November 29, 2000 - December 6, 2000

News - December 6,2000

Freeserve & Wanadoo Tie The Knot?

By:mark.j @ 9:30:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to the BBC and now reported on over at The Register, recent movements my Freeserve suggest that they may have struck a deal with French ISP Wanadoo:

The BBC reported that both company's have booked a room in the Baltic Exchange in the City of London.

Why? Are these two separate companies going to provide a running commentary on the Queen's Speech - or are they going to announce that someone has finally taken Freeswerve off Dixons' hands.

Both company's have been linked as possible bedfellows for some time now and, in that respect, the move will come as little surprise.


To be honest we'd be glad to see them sold, not because of whatever impact it might have but because we're tired of seeing these will they/won't they items.

News - December 5,2000

Callserve Becomes VideoLogic's IP Phone Partner

By:mark.j @ 10:09:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It seems as though VoIP (Voice Over IP) is fast becoming the 'IN' technology for Telco's and business looking ahead to the future. Today VideoLogic have started down a similar road thanks to Callserve, here's the full press release:

Issued 5 December, 2000

Callserve selected as VideoLogic's IP phone partner

Callserve, the leading European Internet telephony provider, has been selected by Videologic to supply it with an own branded Internet telephony service to be bundled with the multi-award winning SonicFury PC audio cards.

The VideoLogic IP Phone as it will be known draws on the same technology that has seen Callserve's own service rapidly gain a significant share of the European market and a growing share of the world market.

The VideoLogic IP Phone provides users with the ability to make national and international phone calls using an Internet connected PC at rates well below those of traditional telecoms suppliers.

Customers use an on-screen image of a phone to key in the number they wish to call. After that the software takes over, using the customer's Internet connection to route the call across the Internet. Users making a call can use either a headset with their PC or separate microphone and speakers to hear and make themselves heard.

The recommended minimum PC configuration for using Callserve is a Pentium II 266 with 32MB RAM a full duplex soundcard such as VideoLogic's SonicFury product, Microphone and speakers, and a 56K (or faster) internet connection.

Payment for using the Callserve derived service is by credit or debit card. When a customer signs up for the service and supplies his or her card details, a 'credit' is created on the system. Whenever the customer uses the service, the remaining amount of this credit is displayed and updated to show exactly how much is left. This amount can be topped up whenever the customer chooses.

The installation CD accompanying VideoLogic's SonicFury audio cards will automatically present users with the option to installthe VideoLogic IP Phone software and highlight the substantial cost savings afforded by this technology.

New SonicFury cards will be shipped with this bundle and users will also be able to download the VideoLogic IP Phone from the VideoLogic website.

VideoLogic Systems has a portfolio of award winning products in the areas of graphics and sound acceleration, home audio systems, video-capture and videoconferencing.

Callserve's managing director Paul Duffy commented; "VideoLogic is a company which has access to many of the leading technologies in the marketplace. Securing partners of this quality and standing is never easy. You have to offer something genuinely newand of high quality. To have succeeded is an unequivocal endorsement of our high quality fair pricing ethos. I am delighted that we are able to work together and I am sure that we will both benefit from the association."

VideoLogic's president Kevin Dale commented; "Callserve provides the leading Internet Phone service and software. We're sure our customers will be delighted with this latest addition to SonicFury's widely acclaimed software selection."

http://www.callserve.com - http://www.videologic.com


VideoLogic are also the people behind the PowerVR Series 3 (Kyro, or is it Kryo?) graphics card for the PC and more famously for the 3D hardware inside many a persons Dreamcast console. We'll be doing an article on VoIP very soon and looking at what it means to the world and why.

Oftel Orders BT To Provide DSL

By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You'd have thought that by now the actual provision of BT's DSL services wouldn't be so much of a problem, however quite the opposite now seems to be the case for several rivals - Energis and Thus.

As such the telecoms regulator Oftel has taken fresh steps to encourage competition for high-speed Internet services, ordering BT to provide a new wholesale service to the two rivals.

The regulator claims it was intervening at the request of the rivals, which had complained after failing to strike a deal to buy wholesale Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services from BT (ADSL/Broadband).

Oftel's proposed order will now allow the rivals to offer DSL to their customers by purchasing connections from BT in addition to installing their own equipment in BT's local exchanges. Something BT isn’t likely to be too happy about, but will please Energis and Thus no end =).

The latter option, being made available under the process known as unbundling of the local loop (LLU), has been delayed by wrangling between BT, its rivals and the regulator.

David Edmonds had this to say, "I want operators to have a range of options for providing services including using BT's services, unbundled local loops or using their own and BT's network".

Oftel's proposal will allow the rivals to connect their networks to BT's DSL multiplexers inside exchanges, which is quite an improvement from the older end-to-end method.

The Worm That Spread

By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

..and spread and spread some more. Some of you may remember us reporting on a new E-Mail/Worm virus named 'Shockwave', after macromedias online presentation software. Since last week it's spread and has now started to hit Europe according to VNUNet, so be on the look out:

The worm - dubbed ProLin (after the message it executes) or Shockwave (it arrives in the guise of a Shockwave file named creative.exe) - has been branded a high risk by antivirus vendor Network Associates and medium risk by other vendors including Symantec, Kaspersky Labs, Trend Micro and Sophos.

Developed by an unknown hacker calling him or herself The Penguin, it arrives attached to an email with the subject line: 'A great Shockwave Flash movie.' Once the program is run, the virus emails itself to everyone in the user's Outlook address book.

