5 years ago: MSN offers free net access in UK

20.05.99: MSN teams with BT to offer free dial-up internet service in the UK, through a program called MSN FreeWeb. Customers are given free access to the web, an unlimited number of email accounts and free support - paying only the per-minute charge for the telephone call.

20.05.04: Dial-up net access, no matter how cheap, is passe. Nearly 25 per cent of Brits connect to the net via broadband and that number is growing steadily. The number of subscriptions to always-on connections has almost doubled in the past year.

BT alone boasts 2.5 million broadband users and DSL is expected to be available on 95 per cent of UK telephone lines by the end of 2004.

While a good share of home users still use narrowband, the number of dial-up subscriptions is falling steadily and is now only just above what it was in January 2001.

The number of people paying for their net connection via free access or billing is also on the decline, and makes up 38 per cent of the online UK population, down from 43 per cent a year ago.

As for MSN, it's still offering the FreeWeb service. But its main focus in on its MSN Premium services, which are offered atop BT Broadband