New Premium Plan For IBM Internet Connection Services
Designed for Internet Professionals, Small and Medium Businesses
SOMERS, NY (September 08, 1998) – IBM today announced further enhancements to its award-winning IBM Internet Connection Services with a new Premium Plan offering, as well as changes to its existing Basic and Comprehensive Plans. The new Premium Plan will include additional online creativity, productivity and communications tools — extra-value solutions — for Internet professionals and small and medium businesses engaged in e-business.
The Premium Plan will cost $29.95 per month in the United States and is planned to be available November 15, 1998. It offers customers 100 hours of access in the U.S., Canada and selected countries in Latin America,* 12 MB of e-mail storage, 10 MB of personal Web storage and includes three email IDs. For customers in the U.S., the Premium Plan also includes premium customer care. Additionally, small and medium businesses interested in expanding their Web site by offering cataloging and online commerce should consider the IBM HomePage Creator for e-business.
IBM’s latest Internet access kit on CD-ROM gives customers their choice of either Netscape Communicator or Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 4.0 bundled with popular software plug-ins such as Adobe Acrobat and Macromedia Shockwave Flash and is available at no additional cost. These plug-ins can be used by customers to take advantage of graphic, sound enhancement, video and animation capabilities found on the Web today.
“Latest estimates put the number of Internet users at more than 100 million, and with more of them utilizing the World Wide Web for e-business, the time is right to provide premium bundled solutions for business and professional users,” said Gary Weis, general manager, network services for IBM Global Services. “For those customers who need only basic Internet access, we offer other attractive plans as part of what is widely regarded as the best ISP service in the world today. We believe, however, that Internet professionals and small and medium business owners will be willing to pay slightly more for the extended service and communications capabilities provided by our new Premium Plan.”
IBM Internet Connection Services offers 1,327 local access points in 52 countries with 962 now supporting the new V.90 modem standard for download speeds of up to 56 Kbps (limited by law in the U.S. to 53.3 Kbps). ISDN connections are now available from 601 locations in 17 countries.
Premium Plan Highlights
Premium Plan customers will have 10MB of Web storage to extend their business presence on the Internet. Using the current IBM Global Network dialer (Version 4.19),** customers will be able to easily publish content to their Web site using such leading applications as Lotus SmartSuite, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Front Page, Microsoft Front Page Express and Netscape Communicator Composer.
The Premium Plan provides customer care on a priority basis to U.S. customers. This service includes toll-free 800 access for Internet dial problems, billing and setup.
The IBM Internet Connection Services access kit is currently available for Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows 3.1 or Macintosh operating systems. It also includes Netscape Navigator Version 3.04, Netscape Communicator 4.05 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and the IBM Global Network dialer. Customers may obtain the kit on CD-ROM through the fulfillment center at (800) 722-1425, or may obtain the stand-alone IBM Global Network dialer by downloading the software from http://www.ibm.net/.
Provided by IBM Global Services, IBM Internet Connection Services is one of the world’s most highly-regarded ISPs according to ratings from such leading publications and organizations as Network World, Data Communications, PC World, HomePC, Mobile Computing, Boardwatch and Inverse Network Technology.
With 1997 revenues of approximately $26 billion, IBM Global Services is the world’s largest information technology services provider. IBM’s fastest growing business segment has an unsurpassed breadth of capabilities, and more than 116,000 professionals helping companies of all sizes solve real business problems and create new business opportunities. For more information on IBM Global Services, visit http://www.ibm.com/services.
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Summary of Current Plan Changes
Basic Plan (credit card)
Only one User ID per account. Previously, up to six User IDs were included at no extra charge.
Additional User IDs (up to five) are available subject to a $4.95 one-time setup fee and $4.95 monthly charge per additional User ID. Prior to the effective date of this charge, one main account user ID and up to five additional user IDs were included at no additional charge.
IBM Internet Connection Services customer accounts registered under the Basic or Comprehensive Plans before November 15, 1998 will not be required (at this time) to pay the additional User ID charges and may continue to maintain up to five additional User Ids under the main account ID at no additional charge. Please note, however, that this exemption from additional User ID charges is automatically voided if the exempted main account ID is terminated or if the account holder changes subscription plans (e.g. from the Basic to the Comprehensive Plan or vice versa, or from either the Basic Plan or the Comprehensive Plan to the new Premium Plan, or vice versa).
Out-of-region global roaming charge of $0.15 per minute. Previously, no fee was charged.*
Comprehensive Plan (credit card)
Same changes as Basic Plan.
Monthly invoice
The local dial access charge (per hour connect charge) is changed to $1.95 per hour with the discount allowances depending on monthly usage no longer being available.
Two new monthly invoice billing options are available for a base monthly price that includes 100 hours of local dial access per user with additional hours at $1.95.
Introduction of Web hosting option with 10 MB of storage for an additional monthly charge of $5.00 per user.
Option POP3 mail accounts now include 12 MB of storage per user; previously users received 5 MB of storage. The POP3 mail account charge has increased to $2.95 per month.
Introduction of out-of-region roaming charges of $0.08 per minute.
* Out-of-region roaming is defined as customers connecting to the IBM Global Network from a region other than that from which they registered with the service. There are four regions: (1) North America (US, Canada), (2) South America, Caribbean and Mexico, (3) EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and (4) Asia Pacific.
Source: IBM