The number of Internet service providers doubled in 1996, to 3,068, with signs that the small ISPs are faring well among the bigger ISPs such as AT&T and Netcom.
A survey by Boardwatch magazine also crunched the numbers provided by survey respondents to estimate that some 25 million active email accounts exist in North America, with up to 15 million people having access to Internet protocol even if they don't use it.
So far, the big providers' collective move to flat-rate pricing has not slowed growth in the number of small ISPs, which some analysts say offer better customer service than the giants.
The report did suggest that the broadband constraints that many blame for surfing slowdowns may not be the culprit at all.
"Our theory remains that overtasked servers, particularly Web servers, are the heart of the problem," Boardwatch editor Jack Rickard wrote in the December issue. "If anything, dialup access is underloaded at this point, with actually a plethora of excess capacity available at any one time."
