Fremont Imposes Rules on Internet Service

In a move expected to influence municipalities around the country, the Fremont City Council this week established minimum-service standards for Internet access provided over the local cable TV system in the Bay Area. The rules require AT&T; Broadband Interactive Services, monopoly holder of the city’s cable TV franchise, to answer 90% of all service calls within 30 seconds and to fix 95% of service outages within 24 hours. The move was prompted by consumer complaints about service quality and responsiveness in the community, site of the nation’s first commercial roll-out of cable-based Internet access. The rules fall short of regulating the speed with which subscribers can download images and files; users have complained bitterly that design flaws prevent the service from meeting marketing claims. The council decided that some slowdowns are outside AT&T;’s control and that performance goals would be impossible to enforce.