Some 200 BTopenworld customers have been expelled from the service after failing to heed warnings from the ISP to curb their usage of the 24/7 unmetered dial-up service.

It's understood that those who have been fingered by BT will have their services disconnected today.

In August, BT warned around 400 users that it was against the terms and conditions of the service to leave the dial-up connection always on even when it wasn't being used.

Around half of those contacted reacted sufficiently to escape the termination.

However, today BTopenworld went ahead with its threat and disconnected 200 users from its service.

But in a separate development, a number of users have complained to the advertising watchdog about BTopenworld's decision to impose restrictions on the Anytime service.

One reader who contacted us, but asked to remain anonymous, said: "The basis of our claim is that the service is advertised for use 'as much as you like as often as you like', which is clearly not the case.

"I know of five users who have filed this claim against BTopenworld this week," he said.

An ad on BTopenworld's Web site reads: "Anytime just £14.99 per month. surf whenever you like, as often as you like with no internet call charges."

A spokeswoman for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) confirmed that it had received one complaint this week on the issue.

Yesterday, the ASA slapped BTopenworld for describing its Anytime service as "reliable" after punters protested that they couldn't use the service.

The ASA upheld the complaint and told BTopenworld it couldn't use the term "reliable" in its advertising until it had sorted out the problems. ®

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