The SME’s favourite ISP is...
| The SME’s favourite ISP is... | |
| 11 March 2002 A study by communications market consultancy, Prodata Partners places BT at the head of the pack for SME business, leaving AOL and Freeserve in its wake. Around 37 per cent of small to medium sized businesses have signed on the dotted line with BT for services spanning BT Internet, BT OpenWorld and BT Connect. Its current pre-eminence in the important SME sector is in stark contrast to BT’s performance in 2000 when the telco giant held only a 17 per cent share in the segment. AOL, meanwhile, currently has around 6 per cent of SMEs tied to its service, while Freeserve, Prodata claim, have captured a mere 2 per cent of SME customers. Over 20 other ISPs each have SME market shares of less than 5 per cent. In what was rapidly turning into a bad PR week for Freeserve, the company announced it was jacking up its unmetered access package, Freeserve Anytime, by a £1 to £13.99 as of next month. A hieonline snapshot survey of ISP review sites produced a consensus of which providers are currently offering the most reliable and attractive unmetered access services. If you are considering switching ISP then, currently hot – according to the user sites we visited, at least – are PlusNet, Firenet, Telewest SurfUnlimited and Fast24. * What can be drawn from this research and that of Oftel (see Access update) is that internet usage by SMEs is continuing to grow and this growth is being reflected in pay-as-you-go web access being abandoned in favour of flat rate unmetered access deals. * Appearing in hieonline’s hot unmetered access snapshot does not imply an endorsement or recommendation of an ISP’s services Links in this story http://www.prodata-partners.com http://portal.plus.net/index.html? http://www.telewest.co.uk/athome/blueyondersurfunlimited.html http://www.fast24.net/index2.html | |