Internet Technology: Going The Distance.

• Author: MIDDLETON, SAUNDRA

Speed seems to be the key to happinessin this fast-changing world of Internet technology.

Alaskans are Internet savvy, and the state has it made when it comes to Web technology.

"Alaska is far and away the most connected state when it comes to computers and the Internet," brags Ryan Haller, manager of technical services at Absolute Internet. Haller points out that the percentage of Alaskans with computers who are connected to the World Wide Web is about double that of the Lower 48.

Working with Internet service providers statewide, Lisa Wehr, president of Alaska Web Art, estimates there may be as many as 70,000 business and personal Internet accounts in Alaska.

Surfing should be a breeze with Alaska's three new fiber optic lines connecting the state to the Internet backbone.

"We have more bandwidth than Alaska can use," states Dave Smith at Chugach. Net.

Yet, it's not uncommon for a bottleneck to occur in a segment of Alaska's 400,000-plus telephone access lines. Internet users often complain of busy signals and slow access. It's an inconvenience for a personal surfer, but for a business it means lost productivity. Phone companies and ISPs are busy trying to clear the congestion.

The reason for the slow dial-up, despite excess bandwidth, is because 56k modems are maxed out on speed and phone lines are busy from too many users.

"Every day when school got out in Klawock, all the circuits would fill with kids going on the Internet," states Tom Jensen, public relations director for Alaska Communications Systems. "You couldn't even make a 911 call." ACS had to add twice the number of existing circuits. The same thing happened in Kenai and Soldotna.

That's all changing now as cable is in Alaska. And now so is digital subscriber line modem technology, at least in some parts of the state. Having a dedicated phone line with DSL technology should eliminate bottlenecks.

Circuit bottlenecks may be relieved because DSL lets you talk on the phone and surf the Net at the same time, on the same line. And it's very, very fast.

"It's Internet on steroids," states Matanuska Telephone Association's Chris Holmes, of the access speeds that are 20 times (or more) faster than the normal 56K modem dial-ups.

GCI's Live Wire product has speeds up to 640K. MTA's Express DSL races to 768K. And ACS is currently beta-testing a supersonic 1-Meg (1000K) modem.

This new technology isn't just about brawny speed-it has a brain, as well.

There's no dial-up. It's connected all...