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October 8, 2001 - October 13, 2001

News - October 13,2001

Speedtouch USB R/ADSL Drivers

By:mark.j @ 9:39:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Almost anybody using a USB based R/ADSL product in the UK will likely find themselves to be the proud owners of a Speedtouch USB modem from Alcatel.

According to ADSLGuide you can now download the latest v1.4 set with WindowsXP compatibility HERE.

News - October 12,2001

BT Oppose Co-Mingling Plans

By:mark.j @ 4:21:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Earlier in the week Oftel announced plans to allow rival operators direct access to BTs exchange under Local Loop Unbundling (LLU).

This hadn't previously been an option due to BTs hostile nature toward the idea and thus the recent announcement has forced an angry response from the operator:

However, BT believes the proposals are a recipe for disaster and is strenuously opposed to the idea.

It seems BT is worried about vandalism - intentional or not - and the damage that could be done to other operators' equipment.

The monster telco fears that wires could be disconnected or equipment damaged - either deliberately or accidentally - leaving customers without a service.

We'd have to agree with Oftel on this one, which followed up to disagree and say that such fears are 'unwarranted'. It's refreshing to see Oftel acting with some common sense for once, More @ The Register.

New Report Lays Foundation for OFCOM

By:mark.j @ 4:09:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A study intended to lay the foundations of the new communications regulator, OFCOM, has been published today. The study was commissioned by the five communications regulators whose functions will come together under proposed new legislation to form OFCOM.

Sadly the document itself is too big to show in its entirety, but you can still read it online HERE. What follows is an exert from the introduction:

This study is the result of a successful collaboration between the five organisations concerned – the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), the Independent Television Commission (ITC), Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), the Radio Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency (RA). The five chief executives have given their unanimous support to the document and have pledged to continue to work closely together in preparing for OFCOM.

The scoping study, produced by consultants Towers Perrin, is an assessment of the kind of organisation OFCOM needs to be, how its various functions might be organised and how to manage the complex task of transition from five bodies to one.

Singleton Returns - New ISP

By:mark.j @ 3:55:PM - Comments (7) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As spotted in one of our forum posts, here, a new ISP called Do-Do.tv has launched and many have been quick to point out its owner - Mr D.Singleton.

Most will remember this individual as being at the helm of BigBlueSky, an unmetered ISP that disappeared (twice) in a storm of publicity (most of it bad and blamed on BT) last month.

Typically the web sites 'Contact us' page/link has already been altered (showed his E-Mail - see our forums), no doubt they've seen the forum posts and made some changes.

According to the readers his new ISP is a VISP for 24-7FreeCall, although they've now changed the signup page and so we'd consider this an unhealthy rumor until proven. The website's front page reads as follows, which Ex-BigBlueSky customers might find interesting:

We fully understand! With so many providers going the way of the bird, we decided it was time to come out with a service that is quaranteed to not be added to the long list of the endangered and the extinct ISP's

Here at do-do.tv we offer a good service, at a realistic price!. True we're not the cheapest, but who wants cheap. Cheaper doesn't mean better, it means cheaper.

Our aim is simple - Provide a better than average service, with good connections, and good ping times. We are positive you will enjoy your do-do.tv experience, so register today and enjoy.

Whether or not it's exactly the same person isn't completely clear and we'd hope to get some clarification from the provider soon. Not to mention that such an image wouldn't do 24-7FreeCall any good, who for the most part, has remained comparatively clean.

Until we’ve got some clarification from the ISP then we’d suggest this be treated as nothing more than a rumor.

Clara.net's Unmetered Service - The Future

By:mark.j @ 10:32:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's certainly unusual to see one of the UKs top ISPs fall from grace so quickly, although yesterdays 'ISP Complaints' page update prompted us to investigate further.

It's worth noting that the problems currently being experienced by so many users are spreading and do only seem to affect their unmetered residential AnyTime service. From what we can tell the rest of the ISPs packages seem fine.

However with the end of the 'beta' trial period for the residential offer approaching, we were keen to find out just what changes Clara.net might have planned for the final 'residential' offer. Clara's Marketing Manager, Nicci Chandler, was quick to respond:

The Freetime Anytime service is currently on trial - we want to see if we can offer the service at the current price and keep a reasonable quality of service.

So far the service levels have not been as high as we would wish, the biggest problem being busy tones.

We are taking steps to maintain a level of service that you would expect from Claranet, and if we are unable to do so we will consider discontinuing the service in its current form.

