October 11, 2000 - October 16, 2000

News - October 16,2000

Demon Internet Unmetered !LIVE!

By:mark.j @ 11:00:AM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to both NutCracker and David for informing us that Demon Internets unmetered access has gone live. Note, we have been forced to cut some of the details out due to the length of the letter:

I am pleased to be able to formally announce the launch of our Surftime Access services, Demon Premier Connect and Demon Premier Connect Plus.

Demon Premier Connect and Premier Connect Plus are schemes that give access to our services via telephone numbers which are eligible for reduced charges and BT Surftime discounts.

Full details of the new services and how to access them are available on our web site at http://www.demon.net/premierconnect/

BT Surftime is a scheme operated by BT that gives discount on calls to our new Surftime Access telephone numbers in exchange for a fixed monthly payment. Customers who wish to make extra payments to BT to obtain these discounts must do so themselves. [See www.bt.com/surftime/ for details]

Further savings will be available by calling a new "g5 tariff" number (0844 041 6662 / 6672). This number is popularly called a Surftime number. This will be charged by BT at:

0.6p per minute evenings
0.5p per minute weekend

[figures including VAT, a 5p minimum call charge still applies]

This Surftime number will be available during the evenings and weekends for all Demon dial-up customers WITHOUT ANY INCREASE in the monthly charge of 10 pounds + VAT (11.75).

ie: NO extra payment will be required to make use of this tariff, nor will any special registrations be required. You just dial a different phone number to reach Demon.

The Surftime number will not be available during the working day. Users of Demon Premier Connect will need to swap to the "g4" number during that period. ie the charge will be:

2.0 per minute daytime

[Including VAT, a 5p minimum call charge still applies]

NOTE: Calls to the "g5" number will succeed, but logins will be rejected. You will pay for these calls with no benefit.

FURTHERMORE:

By making a payment of 5.99 pounds per month to BT you can have a 100% discount on all of these Surftime calls. ie: all evening and weekend calls to Demon would become "free".

All Standard Dial Up customers will optionally be able to upgrade to the "Demon Premier Connect Plus" account. This will be available for a total monthly payment of 19.99 (17.01 + VAT). This type of account will allow access to the Demon Surftime number at ANY time. The BT call charges will be:

1.0p per minute daytime
0.6p per minute evenings
0.5p per minute weekend

[figures including VAT, a 5p minimum call charge applies]

Certain account types (such as NDU) will have Premier Connect Plus bundled with them. All other types of account that include a dialup account (such as Showroom) can have Premier Connect Plus Upgrade added for a monthly payment of 8.24 (7.01 + VAT).

Customers are advised to carefully consider the package that suits them before using these new services. Details of the BT charges for Surftime are available from:

http://www.bt.com/surftime/

Customers wishing to subscribe to Demon Premier Connect Plus can do so on line at:

http://www.demon.net/dpcplus-signup/

Or by calling 0800 027 9200.

For Turnpike users, updated configuration files for Surftime access numbers and costs will be available soon from:

ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/turnpike/

Full details will be posted to demon.ip.support.turnpike when the files are available.

So there you have it, although whether Demon have been wise to adopt BT Surftime when FRIACO is now floating around we simply don’t know. I won’t make this news longer than it already is so we’ll leave it to those who wish to comment – full details on Demons site.

XO Communications to Trial SDSL

By:mark.j @ 10:45:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long after Redstone abandoned ADSL for SDSL and BT announced it was going to trial its own SDSL and then delayed the start, now XO Communications has joined BT's SDSL trial list:

XO Communications, the broadband services provider has signed up for BT Ignite’s SDSL trials, to test services that use 500 Kb/second, 1 Mb/second or 1.9Mb/s connections, up and downstream.

The trials were announced in August and expected to start in January 2001. Earlier this month, BT Ignite confirmed to netimperative.com that the original timetable had slipped. Fujitsu, one of the hardware providers, has reportedly experienced problems sourcing components for the routers that will be deployed at customers’ premises, delaying the start of the trials.

“It will probably be nearer March, but certainly within the first half of the year,” said Axel Lagerborg, director of UK product marketing, XO Communications.

According to NetImperative, XO have had a lot of experience in providing broadband services overseas (US), hence the reason they were accepted. So that's another one on the trail and still no trail, fun.

BT Internet Mail Server Down

By:Ross14 @ 12:25:AM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As if problems weren't bad enough with BT, and to add to the dismay of the BT Connect news post below, it seem that BT Internet customers cannot send or receive email:

This is the current service status report from the BT Internet Website:

15/10/00 19:45

We are currently investigating a problem with the BT Internet mail server which is affecting the sending and receiving of e-mail. Please bear with us as we endeavour to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. Meanwhile we apologise for any inconvenience.

