AN interesting read in this month's PC Plus magazine over Friaco and BT

Lemming

The article is entitles "Square deal Surf" and discusses the two rival packages in the UK; Friaco and BT surftime, along with the pro's and con's

Among some of the more interesting snippets is this:

"AOL was one of the prime movers behind FRIACO. In 1999, AOL approached BT to discuss the creation of a wholesale unmetered tariff. Its suggestion was that, instead of paying on a per-minute basis for use of a port (the modem to which a customer connects at the telephone exchange), AOL would pay a flat monthly fee for the use of that port. This would mean that AOL would then be able to charge an agreed flat rate to its customers.

According to Matt Peacock, Chief Communications Officer of AOL UK, BT refused point-blank: "They said they did not believe that UK consumers wanted flat-rate ... and even if they did, it couldn't be done in this country. This struck us as total nonsense. We'd commissioned a survey of 11,000 AOL members in the UK, of whom 92% identified the cost of the metered telephone call as the biggest single obstacle to their spending more time online - so we knew that UK consumers most definitely wanted flat-rate. And AOL had been doing this in the US for a good while by that (as had all other ISPs), so we knew it could be done from a technical perspective".

Intersting .. considering all of the above BT behavious is EXACTLY what EirCon has been feeding as their official line too. Coincidence??

Also listed in the article are some websites, one of which might be of particular interest to the committee and research working grioups is this:

The campaign for unmetered telecoms

dahamsta

Hey Lemming,

Intersting .. considering all of the above BT behavious is EXACTLY what EirCon has been feeding as their official line too. Coincidence??

Not really a coincidence, just the way incumbents think. I wouldn't ring AOL's bells to loudly on this one either, since they weren't responsible for the resolution to the problem. That gong goes to MCI Worldcom, who also tried to negotiate a flat-rate product. When BT (naturall) refused, MCI lodged a complaint with Oftel, who then went ahead and mandated FRIACO. Why didn't AOL do this? Why don't they do it in Ireland?

Also listed in the article are some websites, one of which might be of particular interest to the committee and research working groiups is this: The campaign for unmetered telecoms

Have a look at the third article in "Latest News".

CUT has now disbanded, because they achieved their aims.

adam

Lemming

Originally posted by dahamsta

Not really a coincidence, just the way incumbents think. I wouldn't ring AOL's bells to loudly on this one either, since they weren't responsible for the resolution to the problem. That gong goes to MCI Worldcom, who also tried to negotiate a flat-rate product. When BT (naturall) refused, MCI lodged a complaint with Oftel, who then went ahead and mandated FRIACO. Why didn't AOL do this? Why don't they do it in Ireland?

Well .. the next section in the article mentions the whole MCI thing and WHY AOL didn't. AOL approached MCI over it, since only a registered carrier could make the complaint to Oftel (which AOL werent' and MCI were).

SOrry .. was a bit too lazy to type out that bit