Lifeboat launched for stranded CWC web users

NEWS Cable & Wireless internet users cut adrift by NTL are taking action into their own hands to try and salvage their email and web addresses. Thousands of users on cwcom.net, cwc.net and mcmail.com servers will be cut off at the end of November, with no forwarding or hosting arrangement to allow them time to transfer to new addresses. Users within NTL's cable area can apply for an upgrade, but customers outside its geographic reach have been left to fend for themselves. One small business user, Bob Garrow, has teamed up with Scottish hosting firm Netserve Consultants to offer a lifeboat for abandoned users. The transfer service, known as OUM (Our Users Matter), will enable customers to register the domain of their choice and receive web and email hosting for £10 per month - the same amount of money Garrow was paying for CWC access. Domains will be registered in the name of the customer, so in the event of the service being cancelled users will keep the address and move to a new hosting provider. According to Garrow, a permanent domain means peace of mind. "No customer of OUM need ever lose their email and website addresses and be faced with replacing business stationery, lost search engine rankings, trade directory entries and the numerous internet subscriptions which now ask for your email address as ID." John Lyons, director of Netserve, said large providers don't always provide the best service. "Large companies lose touch with their customer needs so it is very easy for the grey suits to close down services without giving any thought to the customers." But to provide the most valuable service to CWC users, Garrow and Lyons know they must convince NTL to forward emails and transfer sites from its discontinued servers, at least for a limited period of time. "We're having great difficulty with NTL," Garrow admitted. A spokeswoman for NTL was unable to comment on the OUM launch, but said the company was "looking at any ways it can help out".