Freeserve was one of the first of the UK's ISPs to dispense with the usual monthly subscription fee for Internet access, and instead to collect a proportion of the standard telephone line charges.

This made it more appealing and affordable to the masses and paved way for more people gaining internet access in the UK.

BT sought to challenge Freeserve's business plan by arguing that under the regulatory model (known as Number Translation Services, or NTS), it should receive more money for each call, and in January 1999 Oftel announced that it would carry out a review.

[citation needed] Freeserve was bought by the France Télécom-owned company Wanadoo in 2000 for £1.65 billion.

][9] as Orange, they supplied a wireless ADSL modem router, the Orange-badged Siemens SE572, with one Ethernet port.

[12] Originally Freeserve accounts would be deactivated after ninety days if the dial-up number was not accessed (hence not generating any revenue for Orange).

Customers would then receive an error message when trying to access their Freeserve email via another connection, but could reactivate the account before it was deleted by visiting the Orange website.