Tom, Yes it has, and yes you should. Welcome aboard!
Careful there, Marc. Unless you know something that wasn't covered in the news release, FNET is *not* the exclusive ISP for WebTV. FTEL has signed an agreement "to offer Internet access using FNet's Internet Service Provider capabilities. " Like any news from FTEL that I've read, it is a bit vague (never quantifies anything), but it most certainly does not indicate it will be the *exclusive* ISP.
Tom, it seems a logical and fairly safe (but not guaranteed) assumption that WebTV's interest in FNET is for the 1-800 aspect, as most of the population doesn't have local-number access to WebTV.
And I must watch different channels than you guys do. I see WebTV's advertisement all the time! Of course, I'm a huge fan of Beavis and Butthead, so that might explain one or two things. *LOL*
When I first started seeing the WebTV commercials, I would always tell my wife, derisively, that it'd never sell because it's basically the internet for people too dumb to be able to handle AOL. No more. If the resolution can be improved, and in light of the WebTV folks apparently being smart enough to hop into bed with FNET, I now think that, though it's still a piss-poor substitute for using a real computer, it'll do very well because most of the country really *is* to dumb to be able to handle AOL, if they could even get in. *L* Nothing against the "dumb" ones. They're only dumb in the computer sense, and we all can't be PC-Geeks. <g> Hell, I bet I'd never be able to figure out how to thread a sewing machine, so I ain't all that smart, in some respects.
I think the next thing that might make for an interesting bet is guessing the date the first WebTV commercial will air bragging about 1-800 unlimited access.
Raleigh, how do you feel about FNET's current ramping up? It is far better to turn away new customers than to become unavailable to your existing ones ("The AOL Lesson"), but I sure hope FNET is already capable of, or will very SOON be capable of handling a LOT of new users. They can ill afford to have too much of a waiting period for new accounts, as WebTV will surely add a lot of them soon, and I'm sure AOL is already shedding more internet-jonesing subscribers than you can shake a stick at. These *millions* of people will want new accounts NOW!
Which reminds me, this would be a fantastic opportunity not only for FNET, but for any other large ISP. A sizable ISP can immediately become national in scope by getting into an agreement with Frank to provide a 1-800 backbone into their systems. That way, if FNET doesn't directly snatch up a lot of these AOL people, it can still make money off of the ISPs that do. |
