Prodigy Internet
announced a nationwide 56Kbps network rollout, complete with new user
interface and content provided by partner Excite, for $15.75 a month.
Prodigy said the new network also features an advanced e-mail system, configured for quadruple redundancy and a capacity for millions of subscribers, as well as proprietary anti-spamming technology.
The Excite-Prodigy-developed interface will categorize online information
into intuitive channels, organizing Web sites into areas such as sports,
stock quotes, and news. By personalizing their options, members create
their own custom start page according to preferences.
In what represents a challenge to AOL, Prodigy is offering a money-back, no-obligation plan of $15.75 per month when members pre-pay for one year. This undercuts the new AOL monthly pricing plan by 25%.
Prodigy’s pending plans have met with favorable reaction among users, which
grew by 100,000 in 1997. “Prodigy was the first, and now we have an
offering that we believe is the best,” said Prodigy president and CEO Russ
Pillar. “More than a decade of online experience has gone into our latest
offering. We know what consumers want, and the new Prodigy Internet
delivers.”