WebTV offers Internet access for those without a computer. But the service often doesn't work as well as consumers expect and, because it relies on a dial-up telephone line for some functions, can run up an unexpectedly large long-distance bill.

Recently, the Federal Trade Commission sued WebTV, claiming its advertising did not fully disclose WebTV's shortcomings. In October, the company settled the charges and agreed to reimburse some consumers.

Joe of Massachusetts writes:
Suddenly WebTV forced advertising on our mailbox pages. This is reprehensible. It looks like a cheesy Hotmail or Yahoo free mailbox.

I am filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office in Boston

Joe also sent a copy of an email he has sent to WebTV:

Dear Web TV Compliance Supervisor:
I do not want advertisements on my e mail web page. What do you not understand about this? If you insist on putting ads, I will insist you give us the service for free, and we will go to a court of law to discuss it.

And we will do a television show reaching approximately 500,000 people in Massachusetts discussing this issue.

Patricia of Dallas writes:
Webtv's latest upgrade release, was a disaster. I can no longer use my unit to visit sites outside of the Webtv homepage. My unit powers off if I even try. In fact, it powered off three times just trying to file this complaint.

My unit is no longer of use to me. Yet, I still have to pay the monthly subscription fee, even though I am not getting the service I pay for.

Webtv says "only a small number of people are experiencing problems due to the upgrade". I feel this is a lie. I cannot access sites frequently visited. Sites such as: casio, homework central, yahoo. etc. I used to do a great deal DEAL of research for school but not anymore. I am sick of paying these people for inferior service. They no longer answer email regarding what they are doing to correct the problem.

It is very frustrating to hear "our enginners are aware of the problem, and are working on it". If it took me months to develop a solution to a problem on my job, they would have fired my a** a long time ago! The arrogance of WNI is UNBERABLE. I will not be ignored. Nor will I continue to pay for something I cannot/am not using.

Anyone else having this problem? Let us know.

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