Is there any cheap or free dial-up access out there?

stu_iow

Hi guys,

Does anyone know of any free (if not then cheap) dial-up ISP.

Most I have seen are either 1p a minute or between £5 and £15 for anytime use. However, Topletter.com says it has free access to dial-up just pay for the local call to connect to topletter. Does anyone have any experience with them or know how much/long the cost of the call to connect is and are there any time restrictions.

Thanks for the advice.

Stu.

Stuart_W

I thought 0845 ISPs had ditched the term "FREE" a long time ago. It seems not.

You will find topletter.com dial up internet access is not free, it is the cost of an 0845 call - which is not the same as what most people pay for a local call. 0845 from a BT line will cost 1p/min evening and weekend, and 3p/min daytime.

There are many many providers of 0845 dial up access. From a money saving perspective, topletter.com offers nothing special at all.

rabialiones

fast4.net about 4.99 per month

Ken68

Tiscali Daytime (5days)£5 per month and Tiscali Daytime Plus (everyday) £8 per month. Their accelerator does boost the speed. Tesco also do a £6 a month Daytime but odd hours 2am to 4pm. Tiscali Anytime is not anytime, tis a bad tariff.
Wouldn't mind moving to fast4, which I think is all the time, but need to find a free web accelerator.

Mr_Meanie

MIP Cards for freephone dial up, £10 for 2000 mins = 0.5p/min

Not fast, not 100% reliable but not that bad most of the time!

http://www.mipcards.com/

codetown

Stu,
careful.

There is Not a single UK operator that gives you totally free dial-up today. Some will make you pay in advance a monthly quote and give you a freephone number (0808), some others will put the cost on your telephone bill (via 0845 numbers).

In general a cheap but reasonable 'flat' operator is Fast4.net, 4.99 a month with unlimited time online already prepaid (so you can stay as much as you want and you will only pay that 4.99 a month via a credit/debit card). You will enter with them a monthly contract, which you can cancel giving 28 days notice.

Mips card does not ask for a contract, but is more expensive if you use the Internet more than 10 hours a month.

Icon_3

Does anyone know if Fast4 make you pay 2.11 below if you cancel within a year?

2.1 Payment of the monthly subscription of £ -0.01 (inclusive of VAT) entitles you to access to the internet for one calendar month (irrespective of the length of that month). You are entitled to access the Internet for a period of no more than 168 hours per week, after which your account will become inactive until the beginning of the following week. The Fast 4 Internet Internet access will be provided with a modem contention ratio of 15:1. In order to prevent wasted use and also to maintain the quality of service to other users, if the Fast 4 Internet system detects that a line is idle for more than ten minutes, it may terminate the connection (but this does not impose an obligation on Fast 4 Internet to do so). Please note that in some instances, even though there is no activity on your part, data may be sent to you from a site and so will not register as being idle.

2.11 Payment of a further non-optional annual subscription of £60.00 (to be paid in monthly instalments of £5.00) entitles you to receive an annual internet use training manual [which retails at £60.00]. The service set out in clause 2.1 and this internet use training manual are interrelated aspects of your Fast 4 Internet access package, they must be taken together and cannot be taken separatly.

norvin

Call18866 FAQ's state that 0845 numbers work with 18866.
Worth investigating if it is possible to access internet via 18866?

stu_iow

Cheers Guys,

All this is most helpful. I thought the 'free' internet was not to good to be true, hence the thread.

Looks like £4.99 a month is the best out there.

Stu.

RachD_2

Another option is Firefly pre pay - you pay £24.99 for 100 hours dialup access.

Firefly are reducing the hours to 60 on 1st August for the same price and introducing a time limit of 6 months. Should Martin be made aware of this? - Firefly is mentioned in his dial-up article (which is where I found out about it originally).

Hope this is useful

Rachel

Ken68

Don't know Fast 4 but Tesco Daytime works out at 1.43 PENCE PER HOUR. i.e....2am to 4pm every day.