Virgin.net has confirmed it is to launch an unmetered Net access service in October.

Called 24seven and based on the wholesale unmetered Net access product FRIACO, the service will cost users £15 a month.

There's nothing remarkable about Virgin.net offering - except for the fact that it's taken the company so long to put something together.

For an ISP that claims it has "one million customers", failing to provide unmetered Net access when AOL UK, BTopenworld, Freeserve etc are doing so seems remiss to say the least.

Anyhow, in a statement, Peter Tuomey, of Virgin.net, said: "It may seem that we're playing catch-up with many of our competitors with the launch of our unmetered product.

"However, we wanted to be sure we could offer a reliable service at an affordable price before launching," he said.

He ain't wrong there.

In April, The Register reported that Virgin.net planned to close its "old" C&W network and transfer traffic to a "better" NTL one in preparation for offering flat-fee Net access.

Some 30,000 punters have registered their interest in 24seven so far. ®