CWC announce restricted flat-rate service (23 April 1999) According to Bloomberg Online Cable and Wireless Communications has announced a restricted flat-rate service. The details are sketchy and lacking in nuance but we know that, from 1 June, blocks of time online will be able to be bought in advance by CWC subscribers. The rates quoted by Bloomberg are: 12 hours for £5.99 35 hours for £14.99 75 hours for £29.99 We will be trying to get the full picture from CWC, but some obvious questions now are: Can more than one block be bought at once (eg 75+75=150 hours for £60)? What if time in a block is not used at the end of a month - is it carried over? Does the offer cover weekday evenings and weekends, or are weekday hours included too? What calls are included? True local calls, non-geographic numbers, or both? Where does Cable and Wireless Internet come in - are those who take up the offer tied to it? What about second lines? Is VAT included? Once we have full details we will set the spreadsheets to work. One thing to point out, though. The smallest block equates to 50p an hour; the cheapest to 40p an hour. At the moment the lowest metered rate offered by CWC is 0.51p/minute (second line, at weekends, to Cable and Wireless Internet) which equates to 36p an hour including VAT. Could this offer be old wine in new bottles? It's a start - the psychological effect of paying by the minute is taken into account - but there seems to be a long way to go. We would have preferred a price cap per call as introduced by Kingston Internet and CWC for national calls on Saturdays.