Is this site really necessary? Don't 'free' ISPs kill your argument? Unmetered local calls will never happen But electricity and gas are metered The problem is the cost of PCs The network can't cope! Dial 999 for unmetered Metered local call charges are reasonable

Why should I pay for someone else's calls? Computer gamers will cause trouble ISP charges would replace phone charges An American Mythbuster Unmetered calls would trouble ISPs People on low incomes would be affected Unmetered calls would favour the South-East

It's the cost of PCs that prevents people getting online This argument, although one of the weakest imaginable for metering, is still being made - see .net magazine, December 1998, for an example of BT using it. The assertion is that the cost of hardware, rather than the cost of calls, is what prevents people getting online. This may well have been so even two or three years ago when even a basic PC cost £1000 or more. But, now, with basic PCs being sold by suppliers such as Novatech at £300 or, at the moment only in France, £175, the argument must be invalid. After all, digital set-top boxes for Sky Digital and OnDigital are being sold for £200 yet offer far less flexibility than a PC which may be only slightly more expensive ... And it's easy to run up bills of £150 or £200 a quarter solely by using the Internet during weekday evenings and weekends. Would you buy a new car if you knew you'd spend its purchase price on petrol in the first few months?