Hot-toast.com targets students with free Internet service

A free Internet service provider (ISP) dedicated to students launches this week called hot-toast.com. It is being backed by student marketing company Reaction.

One million CDs containing Internet-enabling software will be distributed in student welcome packs across the UK from this week, as the college term begins.

A Reaction spokeswoman says: “We know this market is very receptive to IT developments and that Internet use is increasing at a dramatic rate. Hot-toast.com is ideally placed to deliver targeted messages for brands because it is tailored to the student audience.”

Reaction owns and operates the Student Welcome Pack brand across the UK.

Since Dixons launched the UK’s first free ISP, Freeserve, last September, many companies have launched their own free service providers.

Freeserve recently floated on the stock market after less than a year in operation. It achieved a valuation of £1.5bn. Observers say it was only a matter of time before companies looked to segment the free-ISP market, which is approaching saturation.

Last week, US Internet giant America Online (AOL) launched its own free ISP, Netscape Online, in the UK.