The program copies itself to the disk C: root directory and to the Windows start-up folder. It then sends the message ' yet another idiot' to a yahoo.com email address.


As usual the best advise is to avoid any .exe or .scr/.vbs (script) files that come attached with E-Mails (even from friends) unless you know exactly what they are. Getting rid of them can be a pain once they are live on your system.

Internet Is Just Another FAD

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

Is the Internet really just another passing fad? Then if so it's a 10-20 year one that continues to expand. However according to The Register we might all just pass it up in the future:

In a report that summarises 22 research projects undertaken by 76 researchers in 25 universities in the UK, Holland, Denmark, and the United States over the last three years, the research group Virtual Society concludes that for many, the Net could be little more than a passing fad.

The group found that people are becoming disenchanted with the virtual world and are returning to reality. In the US there are 28 million former surfers, and the UK could have as many as 2 million people who no longer get online. Virtual Society estimates.

Professor Woolgar, director of the Virtual Society, said: "The results are counter-intuitive. Wholesale take up of the Net is clearly not happening."


We'd have to disagree with the form any final verdicts (such as the above) have taken. In fact what we believe is happening is that the Internet is becoming more commonplace; it's not possible to say the Internet is another fad.

The reason is obvious, the description, or rather abbreviation - 'Internet' is too broad and clearly this research hasn't taken into account all its applications. How can it be a system less and less people use if it's in our banks, phones and well - everything.

In reality it's either the research or The Register that has miss-interpreted it as this sounds more like they're talking about a specific area of the Internet such as e-commerce.

Freeserves Special 'Existing Customer' Offer

By:mark.j @ 9:20:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to G.A.C for letting us know that existing Freeserve AnyTime 24/7 users will be getting a special discount on the new £12.99 FRIACO based offers from January 2001:

Please read this email carefully as it contains important pricing information about Unlimited Freeserve Time

Freeserve have announced the launch of Freeserve AnyTime from mid January 2001. This new service will offer free Internet calls day or night for £(pounds)12.99 per month. However, all our existing Freeserve Unlimited customers will exclusively be able to transfer to Freeserve AnyTime and only pay £(pounds)9.99 for the first six months from transfer subject to transferring by the end of April 2001.

Freeserve AnyTime will operate on a new improved network with Freeserve directly billing our members and also operating the customer support. This will enable us to maintain a higher quality service level than that possible with Freeserve Unlimited Time.

If you pre-register for Freeserve AnyTime we will email you in January to inform you how to transfer to Freeserve AnyTime and how to take up this special offer.

More information about Freeserve AnyTime is available at www.freeserve.com/time.

If you have any questions about this email, please either email us at anytimereply@freeserve.com or call our customer support team on 0870 872 0099 (Monday to Saturday - 8am to 8pm) (calls charged at national rate).

Thank you for your continued support for Freeserve.

Kind regards

Victoria Robertshaw
Customer Services Director


That should go someway to make up for the disgraceful service many have received and continue to receive even today. However we questioned their economics @ £12.99, yet even for 6 months £9.99 still seems unrealistic for an ISP already in trouble.

This is of course why anybody continually using the service for long periods each day has now found themselves kicked. It allows FS to streamline who uses the service, although they have yet to make usage limits clear and thus there's nothing to stop it happening again - be warned.

C.U.T On Oftels BT Surf&Talk Investigation

By:mark.j @ 9:13:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Hopefully news will be a little better today and how best to start it than with an item from C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications). Today they discuss Oftel's investigation into BT's latest Surf & Talk package and whether they are acting anti-competitively or not?

OFTEL has announced a competition investigation into BT Talk Together, BT's new - and heavily advertised - packages offering unmetered offpeak local voice calls and, in two cases, bundled unmetered offpeak Internet access via BT SurfTime. It is only the packages involving BT SurfTime which are being investigated.

OFTEL's rationale for this investigation is that BT could be cross-subsidising unmetered local voice calls by unmetered Internet access, or vice versa, and that cross-subsidy could be considered unfair to others who may want to offer similar packages in the future. The outcome could be a heavy fine if BT is found guilty.

We note, in passing, that Kingston Communications, as a local monopoly, is regulated as BT but clearly separates voice and Internet packages.


As usual C.U.T get right to the nitty gritty and show us what the investigation is really about, an interesting read as always.

News - December 4,2000

The RedHotAnt Reminder

By:mark.j @ 4:24:PM - Comments (43) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This is more of a reminder since it's nothing especially new, but RedHotAnt are due to finish their current pricing structure on the 31st December 2000. RHA aren't exactly perfect, but in the last few weeks/months improvements have been obvious:

AVOID THE CHRISTMAS RUSH - offer ends 31st December 2000!!
If you are looking for high-speed un-metered Internet access at an affordable price then you have come to the right place - but hurry, you only have until the New Year to sign up. On 31st December 2000, the RedHotAnt offer to provide 24-hour un-metered Internet access for a flat one off fee is due to end.

RedHotAnt was the first major Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the UK to offer customers high-speed 24-hour free phone Internet access. We are also pleased to note that our flat fee offer has been held open longer than any of our competitors, which bears testament to our commitment in this sector.

You will not find a similar service for the same price anywhere else on the internet - free web space, unlimited e-mail, domain hosting and much more, all for a low one off payment of just £130. So what are you waiting for? Join the thousands of other users who already enjoy unlimited surfing without the worry of huge telephone bills.


