Letter: Futuristic phones

Sir: You say surfing the Internet "places extra demands" and "makes older machines redundant even more quickly" ("Computer firms scorn Internet- for-all scheme", 29 October). Except for a few specialist applications, this is a myth, peddled by computer suppliers to boost their profits. The computer this e-mail was written on is nearly seven years old, yet I can surf the Internet using the latest Netscape browser software. The main factor slowing down my surfing is the speed of my modem, rather than that of the computer.

TIM WILLIAMS

Birmingham