Telewest is looking to tempt dial-up users in its cable franchise areas with a "no brainer" offer designed to lure them onto broadband.

From Monday, new punters (tough luck, existing users) will be able to subscribe to Telewest's 256Kbps broadband service for £14.99 a month - a similar price to what they might pay for unmetered dial-up packages from the likes of AOL UK, BT, Tiscali or Wanadoo.

The promo price is available for a year after which it reverts back to the usual price of £17.99 a month.

The cabelco - which has more than 250,000 narrowband punters and in excess of 500,000 broadband users - wants to tempt hard-to-budge dial-up users to switch to broadband.

Said Telewest bigwig Eric Tveter: "There are now no reasons not to take broadband - the price is the same as dial-up but there are none of the frustrations and the advantages are obvious - faster speeds, an always on connection and you can use the phone and the internet at the same time."

On Wednesday, AOL UK cut the cost of its entry-level 256Kbps service - AOL Broadband Silver. It now costs £17.99 a month, down from £19.99 a month, and is uncapped, comes with no upfront fees and also benefits from a free customer helpline. ®

Related stories

AOL UK cuts cost of broadband (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/27/aol_broadband_cut/)
Virgin.net unveils 'Plan Two' broadband offer (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/23/virgin_broadband/)
Tesco touts broadband for the masses (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/31/tesco_broadband_offer/)
Telewest brags of record broadband sign-ups (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/30/telewest_broadband_results/)