From Gary Jones
Barry Fox quite rightly draws attention to the problems facing newcomers to the Internet and World Wide Web (Review, 17 May, p 47) and goes on to compare four online systems. But the newcomer, for whom the article is presumably intended, would be forgiven for thinking that the only way to get access to the Internet and the Web is to use an online system such as those discussed.
In fact, using an online system purely for Internet and Web access is usually a waste of money. If you actually want to pay for the extra services these companies provide, fine; but for pure Internet access (including e-mail, the Web, newsgroups and the rest), a dedicated Internet Service Provider (ISP) is usually a much better bet.
Bristol