It seems to be a domino effect with BT. If one part of their network gets affected, it filters through everywhere!

The mail server has been down for nearly 5 hours now, and there is still no updated status report. Is anyone on BT Internet being able to send and receive email?

News - October 15,2000

ISPreview Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 11:08:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Busy.. busy... busy.... are three words in succession best used to describe the previous week. We're overhauling many of the sites sections and really pushing ISPreview forward, all of which takes work and time. The Forum has been the first to change as we add new interactive elements to it, make it faster, give it a new look and generally improve things.

From hear on out ISP Review is entering into a period of change, where we improve the old and add more new. Ultimately this will end sometime early next year with a totally new site design, although that's still sometime away. Thanks for all the suggestions people have given us over the months; we'll do our best to implement them.

We also have one new member of staff to add over the other two, 'Malcolm'. On top of that ISPr Freecall ISP should finally go live this coming week and we'll continue to improve ISPr in general. You may also see some new content next week, but I won't say anything now as that'd commit me to a timetable I might not meet.

Nothing much else to say, watch for the ISP going live (those on the list will be informed) and further ISPr changes.

News - October 14,2000

BT Connect Problems

By:rich.p @ 9:57:PM - Comments (14) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It appears BT Click for Business, which is BT's main business Surftime ISP, is suffering a few problems. We have had this e-mail from David:

To cut a long story short, their news service suddenly stopped automatically authenticating people and their mail service became really slow. Nothing really surprising there, considering they're an oversubscribed SurfTime based ISP, but when the same thing happens with everything else you try, you being to worry.

My concerns where throughly backed up when I shelled into a web server I maintain and got the following, rather unpleasant error;

Oct 13 18:27:55 www sshd[2538]: reverse mapping checking getaddrinfo for 213-123-75-242.btconnect.com failed - POSSIBLE BREAKIN ATTEMPT!

Ain't that fun?

Anyhow, it turns out that BTConnect have decided to give the 213.1.x.x. and 213.123.x.x. range of IPs reverse hostnames which don't work. For example;

$ host 213.123.75.242
242.75.123.213.IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name pointer 213-123-75-242.btconnect.com

$ host 213-123-75-242.btconnect.com
Host not found.

Sufficed to say, it's not supposed to do that. Their technical support line hasn't got an ounce of a clue what I'm talking about and their answer of "Just redial until you get a working IP" isn't a great deal of use. Any worth while systems administor could fix that problem in less than half an hour, if that. Why it takes them over 2 weeks is totally beyond me. They did, at one point, acknowledge a problem, but it was apparently something else which was since fixed. It's not as if I've not explained the problem in clear English to them, but they don't seem to understand what the cause of the problem is (It was at one point due to dialing up through a g5 number, which I promptly told them was a load of crap, then they said "The BTNet engineers are working on it". Woopie, ain't gonna fix it though).

Simply, I'd seriously not reccomend what was once probably the best unmetered ISP eariler in the year to anyone who expects at anything other than the lowest level of service. I'll be leaving once Demon roll out, but I'll be keeping up with the present situation just to see how long it takes them to fix it.

Doesn't look like BT can be bothered to fix the problem with the reverse hostnames. They probably haven't received too many complaints yet but this might cause a problem for a few businesses. Can BT ever get it right? Their main problem seems to be communication with the customer they just never seem to deliver what people want or need.

ISPreview Forum Update

By:mark.j @ 7:14:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just to let you all know that our forum has today seen some dramatic changes, if you saw it yesterday then today it looks very different. Yet more features and interactivity have been added and we'll continue to improve it into next week.

ISPr Looking for Perl/CGI Coders

By:mark.j @ 1:36:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Experienced Perl/CGI coders don't seem to advertise themselves very well on the net in the UK, yet we need to hire one for two simple scripts. These are not systems we have mentioned before as they are already being done, but something different.

So if anybody can point us in the direction of a PROFESSIONAL group and their website then do give me a mail about it, thanks. ISP Review is trying to make itself as interactive as possible for the next generation page we're doing.

FreeChariots FULL Press Release

By:mark.j @ 10:20:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Well we had the exclusive yesterday and now this morning Keith from FC has started sending out the official releases. As usual we bring the full and un-cut version your way:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are happy to inform you of the silent revolution taking place, starting from today in the telecommunications industry of the United Kingdom. Freechariot today breaks the mold and offers free unmetered local phone calls to the majority of the telephone users in the UK.

We stated in June, 2000 that:

"we are aware that there are barriers to total free unmetered and unlimited local calls. Freechariot will in the short term push these barriers and in the long term overcome them."

This we have been able to do sooner than expected, we therefore present:

Free locals phone calls at all times, plus a free taste if the WWW

Free local calls at all times, day, evening and weekends. Wait for this! in addition to a free monthly taste of the world wide web. No more excuses for not calling the in-laws.

