They Accept Direct Debit! (W H Smith Net)

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Product:	W H Smith Net
Date:	07/05/02 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Homepage, Online VAT Bill, Extra 2 hours per day on Off Peak

Disadvantages: Have had problems with email, Sometimes can't get straight online

Although we were quite happy with our previous ISP - Freeserve - we had to change when we stopped using the bank account that our Switch Card was for and only had a Visa Electron, which Freeserve doesn?t accept.

We looked round and eventually found a CD rom. in our local WHSmith store and decided to have a look. We were pleasantly surprised by the deals on the Rom. and decided to see if we could join up without a credit card. Lo and behold they accepted Direct Debit! Yeah! (You don't have to get a CD rom. You can download from the Website.)

We had a look at our Internet usage and decided that we wanted to stick to the 24/7 access we had enjoyed with Freeserve and signed up. We were pleased to see that there was only a three-month contract and after that would be able to cancel - we haven?t done so.

WHSmithnet offers four different connection plans: -

1) FLAT RATE - £12.99 per month payable either by Direct Debit, or Credit/Debit Card giving access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With the standard two hours automatic log off, which has only happened to us once, and we were able to reconnect with no problems. Needs a BT LINE.

2) OFF PEAK - £9.99 per month also payable by Direct Debit, or Credit/Debit Card giving free access between 4pm and 8am. Great for those with kids who want to get online to do homework as soon as they get in from school, as most of the others start at 6pm. You can also access at all other times at a rate of 2p per minute. Needs a BT LINE.

3) 1P PER MINUTE - £2.99 per month - Payable either by Direct Debit, or Credit/Debit Card. This gives access at all times at a rate of 1p per minute. Great if you don?t use the Net all the time, but tend to use it more in the daytime than the evening. Needs a BT LINE.

4) PAY AS YOU SURF - No monthly fee, all calls are charged at a local call rate. This is the one if you have Free Local Calls with your phone, or don?t have a BT Line
.

As I said, there is a three-month contract, which gives you time to try but if it doesn?t suit you, you are not tied into a year contract, on the site there is a ?Help Me Choose? button, which asks you to look at your Internet usage and tells you which might be best for you. (I don't think that this applies to Pay as you Surf.)

As with most ISP?s there is the facility for multiple email addresses, great if you have more than one user, perhaps a lodger or flat mate, and you don?t want them to be able to see your email. Unfortunately we have had a problem with the email and Norton Family Edition 2.5 in recent weeks since the last update of Norton, and cannot have the Norton Scanning the email as they come in, however a trip to the Norton site told me I can send my email to another folder and get Norton to scan them before I open them.

There is an online bill, and each month you get an email telling you that your bill is available online, and when you should expect payment to be taken from your chosen account/card. This is printable and, as trainee accountant, I noticed that it is a VAT invoice, great for those who are running a small web-based business which is VAT registered.

Apart from the problem noted above with the E-mail, the only other problem we have encountered in the three months or so since joining WHSmithnet is that occasionally at busy times we have trouble getting online, but this is only occasionally and between about 7pm and 10pm.

********UPDATE*********

I have just noticed that WhSmithnet have added a further package, they now offer Broadband access at £27.99 per month, you still need a BT line for this one.

We have also noticed that the problems connecting at peak times have also lessened

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