Dear Future Gamer,

Why on earth does Rich in FG27 say that he needs a second phone line in order to get Internet access? Doesn't he realise that his phone can be unplugged and a modem cable be plugged in instead?

Okay, he may be saying this because he doesn't want to have his phone line tied up so that people can't get in touch but there are solutions to this problem. Take BT's Call Minder service. This gives you an answering machine back at the exchange so that if anyone calls when you're on the phone they go straight through to the answering machine and they can leave a message. When you come off the Internet you just dial 1571 and pick up your messages.

He is also ignoring the extra communication he has at his fingertips with an Internet connection. What with email, ICQ etc. the world is still able to get in touch with him when he is online and in many cases it is cheaper! My mum lives over in Colorado and we use ICQ to chat to each other for the price of a local phone call (okay so it's free for her, grrrrrrrrrrr).

So come on Rich, get with the program - the Internet is out there. Oh and by the way - no, I am not in any way affiliated to BT.

Richard Neville

FG: Thanks for pointing that out to us Rich. There are plenty of services out there designed to make our lives easier, if you want to take advantage of them.