Advantage all

Citation

Andrew, A.M. (2000), "Advantage all", Kybernetes, Vol. 29 No. 9/10. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2000.06729iag.010

Advantage all

Advantage all

As has been mentioned in an earlier Commentary, the cost of an Internet connection can now be zero, apart from the charge for a local phone connection. There are now several Internet service providers (ISPs) offering free membership, apparently with no disadvantage except that the user is exposed to some advertising. The best known in the UK is the Freeserve facility, for which a free CD with software can be requested at any branch of Dixon's or of PC World. The CD is currently only available for PCs, and access depends on being able to run Microsoft Internet Explorer, which is supplied on the CD in a form suitable for running under Windows 95 or 98 or NT.

It is probably worth mentioning that, when the software of more than one ISP is installed on a computer, it is easy to get the impression that one ISP is usurping or hijacking the connection at the expense of the other(s). In fact, though, different ISPs can peacefully coexist. It is true that my installation of Freeserve software initially rendered CompuServe unavailable, but this was remedied by altering a setting referring to "proxy" in the "connections" section of the Windows control panel labelled "Internet". (The recommendation about this was promptly given by an adviser on the CompuServe telephone helpline, who was clearly not meeting the problem for the first time.)

The impression that Freeserve was dominant was, however, sustained by seeing that the banner at the top of the screen when any Internet access was attempted read: "Internet Explorer provided by Freeserve", and by the fact that the Freeserve home page always came up on the screen as soon as Internet contact was made. In fact, neither of these indicate dominance of the newcomer among the ISPs. The version of Internet Explorer shows no evidence of a special link to Freeserve other than the credit in the banner text, and the home page to be displayed initially can be set by the user as one of the options offered in the control panel. As might be expected, installation of the Freeserve software leaves the option set so that the Freeserve home page appears, and I have to admit it took me some time to realise that this can easily be revised, and does not indicate that all connection possibilities have been "hijacked" by this ISP.

Since the home pages of the respective ISPs offer different menus of such things as access to search engines, news sources, horoscopes, online auctions, etc., it is useful to have each of the home pages included among the addresses stored as "Favorites" so that they can be opened at will.

In the Internet Tourbus for 6 April 1999, it was mentioned that a new facility under the name of AllAdvantage made it possible to improve on free access and actually to receive payment for time spent online! A further enthusiastic account of it is given by Bob Rankin at the Web site: http://www.tourbus.com/getpaid.htm This was mentioned in an earlier Commentary, but I have to apologise for passing on my erroneous assumption that AllAdvantage was an ISP. It uses special software that must be downloaded and that operates, in conjunction with a connection through an ISP, to place additional advertising matter in a "Viewbar" below the main screen display. An intending user has to register and to choose a password, and to give some personal details including a postal address which will eventually be used for the sending of cheques as payment for time spent online.

At the time of the announcement in the Tourbus the service appeared to be available only in the USA, but it has now been extended to a substantial number of other countries. I am indebted to an unknown e-mail correspondent called Davie for bringing this to my notice. Following his recommendation I opened the site: http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=BTC984, and at a later stage of registering I again quoted Davie's reference number of BTC984, and was given my own reference number of KBX261. The scheme gives Davie extra remuneration for members (like me) who join on his recommendation, with a percolation back through several generations, such that if readers of this article now register and quote my reference number they will benefit both me and Davie.

The scale of operations of AllAdvantage is impressive. At the time of receipt of Davie's message and of my registration (February 2000) it was claimed that $10 million had been paid out in the USA and Canada. It was also stated that new members were being enrolled at the rate of 20,000 to 30,000 per day and that operations had been extended to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as the UK and the USA and various US territories, with other countries soon to be added. Payments are made in local currencies, at a rate equivalent to 50 US cents per hour, with an additional 5 cents per hour for each active recommendee, all subject to an upper limit (but a generous one) on the number of hours credited.