Freechariot - an innovative packager of calls, says, try it if you dare. Calling family and friends will never be the same again, it will be more. The days of praying for the family members to get off the phone while you check the money walking out the door in large telephone charges, is gone.

Freechariot offer to the majority of the users in the UK:

Free local phone calls at all times

Registration £15.00 plus vat - one off set-up fee.

£12.99 plus vat monthly line rental - replaces the BT Line rental.

2 hours of free internet calls every month. 1ppm after the first 2 hours.

No monthly call commitment, make only the calls you want to make.

Transfer your line to freechariot and move into telecommunications of the future. Then just pick up the phone and DIAL.

Only 20,000 application for this service will be accepted before January 2001.

Thank you

Best Regards

Freechariot Media Relations Department
URL: http://www.freechariot.net

There now seems to be a definite revolution going on in the UK, not long ago Surfing Rabbit announced a similar deal (not live yet) and now FC does theirs (is already live). Of course BT recently went and showed us they could do the same by offering an Off-Peak, yet more expensive, option.

It's certainly going to be interesting to see what the newspapers and mass media have to say about this. Although we doubt TV will pick up on the revolution at all because they never do.

News - October 13,2000

BTOpenWorld On Show

By:mark.j @ 6:23:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Fancy seeing what the new ADSL/Broadband technology from BTOpenworld and associates is all about, well why not go and watch the show?:

BT is holding a two-day love-in at a trendy London location next week to show off its broadband content and technology.

Those invited to turn up will be able to muse over the future of the technology and the impact it will have on our lives.

Called "Citizens of the Openworld", it's been described as a cross industry platform led by BTopenworld to "debate and explore the potential of Broadband technology and its impact on the UK".

The article @ The Register also highlights a new glitch thats just been found with BTO, but aside from that it's kinder funny. We actually have to go and see ADSL because nobody can get it outside of the big cities yet =).

More New Cable Modem Prices

By:mark.j @ 6:04:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Several readers reported this to us, but we decided to wait for more official word, now CableNews has posted about it and so shall we. Following the last spate of NTLWorld Cable Modem price trials, some more interesting options have been given to those in Cambridgeshire:

ntl is running a cable modem price promotion in its Cambridgeshire franchise (also covering some parts of Suffolk and Essex and Hertfordshire) from October. The promotional packages are only available to new and existing customers within the region:

* £24.99 per month subscription for speeds of up to 512kbps (customer must purchase an ntl-approved cable modem for £149).

* £39.99 per month including a cable modem (twelve month rental contract) for speeds of up to 512kbps.

Cambridgeshire is being used as a test area for different price points and payment options for the current high-speed service. The promotion will contribute to ntl's national review into the expansion of broadband access.

There seems to be a lot of strange and now slightly confusing price shifts going on with NTL at the moment, it'll be interesting to see what the official results are once trials complete.

Demon Unmetered FAQ

By:mark.j @ 5:53:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As with almost all unmetered ISPs, there's always a customer of the ISP who makes a site for other customers to help them. This time its one of our old friends David, who has cleverly written an FAQ about Demon Internets forthcoming unmetered options:

Over the past few days, with the help of various people from the
demon.service newsgroup I've constructed a FAQ for potential users of
Demon's SurfTime based service. There is a heck of alot of confusion over the service, partially because alot of important detail is not available on demon.net, instead being thrown around in demon.service by Demon subscribers and a number of Demon representivies. We thought it important to have this information available at a single place, for those who don't use usenet or don't want to take the time to hunt through the hundreds of posts to find that little bit they're looking for.

It is available at http://surftime.technoir.uk.net/

Hopefully, people will find this of use. Of course, if there is still
anything which is unclear or has ambiguity, the FAQ can be adjusted
appropriatly.

Thanks.
--
David

If you're thinking of signing up then this could be a useful stop before making any final decisions.

!EXCLUSIVE! - FreeChariot Offer 24/7 FREE LOCAL CALLS!

By:mark.j @ 5:35:PM - Comments (22) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The mighty ISP/Telco FreeChariot have done the impossible (or so BT would like to believe) and been the first to break the mould and offer FREE LOCAL CALLS around the clock!!!

You can forget that limited Off-Peak option BT announced earlier in the week, this is the start of a Telecommunications revolution:

Free locals calls at all times, plus a free taste if the WWW

Whoever thought they will hear this good news so soon? Free local calls at all times, day, evening and weekends. Wait for this! in addition to a free taste of the world wide web.

Freechariot - an innovative packager of calls, says, try it if you dare. Calling family and friends will never be the same again, it will be more. The days of praying for the family members to get off the phone while you check the coins walking out the door, is gone.