The last line, highlighted above, is obviously quite a bold statement and it's important not to take it out of context. Essentially it means that the offer would be revised (not removed), perhaps with a cut-off period and or some other restrictions.

No specifics about what the ISP is currently planning to do before the end of the trial or what they'll do in the future was given. Typically a four or six hour cut off would be competitive, although hopefully they won't introduce 'port blocking' as per the Freetime Off-Peak package.

Energis & Illegal Wireless Broadband

By:mark.j @ 10:19:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In order to gets its future wireless broadband licenses on the European market Energis is considering the use of innovative, yet currently illegal, radio technologies:

Rather than broadcast to broadband fixed wireless receivers from a single station, Energis is experimenting with new technology that allows data to be sent back and forth from every point on the network. Unfortunately the technology they want to use is currently outlawed.

The company is in talks with Caly Networks about deploying an IP-based system based on Time Division Duplexing (TDD), using the 28GHz wireless fixed broadband licences which Energis bought at auction last year.

Sadly the Silicon item makes no mention of why the technology is currently illegal, although we'd assume it's because it simply hasn't been approved for use, rather than actually being dangerous.

BTs CE Sir Peter Bonfield To Leave

By:mark.j @ 10:11:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It had previously been believed that the man once regarded as 'The Villain of the Internet' was planning to step down from his chief executive position early, this was later disproved.

Despite this it now looks as if Sir Peter Bonfield may well step down sooner following the end of BTs lengthy restructuring:

Bonfield's contract as CEO runs until December 2002. However, sources close to the scene have told the Financial Times that he is expected to part company with the telco in the middle of 2002.

The news follows the completion of the company's restructuring, the impending flotation of mm02 - formerly BT Wireless - and the dissolution of Concert, its loss-making venture with AT&T which is expected to be wrapped up next week.

Pierre Dannon, currently heading up BT's retail division, is one of the leading contenders to take over the reigns.

As ever it'll be awhile before we know whether Silicon's FT item stands true, although it'd all be for nothing if the next guy can't improve upon his predecessors work.

UK & EU Online Groceries Boom

By:mark.j @ 10:02:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite the UKs only strong online groceries supplier being Tesco, a study conducted by Datamonitor suggest that the UK and EUs rapidly expanding online market for food and drinks could be worth more than £16Billion by 2005.

However the research also shows that retailers should view the internet more as a marketing tool rather than as a sales channel.

If the estimates prove accurate it could mark the coming of age of the Internet as a sales channel for consumer staples. The collapse of various other myriad online grocers had cast serious doubts over the viability of the model.

It's another sign of the repeating pattern emerging in all areas of e-commerce, one area of strong potential for online food and drink retail will be seen in niche products, such as fine wines and luxury, gourmet and organic foods. Would you buy your food online and if so then why?

BTOpenworld & Watchdog - BBC1

By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If you missed last nights Watchdog program, where they gave BTOpenworld as much of a grilling as possible, then you can read the online version HERE. Sadly BTOpenworld couldn't be bothered to send a representative and only issued a small statement, clearly afraid of the programs wrath:

Faced with BT failed connections, customers being kicked off the network and more complaints than they can deal with, BT had to act. Its solution is two secret projects codenamed Mamba and BOA which are designed to constrict the service and push some Anytime customers towards BT's more expensive broadband network.

BT staff have been warned never to disclose codename BOA to customers who contact them desperate for help with the constricted system.

Much of the program focused on BTO's AnyTime dialup service rather than broadband, although there were some mentions:

Watchdog has also discovered an email from BT which was posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting the broadband service they provide. They say, "we've had to impose traffic restrictions on applications and ports". This means they are deliberately slowing the service for some users - specifically of peer to peer applications. Not surprisingly, BT Internet customers have been calling the helpline in droves.

Tonight BT Openworld Internet have refused to come into the studio but they say they have now lifted the traffic controls on their broadband network relating to peer to peer applications. BT insists that no such controls have been put in place on the Anytime service and maintains that Anytime customers are not affected. BT also maintain that it has not tried to push Anytime customers towards their Broadband service.

Despite a number of inaccuracies with Watchdogs reporting (confusing broadband with dialup), the item itself still uncovers a lot of interesting information that most people won't be aware of. Any users of BTOpenworld's services might like to have a read to see just what their ISP is all about.

News - October 11,2001

Quick ISP Review Site Update

By:mark.j @ 4:22:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Our ISP Complaints, Top 10 and Unmetered listings have today seen some updates while I'm still able to work. It looks as if the long hours I've been putting in through my spare time to re-locate ISP Review and upgrade systems have taken their tole.