Things are certainly shaping up for RHA, although their support seems to condemn customers who complain about poor service, interesting tactic. After the 31st December they will introduce the new monthly price scheme, lets just hope ISDN 128Kbps comes back into action soon - if ever.

However none of this is to say RHA are now peachy, peak time engage tones and the odd DNS or authentication error will hit everybody now and then. It’s just a pity it took them 2/3 of a year to start working things out.

Oftels FRIACO2 Details Part.2

By:mark.j @ 1:10:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In addition to what we published yesterday, Oftel have finally got back to us on the final question with some rough math on how everybody’s ideal ISP might look (financially). A big thanks to Oftel for being so very helpful in this matter:

Update to Yesterdays No.2:

In addition to the charge identified in the previous email, there is a cost of IN of £66 per 64kbit/s FRIACO port per annum. The ISP would also incur the costs of call termination.

3) Hypothetically, if an ISP had 1,000 customers on a 1:1 ratio, then how much would they need to pay for FRIACO? In your answer please assume the ISP has people who want to surf 24hours each day none stop like broadband. You'll need to tally port costs, the metered charge and the costs of buying freecalls under FRIACO.

1,000 customers on the extreme assumption of a 1:1 contention ratio would require a minimum of 33.33 x 2Mbit/s units of FRIACO (Note: FRIACO is sold in units of 2Mbit/s). More realistically, the ISP will not be able to utilise all 30 circuits in the 2Mbit/s capacity at any one time, due to churn etc. Assuming that utilisation was two-thirds, the ISP would require 50 x x 2Mbit/s units of FRIACO (Note: This utilisation factor is purely for illustration and should not be quoted as an OFTEL figure). The payment for FRIACO would then be:

(589.74 + 66) x 30 x 50 = £983,610 per annum

At 75% port utilisation, the figure would be £874,320.


Don't forget to hold in mind yesterday’s initial answer to number two, which looked something like this:

Answer #2: The total charge per 64 Kbit/s tandem port to OLOs wishing to buy FRIACO at the tandem switch (e.g. DMSU) is proposed to be £589.74 p.a. Any charges to the ISPs should be determined by the OLOs.

Unless you're good with math we'd suggest not bothering to try and work everything out, not least because we haven't included all the costs just yet and information - we may soon update on this post. However you can easily see that FRIACO isn't as cheap as some might imagine; yet nor is it as expensive as some ISPs claim.

Please bare with us on this, it’s not easy to understand the costs or even write in words you can all understand – more soon.

ISP Review Site Updates

By:mark.j @ 12:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Another month dawns and it's the last one for the year 2000, which has seem some colossal changes to ISPreview and the UK ISP world as a whole. Not to mention that it's also a Monday, a day which is typical slow on news until the later evening when a rush suddenly comes in.

Of course all of this means it's time for the latest batch of monthly updates, which these days are more weekly than anything. First up we have the complaints page and complaints in generally have dropped a little, although not enough to stop showing the likes of IGClick and Freeserve in a bad light.

It seems as though random cut offs for ISDN users under 24-7Freecall (something they've not properly fixed since day on, which is a disgrace) continue. Freeserve are also up there as usual, although IGClick have just beaten them to become the worst ISP for December. That means the Worst ISP for 2000 is Freeserve with RedHotAnt's summer problems putting them in an uneasy second.

The current Top 10 from our Readers Top 50 also looks something like this:

1) Care4Free
2) Connect25
3) Pipex Dial
4) Nildram
5) Barrysworld
6) ClaraNET
7) UKRTC
8) PurpleNet
9) Tiny Online
10) Storm.NET


We're not sure where UKRTC, PurpleNet and Tiny came from, but never the less they do seem to be there. Perhaps most importantly is that Connect25 are starting to suceed and initial word is that they are quite good - aside from some iffy support. Not to mention that Care4Free are at the top and it's good to see a charity based 0845 ISP there =).

The unmetered list has also had quite a large update, far too much to mention although it's mainly lots of small things. ISP Reviews own Top 10 has seen little change since late November when we made the real changes, although CloudNine has climbed and Madasafish seem to have made it in.

Finally we have the survey (poll), which due to the crash half way through November had forced us to start a new one earlier than planned. At present the current poll looks like this:

What do you value most in a freecall ISP?
Service Speed 37.2% (125 Votes)
Heavy Usage Support 31.8% (107 Votes)
ISDN 128K Support 15.7% (53 Votes)
Cut Off Time 10.4% (35 Votes)
General Services 3.5% (12 Votes)
General Support 1.1% (4 Votes)


The present poll will continue until January due to the fact that it's still only two weeks old. That's about it for this months updates, although they will of course continue through December as usual.

Keep an eye on ISP Review this month for the lead up the X-Mas, if all goes to plan this week then starting from next week we'll be in content heaven. There are several interviews, some of our first ever broadband reviews and unmetered ISP reviews planned to take us into X-Mas. So many in fact that we could do something new every day, this assuming all goes to plan =).

Human Rights -vs- Online Privacy

By:mark.j @ 11:50:AM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Here we go again, the government and its various factions are once again trying to abuse their power by taking away our rights to privacy and freedom. Thankfully the latest potential disaster for the UK and people as a whole has been picked up on and reported via ZDNet this morning:

Giving police and the secret services the right to access records of every phone call, e-mail and Internet connection in the UK would break both the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act, according to campaigning group Liberty.

