Wholesome fare for your cyberbrats

I almost gave up on UK Online - which bills itself as the family online provider and is one of the UK's more recent entries to the world of the Internet. I'm glad I didn't, but it was close.

Maybe it was because I started out with a not-quite finished beta copy of the software that it knocked out all my other Net services and refused to let me log on to all its much-trumpeted "discussion clubs". Or maybe it was just because I was using Windows 95 ...

My partner gave up on it, my 11-year-old son gave up on it, but I was determined to get it working. How can anyone admit defeat from a piece of software that claims, "If you can use Windows you can use UK Online"?

Having e-mailed customer support a number of times (using another account), I resorted to old technology - and telephoned. At which point it was suggested, gently, that although UK Online was intended to operate with 14.4 modems, my 14.4 modem might be too slow. Gritting my teeth, I bought a new 28.8 modem, reloaded the latest version of the software - and everything worked perfectly.

So, as a family, what did we eventually get with our connection to UK Online? Well, pounds 14.99 a month gives you family membership of the Web- based online service, unlimited access to the Net, and four e-mail addresses, so your kids can become cyberbrats with their own net address and their own password-protected "start-up" pages. Mind you, you can only add family members with the same surname - not good in this age of post-nuclear families. If you want to log a child on under a different surname, you need to e- mail admin to make the arrangements!

UK Online is a compromise between being an online service in the tradition of CompuServe, running individual clubs on everything from travel to rock within the UK Online service, and being an Internet provider, allowing access to the wider world of the Web and newsgroups. In keeping with its stated aim of being a family provider, the newsgroups are heavily censored (no alt.sex groups then). And there are also prominent reminders that "bad language or sexually explicit remarks may lose you your account".

UK Online's own research shows that 93 per cent of parents want some kind of parental control over what their children find on the Net, and with the number of home computers at 4 million and rising, it makes commercial sense to give parents what they want. That said, among the newsgroups readily accessible are alt.hackers and alt.hemp.recreational, so it's not completely disconnected to life outside UK Online.

Where UK Online is ahead of CompuServe is that it already has a Web-like interface. The only way of knowing that you are within UK Online, not outside it on the big bad Web, is a small corner icon. It is simplicity itself to use since kids can get from area to area by clicking on icons or any words that are coloured blue. This combined with their own "start- up" page, where they can see if they have any messages, makes UK Online a good way to reassure smaller children that computers and the Net are not at all frightening. They can even chat in real time, although most discussion seems to be along the lines of, "Is there anybody out there?" "Yes, me." "Oh, good."

I would not use this as my only Internet account. As an adult who is vaguely Net-literate the format is too limiting. But as a father with a pre-teen son who likes computers, and a partner who wants a simple, hassle-free way to send and receive her e-mail, it makes the perfect second account.

The company providing UK Online recently saw two top executives jump ship. But Tim King, the company's chief executive, says it's business as usual. "The service is growing rapidly and enjoys the support of a loyal customer base," he says.

Will losing senior staff in marketing and editorial make a difference? Those of us with accounts at UK Online will have to wait and see. After all the effort I put into getting my UK Online account up and running, I, for one, hope it's not about to change.

UK Online can be contacted on 0645 000011. Normal subscription is pounds 14.95 a month for family membership. UK Online is giving away a free CD-Rom which shows you what its service is like without a modem. If you do have a modem, it gives you 30 days' free access.