The Scream! and ISPreview Put a Few Questions to WOL

1. What has changed to make it no longer possible to offer free offpeak uncapped access?

See earlier answer.

2. At least 4 companies are offering (or punting) a FRIACO product, so it must be soon-ish. No ?

It has been due since the 1st of June and we still have no evidence of delivery. Remember we have 10s of thousands of customers using this service - 'a couple of FRIACO ports' might be OK for a company that's launching a service - not so for World Online.

3. If that's the case why are you (corporately) scaring off a largish proportion of your users?

No, we have changed our pricing because of the indefinite delays. Remember, however that the F of FRIACO is Flat not Free.

4. If you want people to hang around, how long are they going to have to wait for a reasonably (competitively) priced product?

We believe that the product is reasonably priced. We will be able to improve the value when FRIACO is available.

5. You say 80% will remain "unmetered". So by implication, 20% of your customers will go over their allotted hours and will then be charged 1p per minute for the remainder of their access time. You must know that, as many here have said, this then makes your deal uncompetative for them, compared to the other truely "unmetered" ("uncapped" if you prefer) deals out there. Hence, my guess would be that you will lose most, if not all of these peeps. Do you think otherwise? What do you base this on? How many customers left World Online to join EzeSurf or CallNet for example?

We are always vulnerable to competitive activity. There is never one product that is right for every single customer.

6. I have 2 lines which are now both Freedom Lite, I get 50hrs on both plus an extra 20 hrs the one of my choise. This will cost me 5.98 on top of the 2 line rental fee's. My question is, Can I have all the hours applied to 1 line?

The extra 20 hours can be applied for using a voice only line along with a Lite or F24 line, and are applied to the Lite or F24 line.

7. Umm, what is the point of removing the 3 hour time limit? Is it so we can get our 3.3 hours per day in one go?

You could use all of your 100 hours in a single session if you wanted to - it is not an allowance of 3.3 hours a day, it is 100 hour a month to use as and when you want.

8. A compromise is needed and after much thought I have a suggestion which I think a lot of people could just about live with until friaco is sorted out, how about for freedom 24, 100 hours capping only on peak hours but letting us use off peak unlimited?

The price change is based on a very complicated model to achieve a cost savings objective - changing one thing will have implications on other areas. We have run several 'what ifs' and the structure we announced is the one we believe to be the fairest.

9. Will the 'clock watching' software provided by WOLT monitor ALL internet activity all just when using WOL/Screaming?

The software will monitor by number dialled so you can keep track of all your calls.

10. When this software start counting? It can take 2 or 3 minutes to get past username and password verification only to get immediately disconnected. If this happens 2 / 3 times a day it will use up a portion of my 'free' (paid for!) hours without actually getting on line.

As with all calls, the useage count starts from the modem answering the call. We will have an alternative dial number for customers that feel that the BT 0845 number gives them problems.

11. When we have used up our month's allowance will the 1p/min rate calls incur a 5p (or whatever) connection charge as with voice calls?

Calls will be charged at 1p after the minimum call charge of 4p.

12. WOL have stated a number of times that the new charging model is temporary. What exactly does "temporary" mean and how frequently will the model be reviewed.

There will be no significant change until FRIACO is commercially available.

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