The following terms from our UK
free
internet access guide are defined on this page:
Free ISP
This column contains the names of internet service providers that offer
free internet access. These are hyperlinks so you can click on the
company name to get more info and details on their services or to sign up
for free internet access.
Access Type
Most free internet providers in the UK earn their revenue by receiving a
portion of the call charges. They use 0845 numbers which are billed
at local rate but aren't tied to a specific geographical area. The
totally free UK ISPs usually provide free calls for internet service
through 0800 or 0808 numbers.
56K
This field indicates whether 56K modems are supported. Just about
every free ISP supports modems up through 56K, though previously some only
supported 33.6K or slower. They generally support the V.90 standard;
if you specifically need X2 or K56 Flex support, check with the provider.
ISDN
This field indicates whether the free ISP supports ISDN, and at what
speed. Most free
internet services support 64K ISDN, but some support multi channel 128K
service. You may also use multiple ISDN lines to get up to 512K
bandwidth with some free internet services.
Web Space
Some of the free internet providers also offer free web space for you to
set up your own web page. This field indicates how much hard disk
space they provide (if any) on their web server for your web page. Unless the free ISP offers advertisement-free web space, there is no real advantage to getting your free web hosting from your
access provider. So even if you want a free web page, you may want to go
with a access provider that doesn't offer web hosting and pick a web host
from our page of free web
page providers.
eMail
All free internet providers give you a free email address as well. Sometimes they provide a web based email account, where you have to log on
to a web page through your browser to access email. Others provide a
POP3 email account with a mail server. With these you access your
email through a program running on your computer such as Outlook or Eudora
rather than your web browser. With POP3 accounts you download your
mail to your computer, so you don't have to worry about running out of
space on the mail server when you keep your old messages. They also
allow you to compose and read email while you are not logged into the
internet. You could also get additional free email accounts
elsewhere, as described on our free
email page.
Comments
In this field all the special features and limitations of each free
internet service provider is
explained.
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