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Unmetered Internet conspiracy They have unearthed some similar details between the two. A bit too similar in fact. Rather than go into detail here, we will let ISPreview do the explaining. New pricing from Visual Depth This is what PR representative Steve Redfern had to say: “I thought you may also be interested that we are now offering quarterly and monthly payment options for Credit Card customers. We are proud to announce that we are offering 24/7 access from only £9.99 a month which we believe to be one of the lowest monthly rates or the lowest in the UK for a 24/7 unmetered ISP. Paying Annually does act as quite a large money saver though. Freeserve to launch off-peak option According to The Register, it will be “launched amid a blaze of publicity and hype with ads plastered over the national press”. Called ‘Off-Peak Freeserve Time’, the service will be based on the Surftime package from BT. It will be priced at £6.99 per month, and once again, open to BT telephone customers only. Dixons to auction Freeserve There are currently four companies interested in the ISP; NTL, BT, Terra Networks and Germany’s T-Online. T-Online International today declined to say whether it will be submitting an offer Freeserve PLC. Dixon has set a 10-day deadline for potential bidders to submit offers. Freeserve shares are up 42p at 430p at the end of trading today. Unmetered Internet from themail themail will be taking advantage of the Surftime package from BT to offer its customers unmetered access to the Internet. But once again, only available to BT customers. To read the full article visit ISPreview. Update on Visual Depth cut-off period We have been in touch with Visual Depth’s Managing Director, Martin Case, who had this to say on the subject: Our service does have an official cut off period of two hours, this applies to all accounts. However, we do have plans to implement stronger security systems therefore allowing us to either extend this or allow unrestricted access. We have seen what has happened to other ISP's such as Red Hot Ant when not implementing security measures correctly and we do not want this happening to Visual Depth.Visual Depth are also accepting new customers once again and are activating accounts within 2 working days. Click here to sign-up via their secure server. OFTEL opens the floodgates for unmetered Internet services MCI Worldcom had requested that BT supply it with a wholesale unmetered Internet access service from the customer’s home. BT refused, and was only prepared to offer a metered service. Under the OFTEL ruling, BT must agree to offer a wholesale unmetered Internet access service to MCI Worldcom and other operators who request it by no later than 1st June 2000. A statement issued by AOL said: "OFTEL’s ruling today to effectively end BT's role as gatekeeper to the Internet is a victory for consumers, competition and common sense." Looks like Net 4 Nowt will be kept busy for a lot longer yet. Always-on mobile Internet from BT Cellnet In a news article at Yahoo!, BT Cellnet have said that the service will be available from next month: BT's mobile operator is introducing GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology in the form of a small card that plugs into a laptop to give it a permanent connection to the Internet. Cellnet is offering the technology, which it will later use in fast mobile Internet phones, to companies that need to link travelling executives to their corporate computers. Problems with LibertySurf Although attempts at contacting the company has been unsuccessful, in fact we have been advising visitors to take their CDs back for a refund if they are not satisfied. We have come across a statement from LibertySurf on the Teletext pages (page 493), which was in response to the letters of complaints received by them. This is what it said: “The rush to get the LibertySurf offer has meant that some people have not been able to get through to our helpline and we would like to apologise to them for this.So they are aware of the problems in contacting their support line. But according to this you need to try and contact their original helpline number to find the new number. What are they going to do about the unmetered service itself? That is if it can be called a service, it is unusable. If there is anyone from LibertySurf reading this then please email us to let us know what your upgrade plans are. In the meantime, we would advise visitors not to buy a LibertySurf CD until the situation improves. Buzzline responds to sign-up delays In an email sent to everyone who is still waiting for their registration details, he also said that the current backlog should be clear by 7th June. We have had some complaints from customers regarding our charging their card before we are ready to connect them. We would like to take the opportunity of addressing this issue now. From lunchtime today we will only be accepting sign-ups on the basis that cards will not be debited until connection day. Please note if your card has been debited, your 12 months online will start from the day you are connected.For anyone who is thinking of joining Buzzline, we recommend you sit tight and wait until their service is actually up and running. We are not saying they are a scam, it is just better to be safe than sorry. Still waiting for your NTL CD? It can be read in its entirety at ISPreview, but here is just a small excerpt: We are having huge demand in some parts of the country - especially from our existing telephone customers. Hindsight is a great thing, and we now know that all of our research had underestimated how many people would want ntlworld. The number of people wanting to go online for the first time using ntlworld has caught us out especially. BT releases unmetered Internet details for businesses For 24/7 unmetered access, they will be charging businesses £31.99 per month for unlimited access. BT has so far announced only an off-peak deal for home users, charging 9.99 pounds for unlimited night-time and weekend use and two pence a minute at other times. A similar deal for business customers will cost 17.99 pounds and one pence a minute during the day. Low cost access from Charity ISP Care4free said it has over 245 charities within its service and distributes the majority of its profits - generated by advertising and trade referrals - to the charity of a user’s choice. Latest situation from Visual Depth We have now connected over 82% of all customers and we have received very good responses and