Following in the footsteps of its troubled predecessors FreeNet and Globalfreeway, GoConnect (www.goconnect.com.au) will terminate its Free Plan services on October 4.
-It all comes back to what is the bigger picture," GoConnect deputy chairman Richard Lee, told ZDNet Australia. -The days of free ISPs being a viable business option is no longer so," he added.
The free ISP business model was implemented to deliver advertising, but with the global economic downtown and tech wreck of last year, the environment has changed, according to Lee. -No business exists where revenue is insufficient to cover the cost," he said. -We have a financial responsibility to our shareholders."
As far GoConnect's free members are concerned -we are not disconnecting them," Lee said. Instead the once freebie service provider is trying to lure them over to its Option Plan which charges AU$19.95 a month for -unlimited" Net access (you're disconnected after five continuous hours or 20 idle minutes), with a 50 percent discount on the first month's subscription for those who sign up before October 4.
When asked how many of its free members it forecasted would take up its Option Plan, Lee said: -Over the next two weeks we expect to see a high level of conversion...But you learn in a volatile environment not to make predictions."
Lee says GoConnect has -delivered a tremendous amount of savings" to its free members, having been around much longer than any other free ISP.
Indeed, rival FreeNet bombed out of the free ISP arena in October last year and Globalfreeway followed suit in March 2001.
GoConnect claims to have 130,000-plus members, including those who currently pay for services.
When the GoConnect beta software was of a saleable quality , after everyone had put up with sub-standard Go Trek software (their beta ,tester's aka their user's)....suddenly the free ride was over.
It was free until they had a relatively bug-free product which they could sell.