freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

freeserve which is owned by french company wanadoo, is set to ditch its name in favor of its parent company's name.

wanadoo is currently consolidating its ISP business under one name and is set to do this to all of its assets throughout europe.

source: BBC news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3590859.stm

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

I'm sure they tried that once before when the company was first acquired by Wanadoo, some names just stick.

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

Big mistake - Freeserve is a big brand name in the UK Wanadoo however is not known to most so unless they do an advertising blitz people will be wondering what the hell is going on :)

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

Agreed. Freeserve is known thorughout the UK, and must be one of the biggest known brands in the UK representing the Internet.

I would have thought that the 'further' they could do to distance themselves from being a French company - the better.

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

The big problem for Freeserve these days of course, is that it isn't really 'free' ... :disturbd:

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

indeed, now its monthly fee based subscription mostly...........

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

They have been wanting to do this for ages, just so they can get rid of the word 'free' in their name. When companies change their name, it doesn't make that much of a difference if they let everyone know, look at what happened when one 2 one changed to T Mobile. Nothing, because they told everyone. Also the actual logo for Freeserve has 'a wanadoo company' on it for ages, so it shouldn't be that confusing.

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

Heres part of what they are going to be sending to customers ---

They gave the staff a days notice of the change. Just imagine answering the phone wanna do broadband? Just does not sound right.

Who are Wanadoo?

The Wanadoo group is a leading internet service provider in Europe. Its's No. 1 in France and No. 2 in Spain. They have over 9 million active members with over 2.5 million of them on broadband.

Why are Freeserve becoming Wanadoo?

We've owned by wanadoo since 2001. We think the time is right to change to wanadoo - it'll help us to use the strengths of our parent company to give you an even greater range of benefits.

Will I need to do anything different when Freeserve becomes Wanadoo?

We've made sure you don't have to do anything. You can carry on using the internet as normal. You will still connect to the internet in the same way, get your emails as you do now and call us for help on the same numbers.

Will my Freeserve email address change?

No, your email addresss will stay exactly as it is.

Will the way I pay for my internet account change?

No, The way you pay will stay the same. We'll update your credit card or direct debit arrangents for you, so you don't have to do anything. You will then see the name Wanadoo on your statements instead of Freeserve. It may take a couple of weeks for this to take effect so don't worry if it does not happen straight away.

Whats so good about Wanadoo?

We'll be writing to you soon telling you more about Wanadoo. But you can expect better value, more products and services, even better reliability and a service which keeps on improving. Wanadoo really is a bigger better Freeserve.

Ok, so what happens next?

Within the next few weeks you'll recieve information welcoming you to wanadoo and telling you how top get even more from your internet service. Have a look at the logo below, you'll be seeing it around soon. In the mean time, we hope you continue to enjoy being part of the UK's No. 1.

http://i1.woopic.com/walledgarden/bi.../Logo/logo.gif

Re: freeserve to become 'wanadoo'
 

I've got a no-ties Freeserve account, and they've written to me regarding the change of name so I guess they have written to all their members. This will be a start, so the new name will get noticed quickly I think.

It's a more reasonable name change than NTL dropping the :home bit! And some other brands have done it successfully....O2 from BTCellnet, Snickers bar from Marathon, CableForum from NTHellWorld!!! :D