comments from those who have access to the service a lot of which are related to the speed and connectivity of the service. We have now opened a secure ordering form for new customers to sign up, however this URL has only been given to people within our mailing list at present to help stop a big surge of customers therefore stopping us from accepting new customers again. However, we predict that the On-Line ordering form will be accessible from our web site on Friday providing all goes well.Please let us know your comments on Visual Depth, as we are still receiving a couple of complaints saying they can’t contact Visual Depth after they have parted with their money. Update on Buzzline unmetered delays We have been in touch with Buzzline and they have assured us that they will be activating accounts as soon as possible. They hope to keep the delay down to 5 working days, but have been inundated with applications. They will also be looking to employ more staff to handle the backlog, although a few accounts have been activated already. For those who haven’t yet received sign-up details and are unhappy with the delay, they will refund your credit card if you email them. Buzzline will also be emailing everyone soon to let you know what the latest situation is. Has anyone received any account details yet? If so what is the service like. Let everyone know using the comments link above. New unmetered service on the horizon Whysurf.com will be providing 24/7 unmetered access hopefully by the end of the month. The service will have a one-off fee of £60 plus £20 for the year’s subscription. Payments will be accepted by credit and debit cards. In addition to the unmetered access, they will provide free calls to anyone in the USA via your PC. For £20 per month you can make unlimited calls using your PC to anyone in the UK, Europe, South Africa and Australia. You are able to register your interest at Whysurf.com and will be limited to 50,000 customers. What are your comments on Whysurf? Let us know with the new comments feature by using the link above. New unmetered ISP could bee a winner They are offering a 24/7 unmetered service for just £20 per year with a one-off registration fee of £20, bringing the access for the first year to £40. There is no restriction as to which telephone company you use which will please many non-BT customers, and they support speeds up to 64K ISDN. They provide unlimited email accounts, 10MB of web space, newsgroup access and built-in virus protection. They are accepting registrations now via their secure online form. They accept credit and debit cards including Switch and Solo, but you better be quick as they are restricting the initial sign-up to 50,000 users. Unmetered access for the business user From this Summer, they will be using the BT SurfTime package to provide its users unmetered access at a cost of around £30 per month. With the first access server launched in March 1997, intY provides many services aimed at small businesses including Internet access, hosting and hardware installation. They have many clients including the international parcel carriers Interlink Express. Totalise gets licence to grow The telecoms licence puts Totalise on an equal footing with major communications providers, such as Telinco UK Ltd, and sets it apart from other ISPs in the UK. Peter Gregory, CEO of Totalise, comments, “The new licence marks an important stage in Totalise’s development as we move from being just another ISP to an Internet company offering a wide range of services and solutions. With our own licence we do not have to rely on a third-party telecoms operator and we can look at offering services like ADSL, unmetered Internet access and WAP much sooner.” Totalise are also in negotiations to provide Internet access to the members of the Jena ISP. They are approaching a number of small, local ISP's, groups and clubs to work with them in providing Internet access for their users. Totalise is the proud winner of several ISPA awards, and intends to introduce extra characteristics into the system, including Web-based Email, 0800 Access and an 0800 Technical Support line. Since its launch in July 1999, it has attracted over 117,000 users. Freedom2Surf goes unmetered They are providing 0800 access between 6pm and midnight Monday to Friday, and all weekend. Users need to post a subscription form to join which is downloaded from their site. The unmetered service costs £9.40 which payable by credit or debit card monthly in advance. ClaraNET launches new FreeTime packages Both FreeTime packages offer: free Internet telephone callsFreeTime Unlimited offers unmetered off peak (6pm - 2am weekday and all weekend) Internet access and costs just £9.99 per month. However its use is limited and cannot be used for online chat and gaming. FreeTime 12 provides up to 12 hours of off-peak unmetered access each month and full access to IRC and gaming servers. It costs £4.99 per month or £39.99 per annum. In both packages peak hours Internet calls and additional off peak calls are charged at 20% less than the BT local call rate. According to Nick Wells, marketing manager of ClaraNET: "Many of our customers join us because of slow access and poor and expensive support from some of the "free" content-driven ISPs. We want happy long-term customers, not a quick telecom buck. Of course not everyone wants the same thing from their ISP, which is why we offer the most comprehensive range of packages in the UK. We believe our latest two FreeTime packages will prove very popular and are some of the best value Internet deals available.” To subscribe, contact ClaraNET customer support on 0845 355 1000 or visit their web site. LibertySurf joins unmetered Internet access market Their CDs will be available from selected Kingfisher owned retail outlets including Comet and MVC tomorrow and from Woolworths in June. LibertySurf are offering two packages to suit the needs of all Internet users, without the need to change telephone companies. The off-peak option has an annual fee of £20 and all off-peak Internet calls are free, whilst calls made at peak-rate are charged at just 1p per minute. The 24/7 option offers free calls to the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has an additional annual fee of £35. CD-ROMs for the service will be programmed with customers' phone numbers so calls can be charged to LibertySurf, which has created its own virtual telephone network. LibertySurf broadcasts advertising across the top of web pages to help fund the cost. Exclusive World Online chat event