Roadrunner's cables -- split into delivery "nodes" -- can be slowed by multiple users.

And because telephone lines are secured from point to point, they provide better security for sensitive information, he said.

Beuret acknowledged Roadrunner's lines are shared by groups of 500 users but said the likelihood that many would be downloading from the Internet at the same time is small.

Conspicuous, however, is GTE's higher price schedule. Basic service providing 256 kbps ranges from $32 a month for a three-year contract to $40 a month for month-to-month service. Add $12 a month for a special modem and $20 for Internet service and the cost runs between $64 and $72 a month.

Rates increase to $49 for 384 kbps and $63 for 768 kbps. At the high end, 1.5 mbps will cost $120 a month, plus modem and Internet access.

Kamisugi said you get what you pay for.

"It's not a matter of a good deal being the cheapest service," said Kamisugi. "We're ready to offer quality data at a level the customer needs that will be secure and also offer the option to choose your own Internet service provider."

But Beuret says GTE can't guarantee specific speed delivery because of wide variations in transmission speeds generated on the Internet.

"They're guaranteeing a garden hose that's three inches in diameter, but they can't guarantee how much water is released at the other end," he said.

Still in its infancy, GTE has signed LavaNet and is negotiating with Pacific Global Communications to build a variety of Internet provider options on its high-speed line.

The company says it has a "modest" waiting list but has kept a low profile during the initial startup.

Roadrunner, a Time Warner Inc. company and affiliate of Oceanic Cable, began in selected Oahu neighborhoods last November and now has about 6,000 customers.

The service is gaining about 300 new hookups a week, a number Beuret said that could be greatly increased if more manpower were diverted from cable TV operations.

Both Roadrunner and GTE are targeting home and business customers who use the Internet often enough to consider installing a separate line for that purpose. For the cost of that second line, Beuret said, you can have Roadrunner with its package of high speed and Internet access.