UK Free ISPs and uk 0800 free-dial ISPs

The First Place to Look For UK Free 0800 ISP Info!

Right now the UK ISP market is under-going a rapid transformation, never before has there been so much choice in terms of UK flat rate/un-metered/free 0800 24/7 isps! Names to watch include NTL, worldonline.co.uk, 24-7Freecall, BT ASDL OpenWorld, Freedom24, IGClick ISP UK, PlusNet, Breathe.net and RedHotAnt to name a few. With the roll-out in July 2000 of BT's ASDL (Btopenworld) internet access and likely cheaper UK ISP access on ISDN another round of changes won't be far off! Oftel is asking BT to un-bundle the local-loop this could happen end of 2000 or more likely beginning of 2001, leaving the UK with a more US type phone line rental/call charge arrangement, paving the way for a greater choice of free uk isps.

On 26th May 2000 OFTEL announced it's requesting that 'BT support unmetered internet access for other operators' this is now known as FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination). In short it means BT is forced into providing unmetered access to UK ISPs making the setting up of 'free ISPs' far cheaper and easier. To get the full picture you need to check out Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications site (direct link to their FRIACO FAQ). What does it mean to us customers? Well it will mean even more Free UK ISPs will join in the race to become the top 'free 0800 uk isp', for instance Demon have annouced they will be making an offering which uses FRIACO, no details launched yet, but with Demon's reputation for quality, surely one to watch!

With choice comes decisions! UK Free ISPs aims to give you a good overview of the current situation (including free UK 0800 isps), list most of the main players and link to resources (now including the UK Free ISP's User Feedback Forum where ISPs are listed and rated) to aid you in your decision making!

(Table last updated 21/10/2000)

ISP	Time	Set-up fee	Monthly Fee	Cost 1st year (estimated)	Timeout
24-7Freecall	24/7	£0	£19.99	£239.88	none (15 mins idle)
Breathe.net	24/7	£50	£0	£50	6 hours
BT Internet	evenings + WE	£0	£9.99	£119.88	2 hours
Buzzline	Now withdrawn due to bad publicity.
Callnet0800/ 4UNet/ F1Racing	Un-metered access withdrawn, replaced with a paid-to-dial service.
F9	weekend	£0	£9.99	£119.88	unknown
FreeChariotNet	24/7	£15	£5 min. spend on nat. + intl. calls	£75 (call credit)	1.5 hours (unknown idle)
Freedom24 (& FreedomLite)	24/7 (limited to 100 hours month)	£0	£14.99 (plus phone line rental)	£179.88 (Plus £9.25/month Line Rental)	none (15 mins idle) over 100 hours - calls charged at 1ppm all times
Freedom24 (& FreedomLite)	evenings + WE (limited to 50 hours month)	£0	£2.99 (plus phone line rental)	£35.88 (plus £9.25/month Line Rental)	none (15 mins idle) over 50 hours - calls charged at 1ppm all times
FreeServe	24/7	£0	£10 call credit	£120 (call credit)	unknown

Greatxscape	20 hours off-peak + WE	£0	£9.25 (phone line rental)	£0 (£9.25/month Line Rental)	2 hours
LineOne	24/7	£20 for router box	£5 min. spend on nat. + intl. calls	£80 (Call credit)	unknown
NTL	24/7	£10 for adapter	£10 min. spend on voice calls	£130 (call credit)	2 hours (5 mins idle)
PlusNet	Off-peak + WE	£0	£19.98	£239.76	none
PlusNet	24/7	£0	£25.98	£311.76	none
RedHotAnt	Off-peak + WE	£30	£10 p.a.	£40	3 hours
RedHotAnt	24/7	£30	£20 p.a.	£50	3 hours
Strayduck	24/7 every 3rd week	£0	£0	depends on time online on 0845	unknown
SurfSaver/ ezesurf	Service withdrawn see overview for more detail. This withdrawal will no doubt cause trouble for visual depth users (again see overview)
Telewest SurfUnlimited	24/7	£9.99	£10 (call credit)	£129.99 (Call credit)	none (30 mins idle)
TheFreeInternet	24/7	£0	£50 p.a. 1st yr £20 p.a. 2nd+	£50	unknown
Visual Depth	24/7	£24.99	£74.99 p.a.	£99.98	2 hours
X-Stream	'Trial' is over no longer available.

