For anyone travelling to London, we have snow! For the first time in 12 years London has about an inch of snow blanketing the city that came yesterday and is still here today. The main streets are completely free of snow so traffic moves as freely as is possible in this gridlocked city but some side streets as well as many pavements/sidewalks can be quite icy.

I know this won’t last, so I am enjoying the beautiful views while we’ve got them. The cold air has driven out the grey skies and the sun is shining. The Georgian squares with central parks within them look like something from a picture book or a tourist brochure, all with a light cover of snow on the windowsills and bushes.


Beebee

BeeBee

Just noticed that you are in London ...... I have a friend who will be spending a semester in London very shortly......I can't seem to find an access number for her for AOL .... is there an alternative ISP that she can use while she is there? She is adament about not using cyber cafes and wants her own account. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
SteveF

P.S. Sounds wonderful ... I haven't been there in awhile but can only imagine how beautiful it must be.....

There are, I believe, a number of "free" ISPs - at least there used to be. I will check. I presume this is what you mean. By free, I mean that the ISP does not charge for its service, however, unlike your telephone system, we pay a separate charge to the phone company for every call we make.

I think there are also some ISPs who will provide a free service in the sense that there is a charge for the ISP but no extra charge for the phone call to the dial up number.

I will try to look into it for you, but I may not be able to reply for a day or so.

Beebee

Steve, I found an AOL access number for England:
UNITED KINGDOM (44) 0845 0790003, 57.6, $3.95, AOLnet
WARNING! Phone Charges Apply

From AOL, go to keyword ACCESS and click the link for International numbers.

We used Earthlink access numbers when we were in England, but as with AOL, you pay a per hour surcharge when using them. It would be best to find a free ISP in England.

Pauline from Slow Travelers

P
I think that AOLnet is non-local .... thus the high charges so I thought that Bee Bee being resident would know for sure ....she is checking for me.....
Thank you for your usual efficiency.

For the site you might want to publish the following:


Internet Access in London

Nowadays larger Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer local access numbers for those wanting to use their laptops overseas, Of the major providers, the numbers given below can be used for Internet access while in London:

AOL - Tel: 1634 0800 034 08001 and 0800 917 7445 (up to 56.6kbps, with $3.95 per hour surcharge);

AT & T Business Internet Service - Tel: 08459-12-2401 and 08459-12-2400;


CompuServe - Tel: 0845 088 74470 and 0845 079 8744 (up to 56.6kbps, with $2.50 per hour surcharge);

Earthlink - Tel: 0845 088-5336 (up to 56.6kbps, with $0.15 per minute surcharge).
To collect e-mail SMTP mail settings must be changed from “mail.earthlink.net” to
“ismtp.earthlink.net”. This POP address can only be reached while dialing within the
UK.

Hi Steve,

I visited several newsagents over the weekend looking for a magazine that reviewed all the UK ISPs, sadly, without success. I'm sure that comparisons of this type are regularly published but it may be they only come out at the end of the month rather than at the beginning.

I have, however, found the following website which gives a good listing of the important ISPs. The only caveat I would make is that the page is not dated so it may not reflect the most up to date position. Nevertheless I think this should give your friend a starting point. As I pointed out in my earlier post, where the service is listed as free there will still be additional telephone charges.
This is the website

Hope this helps.

Beebee

P.S. If your friend opts to pay for a service, I would recommend Claranet. Their cheapest package is only about £4 per month and I've always found the service to be extremely reliable with very good technical support.

Bee Bee
Great site ..... just what we needed .... she leaves tonight so your timing was perfect.
Thank you again.
Steve