BT to Offer Free Internet Calls

gnoos writes "The BBC is reporting that BT is to start offering customers free internet telephone calls if they sign up to broadband in December. The offer will be limited to the first 50,000 people who sign up and users will need to use BT's internet telephony software, known as BT Communicator"

Comments

Re:Please tell me..

[Ummu]

It probably is... Nobody loves us Linux users. "Sorry, we don't support linux." "What's "Linux"? I'm asking for your Windows Version, not your web browser." "Screw off, penguin-boy!"

BitTorrent?

[RasendeRutje]

Telephone calls via BitTorrent???

Re:Not to mobiles, though

[Anonymous Coward]

Does any___ even _____ gr__nd l__ anymo_____

You're breaking up. Can you call back when you get better reception? Or when you get to a real phone?

Re:Zowee!

[Ummu]

Look at how many customers AOL has, and you'll understand how radical this may seem to the common American family.

Re:Am I the only one...

[Seraphim_72]

I did too...then I thought "Aww crap, all this technology just so I can come back to using a party line"

Sera

how to advertise for free.....

[phantomfive]

How to advertise for free to nearly a million potential customers: submit your company homepage as a story on slashdot.

To put it another way:

1. Create silly introductory offer.
2. Submit it as a breaking story to slashdot.
3. Get slashdotted.
4. PROFIT!!!!!!!!!

Re:Free phone in France

[isorox]

You also get broadband internet (up to 15 mbits in some areas)

Not broadband minitel?

Re:God Bless Flat Rates....

[mrdaveb]

Dollars? backyards? cellphones?

I didn't know BT ran phone lines all the way across the atlantic. No wonder they aren't making any money!

:-)

Re:Dont trust them.

[uglyduckling]

I haven't found their ADSL to be as bad as that, but one thing I'm sure of - their customer service sucks. Five years ago I ran IT for an organisation, and we were the first business customer for ADSL in our postcode area. You would think they would have looked after us but they didn't. I remember calling once when the service went down, and had a conversation along these lines:

Me: the router isn't connecting and says authentication error
Tech: can you please restart the router
Me: I've done that and it doesn't make any difference
Tech: please try now
Me: [does it] ok no difference
Tech: ok, please reboot your computer
Me: but the router hasn't connected, how will that help?
Tech: let's just try it
Me: ok but your router is the otherside of a firewall and proxy server so rebooting my workstation is completely pointless
Tech: ok, reboot the computer that is attached to the router
Me: I can't do that because it's a server
Tech: why not?
Me: because the 30 staff currently using it for file store will scream at me when they lose their connection and possibly their data
Tech: ok, reboot your computer
Me: *sigh* [reboots workstation]...the router still isn't connecting
Tech: ok, it looks like your password has been changed
Me: ok, why?
Tech: I don't know, it happens sometimes
Me: can you please reset it?
Tech: no
Me: why not?
Tech: the person who does that is out of the office
Me: !"£%£&% is there only one person who can do that?
Tech: yes
Me: so in the whole of BT, there's only one person who can reset an ADSL password?
Tech: yes
Me: you're sure
Tech: yes
Me: what happens if they get run over by a bus - what will you do then?
Tech: umm... hang on... [puts me on hold] ... ... ... ok we can reset that password
Me: thankyou

I kid you not - this is the conversation as well as I can remember it from five years ago. Sad but true. Other encounters with them have not been much better.