ISPreview takes a final look at the unmetered/freecall situation

Before we finish this final article on unmetered, lets ask the question, why can a copper BT phone line be converted to ADSL at a total charge of around £50 per month and then surf limitless at very high speed? Ignore what ADSL is and look at the facts, is it not hogging a phone line in the same way as a normal net user might? Doesn't it use several times more bandwidth than a modem and even ISDN users ever could?

So why on earth is broadband so cheap in comparison to unmetered? The short and simple of it is that we just don't know. It makes no sense for Broadband to cost so little - in real terms and just for the hours it hogs a line, it should cost into the thousands ££ per month. However we can make a unique and educated guess.

BT is doing it so they can get people onto a product that is ultimately under their direct control. At the same time they can penalise those using ISDN and modems because it benefits them by causing problems with their competitors in the Telco and ISP world - Simple. Why on earth can't people such as Oftel see this? Once again BT uses stealth tactics to attack its opposition.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Thankfully there is now at least some light at the end of the tunnel; around mid November 2000 Oftel announced what is in essence another update to FRIACO. Accept this time they've gone back to the original idea and hopefully removed any metered charge ISPs incur on top. This means that while we're unlikely to see any huge price differences, underneath ISPs will be a lot more stable.

This means less, if any, people getting kicked for abuse and thus ISP being able to manage the call time they buy with ease. Although ultimately if you plan to use the net extensively then leased ISDN lines will be made more competitive and broadband will soon have spread.

Thus in the end BT, the ISPs and Oftel hope to have a system where light usage is done via ISPs and heavy usage through broadband. All we're questioning is the rather unfair way they are doing this, a way, which is trying to force people into something they aren't yet prepared to use or can't.

It's the people stuck in the middle end up loosing out the most and the problem for Oftel is that these people are in abundance!

PLEASE NOTE: All the issues mentioned in this article, including the ADSL comparison, have been noted to Oftel in our own report during early November 2000. It's hoped that they will listen to our suggestions and either open an investigation or take direct action on at least some of the points. They did seem keen to listen, whether they are keen to do anything is another matter.

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