BT Internet claims unmetered success

BT Internet claims to have survived its first weekday evening of unlimited internet access without major technical problems.

The ISP said it had a problem with one of its registration servers, but overall had seen a lower load level than it experiences on a normal Sunday night.

Last night was the first time BT Internet had extended its unmetered internet access to include weekday evenings. The service was previously only available at weekends from midnight Friday to midnight Sunday.

Many users had feared that unmetered access would make the service slow and difficult to access after seeing similar problems with an unmetered service from Telewest. BT Internet also had problems when it first launched its unmetered weekend service last year.

"We saw no particular problems last night. The load levels were slightly under what we would expect for a Sunday night," said a BT Internet spokesman.

The only reported problem was with one of the registration servers at about 7.30pm. The ISP said the problem was repaired after 25 minutes.

Users were told in a status report: "We are currently investigating a problem with the dial access platform and you may be experiencing difficulties connecting to the service."

BT Internet said it has had tens of thousands of enquiries about the unmetered service since the launch earlier this week, but won't reveal exact numbers. The company has also cut the subscription to £9.99 a month.

BT Internet's apparent success is in stark contrast to the fortune of rival operator Telewest. The cable company yesterday stopped signing up new customers to its Surfunlimited service because the service is over capacity and said it would be at least three weeks until the problems are solved.