Return To Autumn 1996 Index
With the tremendous growth of the Internet, now estimated at 50 million users with 10,000 new ones joining every day, it's not surprising that recently, loads of local service providers have sprung up all across the UK. In addition to the small guys, a number of big players are setting out their stalls in the potentially highly lucrative, UK Internet service-provision market.
One of the most interesting contenders is the new British Telecom Internet service. For a start, it provides nation-wide access via its so-called Low-Call service - always local rate regardless of where in the UK you are dialling. And then there the ease of connection...
One of the real pains for those who connect via small local service providers is that often, more people are trying to dial in than there are connections available. This means hours of frustration as you dialler software keeps showing "line busy!"
BT claim its service guarantees first time connection 98 % of the time. It also claims the service is extremely fast - no more endless pauses while images, one small piece at a time - punctuated by huge pauses. BT's service is also fairly cheap, at £15.00 per month, including VAT, with a further 10% off if you pay a year's subscription in advance.
BT supplies a free starter pack including CD ROM which it reckon can be used by anyone. These are powerful claims, and keen to put them to the sword, we took out a month's subscription and gave it a thorough hammering. We also roped in a number of people who have never used the Internet before to check it out.
Installation is relatively straightforward, although the bit where you tell it what port your modem is connected to, is somewhat idiosyncratic.
As you connect for the first time you should have your credit card handy, and need to make sure you carefully note your password - including whether you used big or small letters. You actually register your service on-line, while you are connected to BT.
When you are finally connected, you'll find the software supplied very good indeed. Okay, so it's a bit basic, but everything you need is available from the BT Launcher. Even my dear old dad had it sussed within a few minutes!
We tried dialling in at all hours of the day and night, and much to our surprise, it always connected first time - and still does. But the most impressive part of BT's service is its sheer speed. On timed downloads, BT's proved between 10 and 20 times faster downloading images than any local service provider we tested.
The reason for this is BT's service allows almost continual data download, whereas many smaller companies will only be sending you actual data in short bursts, punctuated by long pauses.
The technical support is quite good too. Whilst the quality of its support depends very largely on the technical knowledge of the individual at the end of the phone, it is available on an 0345 Low-Call number 8:00 to 22:00 weekdays and 10:00 to 18:00 at weekends. And again, during our tests, we never got an engaged signal, providing we used a Touch Tone telephone so we could dial directly rather than wait for an operator.
Overall, the BT service represents very good value for money. We still feel, that BT ought really to provide free after hours calls like Videotron do in the Southampton city area - where this zine is put together, and like many US phone companies do.
Although you can ask for your dial-up to be selected as one of your Family and Friends discounted numbers, and save a bit on your costs, it's all too easy to run up a huge phone bill, even though it's local rate.
More info: http://www.btinternet.com Or UK users telephone 0800 800001.
