That would just be rude.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Has anyone ever heard of an ISP with a premium dial-up number? As in rather than being a standard local call, the call is charged per minute or at a higher rate etc..

We've just changed all cuntstomers to our new national number and get at least a hundred emails a day asking whether the number is charged at a premium rate. Why in Frank's name would we do that to our customers?!

(Unless of course, the customer's paranoid theories are correct, and their dialup issues are due to our intentional actions, all designed to force them onto broadband)

Edit : Thought I made this clear but anyway : I am not talking about a premium rate for support, that is something I agree with wholeheartedly, I am talking about the POP number for a dial-up connection, the number you dial to connect to the internet.

Comments

[adrasteah.livejournal.com]

It's not unheard of in the UK.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Yes well you freaks have to pay for the "privilege" of owning a televison over there. So I'm appalled, but not surprised.

Plus you've still got a Queen. That's just weird.

[adrasteah.livejournal.com]

Naaah, we pay for the privelege of advertisement free television service! ;-)

I've worked for two ISPs and neither of them used premium rate numbers. They were either toll-free, national or local rate numbers, but the free dial-up / mass consumer ISPs used to charge by the minute for support. In fact, AOL in the UK (http://www.aol.co.uk/help/members/account/contact.html) still do.

I'm with you on the Queen bit though.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Not for support, just for connection.

You guys do have some of the best comedy shows in the world, so maybe it's worth it.

Damn royal leeches ;)

[lordstorm.livejournal.com]

BT internet (dial-up and broadband) also use a premium rate at about £1.50/min (about AU$4/min or so) - probably a little less, but you get the idea (and British Telecom is pretty equal to Telstra AU too, and they're just as anti-competitive and incompetant as well).

BT's slant is to get you to use their website for support, which not only is rather poxy and has you going in circles most of the time, is also entirely useless if you can't get online in the first place. It took me multiple reuqests simply to find their 0906 number on their site if I wanted to contact them. Most ISPs (like the one I'm working for over here) use an 0870 number (charged at national rate) or a 0845 number (charged at local rates, c.f. an Australian 13/1300 number). If you're really lucky you might get a local number, or rarely a 0800 number.

Oh, annd local calls are actually timed over here, which is why dial-up is nearly extinct.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Ok, last try and then I'm giving up

I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT SUPPORT I AM TALKING ABOUT THE POP NUMBER FOR A DIAL-UP CONNECTION

Thank you.

[adrasteah.livejournal.com]

Doh! *blush*

Sorry, I must've read your post too quickly and just never think in terms of dial-up much anymore. I don't think I've heard of a premium rate connection number, no. At the big ISP I worked at, it was local rate number.

I have, however, known of porn sites downloading dialler software which establish dial-up connections directly the porn servers at £1/minute. At the same ISP I mention above we had a customer who used to provide exactly that "service".

[matgb]

I own two televisions, and don't have to pay a penny. That's because I choose not to watch broadcast TV, only prerecorded stuff. But I like advert free high quality shows. Think of it like a nationally available HBO but better.

Regardless, not sure if it happens in the US, but there is a scam over here where people inadvertantly install dialers that dial a premium rate number instead of the ISP provided number. Sometimes it can goon for months without it noticing. Happened to a friend of mine (who's catalogue of user mistakes is worth a write up all on it's own) for about 4 months, he never noticed even when checking his phone bill; they were on pay per minute rather than subscription.

So yes, premium rate ISPs technically exist, but they're mostly only encountered involunatarily.

[thecrazyfinn.livejournal.com]

Yep, but it's usually for 1-800 service. Extra rate charged, but cheaper than the average hotel's long-distance charge. Really useful when you need to dial in from the middle of nowhere and the hotel charges $2/min for LD.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. Our new number is a national number too.

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

Same here. 1-800 service gets charged $2/hr. (Canada)

[usekh.livejournal.com]

Ah yeah we changed to a national number and went through all of that

(Unless of course, the customer's paranoid theories are correct, and their dialup issues are due to our intentional actions, all designed to force them onto broadband)

Ugh I hear that every fucking day. It's such BS our profit margins on dial up are so much more than broadband :P

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

It's such BS our profit margins on dial up are so much more than broadband

Same! I tell customers that too, if they're stupid enough to mention their idiot theory to me.

[pixeltwist.livejournal.com]

The ISP I work for has normal HSI tech support which is free. In a few markets (namely San Diego and New England) we have paid computer support for anything we don't support.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Not talking about the support line, just the POP dialup connection number.

[saintaspartame.livejournal.com]

POP? As in Post Office Protocol?

Number? *snicker* POP is part of TCP/IP, thus needing no numbers to use. Of course, you need the POP server IP or host name address, but no numbers.

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Point Of Presence, dick.

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

compuserve used to be about 10 bucks an hour back in the mid 90's here.

Yes, they should be worried

[jayrtfm.livejournal.com]

there's been many reported cases of people with a new internet connection thinking they are making a local/untimed call, but actually being charged by the phone company a per minute rate.
see http://www.consumer.att.com/consumertips/ispdialup.html

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

as long as AOL is still holder of ANY percentage of the market, customers should get even MORE paranoid!
But if they would be, AOL wont be on market for very much longer.

[abstrak-tokatl.livejournal.com]

at&t used to do that.... don't know if they still do.