Down to the Wire.

GTE and Road Runner are neck-and-neck in the ultimate high-speed chase.

In the high-stakes race for online data transmission in Hawaii, two thoroughbreds have emerged from the pack. One is Road Runner, a service offered locally by Oceanic Cable. The other is DSL (Digital Subscriber

Lots of speed. Road Runner is able to provide Internet speeds up to 50 times faster than a traditional 56K modem, while DSL technology allows users to surf the 'Net at speeds up to 50 times faster than a 28.8 K modem.

Currently leading the way is Road Runner, which surpassed the 20,000-subscriber mark--including more than 600 business accounts--near the end of 1999. Oceanic averages about 300 new installments weekly.

Those are impressive numbers considering that Road Runner was launched in 1997 and that cable modems still represent a small part of Internet access nationwide. "Probably about five percent," estimates Kit Beuret, Oceanic's Director of public affairs. "We have a long way to go, and we're still early in the growth curve."

While catering primarily to the residential market, Road Runner offers several packages tailored specifically for the workplace: Road Runner PRO ($79.95 a month), provides high-speed online service for small businesses, normally those with a single-computer system. The package includes unlimited Internet usage, a separate "help line" for tech support and dial-up access to read your e-mail if you're out of town. Road Runner PRO-X ($79.95 a month for the first computer behind the proxy server, plus $9.95 for each additional computer) connects to the client's proxy server and is geared toward mid-sized businesses with nine to 25 computers. Road Runner LAN ($350 a month) offers everything the previously mentioned packages provide, but allows for an unlimited number of computers to share the service. It also offers optional Reserved IP Address and DNS services.

Road Runner is currently available throughout Oahu except for the Hickam area. Service to the Neighbor Islands is expected to be available by the end of this year.

GTE, meanwhile, introduced its DSL service in August 1998. While declining to reveal specific sales and subscriber figures, Market Development Manager Ken Miyasato says that GTE has almost 60,000 DSL lines in service nationwide. Locally, he says, "It's been our most successful new product, and customers are ordering it every day. The number of lines we had from 1998 to 1999 increased twentyfold. This year, we expect to triple our number of customers. The demand is there."

Last month, GTE rolled out a self-installation kit for new DSL subscribers, a move officials hope will boost sales in 2000. DSL technology, which allows users to connect to the Internet through their phone network, originated in the mid-1990s. "We can provide both regular phone service and this high-speed Internet service on the same line, and you can use both at the same time," says External Communications Manager Keith Kamisugi. "With the DSL connection, you can just jump on the computer and you're on the Internet. There's no dial-up involved."

The August 1999 issue of PC Computing, in fact, gives DSL the nod over cable modems, suggesting that "small businesses will prefer DSL's higher speed, guaranteed performance and security. The DSL market also invites competition more readily than does cable, which means today's high DSL prices should drop."

Business and residential customers are charged the same for all packages, which run from $32 to $215 per month. GTE's DSL service is available in most areas of Oahu and in the most populated areas of Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.

The chief concern of business customers, says Miyasato, is their need for "a dependable, high-speed Internet connection. More and more businesses are relying on the Internet to do business--to be able to talk with customers, receive orders from customers and place orders to suppliers. So they need a connection that's as reliable as their phone line."