The Register went to the heart of AltaVista's UK empire this morning in a bid to get to the bottom of the great AltaVista mystery.

After blagging our way into AltaVista's central London offices we waited for someone to come and speak to us.

AV's fine young receptionist told us to sit down and help ourselves to drinks, newspapers, coffee.

We did.

Shortly afterwards, Evan Loevner, head of distribution at AltaVista UK, appeared.

Not surprisingly, he refused to comment on allegations that AltaVista's highly-publicised unmetered Net service was little more than a sham.

He refused to confirm or deny that AltaVista has been misleading people about its service.

He reiterated that only AltaVista UK's MD, Andy Mitchell, could comment on the situation.

He then asked us to leave. Immediately.

Mitchell is on holiday at the moment but we have been assured he will be back at his desk in central London on Monday.

Yesterday, the Consumers' Association weighed in to the debate saying that the service didn't "seem to exist". ®

To read all our coverage on AltaVista's unmetered Net service click here