http://www.netaxs.com/netaxs/history.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
Net Access History
Net Access's Purpose
Net Access was founded to provide affordable live
Internet connectivity to people
in the Philadelphia area. Prior to Net
Access's opening, people in the Philadelphia area either had to pay
$5-$20,000/year to to go to school to get an Internet account or had to
con someone who had access into sharing it.
Avi Freedman started Net Access to make sure that dialup access
- particularly affordable dialup access - would be available to people
of the area. Since 1992, Net Access has grown into the premier Internet
provider in the Philadelphia area, with a huge network of machines, Internet
connections, and dialin modems.
Our goal is to continue to provide the most reliable, affordable Internet
access possible to both the home and business dialup users, as well as to
the leased-line business users.
We support the concept of free access to the Internet! We provide a free
56k leased line to Chester County Interlink
(CCIL), and are organizing a Philadelphia-Area Walkup Freenet which
we are in the process of deploying.
October 1992, Net Access Goes Live
We started back in October 1992 with a dial-up SLIP connection to the
Internet through Prepnet, a regional Internet backbone which cost $1250/year
(they currently charge about $3000 for the same thing) and 4 incoming
phone lines. Net Access offered the Net Access BBS, a Unix-based BBS written
by Avi Freedman, for $10/month for 2 hours/day of interactive use. The BBS
offered News, Mail, Telnet, and FTP, and was the first interactive-use
dialup Internet access system in the Philadelphia area!
February 1993, Net Access Moves & Expands
In February 1993, we moved our machine room to our current location, and
have been expanding ever since! Once we moved, we went to 6 incoming
lines and added Unix Shell accounts for $15.00 per month for 6 hours/day
of free use. We soon expanded to 14 lines, then to 22 by October.
October 1993, Net Access Moves & Expands
In October 1993, we got a 56k connection to the Internet. We went to
40 lines offering Shell accounts and the BBS.
May 1994, Net Access Gets a T1, offers SLIP/PPP, and lowers Prices
Net Access upgraded our 56k connection to a T1 through Prepnet. We added
SLIP/PPP accounts at $25/month, and dropped our Shell pricing to $12.50/month
for unlimited interactive use from $15.00/month for 6 hours/day.
August 1994, Net Access Switches to Sprint & Adds Philadelphia
Numbers
After a 4-day Prepnet outage over July 4th weekend, we switch our T1 carrier
to Sprintlink. In August, we had 60 lines at our main dialup location,
Wyndmoor. We added 60 lines downtown in Philadelphia (our first POP).
During the Prepnet outage we went to a "multiple front-end architecture"
(we're still the only provider in the area with this architecture) - so that
we can add capacity on our network just by adding more Unix machines. Two
people start working full time with Net Access.
June 1995
Since last August, we've:
- Added lines in Mount Holly, NJ as well as 7 other places in PA.
- Expanded our dialin capacity to 200 lines.
- Added two more T1s to the Internet (Net99 & a line to Washington, DC).
- Dropped Sprint connectivity as a main point of Internet connectivity
- Added more machines to service the needs of our users (12 right now).
- Added no-additional-cost web services.
Summer of 1995
- Bring up 28.8 dialups for our users at no additional cost.
- Continue to expand our Unix machine network to stay way ahead of demand.
- Add an optional Business Web Service for customers with special Web needs.
- Almost double our staff of customer support and technical people.
- Upgrade our customer support system to include trouble ticketing.
Fall 1995
- We put in a T3 to the center of the Internet universe (MAE-East)
- We've been selling many T1s and 56ks to other Internet providers
Last updated July 3, 1995
Net Access, PO Box 502, Glenside, PA 19038
E-mail: support@netaxs.com
Voice: (215) 576-8669
Fax: (215) 576-5820