The ISP formerly known as Freeserve, Wanadoo, has launched a very cheap 1 megabit ADSL option. Wanadoo will be making the service available for a very reasonable £17.99 per month. The service will be charging more for customers that go over the 2 gig monthly limit (30 gig cap : £26.99 / month). In comparison, Pipex offer 1 meg for £28.99, and BT offer 512k for £19.99.
Eric Abensur, Wanadoo"s CEO commented "We are bringing 1Mb to everybody who is able to receive it at an affordable price. We believe 1Mb is a basic right for all Internet users, so everyone can enjoy the benefits of faster browsing and downloading."
Offering the service at this price, Wanadoo seriously under-cut their rivals in not only the 1 megabit market, but the 512k market. The common price for 512k ADSL connections in the UK is ~ £20. In doing so, Wanadoo could trigger a "mass-upgrade" of internet connections from other providers, who"ll be forced to either reduce their price or improve their service to remain competitive. Abensur remarked "We always said we wanted to open up the UK Internet market. This offer shows how much we really mean business." If Wanadoo do suceed in doing this, they are to be greatly congratulated. Wanadoo, however, will not be congratulated if inadvertently introduce industry-wide bandwidth caps.
Wanadoo have most recently been in the news for mis-leading advertisements, with regard to the mis-use of the phrase "full-speed".