LineOne hope to compete with other free providers for a growing audience by the provision of unique on-line content, allowing readers to access many of the publications of the two media groups behind the company. This was among the first attempts to move away from monthly subscription charges with users instead paying an extra 1p per minute on top of their local telephone call charge for access. At one level, the development of free access to the Internet is to be welcomed. Indications are that it has certainly led to a growth in home use of the medium. There are, however, a number of drawbacks.
Most free services have a number of technical limitations.
The provision of free Internet access is not a philanthropic act on the part of these companies, but is motivated by a desire to exploit the commercial possibilities of the new medium. Notification of such modifications will be made by whatever means FreeOnline deems necessary. Users could therefore find themselves becoming an unwitting conduit for all kinds of advertising. Moreover, the companies reserve the right to change the level of provision at any time and users may therefore find themselves suddenly unable to access their mail or other services, or faced with paying a fee. In addition, all these services make substantial sums of money from consumers' telephone charges, either for technical support calls or on-line time itself.