David Rutherford wrote:
>
> I thought I would mention what's happening in the UK with regards to
> Internet access, and charging for its use.
>
> Sometime last summer, one ISP in the UK launched a free Internet access
> service - that means, no start-up fee and no monthly subscription charges.
> It included unlimited email addresses, free web space etc etc. Because of
> the speed of take up of this new service, lots more new and existing ISP's
> were forced to also offer free access in order to compete. The belief here
> in the UK is that by the end of this year, nobody will have to pay for
> Internet access.
>
> AOL are currently sitting at No.2 in the UK in terms of number of
> subscribers. In the face of this new competition, they were recently forced
> to lower their monthly subscription charge from £17 to £10 a month. Their UK
> chief was yesterday interviewed on television and defiantly believes that
> they can continue to charge people in the UK monthly subscription fees
> despite all the competition offering Internet access for free...time will
> tell.
>
David, you can get free email Seville in the US, but not access
to WEB Pages
AFAIN.  The newest thing in the US is ultrahigh speed access,
either with
cable modems, which started the whole thing or now with AT&T.
With a cable
modem you pay a premium for connection.  You don't have to get an
extra
phone line (or tie up your existing line), however.

Nick D.