100,000 DSL customers lost access when provider pulled the plug
April 2, 2001—The Water Environment Research Foundation lost its DSL Internet service and e-mail briefly after its service provider, NorthPoint, pulled the plug on its 100,000 customers with little warning, the foundation reported Monday.
WERF said in a statement that it could not send or receive e-mail from March 29 through Monday, April 2.
NorthPoint had been counting on a planned merger with Verizon to keep cash flowing in, but when the communications company backed out of the deal in November, NorthPoint declared bankruptcy.
The Internet service provider (ISP) agreed last week to sell most of its assets to AT&T Corp. for $135 million and then shut down its DSL service March 28.
A coalition of ISPs are pooling their funds to keep service going to some customers, with plans to shift them to other ISPs soon.
In the meantime, California regulators on March 30 told NorthPoint to restore service to the 40,000 businesses and households in the state, a move which did nothing to help the 60,000 customers located in other states.
