Outraged surfers plan to sue Breathe

Heavy internet users that have been tagged as the bane of unmetered ISPs are throwing their weight behind an attack and offering hope to those that lost money when they were kicked off for "abusing" the services.

One heavy user who had his Breathe Freely account terminated due to overuse said he was going to take the matter to court and was confident of his success.

Clive Dakers, the customer in question, said: "I have been informed by a solicitor that I would have a case in the courts if I sued Breathe for breach of contract."

He said that Breathe's case was based on the fact that some 500 heavy users were booted off for endangering other users' access. But on legal advice, users have a strong case to suggest that Breathe's decision was for purely financial reasons.

Breathe denies that the decision was financial, however. Ian Twin, a spokesman for the ISP, said: "Only people who were not using the service for consumer activity were targeted." Breathe said it was protecting the access rights of other users, adding that it had not yet received any writs from lawyers acting for disgruntled users.

However, other ISPs have admitted that heavy users can cost the company almost £1000 a week compared with the actual fee the user is paying. World Online said that heavy users, despite the strain on resources, were "prime broadband targets, and were more than likely to be the first customers for the service".

First published on uk.internet.com

See also:

Breathe offers unmetered free Wap access

Internet service provider Breathe is hoping to boost its mobile internet subscriber base by offering free unmetered Wap calls until the end of November.  18 Oct 2000

AltaVista unmetered mystery is solved

AltaVista has finally put an end to the speculation surrounding its unmetered internet service, with the announcement that it has "put the product on hold."  22 Aug 2000

AltaVista quizzed over net access mystery

When AltaVista's UK managing director Andy Mitchell returns from his holiday next week he faces a torrent of voicemail, email and faxes all asking the same question: "Does your unmetered internet service actually exist?"  15 Aug 2000

Watchdog needed to sort unmetered chaos

After another week of frustration for unmetered internet users, calls for the establishment of an official ISP regulatory body have intensified.  28 Jul 2000

Breathe cuts off unmetered air supply

Breathe.com has sparked a storm of controversy by pulling the plug on 'heavy users' of its unmetered internet access service.  27 Jul 2000

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