ISP Review Looks Back @ 2002

Not since the emergence of unmetered dialup access during the late 1999 boom has the UK seen so much ISP related activity in a single year. The emergence of cheaper broadband access and an insatiable growth in problem areas such as viruses and SPAM (junk e-mail) are undoubtedly two key contributors.

ISP Review has once again set out to explore and explain these changes in our yearly review of the UK Internet access market.

The Dialup Decline

It’s already plainly obvious that the number of new Internet connections has slowed down from the 2000/2001 boom. This can be largely attributed to the growing number of people choosing to migrate from dialup to faster broadband services, a trend that is set to continue.

Despite this, the simplicity of being able to easily plug a modem into your phone line and start surfing within a matter of moments remains unmatched. Due to its ease of use, basic dialup services should continue to hold for a few more years before being consumed by cheaper broadband technologies.

Overall 2002 has been a largely uneventful year for the technology; a small wholesale price decrease on unmetered ports by Oftel, complimented with some flexibility improvements for ISPs, has done little to shake things up.

On the bright side and many unmetered offering ISPs have finally become wiser to their economics and are no longer afraid to impose clear usage limits. This should be good for customers in three ways:

• Users know what they’re getting.
• The ISP should be less likely to suffer engage tones and slow speeds.
• Such ISPs can no longer blame their customers for abuse when things go wrong, although sadly some still do.
  
  

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