Manitoba Telephone Systems Corp plans to offer customers Internet services through standard telephone lines onto their home televisions. The set-top device being used is dubbed InBox and made in the US by ViewCall America Inc of Norcross, Georgia. Winnipeg-based Manitoba Telephone is testing the device in 100 homes from this month until September with full service due in October, although the cost of the service has not yet been decided. The two companies believe the trial will give them more hands on experience of what consumers want from Internet television. This kind of project gives us real-world experience and factual data on how consumers want to use Internet television. Other companies touting ‘$500-computers’ or ‘information appliances’ don’t have the same kind of input, said Alan McKeon, president of Viewcall. The View-Call system is not a cheap personal computer, Bruce MacCormack, president and chief operating officer of MTS Advanced Inc, an operating subsidiary of MTS, explained. It is an enhanced entertainment unit aimed at consumers who don’t want to spend more than $3,000 on a personal computer and software. As a result, he hopes the service will promote community-based computing and foster universal access to electronic mail. The InBox device contains an Advanced RISC Machines Ltd ARM processor, modem and Netscape Communications Corp Navigator browser software to access the Internet and is operated by an infra-red remote control. The user selects a channel setting for the on-line service and the InBox automatically dials the phone network to make the connection and information is displayed on the television screen. Arrow keys on the controller are used to select options or retrieve information. In addition to accessing the Internet, customers will be able to read electronic mail and search through Manitoba Telephone’s Internet Yellow Pages directories – but they will need to buy a computer key-board if they want to compose and send electronic mail messages. The InBox service is not capable of downloading large files or graphics – what a customer sees on a single television frame is all he or she can retrieve during a session. ViewCall America is a subsidiary of Colorocs Information Technology Inc and sister company of ViewCall Europe Plc.