NB: This table is a guide, no responsibility is accepted on action taken as a result of using it.

My Overview back to Top

I'll soon be adding more of my own views here, currently I'm with 24-7Freecall and (was with) Freedom24 and (was with) SurfSaver. I have more than a passing interest in the 'uk 0800 free dial ISPS scene' so check back soon! I'll link to discussion groups and other supporting information. Also check the links in Other Useful Resources (below) and post your experiances into the UK Free ISP's User Feedback Forum (read what others have to say!).

I'll start with the 2 free-dial ISPs of which I have direct experiance. As well as direct experiance I also follow their ups and downs as reported in the newsgroups and forums and other 0800 free isp uk sites I visit.

Freedom24/WOL

My Rating: (Was 7/10, new time limits are no good, cheaper comparable services available! You also need you need to transfer your phone service across, many billing problems reported)

Your Ratings: here.

This 24/7 deal is an extention of an off-peak deal formally known as screaming.net provided by LocalTel. Its had its fair share of ups and downs (a lot of downs!), it was one of the first free uk isp's, all in all its a solid service and an excellent long term bet (there's rumours it may offer DSL in line with BTs DSL offer). The main drawback is you need to convert a BT line to use WOL's telecoms service. This is really the rub, since while the free-dial ISP side of things remains good (generally) the billing of normal telephone calls continues to give problems, lots of people still report billing errors and failure of WOL to bill on time. An excellent place to look back over problems with this service, get help and advice is www.The-Scream.com a site originally set up by users to help each other, the site now also covers many of the other free 0800 isps - worth a good look.

Update: World Online uk have severly capped the hours you can use the service and hiked the cost dramatically, unless you're a light user who only uses the 'net off-peak times avoid.

SurfSaver/ezesurf

Update: Service now withdrawn (see link above or check The Scream! for latest news.)

My Rating: (I have previously rated ezesurf 8/10, I did mention it may not survive long-term.)

Your Ratings: here. (again many rated ezesurf highly, great pity the business could not be made to work.)

The business model was not sustainable and the service was withdrawn due to lack of funds. This puts a large question mark over the furture of the 'visual depth' service, see overview of 'visual depth' below.

News about the service and a support group forum has been set up here. Or check The-Scream! forum.

RedHotAnt

My Rating: (Was 2/10. Less connection problems reported these days)

Your Ratings: here.

I don't have personal experiance of this free uk isp. I watched the service start, at the time it was a toss-up between joining ezesurf and redhotant. Some sites/discussion boards you may wish to check out: www.RedHotPants.co.uk (spoof), RedHotAnt.con (spoof), talk.to/rha (discussion board) and RedHotAnt USB (discussion board). Worth remembering that the sign-up fee seems to be the primary way the service is funded, remains to be seen how long it can last.

Visual Depth

My Rating: (Currently a re-package of the SurfSaver/ezesurf free uk isp, costing a lot more)

Your Ratings: here.

It's now been widely reported that this ISP was using the surfsaver 0800 ISP but re-branding the dial-up with its own dialer, the cost was far higher than going to surfsaver direct, one to avoid I would think It remains to be seen what will now happen to this ISP after the demise of ezesurf.

24-7Freecall

My Rating: (Was 8/10, lots of problems connecting in various parts of the country, hopefully this will be sorted out soon. Requires BT Line, 15 minute idle cut-off period, monthly billing, slightly expensive.)

Your Ratings: here.

This 24/7 deal was worth a look, many good things said about it after its launch. The billing is done monthly and there's no minimum period. There is no fixed cut-off period, there is currently a 15 minute idle timeout. Slightly on the expensive side.

Update: Problems now being reported when trying to connect to the service at some times of day. Shame.

Other Useful Resources back to Top

The Scream!	It's the 0800 free ISP uk site I always go to - need I say more?
UK Free ISPs Forum	Forum set up, by us, give your feedback on ISPs you have tried.
Net4Nowt	Good site for up-to-date news on the general free uk isp scene.
www.isps.co.uk	Lots of good starting points for UK ISP info.
CUT	Campaign for Un-metered Telecommunications.

Remember to Bookmark Us!

Thankyou for Visiting UK Free ISPs!

Feel free to Link! (site is regularly updated)

email:ukfreeisps@bigfoot.com url:http://www.bigfoot.com/~ukfreeisps
Content Copyright UK Free ISPs
April 30, 2000 ©