According to Sunday's Observer the Home Office is considering a request from MI5, MI6 and the police that communication service providers -- telcos and ISPs -- must keep the details of all phone calls, e-mails and Internet page impressions for seven years.

The proposal claims that this would help them to fight cybercrime and online paedophilia. However civil liberty campaigners have condemned the suggestion, which they claim would result in Britain being brought before the European Court of Human Rights.


As if MI5/6 really spend all their time concerned with issues that are for the public police forces anyway - James Bond would be ashamed. As usual this is yet another and quite constant reminder that governments and important factions simply don't understand our rights.

We have a right to dance naked in our houses, send naughty E-Mails to girlfriends and some of us can even clone sheep (hmmm). Nobody has a right to view these accept the associated parties, comments please.

News - December 3,2000

Oftels FRIACO2 Details Part.1

By:mark.j @ 4:57:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While talking with Oftel we decided to find out a few more specifics on the FRIACO2 package announced early last month. So far the key question has yet to be answered, but here are the first two of three:

1) How, if at all, will the recently announced improvements to FRIACO differ from the way the system currently works in terms of costs? For example, is there still a rather silly underlying unmetered charge etc.?

Answer #1: There won't be any underlying ppm charges under the proposals for FRIACO at the tandem switch.

2) What are the current costs an ISP incurs when it makes use of FRIACO (current one)? Examples:- Are the costs still around £430 per year for one 64Kbps port? What's the rate for the underlying metered charge (Pence Per Minute)?

Answer #2: The total charge per 64 Kbit/s tandem port to OLOs wishing to buy FRIACO at the tandem switch (e.g. DMSU) is proposed to be £589.74 p.a. Any charges to the ISPs should be determined by the OLOs.


So overall it confirms what we had hoped to be true, there has been a slight port cost increase, however the metered charge does seem to be gone. This in turn will mean that ISPs can more easily calculate costs for usage and thus provide a more stable service.

In the case of some ISPs that might transform into a price cut, however in the majority it'll simply level out the service(s) aspect. Thus ISPs could potentially offer a good service on a £15 per month basis much like AOL (Ratio Estimate - 1:3/1:4), however any lower is probably too risky (Freeserve). Things are looking good and we'll have more on this next week some time.

Take note that it'll still be half a year to a year before the industry takes hold of this new offer, with current FRIACO using ISPs getting the early pick. BT of course has now launched its new Surftime and Talk products, so competition is going to increase. Of course in the end we’ll just have to wait and see what the ISPs do before we know how FRIACO2 is going to affect the market.

NetGames UK 0800 Press Release

By:mark.j @ 4:45:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We would have posted this earlier, but with E-Mail only just now coming back online there have been obvious problems. That said and here is the full Friday Press Release from NetGames UK about their new 0800 Dialup:

PRESS RELEASE 1/12/00

Friday December 1st 2000, England, Netgames UK (http://www.nguk.net), the on-line gaming service provider today announced the launch of a ground breaking 0800 unmetered Internet access package dedicated to on-line gamers who specialise in playing popular multi player games like Half-Life, Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament.

Christmas will come early to the on-line gaming community this year. Netgames are offering a BETA test completely free of call charges until the 31st December for anyone who wishes to try the service. From January 1st 2001 Netgames will be charging £25 a month for unmetered Internet access.

Netgames UK are hosting their custom-built game servers directly on the Cable and Wireless global IP backbone to ensure the best possible service. Built and supplied by Scan International, the servers are leading edge Pentium based systems specifically designed for running multi player on-line games.

Andy Jones, Managing Director of Netgames UK says, "The level of service demanded by gamers is far higher than the normal Internet user would need. With the entrepreneurial support of Cable and Wireless, Netgames can meet and exceed these requirements for a price that is marginally higher than other commercially viable unmetered access schemes currently on offer."

On-line computer gaming is fast becoming a major money generating competitive virtual sport with tournament organisations and ranking services dedicated to providing the on-line community with the latest information and current rankings of global Internet gamers and game players. Netgames UK Ltd enables its members to play the most popular multi-player Internet games in real time, either with or against other members and provides objective rankings according to game scores and level of competition.

Netgames plans to raise the profile of Internet games competition, bringing with it big-game tournaments, substantial prize money, corporate sponsors, higher levels of competition and on-line, real-time rankings and standings. Plans are also underway to stage a major Internet game tournament across Europe in 2001. Highly effective in that it exploits both business to business, and business to consumer e-commerce in a complimentary way, Netgames provides added value to members, sponsors and advertisers.

Netgames Managing Director, Andy Jones says, "Netgames is very excited to be able to offer anyone who has access to the Internet free 0800 beta testing until the end of the year. We believe our unmetered Internet access offer will entice Net users to embrace the on-line gaming experience. The idea of being able to introduce global interactivity and competition between gamers around the world has always been a major priority on our agenda. And with Cable and Wireless behind us, there's going to be no stopping Netgames as the leading on-line gaming service."

Concludes Jones, "These days Internet gamers play on-line games for more than just fun and entertainment. We hope our unmetered Internet access offer over Christmas will open a lot of people's eyes in the interactive entertainment, gaming and sports sector. In Korea, for example, at least 1,000 professionals are paid yearly salaries averaging £20,000 to play games on the Internet. On-line gaming is now evolving into a serious global business. With PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's X-Box Internet connectivity, more and more console gamers will be turning to the Internet for the ultimate gaming experience."

