Madasafish ribs Wanadoo over broadband speed

Letter writing copycats

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 8th August 2005 12:45 GMT

It looks like Wanadoo might have started something.

Last week the ISP formerly known as Freeserve ran an ad in a Sunday paper in the guise of a letter addressed to BT chief exec Ben Verwaayen.

The letter poked fun at BT's decision to double the speed of its entry-level broadband service to 2 meg just hours after Wanadoo UK announced a similar offer.

Said the "Dear Ben" letter: "We don't blame you for trying to emulate the great deals we give - but let's be honest, our customers are still going to be a lot better off than yours".

Now rival ISP Madasafish has followed suit by placing its own "Dear Wanadoo" ad.

Said Madasafish: "All of your friends at Madasafish were very excited to read your letter in the Sunday Telegraph last week. It's all very well talking about BT trying to emulate Wanadoo, but the reality is that Madasafish introduced 2Mb broadband way before both of you.

"If you really want to make sure Wanadoo customers get the very best value possible, email them a Migration Authorisation Code and tell them if they switch to Madasafish, they can get 4 months free broadband."

Asked to comment a spokesman for Wanadoo told us: "It's not a bad ad - it's a jolly good effort."

Earlier this year Madasafish had a TV ad banned because it was deemed to be "grossly offensive". The TV commercial featured comedian Harry Enfield and a Winston Churchill lookalike downloading "saucy pictures of Monty from El Alamein". ®