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This was the case - until very recently - throughout Europe. However, things are changing: the UK now has flat-rate Net access nationally, mostly thanks to CUT - the Campaign for Unmetered Telecomms - which just celebrated its 3rd birthday. Other European countries are beginning to follow suit, too.

..because here in Europe, we know what metered Internet access is like and we don't like it!

D.

Just you try setting up a DVD-warez server and offer 500GB a day, and see how long it takes for your ISP to whup your ass and charge you for the bandwidth. The point is that _most_ internet users use a small amount of bandwidth, which doesn't cost the _provider_ money beyond his connectivity rental. That's why you get a flat rate.

It's much the same in the telecoms industry, where the cost of providing a local call is less than the cost of metering and billing those calls at a competitive rate. Obviously uncompetitive bastards like BT will suck their captive audience dry of money with by-the-second metering.

See the Campaign for Unmetered Telecoms for more such arguments.

Look at the ISPs that have a successful free-call service (like WorldOnline, ClaraNET). Their money comes from Calls and Access provision - where they operate (or partner with) a piggyback access provider (like Localtel or whoever) and take a decent cut of the call charges, while also being able to profit from voice calls made from the same number. The free ISP access essentially acts as a catalyst to get people to use your telecoms service.

The companies offering access for a 'one-time flat rate fee' don't especially inspire confidence in me - the disappearance of these services from the fly-by-night operations currently in place supports this.

Don't put all the blame on BT. Yes, the local loop has to be unbundled, but this is a much wider problem. The telecoms infrastructure in this country isn't marvellous, and, in some areas, still suffers from load issues. It takes time to deregulate an industry, let's make sure it's done properly. In the meantime, check CUT for details of the unmetered access issues.

I agree its getting cheaper (roll on FRIACO), but the last survery done said that the majority of the public aren't willing to pay more than 15 UKP (sorry can't find the reference online). So its going to take a long time for it to spread past the early adopters and speed freaks.

I dunno about you, but it would take me about 5 minutes to patch the modem connection in the right manner to be able to sniff packets off it. Mind you, I'm a tinkerer...

Much more difficult though, especially for a software boy like myself :-), patching into a phoneline is much more fun (V.90 anyone?), Remember no opening the case on your appliance because you invalidate the service agreement.

Aye, but what are the timings? With the current units & the latest clients, my 300MHz G3 (192MB RAM) has gone from ~9hrs to ~14hrs per unit. If it does its thang under 5 hrs then it's reason to move to cable modems and connect automatically (****ing metered calls - http://www.unmetered.org.uk/)

This thing has existed in most EU countries for a few years now and has been used by all the Telcos as an argument against introducing unmetered internet access. It is a pile of crap because in most EU countries local phone calls are around $0.03 per minute. Figure out how "free" that is for yourselves. Besides, offering you that "free service" is actually quite profitable for the free ISPs since they get paid by the the telecos when you use their dial in numbers (they get a share of your per minute charge). Go to CUT to see what kind of deal we really get with the European ISPs.

And let's not forget the joys of metered internet access! 1.65p a minute + 5p to connect + 6 quid a month for line rental. I just can't wait till they get their act together and give us unmetered access on a normal 56K modem. This LocalHell freak show makes me very tired indeed.

support CUT

Visit the website http://www.unmetered.org.uk/ which explains the current state of legislation in the UK on telephony charging, what is being done to address it and why these announcements by BT & Freeserve are pretty irrelevent.

Thought this article might interest you.

Check out the links it has to follow-up news and other comments on BT's appalling monopolistic practices.


-- R.

One of the key differences between the UK and the US is scale. We're pretty densely packed in, putting a lot of people within what would be a "local call". If local calls were free the telco(s) would lose a big slice of revenue

For more information, see the (biased but informative) picture at The Campaign for Unmetered Telecoms.

These "free" ISPs aren't really free, since you pay through the nose for your phone calls.
Another poster mentioned the Campaign for unmetered telecommunications
You should know that there are many similar groups in Europe asking for a flat rate and together they have organized the European Telecom Boycott Day on 6/6/1999. Visit http://www.telecom.eu.org and, please, support the boycott.

True in UK too, for sure. As The Register points out, British Telecom are making $220 profit per second and have no intention of cutting the cost of Net access, let alone making it free.

Regards, Ralph.

The problem I have with 'Free ISPs' is that they discourage telecom operators from allowing free calls (the real issue).
As the call charges are exactly the thing that is funding the ISP side of the business there is plenty of interest (for the telecom operators) in maintaining the status quo.

I'm sure the majority of European Internet users would prefer to pay £10-£20 a month to an ISP and get free calls, rather than pay nothing to an ISP and pay for per minute access to a telecom operator.

See Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications for more info.