About Netgames UK Ltd.

Netgames was formed in March 1999 with technical staff from Zetnet (the latter is one of the oldest, established Internet Service Providers). In May 2000 Netgames UK separated from Zetnet and became a limited company. With offices based in Manchester and Bournemouth, Netgames entered an agreement with Cable and Wireless in July 2000 for unmetered Internet access. Netgames has an infrastructure that provides a state-of-the-art gaming service for the on-line community.

Netgames UK Ltd.
08700 119010
www.nguk.net


The first thing you'll notice is that they have extended the Beta until 31st December from the 17th, although we'll wait till the package is official before any judgement is put forth. That said and it's also nice to know they are situated only 10 minutes drive from us.

The detailed specifics on there 0800 offer have not yet been made completely clear (cut off, web space, E-Mail, Newsgroups etc.).

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 12:25:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Excuse the later than norm weekly update, I've been trying to find a way around the annoying SB Live/A3Dv2 sound crashing bug that infects games like Half-Life under a KT133 based motherboard. Sadly there doesn't seem to be one for Windows2000, hopefully Win98SE will be fine.

Back to the ISPreview side of things and my E-Mail is still off-line, so it's a little difficult to see what's been happening. Inside ISPr the beta version of our automated ISP listings system seems to be coming along and is pretty much finished. We'd hope to start work on adding in all the ISPs come the end of this week and thus have it down before X-Mas, we hope.

The broadband section is also making progress, although it's slow progress with all the recent changes we've been having. It's now all about finishing up ISPreview ready to start again after X-Mas, so the yearly awards, more reviews and Interviews we have planned should help round 2000 up.

Generally that's it, aside from a few X-Mas graphics we'll add here and there and for the listings, no major changes are planned until after X-Mas. We will not be working over the 4-5days X-Mas usually covers, although that said and I often keep updating the news - but nothing else.

We should have a more important update next Sunday and those on the ISPr FreeCall list/service and forum should also get some news soon. Oh and one last thing, we may start a competition on the standard ISPr mailing list this week, although that has yet to be finalised.

Back to the re-install.

News - December 2,2000

Back In Action

By:mark.j @ 2:08:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Looks like the office is now 80% re-installed and most of the systems are back online without any trouble. However being the weekend it won't get completed till Monday afternoon, so don't expect any E-Mail replies from myself until then.

News - December 1,2000

Unbundling Delayed - Again!

By:Ross14 @ 4:27:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite assurances by Oftel earlier in the week, the second-phase of the unbundling process has been delayed for about a week. But really, this has came as no surprise:

The second phase of the ‘bow wave process’ in which operators will bid for space within BT’s exchanges has been postponed for another week – a further hiccup in the already beleagured process of unbundling the local loop.

According to Oftel, there are problems with the actual bidding process. A spokesperson said: “This is following discussion with operators to resolve certain aspects of the bidding process. Oftel and the operators are getting together to work things out.”

The regulator would not detail what precisely has caused a further glitch in the process, which has been dogged with controversy since it began. Oftel has said that the bow wave process, in which operators bid for the space they would like within specific exchanges in order to install their ADSL equipment, will instead take place on 7 December .


Oftel have said though that orders placed during the first allocations in September of this year will go ahead.

Source: netimperative.com

System Problems/Changes - Update 2

By:mark.j @ 2:10:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yesterday I added the new hardware to my own system as well as fixing up all the others in the office and at work (rotation). Typically when changing motherboards it's ALWAYS best to do a reinstall so as to keep the hardware drivers fresh.

So don't expect any updates from myself until Saturday or Sunday and I hope the staff can do a good job of covering for me. So I'll say a quick, "Have a nice weekend" and be off to do the reinstalls - this could take some time considering they are all dual bootable =(.

LibertySurf Re-Born - Just Like Dameon

By:mark.j @ 2:02:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Register is reporting that LibertySurf is about to begin a large scale TV and media ad-campaign that brands itself as a caring ISP that puts consumers first. An image that only just over a month ago was quite the opposite and still holds true in many peoples eyes:

So, LibertySurf 's re-launch is to be welcomed. And if consumers in Britain are to get the service they deserve, it deserves a second chance. However, this time, it has to deliver and cannot afford the slip-ups that hounded it in the past. We shall watch with interest.

LibertySurf latest Net access offering
Available from Comet stores, punters pay a one-off payment of £10 for the LibertySurf pack and receive four hours of Net access (available anytime of the day) a month. After that, any further usage is charge at 1p a minute. For an extra £4 a month, customers can buy an additional eight hours and 20 minutes online each month with no call charges. This package isn't for everyone and won't appeal to heavy users. But if the service is reliable, then there's no reason why it shouldn't appeal to LibertySurf's target audience.


To be honest we don't think welcoming an ISP that gives you 4hours per month for £4, and then more expensive than some surftime packages after that, is all so wonderful. You're probably better off signing up with Connect25 for £49 per year or maybe even hunting down cheaper per-minute options.

This is one ISP that the new FRIACO revolution doesn't seem to have touched yet =).

