This article is more than 1 year old

UK .gov slammed for cheap PC idea

Problem is phone calls too expensive. Doh.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said in the budget earlier this month that he will offer poor British families re-cycled PCs so this country does not fall behind in the information revolution. But now his plan is being slammed because of the high charges of phone calls in this country. In the US, local phone calls are often free, meaning Internet access is a doddle. But high charges from BT and other providers make the cost of connection prohibitive for the underprivileged. As far as we are aware, the government is not taking steps to get BT to lower its charges. On the contrary, DSL schemes in this country are set to be prohibitively high for most, while ISDN access is still not cheap, never mind dial-up connections. A lively debate on the subject has started in our Forum. Contribute your own ideas there. ®

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