Does anybody remember FREE dial up internet ?

MouldyOldDough

I have a memory of TOTALLY FREE dial up in about 1997

How did they run the business at a loss ?

How did it work ?

It was not a "buy 60 minutes for £x" scheme - it was totally free on a freephone number.....

DE_612183

are you sure it was free - didn't it just get classed as a local call?

Ayr_Rage

You paid a monthly subscription for XXXX minutes of service but the call was a freephone number.

Tryinghardtosave

I do remember when dialup went to free call numbers for a small monthly fee, and I remember going from a 33.6 modem to a 56k one !!!!!

DullGreyGuy

There were the like of AOL which had its own web browser and even more where customers would use their email/ email client. In both cases the ISP would inject adverts into what you were seeing and this clearly would generate revenue for them. 

Neil_Jones

DullGreyGuy said:

There were the like of AOL which had its own web browser and even more where customers would use their email/ email client. In both cases the ISP would inject adverts into what you were seeing and this clearly would generate revenue for them. 

There were a few internet models at this time:

The "classic" AOL/Compserve model where you paid for the internet connection (to AOL/Compuserve or whoever) and the calls to your provider.

The "PAYG" model, where you just called a phone number and paid for it on your bill.  The ISP got a slice of this, but the lion's share went to the line provider.

The "pay £x per month" and the call to get online was free.  The ISP got all the wonga as you paid them direct.

There were a few other variations on this model (including this slightly strange one):

https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/strayduck_launches_telinco_makes_unmetered_net_effort/

The web browser for most ISPs was pretty much irrelevant, AOL being a closed wall solution in any event, whereas everybody else just changed the homepage of the browser and the title page - "Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by Freeserve" or whatever, as well as configuring a dial-up connection.

unforeseen

NTL had free Internet. I used to run it overnight downloading stuff I identified during short periods online in the day. 

An NTL phone account was needed but rental & calls were still cheaper than BT

Lorian

Freeserve were the big name

Neil_Jones

Lorian said:

Freeserve were the big name

Freeserve was the first "free" ISP.  No subscription charges, just pay for the calls.  A major market changer from the AOL/Coumpserve days when it came along.

JohnSwift10

I was with Tesco and it was a freephone 0800 after 6pm as I remember rushing my tea so I could log on at 18:00 with my 56k modem

John_Gray

Listen to the BBC Radio 4 programme about Freeserve.