A combination of lack of sleep and near constantly looking at a bright screen has caused all the usual early warning signs of stress and when you're stressed the work suffers. So please excuse any mistakes in news items, it's causing my eyes discomfort to look at the screen.

I'll be off to take a break and hopefully get home from work, where I fully intend NOT looking at the computer again until tomorrow morning. Perhaps by then my eyes won’t look like somebody just took a football boot to them.. ewwwww.

EC Predicts Broadband Peak & Future

By:mark.j @ 4:12:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Apparently the European Commission (EC) believes that R/ADSL usage will peak in 2005, only to be overtaken in 2010 by faster fibre optic solutions (cable).:

According to an EC report published this week, ADSL and cable broadband will not be fast enough to keep pace with the demand for multimedia and applications content. In the short term, though, both technologies will achieve significant market share within the next few years. ADSL's penetration of the European home Internet market is expected to peak at 37 percent in 2005.

The report, titled The Development of Broadband Access Platforms in Europe, illustrates how seriously the European Commission takes the issue of high-speed Internet usage. "The study clearly tells us that the future of the Internet is broadband," said Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society, who believes that a forward-looking strategy is essential if Europe's citizens are to benefit from broadband.

"It [broadband] will be one of our top priorities in 2002", he insisted.

While ZDNet's item may present a lighthearted change from the usual 'doom and gloom' forecasts we tend to see; it's still worth remembering that this probably won't apply to the UK.

It's extremely unlikely our government will reach its goal of being one of Europe’s top broadband users by 2005, which has always been wishful thinking.

BTO Confirms 50+ Customers Kicked

By:mark.j @ 4:02:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

50+ Customers on BTOpenworld's AnyTime unmetered dialup service have been kicked, according to the ISP. Of course that's not quite the extent of the situation and we can't wait to see what Watchdog has to say about it.:

It has also sent warning emails to hundreds more customers threatening them with disconnection unless they abide by new terms & conditions that came into effect last week.

Those affected received an email saying: "We refer to our previous email regarding your BTopenworld Anytime account." [Presumably the email sent out in August to 400 users warning them of impending cut off]. "As advised, under the terms and conditions of the BTopenworld Anytime service, customers are not permitted to leave their internet connection maintained whilst not using the service. It is with regret that we advise you that your account will be terminated with effect from 12th October 2001."

Customers are livid. While many think it extremely unfair if not illegal to change terms & conditions as and when the company feels like it, others are aggrieved that BT cuts them off so quickly and sends only an email as notice.

It's now become extremely difficult to know exactly what's happening with BTOpenworld due to the vast cross section of complaints, which have recently started to rise. More @ The Register.

Oftel Outline Challenges For OFCOM

By:mark.j @ 3:54:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Oftels future regulatory replacement, OFCOM, today issued new documentation concerning the regulatory challenges that OFCOM will face.

If you're familiar with OFCOM then you'll know they also plan to cover ISPs, although no finalized details have been revealed:

OFCOM will need to strike the right balance between regulation to support competition and protect consumers where necessary, and resist the temptation to intervene if regulation will not bring additional benefits beyond what the market will provide itself, David Edmonds said.

David Edmonds set out his views in a paper for a seminar held today on OFCOM by the Institute of Public Policy Research.

You can find the full document HERE, although there's no real mention of ISPs or broadband.

Broadband Content & Tax Cuts

By:mark.j @ 3:48:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It wasn't long ago that the British film industry received some government funding and tax cuts, allowing it to grow and create lots of annoying gangster movies, many of which will haunt those who saw them for years to come!.

Apparently a similar scheme is under review for broadband content providers in the UK.:

Tax cuts are just one of a number of incentives being considered by the UK government to kick start the industry and shift focus away from the network infrastructure to content.

In July, Channel Four said it was scaling down its investment in broadband because there wasn't enough traffic to justify the huge investment required for pilot projects.

However, a spokesman for Energis said operators weren't willing to invest in expensive rollouts without the content to attract large numbers of users.

The Silicon item seems to present a clever idea that wouldn't prejudice such a competitive market by being specifically for content and not services. The final decision is expected sometime next month.

Telewest Respond To Virus Cut Offs

By:mark.j @ 10:01:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

There's a slightly out of date item on ZDNet regarding the cut-off of virus infected users through Telewest’s blueyonder broadband and dialup services.

