More Free PC Giveaways From ISPs

from the the-new-trend dept

Mon, Apr 12th 1999 12:14pm — Mike Masnick

Yet another ISP is going to give away free PCs with their ISP service. This time, it's a company called Intersquid. I'm not knocking this idea, as I believe it has merits, but the press is jumping all over these like they're the most brilliant idea in the world. My problem is that the way most of them are done these days, they miss the point. For example, the Intersquid one is likely to cause problems: they are giving out a very low end PC, and you have to commit to two and a half years of service. While it might work for some, I get the feeling this is going to piss off customers a year or so down the road, when they realize they're stuck with an obsolete PC for another year and a half. Update A nice little chart in the Industry Standard today compares a bunch of these free-PC deals (though not the new one from Intersquid).

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4 Comments

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Jon Acheson, 12 Apr 1999 @ 2:15pm

I disagree: this might actually be a good deal for
Over the 30 months of the lease, this comes to $450 over and above the $15 a month you'd expect to pay for ISP service. This isn't such a bad price for a cheap PC. I'd like to know who the supplier is or whether any of the components are from a reputable supplier, though. Is the 300Mhz cpu a Cyrix, for instance, or a Celeron 300a?

This is a deal I'd have gone for when I was fresh out of college and didn't have the money to buy a computer outright.

The real question is whether Intersquid is a good ISP with a history of service, or a scam ISP who will sign up lots of users then never upgrade their backbone again.

Also, if your PC dies within the 30 months, is there a service agreement?
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- Mike (profile), 12 Apr 1999 @ 2:30pm
  
  Good points and clarification
  True. Good point. I guess my complaint wasn't the price, which is fair, but that people wouldn't realize that they had tied themselves into such a long term service contract and be upset. The other points you raised (intersquid's ability to be a good ISP and tech support) are also huge questions. I guess my reaction was based on two things: (1) cell phones which used to have long term service contracts are moving away from that - as far as I can see - since people seem to feel bound by them, which makes people uncomfortable and (2) my two year old PC is a piece of crap and I want another one already. I'm not sure how happy I'd be if I felt like I needed to keep it for longer because of a service agreement. A deal I might like better is one that would grant me an upgraded PC after a certain period of time, but obviously there are different costs involved there. :)
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  - Jon Acheson, 13 Apr 1999 @ 10:45am
    
    Re: Good points and clarification
    I'd be more concerned about being stuck with an ISP for two years (forever in Internet time) than about being stuck with the PC. Your point about the changing cellphone contracts is well made.
    
    I doubt that you'll see a policy with upgrades any time soon. Under Windows, a serious upgrade is essentially a total rebuild, plus the added hassle of preserving your old data. It would be a lot easier for them to simply sell you a new PC.
    
    Jon
    
    All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
    
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john, 26 Jan 2007 @ 11:43pm

can i have free PC form you.....I am a computer science student and i just need a computer....can you give me a free of it if you don't mind???
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