5 years ago... Free ISP races towards the million mark

The rollercoaster ride that has been Freeserve...

14.01.99 Free internet service provider (ISP) Freeserve is claiming to have signed up its 900,000th member - making it the largest ISP in the UK.

Freeserve, which launched last September, is a joint venture between retail group Dixons and business telco Energis. More than 700,000 of the accounts have been used during the last month, giving Freeserve a clear lead over its closest rival, AOL, which has 500,000 members.

Benjamin Ensor, an analyst at Fletcher Research, said: "Sixty per cent of Freeserve members are already internet users, either switching over from another ISP or setting up a second account. It is not surprising that people are trying it out: the question is whether Freeserve can sustain it."

14.01.04 Could Freeserve sustain it? Let's cast our minds back. Here we had a company - albeit backed by a high street giant - that came from nowhere to claim the crown of UK's largest ISP within four months.

Others - notably X-Stream - would claim to have beaten the better-known Freeserve entrepreneurs to the business model but, make no mistake, this was the company that would be copied in a number of countries, including Germany and Italy. More established players such as AOL and Demon were truly worried.

The big switch, of course, came as unmetered dial-up access began to be offered. Freeserve was not shy to get in on the act but when broadband also became a mainstay, the word 'free' in its moniker started to sound vaguely ridiculous.

Then came the well-known flotation - you remember: a price that went very high then very low in a double-quick time - and the sale to France Telecom-owned ISP Wanadoo.

Now we have a Dixons Group, completely divorced from Freeserve (and siding with AOL in-store), and a company that is about to become Wanadoo UK. Or something.

It was a more than interesting ride - and it took a mere five years.