France Telecom has finally launched its complicated monthly flat rate for ISP connections, but Internet advocates here are already looking ahead to the no-limit ADSL access the operator plans to offer this fall.
The discounted rate of FF100 (US $16.7) applies to 20 hours of local telephone connection to ISPs, but the upcoming ADSL plan will cost consumers FF265 (US$ 44).
Dubbed “Forfait Libre Accés,” the new telephone-access rate charges FF5 (US
83 cents) for one hour of local connection, compared to the normal telephone
rate of FF16.70 (U.S. $2.8) at peak hours (8am to 7pm) and FF8.70 after 7pm.
The new plan does not include an ISP subscription and applies only on weekdays after
6pm, Wednesdays after 2pm, and weekends and holidays.
“Globally, there is no advantage (to the new telephone rate) in comparison
with Primaliste Internet,” said Bernard Martin-Rabaud, a spokesman for the
Internet users advocacy group ADIM, referring to the late-night access rate
FT set up last year.
“We think France Telecom is trying to temporize until their ADSL offer will
be marketed in November,” Martin-Rabaud added.
Users can register up to three ISP access telephone numbers for Libre Accés.
Unused hours cannot be carried over from one month to the next. The company
has set up an automated voice line via which customers can monitor their
usage.
France Telecom estimates that Libre Accés — which does not apply to the
company’s ISDN service, Numeris — will be worthwhile for those logging on
over nine hours per month. The French telecommunication regulatory authority
estimates the threshold at 13 hours per month.
However, heavy Internet users will be better served by the unlimited ADSL
access the operator plans to begin offering in November, starting at FF265
per month for 500 kbit/s access and FF844 for 1Mbit/s access, not including
modem rental at about FF150 per month.
The catch is that, initially, the ADSL offer will only be available in
Paris’s first six arrondissements, as well as three suburbs. FT expects to
cover all 20 arrondissements by year-end 2000 and plans to invest FF2
billion (US$ 333 million) over the next three years to make the ADSL access
available throughout France, the company said.
Libre Accés is already available nationally.
Although the new telephone rate represents a small step toward cutting the
high cost of access in France, it further complicates an already convoluted collection
of special plans that Internet users have to sign up for in order to avoid
FT’s high standard rates.
When the flat-rate’s 20-hour limit is used up, or for connections outside
the covered hours, users have to rely on FT’s older plans, such as
Primaliste Internet, which costs FF4.30 per hour from 10pm to 8am, and is
valid for one ISP access number only.
Other operators, such as Infonie, plan to launch flat-rate offers this
month. The ISP Club-Internet is planning an experiment to offer its users
40-hour plan.
