Activation Charges

Why do Activation Charges vary so widely?
I thought of joining PlusNet but they charge £70.50.

But Virgin.net don't charge for activation and their price seems
competitive.

Neither does Tiscali, although it seems that their service is poor.

Would welcome views.


Brian

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, says...
> Why do Activation Charges vary so widely?

Because ISPs can charge what they like.

> I thought of joining PlusNet but they charge £70.50.
>
> But Virgin.net don't charge for activation and their price seems
> competitive.
>
> Neither does Tiscali, although it seems that their service is poor.
>
> Would welcome views.
>
Its a free market. Companies can charge what they want.


--
Conor

Windows & Outlook/OE in particular, shipped with settings making them
as open to entry as a starlet in a porno. Steve B

On Monday 21 March 2005 13:49 Conor wrote:

> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, says...
>> Why do Activation Charges vary so widely?
>
> Because ISPs can charge what they like.
>
>> I thought of joining PlusNet but they charge £70.50.
>>
>> But Virgin.net don't charge for activation and their price seems
>> competitive.
>>
>> Neither does Tiscali, although it seems that their service is poor.
>>
>> Would welcome views.
>>
> Its a free market. Companies can charge what they want.

True - but perhaps "Not charge" what they like in this particular
case?

Please correct me if this is wrong, but I thought that BT charged the
ISP £50+VAT for activation.

Hence £58.75 by PN if you sign up for a year, and the £70.50 is for a
monthly contract?

In other words, are PN and others simply charging at cost, and Virgin
etc. subsidising the activation to encourage people to join - a
loss-leader, in fact?

Bill

On 21 Mar 2005 13:49, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, says...
>> Why do Activation Charges vary so widely?
>
>Because ISPs can charge what they like.

and they are charged a fee by BT, let's not forget...

>> I thought of joining PlusNet but they charge £70.50.

only for the monthly contract accounts. If you take annual it's about
a tenner cheaper. If you decide within the first 30 days (perhaps 45,
I should go back and read their guarantee) that you aren't happy they
will pay (towards) migration to another ISP (I think they pay basic
BT fee, if the one you move to charges more, you'd pay the difference)

>> But Virgin.net don't charge for activation and their price seems
>> competitive.
>>
>> Neither does Tiscali, although it seems that their service is poor.
>>
>> Would welcome views.

>Its a free market. Companies can charge what they want.

while a few swallow the fees. Until recently, Virgin were charging a
20 quid fee for their second account, but just have a deal where the
setup is free at the moment... Plus.Net is far from unique in them
making a charge... Metronet, Claranet, and plenty of others pass on
the fees. Some have significant mark-ups or even a fee when you're
closing your account (V.21 has/had a 30 quid fee). Peter M.

--
Try a commercial news service - from 50 MB/day (once-only fee of < $5 )
up to 1500 MB/day for 6 months $99.95, 600 GB over 6 months $149.75
with many options in between... <http://tinyurl.com/3rjw4>

On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:00:29 +0000, Brian wrote:

> Why do Activation Charges vary so widely? I thought of joining PlusNet but
> they charge £70.50.
>
> But Virgin.net don't charge for activation and their price seems
> competitive.
>
> Neither does Tiscali, although it seems that their service is poor.
>
> Would welcome views.
>
>
> Brian

You pay eventually, same as that ' free' mobile phone. You pay for that by
a small amount on your monthly charge.

Dave

--
For what we are about to balls up may common sense prevent us doing it
again
in the future!!

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, B Gruff says...

> Please correct me if this is wrong, but I thought that BT charged the
> ISP £50+VAT for activation.
>
Yup.


> In other words, are PN and others simply charging at cost, and Virgin
> etc. subsidising the activation to encourage people to join - a
> loss-leader, in fact?
>
Bravo. You've finally figured out one of the ways businesses attract
customers. The entire inkjet printer market works this way.


--
Conor

Windows & Outlook/OE in particular, shipped with settings making them
as open to entry as a starlet in a porno. Steve B