30 January 1998

Dear Mr Wallace,

I have been sent copies of various letters which suggest that CWC have
decided to remove Videotron-Videotron free local calls at an undetermined
point in the future. I note that the removal was described as being for
commercial reasons, and that you describe ex-Videotron users as having to
be treated with "sensitivity".

What has become clear over the past couple of months is that many people
have changed their lives to a remarkable extent  - to my surprise and that
of a number of journalists I have talked to - to fit around unmetered local
calls. Many small businesses work nights to take advantage of unmetered
calls: for example, my Web designer does so. It's obvious that they'll
struggle at best and go under at worst if they suddenly have to pay by the
minute. Can you reassure them? There are also a number of teleworkers in
the same situation. (And, no doubt, there are many more small businesses
and teleworkers who haven't come across my Web site yet).

There are "conspiracy theories and wild rumours" flying around about cable
modems: most people I have corresponded with cannot wait for them to be up
and running, and the small businesses in particular are enthusiastic. It
would be helpful to all if you could tell me as much as you are able to
about the current and future situation.

The most difficult problem, though, is for those who cannot afford the
rumoured £30-£50 a month all in for a cable modem subscription. It would be
morally wrong to have a first-rate service for those who could afford it
and a second-rate service - if the current metered CWC tariffs are
eventually imposed - for those who could not. Can you reassure me that this
will not happen? At the moment everyone has a second-rate service, apart
from the ex-Videotron subcribers who have probably the best that can be
done at this time; the telephone modem has had its day, and my
correspondents are getting impatient because so many new technologies are
nearly there.

You presumably have a problem with ex-Mercury subscribers because you have
to pay access charges to the BT network. A correspondent sent me rather
interesting notes of a conversation they had had with someone fairly high
up in CWC which suggested that there was no problem with flat-rate calls
for ex-Videotron, ex-Bell and ex-Nynex subscribers and that flat-rate local
calls would be brought in for all CWC subscribers if OFTEL could be
persuaded to change the BT access charging structure. Is this so? The
account was detailed and I trust its author; it is not on my Web site
because it is unverified. If it is correct, I am right behind you and would
try to get my correspondents to turn their - considerable - firepower on
OFTEL. Such flat-rate calls would, at last, make full Internet access open
to the less well off.

Last point: please improve your Web site. I've had many people describe
mine as being more authoritative than yours, which is both flattering and
embarrassing. I think my correspondents are referring to, in particular,
the call calculator and tariff descriptions which your site doesn't offer,
and they also like the up-to-date and non-emotive approach (which is very
difficult to bring off and requires hours of effort!). I see that I have a
fair number of visitors from within CWC ...

Yours sincerely,

Alastair Scott