Free calls keep users online for longer

There's further evidence today -- if proof were needed, of course -- that reducing the cost of dial-up Net access will increase the amount of time people spend online. People who use Screaming.net, which offers off-peak toll-free access to the Net, stay online for an average of 45 minutes a day -- almost as much as the daily average for Net usage in the US. By comparison, Net users who use Freeserve or AOL UK only stay online for around 11-14 minutes online a day, the company said. Screaming.net, which now boasts 150,000 customers despite being besieged by problems, said its users clocked up 100 million minutes online during September -- the equivalent to a whopping 190 years of surfing the Web. ®