This
article gives details of free ISPs in the UK, who do not necessarily
provide free calls to the Internet. For the latest news on "totally
free" ISPs (free dial-up and free internet accounts) click
here. 8th March 2000.
WITH OVER a hundred free Internet Service Providers in the UK there
is no reason why you should pay to plug your computer into the web --
whether you live in the UK, or you are just visiting.
Getting
online has never been cheaper. The price of computers is falling, local
rates for telephone calls in the UK are dropping and since electrical
retailer Dixons dropped the bombshell of free internet access service,
Freeserve, on us in September last year, you havn't had to pay a penny
to go online.
Free internet access has caught in a big way. One recent report by Fletcher
Research, found that after just nine months after Freeserve's launch,
two thirds of UK internet users don't pay for access. They also found
that Freeserve accounted for 31% of the UK internet market.
Does it mean using the internet is free in the
UK? In the UK we still pay for our local rate calls (usually from 1p-7p
a minute). This means that while free ISPs are going to cut your internet
bill, it is still going to be a lot more expensive than if you were
surfing USA (or Canada, for that matter), where local calls are free.
Top Who is the fastest and most reliable?
This is a tricky one to answer because the situation is changing all
the time. For example, after Freeserve launched it soon became unreliable
because of the huge uptake by internet users. Freeserve couldn't cope:
you frequently couldn't get online at peak hours and it became slow.
As Dixons started upgrading their network and rival free internet services
sprung up, taking the burden off Freeserve, the service improved markedly.
The answer is to open up two or three accounts (it only takes about
10 minutes max) and if one is performing badly switch to another. Big
names like Virgin.net, BT/MSN,
and Gateway should be reasonably
reliable, as they have the money to pile into their infrastructure and
bandwidth if the service starts flagging. But then again users of Microsoft's
free email service, Hotmail, have reported that the service has been
very out of sorts recently (mails lost, unable to connect, etc.), so
it may be advantageous to go for a smaller, lesser know name with fewer
subscribers as well.
What about technical support?
If you are new to the web be aware that many free ISPs charge for technical
support -- you can pay typically 50p-£1 per minute on a telephone
call. If you are an experienced web user then you shouldn't have any
problems, especially if setting up an account merely involves setting
up a dial-up networking connection. The ISP should supply help pages
on its web site. If it doesn't, then don't use it. Check
pitfalls.
What kind of features can I expect?
Different companies offer different facilities. Some provide just dial-up
access, others throw in anything from 1-25MB of web space, a POP e-mail
account (allows you to type e-mail offline) with unlimited e-mail aliases,
fax services, voice mail, newsgroup access, and more. Some support ISDN,
others don't.
You may get
more than you asked for. Some accounts may disrupt other internet
settings, brand your browser with their company name (like Freeserve
and Virgin.net) and, if you use
an online banking program, render it redundant. Many
programs also reset your default dial-up account (to the new one)
and reset your home page -- the page that your browser starts up on
-- to their company portal or home page. To avoid these happening
you want to make a minimal installation: all you need is an access
number, a user name and a password.
You usually
have to give away personal details when registering.
The service
is free, so perhaps you can't expect as good a service as if you were
paying for it, and if things go wrong you have little legal redress
from the supplier. Having said that, there is enough competition to
ensure that standards remain relatively high.
Make sure you
are paying local not national rates.
If you plan
on building a web site using your free service, check to see how often
you have to use your account to ensure that it isn't deactivated (usually
every 30 days or so). If the plug is pulled on your account, you will
not be able to update your site.
You wont be
able to use the account outside the UK -- although you should be able
to check your POP email via a web-based email account like Hotmail.
