COMPUTER expert Andrew Goodwill had a dream which could make him the next Internet millionaire.

He has just slapped a patent on a device which parents worried about huge phone bills can use to pre-set the time their kids spend surfing.

The special modem keypad is expected to go on sale in the new year.

Now friends are telling Mr Goodwill, 38, of Ivy Lane, Bognor, his invention could make him a fortune.

He said: "Everyone who has heard about it says how brilliant it is and it will make me a million. I hope they're right."

Mr Goodwill had the dream while he was working away from home. He said: "I dreamt my son Jonathan was on the Internet when this big pair of scissors came down and cut him off.

"It stayed in my mind and I started to develop the idea. Now it has come together into a final product. There is nothing like it on the market."

Mr Goodwill says the cost of telephone calls run up by youngsters using the Internet is a big worry for many parents.

His device allows people to key in how much time can be spent on calls to Internet providers.

He said: "For example, someone can key in 60 minutes of Internet time and five minutes before the cut-off time there will be a warning beep.

"After that the cut-off is quite brutal but users have a PIN number which they can use to over-ride it.

"Phone bills are a big worry and I hope my invention will allow children to get the benefits of using the Internet but parents can regulate it to their own budget.

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"When people first get a computer and the Internet they think it is fantastic and everyone is using it but then the phone bill arrives and it does not get used again for the next quarter."

Mr Goodwill has spent the last 14 years building bespoke computers to suit the needs of individual customers.

His son Jonathan, 13, uses the Internet and has his own website.

Mr Goodwill said: "He does spend a lot of time on the computer and perhaps that is what prompted the dream.

"Even at a local call rate of 1p a minute for three hours a day, seven days a week over a quarter, the phone bill with VAT will come to £192.47. If you limit that to say an hour a day over the same period the bill drops to £64.16."

Mr Goodwill's device will sell for £39.99 but he says it will save many parents cash straight away. The box can also be used in 32 European countries.

Mr Goodwill has done all he can to make his product look attractive as well as functional and value for money.

Meanwhile, you can see a prototype on his website, www.pulsedesignltd.freeserve.co.uk.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.