There are cable modem providers starting up in a number of countries, most recently the Republic of Ireland (about which there is an excellent article, very relevant to the situation in this country).
A2000 in The Netherlands is, it would appear, the leader and is offering a service now. A summary:
Monthly cost:
- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week unmetered access with no file transfer limits for a monthly charge of 89Hfl. (about £29).
One-off costs:
- Installation 399Hfl. (about £130) including an ISA Ethernet card, cable modem and 10 metres of cable, PC driver software, Netscape 4 and an instruction manual;
- Deposit 100Hfl. (about £32).
Optional costs:
- Extra cable, per metre, 12Hfl. (approx. £4);
- Email forwarding from your old ISP, 15Hfl. (about £5);
- Additional email address, per month, 5Hfl. (about £1.70);
- High-end Ethernet cards, price on application.
These prices are remarkably similar to the American ones; our old friend '£30 a month all-in' surfaces once more ...
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