In the earlier article on the IBM Global Network I praised the Network for being inexpensive and a definite must if you travel and need access to the Internet. I told you I paid about $21.00 a month and felt it was well worth it. Recently my wife questioned my $67.00 bill from IBM Global. I told her there must be some mistake because I thought it was about $20 a month, but I'd call and clear it up.
I called IBM and was told that the price was $19.95 for 100 hours and $1.95 for each additional hour. I said that the $19.95 entitled me to unlimited access to the Internet. I was told "No, we quit doing that in September and sent everyone an Email message."
Since I didn't remember ever getting any Email from IBM Global I finally figured out that I must have an IBM mailbox. It turned out that I did have an IBM mailbox and it contained about 50 messages dating back to 1996. About 25% of the messages were from IBM and they had in fact mentioned the change in pricing. The other messages were more disturbing. One was a legitimate message to me; the rest were junk mail. There were get rich schemes, online gambling opportunities, diet fads, and unfortunately lots having to do with pornography. I'm no judge of this, but they were as disgusting as anything I'd ever heard of. Apparently people have learned how to send messages to everyone on the IBM Global network.
In addition to the cost for those calls over 100 hours in any month, I discovered another new charge in checking my IBM mailbox. IBM has divided the world into about 5 areas. If you use IBM Global from an area other than yours, there is an additional per minute surcharge. Our area is the United States and Canada.
Let me conclude that I will probably continue to use IBM until I find a more reasonable alternative. Their access to the Internet is quite good. However, I wouldn't recommend it to others again and I would certainly not recommend using IBM Global Network for my Email system. I don't plan on going back to my IBM mailbox.
I recently I received a CD-ROM of Microsoft’s MSN Internet which does indicate they have several local phone numbers and only charge $19.95 for unlimited internet access. Sounds great except that it only works on Windows machines, so I’m still looking.
I'm sorry for my earlier advice. I'd love to hear from you in terms of other services that can offer a better alternative to IBM Global Network
C. Rucker