US West Officials Admit Misjudgment Of Customer Internet Access Needs.(Originated from The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.)

TACOMA, Wash.--Apr. 1--US West officials admitted Monday they were not prepared for the Internet, and the toll the demand for extra telephone lines would take on their network.

"We didn't know where it was coming, when it was coming, and the extent at which it was coming," US West official Chris Butler told a group of telephone company executives. She was responding to complaints about US West at a workshop called by state utility regulators to help resolve problems that have caused overloaded phone lines.

Butler said that until recently, US West didn't even know that some of its customers were providing Internet service. These are companies whose …