Groupe Serveur, a French IT concern which will shortly launch a free internet access offering, has unveiled a portal site designed to help consumers decide which free service provider to sign up with. The new site, can be accessed at either www.internetgratuit.com or www.internet-gratuit.com.
The group’s plan is to carry links to all the free offerings available in France. The onus is on the ISPs to opt out of the scheme if they want to, thereafter the site will carry the information that a specific provider decided not to take part, plus the reason given for pulling out.
For the prospective surfer, the site offers to help navigate the proliferation of free offerings (roughly 30 ISPs have announced plans to be online by the end of June). The consumer goes to the site, types in the kind of features they want from their access deal (banner advertising or not, inclusion on a mailing list, proprietary software, and so on), and the portal finds the most suitable ISP for their requirements.
