While August was a stellar month for Web surfers trying
to connect to their Internet service providers, September’s autumn breeze
blew higher call failure rates, according to
Inverse Network Technology Inc.
Inverset Network Technology reported Tuesday that Internet service
providers reported an average call failure rate of 4.5 percent in
September. That’s nearly 1 percent higher than August and is the highest
failure rate since April.
Call failure rate measures the likelihood of a user’s failing to connect to
his ISP on the first try. Factors such as busy signals, failure to answer
or connect and log in problems are all considered.
Mike Watters, chief executive officer of Inverse, said the rise was largely
expected.
“September marks the end of the vacation season, a time when consumers,
especially students, start spending much more time
online,” said Watters. “This isn’t unlike what we’ve seen previously.”
This September was unique, Watters said, because both the Starr Report
and President Clinton’s testimony was released on the Internet, driving up
usage, and therefore, call failure rates.
“Though neither of these events overwhelmed the ‘Net as doomsayers
predicted, they did have a perceptible negative impact on users’ ability to
get online quickly,” he said.
Although the failure rate was up from the summer months, overall industry
averages are much improved over last year, the report noted. The 24-hour
call failure rate of 8.3 percent in September 1997 was nearly
double the 4.5 percent rate in September 1998. Similarly, the
September-to-September call failure rate for consumer hours dropped from
12.4 percent to 6.7 percent. During business hours it fell from 8.6
percent to 5 percent.
Of the 25 major ISPs measured in the report, the highest marks were given
to Ameritech, which received an A+
in all three failure rate categories. BellAtlantic, IBM, MCI and
Prodigy also did well, scoring either
an A or A+ in at least one of the categories.
