GTE Friday became the latest Internet service provider to
move away from unlimited pricing plans and put a cap on usage of its GTE.net service.
Under the new plan, customers will be limited to 100 hours of online time a
month for $19.95. After the 100-hour cap is reached, customers will be
billed $1 an hour starting Nov. 1.
GTE said it was revising its pricing policies to cut down on network
congestion.
“The No. 1 complaint people have about Internet services is getting a
busy signal when they try to log on,” said Alex Coleman,
vice-president and general manager of online services for GTE Internetworking.
“As use of the Internet continues to grow explosively, we want to ensure that
the GTE.net service is as reliable as possible. Our new pricing decision is
all about improving service quality for our customers and delivering a
great product for a fair price.”
GTE will offer an online manager tool intended to help customers keep track
of their Internet usage.
“Some people just keep their connection up all the time, whether they are
using it or not, or they
lose track of time while online,” Coleman said. “The online manager tool
and our new pricing are among the many steps we’ve taken to help customers
with self-provisioning and managing their service profile.”
GTE joins AT&T WorldNet, America Online and several other Internet and
online providers in its decision to eliminate its unlimited pricing plan.