[Gloucs] Extra ISP accounts.

[Alaric Snell-Pym]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


It sounds like the actual business of getting an Internet connection
(the ADSL part) and ancillary services such as web-based email are
entangled here.

The two things are *entirely* separate from a technical perspective, but
often intertwined from a business perspective, for one reason composed
of two facts:

 * Companies make money on the ADSL side of things, they can't really
charge for an email address

 * People can change their ADSL provider relatively easily, switching to
the cheapest provider with no visible worsening in service unless they
opt for a lower bandwidth cap or whatnot; but email accounts are harder
for people to change.

So, by throwing in "FREE EMAIL!!" with an ADSL line, companies get to
make it harder for you to move to a cheaper ADSL provider, thereby
allowing them to offer you worse service for the same money.

Now, the adverts are going to be coming from the webmail system; an ADSL
provider can't force more adverts on you. Some have tried, but it's
generally caused an uproar and court battles.

So you can stick with the BT ADSL and just not use their webmail and you
should see the same level of adverts as anyone else on the Internet (and
the cure to it is AdBlock, as has been suggested).

And if you switched ADSL providers but still used BT's yahoo-based
webmail system (if they'll let you, perhaps for a fee), then you'd still
be seeing the same ads.

So I suspect your options are:

 * Stick with the current setup, let the family use the horrid BT/yahoo
webmail thing, and find an email provider that doesn't bombard you with
ads. Generally because you pay them a small fee from the service so they
don't need to try and sell you to advertisers.

 * Change ADSL provider, and then HAVE to change email address. Again,
you get the choice of a free provider which will make you suffer with a
combination of ads or being tied to the new ADSL account so you lose it
if you switch, or paying for one without ads.

 * Get an extra phone line put in, then get a second ADSL on it, if you
really do want to get one and keep BT. The webmail-with-ads issue is
still orthogonal, however.

Running two lines from different ISPs has certain advantages - if one
goes down the other will still be up unless the problem is near to your
end, you'll be able to use both at once for twice the bandwidth in some
circumstances, and you'll be able to try viewing the same web pages on
both to see if they are being personalised to your IP address! But it
costs you twice.

ABS

- --
Alaric Snell-Pym
http://www.snell-pym.org.uk/alaric/
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iEYEARECAAYFAlE5384ACgkQRgz/WHNxCGpTewCfbK7TqPcon9of0GSWgjDfcLPL
0LgAnR/1L1zZBaKyR25M4Vd+nE3H5Ybr
=IDkS
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----