Our position on BT Internet 0800 access (2 June 1999) We note the BT Internet offer, which has finally been given the go-ahead after prolonged dithering. From next weekend they will be offering 0800 freephone access from midnight on Friday to midnight on Sunday and 0345 access during the week: the ISP fee is £11.75 per month. We observe that this offer is first appearing on the day before the European Telecommunications Boycott. Such an offer is a start, and a remarkable turnaround from 'unmetered access is akin to a free lunch'. However, users are still tied to a single ISP, as with all the 'free' offers so far, and access during the week is metered at the normal non-geographic call rate (4p/minute during the day and 1.5p/minute at evenings before discounts). We wonder whether BT Internet would have felt moved to make such an offer had it not been for mass defections to LocalTel, who still provide a considerably superior package. And the regulatory questions we posed when BTClickPlus - which metamorphosed into BTClickFree - was launched, and which were never answered, have become yet more pertinent: How is this limited unmetered access paid for? Is it cross-subsidised by other services? The OFTEL position is that, as the offer is being marketed by BT Internet rather than BT, they have no regulatory remit.