New provider offers low-price Web

By Michele Costello For FLORIDA TODAY

A new Internet service provider announced Thursday it is offering service in parts of Brevard County for $6.95 a month.

Daytona Beach-based 695online.com hopes to add 10,000 to 20,000 customers to its base through the Brevard expansion, said Greg Neely, senior network engineer. He declined to reveal the number of 695online's current subscribers.

Typical prices for dial-up Internet service locally range from around $20 to $24.

In addition to its low rate, 695online.com is introducing a system known as Mail-Block, designed to block often-annoying unsolicited e-mails from the user's e-mail account.

Mail-Block works by locating the source of e-mails sent to subscribers and verifying that the e-mail addresses used by senders are legitimate.

"If our system doesn't recognize the sender, we request that they identify themselves to the user before we send the mail," Neely said.

Neely said the service, offered by 695online.com on fiber provided by Denver-based Qwest Communications, is Nationwide. However, the user contract must be for at least three months, there are additional charges for the use of Mail-Block, and technical support is billed after an initial time period. Mail-Block is free to the first 100,000 customers, Neely said.

Neely declined to be specific as to what percentage of the company's profit is derived from advertising that appears through its service.

Larry Hall, president of Melbourne's NebuTel Inc., a major locally based Internet service provider, said he was not concerned about the low-priced competition.

While he was not familiar with or referring to 695online.com specifically, Hall said some companies that provide very low-cost service end up charging customers the same as a company that charges in one sum up front.

"These companies make their money from secondary services," such as technical help or charging extra to bill customers in any way but online, he said.

"When (free Internet service providers) Juno and NetZero began providing services, people left" NebuTel, Hall said. "But, within 30 days, they were back."

NebuTel charges $19.95 a month for Internet access and does not plan to change its rates to compete with lower quotes, he said.

"We've been around for seven years, and we've seen these companies come and go," Hall said. "You get what you pay for."

695online.com offers local access numbers for the Melbourne and Cocoa areas.

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