Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2000/10/20/libertysurf_in_blacklist_row/

LibertySurf in ‘blacklist’ row

More grief, more problems

By Tim Richardson

Posted in Legal, 20th October 2000 11:16 GMT

LibertySurf UK has denied it is "kicking off" customers who are "abusing" its 24/7 unmetered service.

In a lengthy statement issued yesterday the ISP justified its decision to put some Net users on a different service in the hope that "these users will come back to a more normal user pattern".

It did not disclose how many people had been targeted and denied it was punishing users for using the service too much.

However, this his action has angered LibertySurf users who claim they have been "blacklisted" and given a service that is virtually impossible to use.

One reader said he had been "blacklisted" because he used the 24/7 service for four hours during the day.

If this is the case then it throws up some interesting questions about LibertySurf's service.

Recently Freeserve booted 700 people off its unmetered service for abnormal use of its service. ®

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LibertySurf UK Statement in Full

"We have a large customer base on line using our unmetered product. The vast majority of whom are very happy with our high quality service. However, a small segment of our customer base, whose high usage of this product falls out of the normal pattern, has resulted in some congestion to the network for those and only those users.

"We hope that these users will come back to a more normal user pattern and will continue to enjoy our products and services.

"Like all internet service providers, we have a fixed network capacity and are managing our network to ensure the best possible service for the majority of our customers. However, for those customers whose usage does fall outside the norm we will, unlike other ISPs, continue to provide a service, albeit, one that is inevitably not as well supported.

"We are not 'kicking off' customers and will honour our commitments to all our existing users.

"Some heavy users have been 'abusing' the systems and therefore in order to allow the majority of our customers to enjoy the best level of service, we have changed the settings of the small minority of users who are clogging up the network for the benefit of the vast majority. Using information that is recorded when our customers sign up to us, we have been able to identify a particular group of users who are 'abusing' the service - eg using it to run businesses (which is prohibited in our terms and conditions) or using auto dial technology.

"In our agreement with our users we reserve the right to manage our network to best service the majority of our customers. We have taken the decision to change the settings for these particular users in the hope that they will modify their usage, making it possible for all our existing customers to enjoy our unmetered access product.

"Unlike our competitors we will continue to offer the unmetered access product to all our existing customers.

"Any customers who do not feel that their complaint has been addressed by the customer helpline should contact our legal department who will be able to discuss their complaint." ®