Comment Articles

BT goes flat out

Rupert Goodwins AnchorDesk

Published: 06 Jun 2000 15:50 BST

Two weeks ago, we had no idea of what broadband services would be delivered and no idea if BT would ever provide flat-rate Internet calls. Today, we know details of both. For a first cut, it's not that bad -- you can get unmetered calls at evenings or all weekend for seven quid a month; all day every day for thirty; or go the full Monty for ADSL at fifty. That's not a bad spread, even if the prices should really be roughly half that. In the words of Groucho Marx -- we've established what sort of woman BT is; we're haggling about the price.

What will happen in our brave new world? BT is obviously hoping we'll all get second lines in at once and start to use our flat-rate Internet calls enthusiastically, but with moderation. Companies such as Freeserve are going to go back to their spreadsheets -- it'd be nice to think they're prepared for this, but you know and I know that this doesn't always happen. The cable companies will respond with their usual flair, timeliness and imagination, so expect action there in about 2002. And ISPs from tip to toe of the UK will have to fatten their pipes and beef up their servers: this could be the best chance yet for paid-for services such as Demon to offer a real advantage.

It'd be nice to see the Internet infrastructure in the UK stabilise around a sensible model, with a reasonable split of revenue to telco and ISP. The flat rate call structure offers the best chance of this happening, and thus allowing everyone to plan for new services with the hope of making commercial sense.

But this is all business stuff. You probably don't run a telco or an ISP -- and believe me, you probably don't want to -- but you will suddenly have access to the Internet for as long as you like without starving the children or flogging the dog. What's going to happen to your life online?