Open Letter

This is an open letter or public appeal if you like on behalf of mobile phone users in the South East of England.

Dear Person in Charge of BT Openzone

FUCK....OFF!!! Seriously, just fuck off! Stop hijacking everyone's wi-fi enabled devices with your stupid service. We're sitting at home, using a laptop and then suddenly BT Openzone blocks out our own wireless connection and directs us to your overpriced piece of crap. Do you find this is a good way to gain customers and win brand loyalty? I mean why stop at just taking over my phone or my laptop, why not kidnap my wife and ransom her in return for changing service providers? Burgle my mother's house when she's away and I can buy back her things in exchange for subscribing to your call minding service.

I realise it must be difficult trying to run a profitable business where you've lost your monopoly on landlines, although  of course BT still takes £140 off me a year for the fixed line it installed perhaps twenty years ago. I trust my cables are not just humble fibre optic lines. At that rate, I expect nothing less than gold or platinum, perhaps encased in mahogany. And what great value your wi-fi hijack service is, £6 for 90 minutes or £10 a day, especially when within 100 metres of my flat there are 3 pubs and cafes that all offer free wi-fi. It is a real a mystery why I have passed on your highly competitive rates.

Whoever you are in charge of BT Openzone, I would like to make a simple suggestion: try making a decent product or service that somebody actually wants and then advertise its unique appeal. It is, I admit, a radical idea and not something BT has tried before, but you never know.

Meanwhile, all across London living rooms reverberate to the shout of 'Oh for fuck's sake' as your service wipes the wireless password from our phones, laptops and PDAs. You do at least have brand recognition. However, not all publicity is good publicity - just ask Charlie Sheen.

Yours

A User of Wi-Fi Services who does not like being digitally mugged.