Freechariot offer to the majority of the users in the UK:

-£12.99 plus vat monthly line rental.
-Registration £15.00 plus vat - one off.
-Free local phone calls at all times!
-2 hours of free internet calls every month (1pence per minute after the first 2 hours).

Transfer your line to freechariot and move into the telecommunications of the future. Just pick up the phone and DIAL. Only 20,000 application for this service will be accepted.

Thanks very much to FreeChariot for giving us such a big exclusive; general press releases will be issued over the weekend and Monday. It doesn't look as though there is a minimal call period before it kicks in like the BT package.

We're really not quite sure what to say, this is such astonishing news and I can tell you one thing - "Bye Bye BT... Hello FC".

UPDATE:-
Kinder stating the obvious, but just like the BT one:

Calls to 0845 and other non-geographical numbers are not included in this offer.

So if you want to use an ISP with it then you’re going to need its local number and not and general geographic one (0845).

Connect25 Investigated by TS

By:mark.j @ 1:33:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've been on and on about Connect25.co.uk for quite sometime and always-advised people not to signup until they've proven themselves. It's wise to avoid any ISP that can't accept credit card payments because you're not protected against fraud.

Apparently those who had signed up found their cheques cashed and yet nobody at the ISP itself could be contacted. Suddenly good old Trading Standards found themselves with a rush of complaints and hence the saga begins:

The firm, run by father and daughter Anthony and Natalie Rossa, was summoned to the offices of Leicester trading standards this week to explain how it could offer the service which it was advertising. The ISP told trading standards officers that the offering had been delayed but would launch on 23 October.

Speaking exclusively to uk.internet.com, Leicester trading standards representative Kate Bellamy said she had met with the directors of Connect25: "We have had complaints from people who have paid them and not heard anything."

She added that the ISP does not take credit card payments so consumers have no payment protection, but stressed that the ISP had not committed an offence.

The article @ UK.Internet is an exclusive despite the fact we already knew everything spoken. The father daughter team claims the ISP is viable because of its low-cost 1hour disconnection model, something even the likes of IC24 can't handle properly.

The good news is Connect25 have set up a registration helpline (0702 111 3530) and as we saw from a recent E-Mail, does plan to go live soon. The company itself now seems more official, ironically thanks to the bad press =). If they can pull off the £25PA system then it'll make an excellent unmetered alternative for low usage net goers.

EU Forcing LLU Forward

By:mark.j @ 1:16:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long ago the EU put together a draft legislation that had the power to force naughty Telco's (ehumm, BT) to unbundle their local loop by January 2001. Today’s good news is that the legislation looks set to become official, it was given the seal of approval yesterday by the Parliament's industry committee:

The legislation now goes before the whole parliament in Strasbourg in a fortnight, before seeking final approval by the Council of Europe in December.

Nick Clegg, a British MEP responsible for piloting this legislation through the European Parliament, said yesterday:

"It will ensure that the urgent need for local loop unbundling, much talked about for many years, will finally become a reality from the end of this year."

It may still have one last hurdle to overcome and time is short, but things are starting to look promising. Lets hope this all goes to plan and gives Oftel & BT cause for thought. Read the rest @ The Register. However if we’re honest, it’s come too late to prevent delays, which we are positive will now occur.

RedHotAnt Upgrade Update 2

By:mark.j @ 1:04:PM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to all those who informed us, there's been yet another development/update over @ RedHotAnt just now:

13th October 2000 10:30
We are currently carrying out essential maintenance on our network; due to this users may experience connection problems on our 0808 1050003 dial-up access number. we recommend that all users change to the one of our other connection numbers which are:

0808 1050010
0800 0159969

If you are connecting via ISDN and are experiencing continuous engaged tones on the 0808 10500XX numbers, we recommend that you change to the 0800 0159969 number. This dial-up number connects via a different telecommunications provider and should help resolve the problem.

That now makes a total of three numbers you can dial into, a lot of people have problems with the main one, many ISDN users can't connect on the second one, so maybe this third will resolve some of the issues? Proofs in the testing..

WOL Confirms Broadband

By:mark.j @ 9:54:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks like World Online has set the date it plans to launch into the broadband ADSL market. The service is to go live come December this year and at the lowest (Outside BT) cost yet - £39.99!:

The service will first be offered to existing World Online Telecoms customers and will be rolled out further when BT installs the necessary equipment on the local exchanges and World Online extends the reach with its own broadband network.

Broadband offers a digital connection allowing download speeds of ten times faster than standard narrowband connections.

The article @ NetImperative goes on to talk about WOLs investment in the technology and their global spread. With a tag of £39.99, WOL must be making very little profit.

