The High Court has again stopped Telecom from discriminating against free Internet service provider i4free by restricting its customers' access to the Net.

At an injunction hearing last night, Justice Judith Potter said Telecom could not single out i4free, or any other Internet service provider (ISP), even if there was overloading on Auckland's Airedale St exchange.

"I find it difficult to accept, notwithstanding this 'novel and difficult' problem, that Telecom does not have the wit or resources to manage this situation at least until the matter again comes before the court next Tuesday."

Justice Potter also found it difficult to accept that the stresses placed on Telecom's network by i4free's service were greater than other network stresses the company routinely faced and managed.

"I do not accept that because these users [i4free and freenet] require porting to the Clear network that they impact and impose stresses that outstrip the stresses of the larger users."

The judge then extended the interim injunction granted last Monday to say that any restriction on access imposed due to overloading must also be imposed on all other ISPs using 0867-prefixed access numbers.

Telecom spokesman Glen Sowry said the effect of the ruling was that it would have to implement traffic controls at the Airedale St exchange across the board - affecting 14 or 15 ISPs, including ihug.

"There's very real potential for overloading at that exchange. Other ISPs connected to that exchange will have access controlled if traffic levels continue to grow. One expects they may be a little unhappy about that."

In his submission for i4free, Jim Farmer, QC, said Telecom's technical explanation "for the imminent collapse of its network defies any sense of credibility."

Mr Farmer said i4free's traffic amounted to about 500 simultaneous calls. Larger ISPs such as ihug had 6000 to 8000 simultaneous calls.

Telecom lawyer Jack Hodder was concerned that, with April school holidays beginning, more users would sign up to the free service and stay online longer.