IDT Scraps Dial-up ISP Service

Phone firm dumps dial-up services in a strategic move to strengthen its financial position. Leaves subscribers out in the cold.

by Ryan Naraine of atnewyork.com [January 3, 2001]

New Jersey-based telecommunications carrier IDT Corp. will discontinue its flat fee $9.95 per month dial-up service, effective January 31, 2001.

IDT Corp., the parent company of telephony play Net2Phone, made the announcement in an e-mail to subscribers which gave one month's notice for the discontinuation of the service.

No reasons were given for the decision and an IDT spokesperson declined immediate comment this morning.

The company said refunds for unused, prepaid service would be credited to the credit cards of users or sent to the last known address within 30 days following the termination of service.

"We regret to inform you that IDT Corporation will no longer provide dial up Internet service. However, we are sensitive to your need to have time to find an alternate service provider. Therefore, your dial up service will be discontinued effective January 31, 2001. You can arrange to have your e-mail forwarded to a new e-mail address until July 31, 2001; to do so, go to the following address: www.idt.net/forward/," the email sent from support@idt.net said.

The e-mail urged subscribers to sign up for e-mail forwarding service. "For dial up customers with web pages, you should begin to move those pages to an alternate host as soon as possible; we will keep our servers up until April 30, 2001," the e-mail said.

IDT implemented the flat-fee unlimited offering in October 2000 after scrapping a free ISP partnership with the defunct FreeAtLast.com. At the time, IDT chief executive Howard Jonas said the free Internet model had "not proven itself to be a viable business model."

Jim Courter, IDT president, explaining the move towards a fee-based service, said: "This is a strategic move. We have decided to insure the company's financial future by focusing on growth areas. The free dial-up Internet business is not one of them."

Neither is a fee-based service, apparently.

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