Dogma's Unmetered ISP Update

By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Perhaps the ISP with the strangest name, 'The Dogma Group', has sent us a press release on the status of their services:

Press Release 9/00

Because of the extended trial of the 0800 service http://www.onlineserve.co.uk, the final product will be released on the 25th of November. The product will initially be on a non-FRIACO model, until it becomes viable. The ADSL trial applications have now been processed and all users who have pre-registered have been contacted, and now have the ability to surf the Internet at up to 2Mbps. The final release date of the ADSL product is late November and priority will be given to current customers and users of the The Dogma Group's Dial-Up Service.

Take over bid
Plans are in the pipeline for a take over of at least half of thedogmagroup.com's IP infrastructure by 1stMedia; as soon as more details are available, thedogmagroup.com will release more information.

Network upgrades
A proposed Network upgrade will be completed by the end of November to compensate for the amount of new users subscribing to the several services available to the 'end-user'. thedogmagroup.com has also just completed an upgrade of its primary webservers to Windows2000: this means that the many new features incorporated in to IIS will be available to users via the Control Panel Interface.


http://www.thedogmagroup.com

We're not entirely sure why FRIACO is so unviable considering it may not be perfect, but should be the cheapest option at current. You have to remember these are the guys that predicted the unmetered ISP 'IGClick' would have problems long before they actually did.

RedHotAnt Upgrade

By:mark.j @ 9:41:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Looks like the ants are scurrying around trying to re-build their nest to prevent it all caving in again (thanks to Simon for the heads up):

12th October 2000 16:40
Over the next 48/72 hours we will be carrying out essential maintenance and upgrades to our network, during this time there may be intermittent loss of connectivity to our network and related services.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Is this the promised capacity upgrade, the authentication server upgrade, just a UUNet based change or something else? Only RedHotAnt would seem to know and hopefully all goes well.

News - October 12,2000

Get Your Facts Right - OFTEL

By:mark.j @ 5:46:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If you've managed to catch the article about Oftel in any of today’s newspapers then you'll know just how poorly informed they really are. Apparently Oftel seems to think that only 17% of exchanges will be open to rival Telco's by JULY NEXT YEAR!?:

A spokeswoman for the winged watchdog said this wasn't true - "we don't know how many exchanges will be unbundled by next year," she said.

Considering nearly 16% has already been done, that figure is most certainly incorrect. Not to mention the EU ORDERED that LLU be completed by January 2001 and even BT's delayed date was July 2001. So in other words, we’d kinder like to hope it would ALL be completed by January 2001, thank you very much! Yet sadly that's not all - The Register reports:

Oh, and another thing. Yesterday, Oftel said more than 1.5 million people in Britain were accessing the Net using unmetered services.

Yet, in a letter to the FT a fortnight ago, David Edmonds, DG of Oftel, said: "Oftel has done much to promote unmetered internet access in the UK, 600,000 UK consumers are already enjoying this service..."

Say no more, looks like Oftel’s mathematical skills have gone right down the drain. One side doesn't seem to know what the other is doing and here were we thinking there weren't any sides, eh? How can the same group quote two completely different figures in so many days and state they are correct?

Forum Update

By:mark.j @ 5:33:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Some people E-Mailed me today over concern that our Forum had died, well no because we were upgrading it and adding some new features. This meant the board was on and off line for different periods during the afternoon.

The other changes are too small to note, but what is obvious is the 'Today’s Active Topics' page and 'Number of people online' section. We'll also be adding a few more features, so please don't worry if at any point it appears messed up.

Demon Crushes Users Rights To Free Speech

By:mjinglis @ 3:32:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Demon Internet is running scared again of the courts after a customer (Andy Mabbett) posted comments about Gypsy Media's DigiGuide TV listings program. Mr Mabbett feels that the TimeSink advertising system that the company uses is able to track IP addresses and could cause a security risk to people with fixed IPs. These comments have upset Gypsy Media who have complained to Demon. As a result of this Demon has told Mr Mabbett to "not publish such material in future using [his] Demon service".
Demon is still suffering as a result of having to pay out £15,000 and court costs of £250,000 to a Scientist Laurence Godfrey because of a comment made on a Demon Server.

Isn't this abusing the right to Free Speech which we all should have on the internet?

Read the full article here.

Visual Depth Press Release

By:mark.j @ 3:18:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The unmetered ISP nobody is sure can ever be trusted again has issued a press release containing the details of their new packages:

Dear Customer,

First of all, a thank you to those of you that are waiting for our new service. We hope to offer this to you very shortly. Those that have requested refunds shall receive the refund within 30 days.

Over the past week or so huge developments have been made in the provision of our new service. Unfortunately we are unable to provide any names as yet but we do have two Telecommunication Operators of which we are conducting major discussion with who are able to offer the service we are looking for. We hope to confirm the provider shortly.