However what's interesting is that they've managed to get a response from the operator on the subject, although the news itself is several weeks old.:

UK ISP Telewest has been the first to take direct action against customers who have refused to patch their computers against the Nimda worm, or have left infected PCs running. The company insists that these are "sensible" measures to protect its blueyonder customers from malicious worms that are able to self-propagate across networks without user intervention.

"Telewest, in line with other service providers, has put into practice a virus protection strategy to prevent infection of our network," said a spokeswoman at the company. "Protective measures include the temporary removal of service from customers who are virus-infected and who may have not taken appropriate preventive measures."

Check our news archives for the earlier coverage on this subject some weeks back, other ISPs such as Freeserve and Cloud-Nine have been known to take similar action.

MORE BTOpenworld Woes

By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It would seem as if BTOpenworld are unable to stay out of the 'bad publicity' realm for any lengthy of time, although we do have some more positive news, followed by a negative bit =(.

Firstly and no doubt in time for today's 'Watchdog' TV program (BBC1), BTO have removed the Peer-To-Peer file transfer restrictions until further notice. In other words you'll probably see them back and possibly under a special package once Watchdog has gone onto other things.

Sadly there's also some bad news, according to ADSLGuide, BT as a whole have now introduced Service Selection Barring (SSB) across all ISP's! What does this mean? If you're on the wrong gateway or the ISP has given you the wrong gateway for your user name, once SSB is turned on you wont be able to logon.

The underlying reason for doing this is to help make sure contention levels are managed correctly. In the future a counter to this system will be Limited Service Selection (LSS), that'll allow ISPs to select up to three gateways.

Apparently this has already resulted in around 200 BTOpenworld R/ADSL users being unable to logon, once again another service NOBODY BOTHERS TO INFORM THE CUSTOMERS ABOUT!

Oftel Confirms Co-Mingling For LLU

By:mark.j @ 9:40:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

No doubt reacting in response to recent criticism, Oftel has announced further measures to improve access to BT exchanges for the purpose of local loop unbundling (LLU).

In short, operators will be able to install their R/ADSL equipment in any operational part of a BT exchange to provide high-speed (broadband) services to customers. Full press release follows.:

The ability for operators to ‘co-mingle’ their equipment within a BT exchange could lead to significant savings on costs and time for installation of equipment.

Co-mingling is a form of physical co-location where an operator’s equipment is fitted and operated in the same area in an exchange as BT houses its own equipment without physical separation.

This step is likely to reduce operators’ start-up costs for installing equipment at BT exchanges and follows on from a draft proposal published by Oftel earlier in the year.

Proposals to set out the arrangements to allow other operators’ staff and contractors access to BT’s exchanges where they have co-location space have also been published today by Oftel. These proposals stem from Oftel’s investigation into co-mingling.

David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said today:

"Co-mingling should lead to a reduction in start-up costs and installation time for operators as BT will no longer need to provide purpose built rooms within its exchanges."

"Oftel accepts that security is vital and is seeking the views of the industry on proposals that, subject to security safeguards, approved contractors and other operators’ staff can have unescorted access in exchanges."

"Later this month, Oftel will issue final determinations on shared access pricing and service level agreements and publish the results of its investigations into BT's charges for co-location facilities. While demand for LLU is lower than originally forecast, all these regulatory measures should help provide a sound basis for both current and future plans by competing operators."

Easynet Stands Firm With LLU

By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Easynet, the extremely popular networking and Internet provider (72% owned by Marconi) has opted to stay in the Local Loop Unbundling process despite others pulling out. Apparently the group believes they can make unbundled broadband work and turn a profit.:

The company plans to have its own equipment installed in eight exchanges by the end of the year, with 150 connected by the end of Q3 2002, in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester, Reading and other large cities.

The local loop unbundling (LLU) process was meant to increase competition in the broadband market by allowing competitors to site their broadband equipment in BT's exchanges. The first 18 months of LLU, however, have been a disaster.

Only 150 customers in the UK have been connected to unbundled broadband so far, with Easynet accounting for 105 of those.

The Silicon item also states that both Bulldog and Fibernet are still taking part alongside Easynet. Hopefully today’s news from Oftel (above) will also help.

News - October 10,2001

BTO Causes Concern With T&C Rewrite

By:mark.j @ 4:23:PM - Comments (12) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Is there no end to the levels BTOpenworld will stoop to in order to kick a few more of its unmetered AnyTime (dialup service) customers.

Apparently not, the much questioned ISP has now controversially rewritten the Terms & Conditions of their service in order to do just that.:

Under the new terms & conditions, BT has put a figure on what constitutes abusive use of its service: "16 hours or more in a 24 hour period." Check out paragraph 10.3 here for precise details. The original Ts & Cs didn't specify the number of hours.

