CAIS Internet Makes DSL Available To Small Businesses

Internet service provider CAIS Internet says it is makingDigital Subscriber Line service available immediately to consumers and small businesses in Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland and Virginia. The service, called HyperDSL, will be rolled out in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, the New York-New Jersey area, and San Francisco in the first quarter of 1999.

DSL uses existing telephone lines to provide a permanent high-speed connection to the Internet, eliminating the need for dialing in. The technology also supports simultaneous voice, data, and video transfers, which improves the performance of interactive multimedia applications such as video catalogs, home shopping, and specialized PC services.

HyperDSL will be priced at $57.95 per month for a single user, for speeds of 640 Kbps (more than 20 times faster than a 28.8-Kbps modem) and 7.1 Mbps (some 250 times faster). A separate service for LAN access, called HyperLAN ADSL, will provide access for up to 10 users and be priced at $179.95. CAIS plans to add additional levels of service within the next 30 days.