NEWS
Super high-speed broadband champion Be has announced it is to launch a pay-as-you-go service.
The ISP is to launch the offering, which provides speeds of up to 24Mbps, in the coming months. The 'Be Lite' service will work in a similar way to a pre-pay mobile phone tariff, giving users an initial usage limit to be topped up as required.
Other ISPs have already opted to offer a pay-as-you-go option, aping the per-minute products available when most internet access was over dial-up. BT has trialled such a service, while others, including Bulldog, have rolled out per-minute offerings.
Be, however, is one of the first ISPs to offer users a pay-as-you-go service at high speeds using the next generation broadband technology, ADSL2+.
Scott Morrison, research director at analyst house Gartner, predicted more niche providers will adopt pay-as-you-go pricing, while mainstream ISPs will concentrate on selling services alongside access.
Morrison said: "There are a lot of different business models being tried with DSL. UK pricing is still relatively high.
"What Be is offering wouldn't be considered competitive in France", a more advanced broadband market.
According to a recent survey from broadband analysts Point Topic, the UK is now the number one fat pipe destination in Europe with 9.8 million broadband lines.
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. Fábio Sousa
I already have ADSL2+ connection but at the moment limited to dl.16Mbps/ul.400kbps.
I pay € 35/month... is that much?
Here's the link (translated).
http://translate.google.com/translate
?u=http%3A%2F%2Facesso.clix.pt%2Finternet%2Fadsl_16megas_caracteristicas.html%
23a&langpair=pt%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
2. Chris Goodman
The diversity of broadband offers currently available enables users to select a service to best fit their particuler needs. But, despite all the various quoted speeds available, it cannot be denied that at times the network is somewhat overloaded, even grinding to a brief halt on occasion at the domestic end of the pipe.
I feel that the pipe owners should start to make more effort to improve the network, both in pipe capacity and routing to cater for the years ahead and to prevent huge blackouts in the event of a "switching" disaster.
3. anonymous
Unfortunately if you try and take up any Be offer you will likely be met by an automated brick wall on their website and an incredibly friendly but mostly useless Indian call centre, all over a noisey VOIP line.
Just try to Be calm.