Freeserves Stunning FRIACO Offer

By:mark.j @ 1:53:PM - Comments (12) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks like the next ISP to offer a well-priced 24/7 unmetered package based on FRIACO after AOL is going to be Freeserve. An article on netimperative.com has just shown details of their amazing new offer:

The company’s AnyTime flat-rate pay scheme will be available to customers for £12.99 per month inclusive of subscription and telephone calls. In comparison, AOL and BT’s ‘always on’ packages are currently going for £14.99.

AnyTime will be based on the FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) network available through Freeserve’s partner Energis. Internet calls will be routed through a dedicated IP network rather than the current telephony network that is presently shared with voice traffic from other businesses and services.

Frank Keeling, COO of Freeserve, said the company is now able to offer the general public a sustainable flat-rate product: “Before, our offering was unmetered for the user but not for the ISP. Now we have fixed costs so we can scale the capacity based on our user base. The move to FRIACO means that the economics have become much more attractive."


The package is due to go live sometime during mid-late January 2001 and undercuts AOLs existing offer. However it's worth pointing out that in the past Freeserve have always managed to undercut others, the problem is their service can't handle the load.

They are also still a long way away from fixing the current spate of problems and just less than two months may not be enough time. But most importantly we question the economics; even under FRIACO the price tag of £12.99 assumes people will not be 'Heavy Users'.

Next to that we also don't yet know exactly what cut off or services will or will not be included, until these details are known we'll reserve any further judgement. If they maintain a 2hour cut off then it's not really comparable with AOL that doesn't have any.

The Internet Post Office

By:mark.j @ 9:56:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Disregarding the whole sordid 'Internet Toilette' affair of the last few weeks, the next logical step for online use is your local post office. It's part of a bigger government scheme and according to UK.Internet, will technologically upgrade UK post offices with internet-based information services:

The launch of the project is to stop the closure of local post offices, which have small customer bases, by increasing the information facilities available.

The £15m scheme will be rolled out first in Leicestershire in May, covering 283 branches. If the pilot run is determined to be a success, the scheme will be extended across the entire national Post Office network.

Services on offer will include internet access, online information about the NHS, Citizen's Advice Bureau and benefit.


All seems very interesting and is due to start early next year, however there doesn't seem to be much in the way of additional post services, such as parcel tracking; strange for a post office.

New Virus Alert

By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We just thought it might be worth a mention that another 'Worm/E-Mail' virus is making the rounds and according to ZDNet it's spreading faster then Melissa:

A new virus is beginning to send shockwaves around the world. Experts say the worm is travelling faster than the speed of light to a computer near you. The virus, known as TROJ_Shockwave.a arrives as an email message similar to the infamous Melissa and Love Bug worms. The attachment is an .exe file called creative.exe, which disguises itself as "a great Shockwave flash movie" in the subject line of the email.

Now would be a good time to update those checkers and never open an attachment file unless you're 100% you know what it is. Some additional advice if your virus checker is rather poor, find out the file names of the virus attachments and block them from arriving in your box (can be down in Outlook). How you do this is your problem, it's easy enough.

News - November 30,2000

System Problems/Changes

By:mark.j @ 3:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

I’m moving my main system from a 1Ghz AMD T-Bird to a 1.2Ghz and changing the buggy Abit KT7-RAID motherboard for the newest Asus A7V revision/PCB. This won’t mean much to none techies, but in general that’s saying I’ll be out of action this afternoon. I need to make the change because the current Abit system has stability issues at high speeds.

The new board kills off serial ports and ISA slots and so it’s an improved PCB design, should help solve a lot of problems. I’m actually using it now (inland revenue will love all this), but the usual ‘mirror drivers’ in Windows2000 Server and WindowsME need a lot of work/clearing up.

Back tomorrow – over to the staff.

LineOne Goes On-Sale

By:mark.j @ 11:37:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As we reported on Sunday, BT and United News & Media were planning to sell LineOne off later in the week. Well without saying anything new they've put the ISP up for sale this morning, quite whether anybody will buy it is another thing altogether.

Hacked - AOLs Instant Messenger

By:mark.j @ 11:35:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

AOL is a very popular ISP, especially with newer Internet users as it offers a very user-friendly environment. However such an environment is prone to attack and today The Register has uncovered news of yet another hack, this time for AOLs Instant Messenger software:

By manipulating the nuts and bolts of AOL's sign-up form with tools long available on the Net, hackers can set the value of a two-character variable which is sent immediately before the new screen name in the sign-up process.

The sign-up ignores that variable, called uni_next_atom_typed, while checking the screen name for a conflict. But the process later appends the variable to the screen name when actually creating the account. A hacker exploits this, for example, by setting uni_next_atom_typed to "Jo" when establishing an account with the screen name "hn Doe." If "hn Doe" is available on both AOL and AIM, than the system will set up the account for "John Doe" -- even if "John Doe" is already in use.

The hacker can use the new AOL account to access John Doe's personal "buddy list," or to change John Doe's password and take over the AIM account, masquerading as the former owner.


The problem with AOL is the hackers you find there tend to be into rather more serious crimes. This is one reason we left using them some five years ago and will never go back, you can so easily be screwed with that it's too risky and this continues even today:

Because AOL's sign-up process requires a valid credit card number, many of these hackers have taken up credit card fraud to feed their screen name habit. "People trade desirable screen names for [stolen] credit card numbers, which are then used to make more desirable screen names," Lamo says. "It's a vicious cycle."