We do have more information on the main specifications of the service: -
Package costs £8.49 per month
Unlimited Freecall Access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
No Cut Off Period
50MB Webspace
5 E-Mail Addresses
64 & 128K ISDN (Same Price)
10% Discounts at Eliteplay.com
All of the above is provisional, however both Telecommunication Operators are confident that they can offer this service.

We will continue to keep you updated, another Press Release will follow next week containing further details and confirmation of our Telecommunications Operator. We hope you are able to understand the level of negotiation that takes place therefore not making the new service an immediate one.

Please feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions regarding the new service on comments@visualdepth.com alternatively if you need to contact us regarding another matter please use the contact details below.

Many Thanks,

The Management Team @ Visual Depth

Talk Live: - http://www.visualdepth.com/talk2live/
E-Mail: - Support@visualdepth.com

It's certainly an exceptional deal, but after the last time people might still be concerned. Our advice, as ever, is to wait and see. For such a low price it must be using the FRIACO mould and as such the system is not yet proven.

Pace To Supply 10,000 ADSL Set Top Boxes

By:mjinglis @ 1:42:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Pace Micro Technology has anounced that it has signed a contract to supply 10,000 ADSL Compatible set top boxes for Digital Tv services...

Kingston Interactive Television (KIT) is Europe’s first ADSL based interactive digital television service and one of the world’s first commercial applications of pay television using ADSL capable set-top boxes. Through this contract Pace will supply its latest ADSL-capable technology, the DSL 4000, which will enable Kingston to deliver multichannel digital broadcast television, video-on-demand, high-speed internet access and other interactive entertainment services over their standard telecommunications network.

Click here to read the full report.

Could this lead Kingston Communications launching an ADSL service before BT? We will have to wait and see but it's looking very promising.

Oftels New LLU Process

By:mark.j @ 10:44:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Only a matter of days ago the EU ordered BT and Oftel to push the process of unbundling the local loop (LLU) to be finished by 1st January 2001. Originally slated to be done by 1st July 2001, Oftel decided it was actually going to have to WORK and come up with a faster way of doing LLU.

Apparently that's exactly what they have done; from now on a new allocation method will be employed that wasn't in the first round (361 exchanges):

The new allocation procedure seeks to set out the order in which BT will prepare exchanges and also details which order space will be allocated in exchanges where there is not enough room for all bidders.

This is in contrast to the way in which the first 361 exchanges were allocated in September. Global Crossing, WorldCom and RSL COM withdrew from the process, accusing Oftel of allocating the least popular exchanges.

Oftel blames the operators, saying that it stepped in at the last minute after it emerged that they could not decide allocations of space amongst themselves. A spokesperson for Oftel said: “The first round was not a disaster area. The allocation process was put together very quickly and because of the timing we couldn’t allocate the most popular exchanges.”

So they had expected a large group of competitive Telco's to calmly work out who gets what or in other words, 'who gets the most money', now that's arrogance! Oftel should have been using the new process from the start, read the rest @ NetImperative.

NTLWorld Full E-Mail

By:mark.j @ 10:33:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Since some of you wanted to see the full E-Mail about those new Cable Modem prices, thanks to DoGoN we'll bring it to you:

Your invitation to take part in our exclusive cable modem offer

As a regular user of ntlworld you are invited to take part in our exclusive cable modem trial offer. We were recently voted Best Consumer ISP for the UK's first truly free, high quality dial-up service. This shows our commitment to making web access faster, more convenient and even greater value for money.*

As a trial offer for a limited period only, we are offering a cable modem service with speeds from up to 64kbps and 512kbps, depending on your needs, at special rates. This offer is by invitation only.

64kbps cable modem - £4.99 per month

You can select our new trial service offering a speed up to 64kbps downstream, which is faster than your current dial-up service for just £4.99 per month. What will also interest you as an ntlworld user is the permanent connection that this service offers. Connect once and that's it. Accessing the internet will now be as easy as clicking onto your web browser - there are absolutely no logging on delays. Nor are there any time-outs.

512kbps high speed internet access - £39.99 per month

If you want to live life in the fast lane why not go for our existing high-speed service tier? For £39.99 per month this service offers operating speeds of up to 512kbps downstream and up to 128kbps upstream - that's up to 9 times faster than a standard 56kbps modem or about 4 times faster than an ISDN line. You'll be able to download files and web pages in seconds, not minutes, stream videos at real video speeds, listen to online radio and enjoy the best performing games on the Net. Once again, with no interruptions or logging on delays

Free modem worth £149

To get your 64kbps or 512kbps service up and running you will need an ntl-approved cable modem. But as a special offer we will provide this free of charge.** All we ask is that you agree to take the service of your choice for a minimum of 3 months and complete a short user questionnaire later in the trial.¹

No need to tie up your phone line

Using ntlworld via cable modem will allow you to surf uninterrupted without tying up your telephone line, unlike a conventional dial up service.

