COLUMN: Internet access should stay free

But Penn's days as an ISP are numbered. The Network Planning Task Force has proposed eliminating Penn's modem pool by the end of the year, forcing students living off-campus to pay for their own Internet access. For anyone who thought hell would freeze over before hearing the phrase, "America Online can do it better," it's time to grab those ice skates. Penn estimates that 50 to 80 percent of the Web traffic on PennNet is for non-Penn related Web sites, deemed "recreational" by the task force. Therefore, the task force seems to think it's OK to make students pay. That's right. I apparently get off by reading the latest articles on the World Trade Organization's Web site. Apparently this university, rated as one of the 100 best technology schools by Wired magazine, doesn't see how my having access to the Web from my off-campus room relates to my university education. Maybe they just want me to stop buying textbooks from Amazon.com. Internet service is absolutely part of Penn's core function as a place of learning. But through the outsourcing decision, students are indirectly being told that the Internet is not an integral part of their education. In their report, the Network Task Force also wrote: "Through careful analysis, ISC has determined that as the demand for better, faster and more accessible remote access continues to develop the University cannot afford to deploy adequate services." The result: An outsourcing move that cuts costs for the University while supposedly improving service, in the same manner that the Trammell Crow and Bon Appetit outsourcings were rationalized. There is, however, an important difference in this case. Outsourcing Internet service means some students will have to pay more, not less, to get online. The modem pool is currently funded, in part, by student housing fees. And the outsourcing plan would remove the need for on-campus students to subsidize their off-campus peers. But while on-campus students may notice a rounding-error sized reduction in their Service Fee, off-campus students will have to shell out $150 or more annually for Internet access to the likes of America Online or Bell Atlantic. This cost is likely to be 10 times what on-campus students wold be saving. The task force also contends that by contracting through a non-University source, students will be able to reap the benefits of faster Internet service. Actually, the only option that the University has changed is that students can no longer get free 33.6k service. Everyone has always been able to go ahead and spend $50 a month on high-speed Internet access if they wanted. For the next year, students can choose to continue using Penn's modem pool for a monthly charge. Penn's present modem pool, however, cannot support connections higher than 33.6 kbps and will not be upgraded. But computers sold in the last year come with 56k modems as standard equipment; in late August, I purchased a new 56k modem for $19.95 at my local computer store. To think that my new modem is rendered impotent by an Ivy League school -- one that promotes distance learning, interactive course assistants and more listserves, chat groups and more class Web sites than one can imagine -- is ridiculous. Penn is now too cheap to spend the $1 million it would cost to upgrade the modem pool to 56k, thus denying a necessary service to its students. This is a reversal of policy from 1996, when Penn spent heavily to upgrade its modem pool in the wake of massive overloading of the system. That fall, with the Quad not yet wired for ResNet, the modem pool was always overloaded, prompting Penn to increase the number of available lines and improve connection speed. The upgrade has not been followed by another major improvement in three years -- decades on Internet standard time. The new policy doesn't go into effect until July 2000. That's more than enough time to rethink a misguided decision.

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