The Managing Director of WOL Derick Martin and the Marketing Manager David Watson will available in a question and answer session on Wednesday 10th May at 8.30pm. After yesterday’s incorrect report by ZDNet saying that they will be investigated by OFTEL, there will undoubtedly be questions that will be asked about the off-peak option that they will be introducing at the end of the month. To take part visit The Scream! chat room tomorrow at 8.30pm. World Online to be investigated by OFTEL World Online will be raising the line rental from next month in exchange for 24/7 unmetered access. Screaming.net customers originally had off-peak access before they were taken over by World Online. This angered many customers who had no need for 24/7 access and were unhappy being forced into paying the increase in line rental. The ZDNet article mentioned that the CEO of World Online, Simon Preston dismissed the claims: "There is not an Oftel issue here at all. We can't give out free lunches," he says. Preston also defends the decision to "upgrade" screaming.net customers to a 24/7 unlimited access service. "We took a view on the service and decided to increase line rental by around £4 or £5 [a month] although everyone will get 24/7 for no extra cost for the first three months."Click here to read the full story. Visual Depth Update Managing Director, Martin Case has told us: We are happy to announce that some customers have been connected to our unmetered service today through our 0808 number and all of which have commented very highly towards their initial thoughts on the service. We will continue to activate accounts as quickly as possible, however this is a slow process. They have also reduced the cost of their technical support line. The number is now 0870 741 8910 and will be charged as a national rate call. You can always email them at support@visualdepth.com if you have trouble getting through. Hopefully they are now on their way to activate all their customers’ accounts. Further details on Round-The-Clock access UKRTC will be launching in the first half of June, but a random selection will be asked to participate in trials expected to start by the last week in May. The service is expected to cost £19.99 per month. Here is what we know so far about what’s on offer. 25MB web space 4theNET to provide unmetered service Details are a bit scarce at the moment, but the new ISP service will be 24/7 and will cost £15 per month. Discounts on other telephone calls will also be available so it looks like it will be tied in with a telecom company. Pre-registrations are available and those that put their name down now will be given priority. F9 to go unmetered with BT SurfTime PlusNet will be providing off-peak and 24/7 packages using the BT SurfTime packages. Starting June 1st, PlusNet will be making use of the SurfTime package from BT to provide its customers with various unmetered options. There will be off-peak access as well as the popular 24/7 option for heavy Internet users. Each package will include unlimited web space, unlimited mailboxes, CGI access, and a Fax2Email service. When it becomes available PlusNet will also be providing the BT ADSL service. Latest on Visual Depth problems In an email sent on Wednesday last week they did say that “We will be activating all accounts on Friday regardless of whether your Credit Card has been debited or not.” It is now Sunday and we are still receiving complaints from visitors, some saying that they paid by cheque instead and still haven’t received any registration details. In an email from the Managing Director of Visual Depth, Martin Case explained some possible reasons for accounts not being activated: I can understand why you have been receiving many complaints from your visitors. The reason why all accounts have not been activated is down to one of the following reasons: -They will however be compensating users for the delay by providing an extra month of 0800 access: “That is true, we will be adding a 13-month subscription to all current customers and this 13 month period will not begin until their account is active and they have the 0800 Access. We have received many complaints that we are charging for a service that does not exist, however we are not charging anyone anything as yet and will not charge them until the service is 100% live. The first customers to activate their accounts can expect to have the 0800 Access within 48 hours!”According to ISPreview, their site is being moved to a new server, which explains the reason for their site apparently being down. The Visual Depth website can be found here if you are having problems accessing it via your ISP. Their technical support line is now priced at £1 per minute and is not a national rate call as previously reported. They say that it is due to lack of funds, as operating the unmetered service will put them at a loss for two to three years. We have also received reports that some users have been put on hold whilst connected to the premium rate helpline. This is in fact permitted as long as it is no longer than 15 seconds. You should however be told the call rate at the beginning of the telephone call. For further details on premium rate telephone services visit ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services. Visual Depth Update Here is a copy of an email just in: NEW USERS World Online to keep off-peak option The Scream! have details of a draft copy of a letter that will be sent out to customers soon. In it World Online say: You have to let us know before the 28th of May 2000. The way you let us know is by visiting (note -- the url is not yet active and has been removed for the purpose of this post). You will need to provide your World Online Account Number(s), the telephone number(s), including STD code(s) of the line(s) you have with World Online and your World Online Security PIN number. This is the only way to register for this option, please do not write in and please do not call Customer Services.For the full copy of the letter visit The Scream! Teenage dot.com duo launches public cash-for-schools Internet Service The system works on a cash-for-usage basis. Schools must promote the service at IndNET to their parents or pupils who, in turn, are prompted to nominate their school on signing up. The service offers Internet access at local rate via an 0845 number. Schools will then receive a cheque for the amount of time their users have spent online, so the more the service is used, the more money they get back. |
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