BT stopped short of confirming it has told helpdesk staff to effectively inform heavy users to move to another ISP, however a spokesman did admit they wanted to remove people from the service. BT has moved 34,000 heavy users of the Anytime service onto a different number recently.

Thousands of people on the new service have complained about a downgrade in quality, although BT denies it. BT also denied the existence of a blacklist of people it wants removed from the service.

Thankfully The Register's item isn't too bad because in all honesty 16hours+ per day is a massive amount of usage and most people who work from home couldn't use that much in one day. Clearly this is an excessive amount and unmetered dialup simply isn't designed for it.

In fact on the plus side BTOpenworlds new 'stated' limit is way above the 'private' limits set on most ISPs and even that of Freeserves 11-12hours per day. The question is, do they truthfully play by these rules or kick people for less?

Iomart Decode Bin Laden Messages

By:mark.j @ 4:11:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Iomart, the popular UK broadband and networking supplier, has succeeded in decoding secret messages that could be related to the Terrorist network of 'Osama Bin Laden'.:

The company has been using sophisticated software to search the net for so-called steganography, the system of hiding messages inside electronic images and music files.

The system of encrypting text on the Internet is thought to be used by bin Laden and his associates as a means of communication, according to Iomart.

In recent weeks, Iomart experts have unearthed hundreds of files, some of them containing Arabic text and dates which have been passed on to investigators.

The Ananova item manages to show one of the few plus points to having a snooping law such as R.I.P. Of course whether the information does any good or not is now up to the USA investigators.

BT Plans Future R/ADSL Price Cuts

By:mark.j @ 3:46:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if the troubled Telco has done a complete U-Turn on what they've been saying for the past few weeks and finally bowed to industry wide pressure with the promise of further cuts.

BTs Retail arm spent the day assuring people that further price cuts for broadband R/ADSL services (wholesale) are due within the coming months.:

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, acknowledged on Wednesday that cable companies are undercutting Britain's incumbent telco when it comes to high-speed Internet access. Danon put some of the blame for this on the regulatory framework that BT must work within, but promised that broadband would become more affordable in the future.

"I agree that today consumer prices especially are too high," said Danon, who insisted the BT was making a big effort to cut cost. "We have already shown to the market that we intend to reduce price by reducing our wholesale price a couple of months ago. You can be sure we will continue," he added.

ZDNet's news follows yesterdays introduction of BTs new broadband 'datastream Home & Office' products, which can be used as a rough basis for any future cuts to their 'ipstream' offerings. Note that 'ipstream' is the base for almost all currently available broadband R/ADSL offering ISPs.

It’d be interesting to see whether any providers take advantage of the cheaper ‘datastream’ based offerings, which are much more flexible and should also allow customers to choose their own kit (hardware).

Kingston & BBC Do Broadband

By:mark.j @ 3:33:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The BBC TV Network has formed a partnership with Kingston Communications (Telecom operator) to trial broadband multimedia services with Kingston’s interactive television customers in Hull.:

The ‘BBC Hull Interactive’ services will be offered on a trial basis to the 10,000 homes in the city, which are currently connected to Kingston Communications’ ADSL network and interactive television platform.

The service will offer local and regional information and news updates, provided on-screen by BBC Humberside and BBC North, and educational material to homes and Hull Education Authority schools. National news and entertainment content will also be packaged for the trial, which forms part of a five year investment programme set up by the BBC for the region.

Director General Greg Dyke said: “Hull will be seeing the future of broadcasting before the rest of the country. New interactive technologies provide the BBC with an opportunity to get closer to our audience - and for them to get more back from the BBC.”

The netimperative.com item goes on to state Kingston’s view that covering the rest of the country with such services could prove to be extremely difficult. Apparently the operator’s nationwide plans are on hold until mid-2002, when they'll be reviewed. Typically this is related to BTs poor rollout of R/ADSL services.

BT Ignites Future In Doubt

By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The future of BTs web hosting and application services division, BTIgnite, still remains in doubt following recent announcements. While BTOpenworld, Retail and Wholesale divisions will remain in the group, BTIg is still under question.:

The future of Ignite is bound up with that of Concert because the two divisions offer essentially the same services, except that Concert was originally intended to focus on hosting and applications for multinational enterprises and service providers. Concert failed to generate the revenues predicted and the two divisions were increasingly seen as fighting over the same customers. To some observers, BT Ignite is Concert minus the AT&T datacentres and carrier services.