This is obviously a very worring thing for any potential subscribers, perhaps more so when you realise its been going on for years. AOL rarely seems to take any real action to stop it, or at the very least you never see them do that. So if you're thinking of signing up for that golden £14.99 per month unmetered offer then be careful.

GPRS Not So Fast After All

By:mark.j @ 11:14:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to netimperative.com, the new mobile standard of communication to follow on from GSM, GPRS, isn't actually that much faster under present systems. However a new method is being investigated that could improve things:

BT Cellnet has turned to data compression specialists Netverk, to speed up its sluggish GPRS networks. In recent GPRS trials, BT was rumoured to be struggling with transmission speeds of 12 to 14 kbps – not much faster than GSM.

Netverk, which has offices in the UK, Iceland and Hong Kong, will trial FoneStar, a product that can be installed as a proxy server on operator networks or at corporate client sites. According to Netverk, data transmission speeds can be boosted up to five times with the Fonestar compression technology.


So hopefully not long until we can all plug a card into our laptops and download/surf/multiplay at ISDN speeds, ahhh sheer bliss.

New Unmetered ISP - BigBlueSky

By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Net4Nowt seem to have uncovered another new unmetered ISP that seems almost too good to be true and partially resembles Connect25 from the earlier days:

Welcome to the bigbluesky! If you're paying monthly or annual charges, and if you're paying Internet call charges, you don't have Free Un-metered Internet Access.

From 5 January 2001 the bigbluesky will go live with Free un-metered Internet access and call charges. It's true - No kidding, no messing around - Free for life and all you have to do is register as a member and pay a one-off fee of £25 - No more monthly fees, No more annual fees and No more Internet call charges.

Visit the bigbluesky Mall and have a shopping experience around the world. Or you can enter the Business Services area and find a myriad of Services and Products geared to busness offered by the Global business community.

The bigbluesky - A liberating web experience.


You can find them here:
http://www.bigbluesky.uk.net/home.html

However with no more details presently available it's hard to gauge exactly what limits there are and details to the offer. As such we'd advise people to stay away until more is known, Connect25 proved that £25 per year wasn't possible and then increased to near £50, thus we have our obvious doubts about BBS.

NetGames Trials Unmetered 0800

By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We were going to post about this several days ago, however the beta was closed until recently and thus we didn't mention it. Either way NetGames have now made their 0800 ISP beta a public affair and as one reader states:

I have recently signed up for a free beta trial of netgames-uk 's 0800 24/7 unmetered dialup product. So far I have been VERY impressed. The service uses the Cable & Wireless network. It also has MANY games servers and admins are very approachable about putting up custom gametypes/mods/maps for players to use.

There is even clan port hire available similar to barrysworld. The pings I have been getting on ISDN 64k have been constantly around about 40-60 to netgames own servers and about 50-70 to jolt for instance.

I really believe this service deserves a mention so that other gamers get to know about this service and try it for themselves.
I am in no way an employee/affiliate of netgames, just a common home internet gamer.

The service will cost £25 a month if people wish to stay on past the Dec17th free trial deadline which I consider excellent value considering surftime 24/7 is £20 a month. This includes local gameservers and an ftp site with all the latest games files. Their web address is:

http://www.netgames-uk.net


Not much in the way of specific details are known and we'd always advise people to stay away from beta's because in the past ISPs have used it as an excuse for continually poor service. That said and they have made it a public test, so must be ready for an influx of some kind. We'll keep everybody informed of how there trial goes, so far so good.

News - November 29,2000

E-Mail Rule Confusion - Cable & Wireless

By:mark.j @ 6:10:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK.Internet have today published an interesting article, which shows just how confusing all the recent contradictory acts and laws have become. With R.I.P, the data protection act and the human rights act all contradicting each other in some way over E-Mail monitoring, Cable & Wireless have now become the first potential victims:

Employers are facing a difficult choice under the regime of data protection guidelines, essentially preventing companies from examining staff email unless they are suspected of criminal activity.

Following a dismissal case from Cable & Wireless, companies are being forced to choose between scanning personal communications and incurring the wrath of the Data Protection Registrar or not monitoring emails and suffering legal action as a result.

Cable & Wireless dismissed six staff this week and disciplined an unconfirmed number of others for abusing their rights to electronic communications and sending obscene material.


While the dismissal itself may have been just, by finding out such activities went on in the first place they come under yet more legal problems. It all comes down to choosing the lesser of several evils, something that should never be asked.

A Worse Telco Than BT?

By:mark.j @ 6:05:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We Brits often think we have it bad with BT, although today proof has come in from Germany that Telco's can be far worse - yes it's possible! According to The Register it's Deutsche Telekom that bags the bad favour:

Deutsche Telekom has surpassed its already impressive level of arrogance by threatening to withdraw all flat-rate Internet access in response to criticism from Germany's telecoms watchdog, RegTP (no relation).

The telecoms watchdog has insisted that the monopolistic company provide flat-rate wholesale Net access to ISPs by 1 February. However, Deutsche Telekom's head, Ron Sommer, warned he would take "massive action" against the ruling. A Deutsche Telekom spokesman said the company was looking at the legality of RegTP's demand and whether the withdrawal of its current flat-rate service (through subsidiary T-Online) would undermine the decision.

In a virtual mirror of the BT/Oftel squabble over unmetered access, Deutsche Telekom has claimed that too much demand has overloaded its network and so it has been forced to charge per-minute rates - destroying the business models of ISPs who set up unmetered services.