Dedicated technical support

For the period of this trial we have set up an additional line for technical support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We will supply details when you register for the service. We'll send you everything you need to install ntlworld via cable modem yourself. However, if you prefer we can arrange for an experienced engineer to help get you started.²

So it's your choice - 64kbps or 512kbps - surfing the net has never been easier! Call us now on 0800 052 4092 or reply via email to take advantage of this special offer – but please remember to quote your account number. Offer ends on 31st October 2000.

Yours sincerely

Janet Somerville
Consumer Marketing Director

Minimum requirements

The minimum system requirements for ntlworld via cable modem are as follows:

* 60MB free hard disk space (150MB or more recommended)
* CD-ROM drive
* 10Base-T Ethernet card
* a cable modem approved for use on ntl's cable network

If your computer runs on Windows(tm) 95, you'll also need:
* 486 DX2 66 processor (Pentium(tm) 100 or above recommended)
* 16MB RAM (32MB or more recommended)

If you use Windows(tm) 98, you must have:

**Installation of the cable modem line is free (normally £25). However, you will need to purchase an Ethernet network interface card, if your computer doesn't already have one. ¹After the 3 months' period is up you can continue to subscribe to whatever cable modem service is available at that time (subject to the prevailing charges at that time). Alternatively, you can revert to using ntlworld dial-up as your access to the internet. Cancellation charges will apply. No equipment upgrade under this agreement. ²Separate installation charge via third party applies

C.U.T Looks @ Freeserve 700

By:mark.j @ 10:27:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as though C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) are taking a look at the problem of system abusers, as so many ISPs call them. Just recently Freeserve booted 700 people from the service for surfing at lengthy periods per day:

There has been a lively discussion on our mailing list and Forum about Freeserve's decision to remove about seven hundred 'heavy users' from its 24 hour a day, seven days a week [24/7] unmetered service with a month's notice.

There are two principal schools of thought:

-The removals are not justified because a service advertised as unmetered 24/7 is precisely that; anyone who wishes to use the service for that amount of time, no matter what they actually do with it, must be able to do so without let or hindrance. If people take advertising at face value the advertiser can have no realistic complaint.

-The removals are justified because people who are online for such enormous amounts of time must be doing something inappropriate, such as using the connection for business.

The first is very much the majority view and is supported by, among others, the Consumers' Association.

The article looks at unmetered access in general and how it affects things, T&C's and all the usual related material. Sadly it doesn't really say anything new, but hopefully somebody important will see it and do something.

News - October 11,2000

Fibernet pilot SDSL next month

By:Rob.W @ 11:22:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Fibernet are to pilot an SDSL service next month, Silicon.com have reported:

"Nigel Pitcher, marketing director for the telco, said that while ADSL is suitable for small office home office (soho) workers, SDSL will be ideal for companies of up to 250 employees, offering prices around 60 per cent cheaper than leased line."

He told Silicon.com: "Business can take advantage of far lower cost of DSL for three distinct purposes. First, of course, for internet access - ADSL is used for that but for businesses SDSL will also allow them to host their own websites and have their own email servers on the premises, which ADSL precludes you from doing."

Read the whole article at Silicon.com.

As reported by Killzat earlier today, BT has delayed their own trial of SDSL, but Fibernet are planning to still proceed.

We find it amazing that the rollout of ADSL has taken so long that another variant is already on the verge of being piloted before ADSL is available for installation for the majority of us.

7 Million Homes Online

By:mjinglis @ 9:25:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to a new piece of research by Oftel. 7 million homes in the UK now have access to the Internet. This is equal to nearly a third of the population and appears to be mainly to do with all of the recent unmetered packages and digital TV services on offer. Go to Net4Nowt to read more...

The Register however are reporting a different story :

"In a thinly veiled attempt to show how influential it's been at driving down Net access costs in Britain, Oftel now claims that seven million UK homes (28 per cent) are now connected to the Internet.."

Who do you believe, you decide!

RHA Authenticate Update

By:mark.j @ 6:40:PM - Comments (10) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One of our readers (Simon) has just been in contact with RedHotAnt and has some interesting news:

Apparently, the reason the authentication server is down is because they're scrapping the old one and installing a totally new system which they've "written themselves" (eh oh!).

The guy reckoned it would solve the current authentication problems.

Wonder how long it'll take them to do that then?

