LineOne cleared over unmetered shutdown

ISP LineOne has escaped punishment for scrapping its unmetered internet service, vnunet.com can finally reveal.

The UK's Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has decided that LineOne did not act unreasonably when it withdrew its unmetered package earlier this year.

LineOne announced in July that it would end its unmetered service with telco Quip at the end of last month. The ISP promised customers a £20 credit on their Quip telephone account and said they could keep the phone adapter purchased when they joined the service.

But the decision angered many customers, who felt they had wasted money buying the adapter. ISPA received a number of complaints and undertook an investigation.

Initially ISPA criticised LineOne for behaving in breach of its code of conduct. According to a leaked email from ISPA in July, the body's council recommended that customers of LineOne be "provided with the option of accepting a full refund of the £20 they paid to receive the service, alongside the other offers of compensation".

But now, more than two months since the investigation began, ISPA has ruled that LineOne did not breach the body's code of practice.

"On the basis of evidence provided by LineOne, the ISPA Council believes that LineOne used 'reasonable endeavours' to comply with its obligations to its customers, thereby acting 'decently, fairly and reasonably' as the code requires," said ISPA.

According to ISPA, evidence from LineOne indicated that the majority of users for the service, who had complained to ISPA and were eligible for a refund, chose to continue with the service during the notice period. LineOne claims that the users, who "in some cases made extremely heavy use of the service", have therefore saved many times more the cost of the equipment that was initially paid for.

LineOne chief executive Andy Harwood said the company welcomes ISPA's decision.

However, ISPA, which said it will contact all the complainants, has acknowledged that consumers have faced confusion with the myriad of unmetered internet services currently on offer and said it will work with its members and the Advertising Standards Authority to try to eliminate further problems.

At the end of last week, the Consumers' Association criticised ISPs for failing to make it clear to their customers what terms and conditions they will be bound by when they sign up to an unmetered internet service.

Adam Scorer, senior public affairs for Consumers' Association, said: "ISPs offering an unmetered service have seemed more interested in increasing their customer numbers than in delivering the services that consumers were originally promised when they signed up.

"The ISPs have got themselves into a mess. Rather than luring consumers in and then kicking them off schemes, what is needed on their part is better planning, realistic projections of customer usage and clearer advertising for new schemes."