Posted on 11/29/2001 2:35:09 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
Bankrupt cable Internet access provider Excite@Home said Tuesday that it could cease providing service to its 4.1 million U.S. customers on Friday if it cannot renegotiate agreements with the cable companies that carry its service.
Representatives of Redwood City, Calif.-based Excite@Home will appear in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco on Friday, where a judge will decide whether to have the service blocked if current negotiations fail, spokeswoman Stephanie Xavier said.
"It depends on the decision of the judge," she said. "All I can say is we're in active negotiations with the cable companies. We're doing all that we can to maintain service."
Xavier said many of the cable companies that carry Excite@Home have informed users that their service could cease after Friday.
"They've been notifying them and giving them a heads-up,'' she said.
With the possible collapse of American service provider Excite(at)Home announced Sept. 28, Canadian Internet-on-cable providers Rogers, Cogeco and Shaw were forced to find a new way to provide e-mail service by the end of November.
That has caused long waits on technical assistance lines and frustration for many of Rogers' 422,000 subscribers who were asked to manually change their e-mail settings.
"I've been trying to make that mandatory switch all week, I've been trying on my own and it's not working," said a Toronto public relations consultant who asked not to be named.
"I finally called customer service, stayed on the line for an hour and 20 minutes with a guy who was very patient. In the end we did everything together step-by-step and he said `I'm sorry I can't help you, this is obviously a technical problem on our end.' I called and I can't even get a line, it's a busy signal."
She said she has already ordered high-speed DSL Internet service from Sympatico, Rogers' competitor. DSL users connect through a phone line, not cable.
Excite(at)Home's fate will likely be decided Friday in a California bankruptcy court, where a judge will determine whether the provider should be shut down during takeover negotiations with U.S. communications giant AT&T. A complete shutdown could affect more than e-mail, since many of Excite(at)Home's Canadian partners rely on the company for some aspects of Internet access. Rogers serves customers in Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and New Brunswick; Shaw in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario; Cogeco in Ontario and Quebec. "It all depends on what happens in California tomorrow (Friday)," Rogers spokeswoman Taanta Gupta said Thursday. "Like everybody else we will see how the court hearing unfolds. We have another supplier for connectivity and backbone, and we will trigger that if necessary." She declined to say who the provider is, though it is "big enough to handle the load." The bankruptcy filing caught Excite(at)Home's Canadian Internet partners somewhat by surprise. Rogers, the largest in Canada, has received the most criticism from customers, partly for waiting until Nov. 9 to set up alternative arrangements for e-mail.
There are about 4.1 million Internet users who subscribe to Excite(at)Home's broadband service in the United States and Canada
Hi Frank, does this help at all?
This would have a dramatic, negative effect on commerce within a month of Christmas for many users and business people.
Quick - Call Hillary!
We need to Bailout the cable ISP service to SAVE THE CHILDREN's CHRISTMAS!
I have a strong suspicion that the judge, tomorrow, will tell Excite to keep it alive - at least until the AT&T sale goes through. He'll also tell the cable companies - Cox, Comcast, et al, to come to another agreement.
I hope.
If it's any comfort, everyone agrees that if they do pull the plug, all the providers will be able to come up with an alternative broadband service in pretty short order.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A judge cleared the way for bankrupt ExciteAtHome to turn off its high-speed Internet cable network as early as Friday night, potentially affecting about 4 million subscribers around the country. The cable companies that connect their customers to the AtHome network said they plan to appeal the decision to U.S. District Court in San Francisco as soon as possible.
Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Carlson said ExciteAt Home could dissolve its contracts with the cable companies as early as midnight Friday PST.
Carlson concluded the contracts had become "clearly burdensome" to the company. Under the contracts, executives said ExciteAt Home was losing up to $6 million a week.
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