UK firms tempted with free broadband

Always a catch

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Small Biz, 25th January 2005 09:29 GMT

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Technology Telecom, the Glasgow-based business telco, is giving broadband away for free. The catch (c'mon now, you know there's always a catch) is that businesses must spend more than £350 a month on their landlines and sign up to Technology Telecom's phone service.

Like many other companies in the sector, Technology Telecom is reselling BT's phone service via a process known as Carrier Pre-Selection (CPS). It means customers can hang on their phone numbers but, in many cases, pay less for their calls.

Technology Telecom says its customers can save 20 per cent compared to BT's business tariffs and a 5 per cent discount on BT line charges. Iain Bett, director of Technology Telecom, said: "This is the complete communications package, reduced call rates and free rental on broadband in one."

Tempting punters with free broadband is nothing new. In November Scottish ISP Iomart began offering small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) free broadband for a year if they subscribe to its NetIntelligence security product.

Firms signing up to the NetIntelligence service - which costs £29.99 a month and provides mail filtering, monitoring and reporting designed to protect company email systems from viruses, spam and phishers - were offered free high-speed net access for 12 months. ®