NTL Trials New C-Modem Prices

By:mark.j @ 6:19:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ever the competitive ones (not what C&W customers might say), NTL have just announced a radical new Cable Modem pricing structure:

The trial, starting this October, will be targeted at approximately 1000 customers across Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Hertforshire, Bedfordshire, Surrey and Hampshire; and features the following pricing scheme:

-up to 64Kbps - £4.99 per month
-up to 512Kbps - £39.99 per month

The move, first reported @ CableNews, seems very strategic and best designed for people who understand their own usage. Or as NTL puts it:

"The trial is intended to test demand for broadband access amongst a selected sample of heavy usage dial-up customers. As many ntlworld users take a second telephone line at £5 per month, this trial tests the appeal of a highly competitive, entry-level broadband package."

Entry-level broadband? Well if 64Kbps is considered broadband then I guess our ISDN line must be pretty good =). Either way it's just a trial and does show promise, whether the prices are flexible or not is unclear.

Free local calls to be offered by BT

By:Rob.W @ 4:39:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

From December, BT is to shake-up the local call tariffs to bring Britain more in-line with the USA call tariffs, The Register is reporting.

"The monster telco has all but cleared the final regulatory hurdles with Oftel to offer the service for a fixed monthly fee.
The new tariff applies to both voice and data calls but it's understood that charges will kick-in if calls last more than an hour."

It will be branded as BT Together Local and has been estimated that it will cost around £20 a month.

"BT Together - launched less than a year ago - costs £11.99 a month and includes line rental plus up to 200 minutes of free, off peak local calls - worth around 80p."

You can read the rest of this story at The Register.

So it’s finally happened, even if there is a one-hour limit per call before charges begin. Apparently, the service will not cover non-geographic numbers, such as the likes of 0870 numbers, so it will mean sourcing local point-of-presence numbers for your ISP.

This is great news for all of us who are still connected via BT.

Broadband Section Feedback

By:mark.j @ 3:23:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick question; other than reviews, articles, listings, technical info. and the like, what would you like to see in a broadband section of ISPr? Leave a quick comment or post E-Mail to me personally.

Oftel To Impose Prefix Costs?

By:mark.j @ 2:25:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Prefixes are the number you dial before another in order to access a slightly different network/telephone rout from BT's or to bill via another ISP/Telco. However Oftel seems to think Telco’s need to be charged if they can't standardise it:

Telco watchdog Oftel announced Tuesday that it will impose charges for permanent carrier pre-selection (PCPS or CPS), if telecoms companies fail to agree costs amongst themselves.

PCPS makes it easier for customers to benefit from the cheapest call deals available from competing telecom networks. Currently companies such as Quip promise cheaper overseas calls, but users must dial a three or four digit prefix when dialling from a BT line. PCPS will automatically route telephone calls onto different networks specified by the customer.

Prefix numbers are widely used by ISPs to earn extra revenue from BT in order to offer unmetered Internet access.

The article @ ZDNet fails to see just how widely used Prefixes are, it makes no sense to impose a charge on their use because that out ways the whole point.

ISP and Telco’s such as ClaraNET and OneTel use prefixes to rout around networks so the consumer gets a lower charge rather than BT's rate. In fact until LLU is finished, prefixes are essential for many applications, but in no way can you standardise competition.

ZDNet must have missed something, either that or Oftel has just plain lost the plot. If you're a competitive Telco or ISP, then surely you want to undercut the other and isn't that the whole point? We’re probably wrong, but it seems to us this is a rather Anti-Competitive thing for Oftel to say.

Digital TV & Net Races Forward

By:mark.j @ 2:14:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Oftel claims the uptake of Internet and Digital TV access in the UK continues to grow and at a similar rate. Apparently 29% of ALL UK homes are now online and at least 21% have some sort of DigitalTV access. Nearly 1,000,000 extra homes got net connected from the end of May'2000 to August'2000.

On top of that there was a 10% rise for DigitalTV during the same period, a figure that is expected to drop for Digital Terrestrial customers next year - high prices/end of cheaper offers etc. But what's really interesting is this:

"latest research from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), showed the UK to be the cheapest country in Europe for unmetered off-peak access and among the cheapest for metered access."

Fair enough, Off-Peak unmetered is actually quite good in the UK as opposed to 24/7 unmetered, which is not. But since when did we have the cheapest metered calls?

Brown Gives Internet For All By 2005

By:mark.j @ 2:05:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has been up to his old tricks again and pledged to bring computers and net access to within reach of all by 2005. Speaking @ the UK Internet 2000 summit he simply said:

"Success in the Internet age depends on an educated economy. Our target is that there should be Internet access for everyone by 2005"

Apparently even the poorest of people would be able to get Internet access, something he calls "bridging the digital divide".

"If we're to succeed in Britain, we must equip not just some but all of our companies and we must put the new technologies that are increasingly available within reach not just of a few people but all," he stated.

Brown claims that more than 20Million people, 45% percent of residents, are now accessing the Internet - double the level one-year ago and the highest in Europe. No doubt due in part to the boom of unmetered access around Europe, apparently led by the UK? Those poor [insert profanity here =)].

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