This one incident doesn't quite compare with BT's many thousands, however it does show that at the end of the day there are worse places to operate your ISP.

New Review @ ISPreview

By:mark.j @ 1:32:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In order to help break in the new design we've just thrown up a new ISP review, this time of ConnectFREE, another unmetered offering ISP:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/reviews/cf/

Welcome to the 'NEW' ISPreview!

By:mark.j @ 1:29:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Well as you can no doubt see by now we've had a rather major face-lift and I'm sure you'll agree it's quite nice. If you look carefully you can spot some very clever things and not to mention it's been fully tested with IE4 to IE5.5 and Netscape v4.2 to 4.6. We are very proud of this latest version and thing it's a lot easier on the eyes than any previous changes.

Everything is now much more integrated and we'll improve a few things here and there over the next few days/weeks. Please note that if you're one of the 2% who reads ISPr using Netscape then we're aware of the layout problems. We're using basic HTML and so don't blame us if Netscape is not very good - the majority knows that anyway. We will try to fix the issues, but they're nothing big so it shouldn't be an issue.

Normally we'd list all the changes, however after three days of solid coding I think it's time for a break =). We hope you like the new layout and you can post comments in the forum, this should take us nicely through into 2001.

European Internet Usage Rockets

By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to early rumours by the Wall Street Journal, Internet use in Europe is rocketing beyond prediction. This isn't anything hugely new as we've seen a very speedy growth throughout 2000.

European residential Internet use rose to 28.4% in October from 18% in March and 12% a year earlier, the paper reported Erkki Liikanen, the European commissioner responsible for information technology issues, as saying.

Internet use by small and mid-size European enterprises had also risen sharply, with around 70% of all such firms now online and 40% boasting their own Web sites, the paper said, citing statistics due to be published this week.

It now seems to be a weekly happening that we see reports on the boost in EU Internet use and it can only continue.

ZDNets David Edmonds Interview - Part.2

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

Today sees the second part of ZDNet's interview with David Edmonds; head man @ Oftel. As usual we'll quote the more interesting bits:

Would you accept though that BT has deliberately made it (LLU) happen as slowly as possible?

As I said to the select committee last week, in the middle part of this year I felt its [BT's] behaviour bordered on the obstructive. To deliver local loop unbundling, I think you need to treat the other telcos that want to link into your switch as a customer. You have to treat them as someone you value as much as you value a retail customer, and I think it took a long time for that concept to get rooted in BT.

In the middle part of this year, there were some very, very tough exchanges between BT and Oftel at senior and at working levels. My hope is that that is behind us. My hope is that their announcement two weeks ago of the planned 600 switch rollout, backed by my announcement last week in terms of the contract where I broadly found in favour of the competitors and insisted contracts be much tougher on BT, [will be enough].

When can you envisage a time when all consumers have access to affordable broadband?

I think in much of the UK there will be affordable access. Fifty percent of the UK is covered by cable and in a relatively short time people will be able to have access via cable. BT is rolling out its own ADSL to 40 percent of country and there are wholesale products over and above that.

Is it affordable at £40 a month?

There is no reason why it should not be at the US level -- around $25 -- within the next two years. That is one of the reasons I am unbundling the local loop. Next year when local loop unbundling goes through you will see broadband rolled out at an increasing rate. Lots of consumers, though, will be perfectly happy with narrowband. In the UK we will be well up in the European [broadband] league table by the end of next year.


Just like yesterday ZDNet don't seem able to present any real arguments and thus get some better responses, either way today’s part is better than yesterdays. Worth reading the rest if you same some spare time - HERE.

Oftel Fails To Find Owner of Complaint

By:mark.j @ 9:58:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You can't have missed how Oftel recently started another investigation into the anti-competitive nature of BT. This came after receiving an official complaint, however for some unspoken and silly reason, Oftel can't find out who lodged the complaint. If they don't find out who then they can't pursue it, now isn't that clever:

In the current atmosphere of mistrust, heightened by the conflict over local loop unbundling, any of the telcos or ISPs could be in the frame for snitching on BT since they all have a motive.

This is significant because Oftel can only investigate BT if someone lodges an official complaint first.

A spokesman for BT said he didn't have a clue who was to blame. The winged watchdog was equally tight-lipped.


The Register goes on to highlight some suspects, although nobody seems to like BT and that doesn't help. Perhaps more to the point is how anybody could possibly not have such details on file anyway? Further incompetence?

Freedom2Surf Looses Websites

By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Freedom2Surf don't only offer ISP services, they also have some web hosting built in too. However following a recent upgrade that went pair shaped, all the sites on one server ended up being deleted!:

The websites of those unfortunate enough to use the f2s's server 26 were offline for 48 hours before they were informed that an Apache upgrade had resulted loss of their data. No backups were kept by the ISP and users were told they would have to republish their websites from their own data.

Instead of their websites, users were faced with the terse message in their home directory: "Due to a critical fileserver error this website now needs to be republished. Please republish your website using your chosen method either: ftp or FrontPage. Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused. Technical Services, Freedom To Surf."


The Registers article shows that such serious problems do happen and that backups are essential, of course Freedom2Surf were too late realising that:

Chris, a member of f2s' technical support staff, said the problem was limited to one server and was caused by a disc failure. He apologised to users and said the ISP would now review whether it needed to provide backup services.

Why does it always take disasters to shock people into doing what they should have done in the first place?

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