Compaq Message Board - Msg: 11984419

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Technology Stocks : Compaq

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To: John Koligman who wrote (72224)	11/18/1999 12:40:00 PM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (4) of 97611

John: -OT- You have asked about the cost of internet access in the UK before. My average bill for access to the internet is about $1,000 per month. This consists of a relatively small subscription fee of $30 and the rest is telephone connection charges to British Telecom. Last month I cut it drastically to a rate of about $250 a month by switching to AOL. No subscription fee, free service and support calls and a free telephone connection 0800 number: but AOL charges 1 pence (US1.60 cents) a minute whatever the time of day. Today I cut it to about $45 per month. I achieve this by switching my telephone account from British Telecom to Locatel. I keep the same number use the same lines and the same equipment and all the same services. But Locatel charges 10% less than BT for whatever. Also, for its own clients only, Locatel has a deal with Screaming.net - an ISP - whereby access to the net from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday is completely free of telephone charges. So if I use AOL between 8a.m. and 6.p.m. on weekdays at 1 pence a minute the rest of the time I use it is free if I use Screaming.net. Locatel does not charge a subscription fee but Screaming.net charges about 75 cents for telephone support if you have to call. As you can imagine, thousands are leaving British Telecom. BT tries everything it can to prevent it - such as losing the request. It took me three months to effect the change when according to the reglations it should not take more than 8 days with an outside limit of 28 days. AOL is also rumoured to be thinking of doing something similar because it is losing customers like me to Screaming.net. Actually AOL is lobbying hard to have BT offer free or unmetered access on the US model for a flat fee per month. BT is starting to crack and I think the trend is obvious. If the cost does come down, you can expect an explosion in the use of computers and the internet in the UK and eventually throughout Europe.

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