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Middleman's debt cuts off Cape Cod, Mass., residents' internet access(Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, MA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 27--Many Cape residents who use dial-up to connect to the Internet through Cape.com are finding themselves shut off from the information superhighway. On Tuesday, Cape.com officials received notification that one of the company's primary dial-up/voice access providers in Massachusetts, Global NAPs Inc. of Quincy, had its access numbers shut down by Verizon, said Pat Murphy, Cape.com's director of sales. Global NAPs is a so-called local exchange carrier, specializing in providing telephone bulk lines to Internet service providers. In the case of Cape.com, Global NAPs provides the Internet service provider with local telephone numbers so users can access the Internet through modems without paying long distance charges. Global Naps owes Verizon $60 million, said a spokesman for the telephone company, which has blocked Global NAPs' access to the Internet through Verizon phone numbers. Declining to provide exact numbers, Murphy said "a few thousand" Cape customers who use dial-up through the Mashpee-based company have been affected. He said a little less than half of the company's residential Internet users still connect to the Internet via dial-up as opposed to high-speed links. "This problem is affecting the bulk of all dial-up traffic across Massachusetts," Murphy said. Global NAPs has handled dial-up calls for Internet service providers including Mindspring, MSN, Netcom, Prodigy, WebTV and Ziplink, according to published reports. It was unclear yesterday whether Global NAPs is still affiliated with those companies. A Global NAPs employee reached yesterday by telephone referred all questions to the company's attorney. Several messages placed to the attorney were not returned by the Times' press deadline. Earthlink spokesman Dan Greenfield said his company had contracted four local access numbers from Global NAPs. He said Earthlink has been redirecting "a small amount" of customers to other telephone numbers. Cape.com is providing alternate local access numbers, which are listed online at http://www.cape.com/sqerl/computing.ccml?90,697. To help those who cannot access the Internet, Cape.com staff are contacting customers individually by phone to assist them with the changeover, Murphy said. Verizon and Global NAPs have been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle. "At this point, we continue to have a vendor/client relationship with both of these companies," Murphy said. "This legal dispute stretches beyond the Cape and Islands and could potentially impact all dial-up users across the nation." Verizon spokesman John Bonomo said Global NAPs was shut down just like any other customer that refused to pay bills. "Global has been well aware for some time that termination of its service would result if it continued to ignore its substantial financial obligation to Verizon," Bonomo said in a statement e-mailed to the Times. "Verizon regrets having to take this action, but the responsibility for its impact rests solely with Global's management." Bonomo added the billing issue has been a "very long dispute in which both the Massachusetts Department of Energy and the courts have repeatedly ruled in Verizon's favor." Verizon also sells dial-up Internet service but Bonomo denied Verizon is trying to stamp out a competitor. Murphy said Cape.com apologizes for any inconvenience. "We continue to value all of our Cape.com customers," he said. "Unfortunately, the battle over who ultimately controls Internet access and the fees charged for these services is now affecting Cape Cod consumers." |