BT is thought to be losing around £80m per quarter on the discordant joint-venture and could face further hefty financial penalties if Concert’s future isn’t resolved soon.

The netimperative.com item suggests that a decision will have to come soon before the situation worsens.

Important Nutshell ISP Update

By:mark.j @ 9:46:AM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Nutshell's (Net In A Nutshell) Chief Internet Technologist, Andy Freeman, has sent along an urgent update originally issued by Ron Allsopp (IT Director).

The update itself covers a few key notes from Nutshell's very recent meeting with Cable & Wireless (C&W), which you'll have seen mentioned several times recently.:

Nutshell Update

A meeting has taken place between Cable & Wireless and Nutshell today, we would like to clarify the following points, Statements made on the 5th and 8th of October regarding C&W ability to provide service were factually incorrect. A way forward has now been agreed.

We would just wish to restate that C&W is providing good levels of service to Nutshell.

The access problems of the last few days were caused by the massive uptake of service.

There is a schedule in place to roll out more capacity over the coming weeks to return the service to the service previously enjoyed.

Thanks

Ron Allsopp- IT Director ( Net in a Nutshell Ltd)

No firm timescale was given and 'the next few weeks' sounds like a somewhat lengthy period of time. If the update is true then all of Nutshells recent problems stem from a heavy uptake of their services.

Hopefully this will mean a return to normality within the coming weeks (How many?), although ultimately users will judge the ISP on what it does and not what it claims to be doing.

BTO Relax Peer-To-Peer Restrictions?

By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to ADSLGuide some users of BTOpenworlds broadband services have reported that a few previously restricted peer-to-peer file transfer systems are working faster today.

Whether or not this means BTOpenworld have actually done anything permanent remains to be seen, if so we'd have expected some kind of announcement to that effect by now.

BTs Broadband Opinions Are Wrong

By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A brief item spotted in the Financial Times newspaper today shows just how wrong BT is when it comes to demand. The operator claims UK businesses aren't interested in the technology, yet the Communications Managers Association (CMA) says otherwise.

Apparently just over 70% of the CMAs membership claimed to be interested in adopting the technology, yet many couldn't due to lack of coverage and all the other usual factors.

In fact most of the residential Internet users we've spoken to on the street have said they'd be interested in faster Internet access, yet claim lack of knowledge and high prices are keeping them at a distant. That’s another good reason for BT to develop a half-stream style of RADSL, something along the lines of 256Kbps (Down) / 128Kbps (Up) perhaps.

News - October 9,2001

BTWholesale Launch New xDSL Options

By:mark.j @ 4:28:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ADSLGuide are reporting, much as had been expected, BTWholesale's launch of several new services based on VoD (Video On Demand) and Wires-Only R/ADSL. BTVideoStream Plus and BTDatastream Home/Office.

The following outline BTWholesales new 'Datastream Home/Office' prices that include G.DMT / Wires-Only installation features (no hardware included) and more flexibility for the ISP.:

0.5Mbps connection
1:1 contention = £60/month
10:1 contention = £28/month
50:1 contention = £25/month

1Mbps connection
1:1 contention = £100/month
10:1 contention = £30/month
50:1 contention = £26/month

2Mbps connection
1:1 contention £170/month
10:1 contention £37/month
50:1 contention £28/month

Apparently the HOME services are all based on RADSL (Rate Adaptive) technology and the prices are clearly less than ISPs would normally expect to pay (supply) under existing systems.

On the other hand it's worth noting that most of this won't be widespread with ISPs until the commonly used BTipstream line see similar wires-only xDSL options at the end of the year. Typically this shouldn’t be confused and thus treated as a direct price cut, it's based on a different system.

Nortel To Combat ISP Congestion

By:mark.j @ 4:15:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Nortel Networks has today launched its new Internet initiative designed to manage network congestion caused by the growing number of Internet users, especially on metropolitan networks.:

The range, aimed at carriers, business ISPs and large enterprises, consists of automated load balancing, filtering, bandwidth management and security products. The products, designed to be stackable and modular, sit on a Layer 2-7 switching platform.

In telecoms terminology, layers are part of a standardised model for networks. Layer 3 is IP (Internet Protocol), while layers 4-7 deal with transport (TCP), session, presentation and application functions respectively.

More @ netimperative.com .

LLU = Better Without Competition

By:mark.j @ 4:07:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Proving for a second time today that governments really do know best, the shadow trade minister John Whittingdale has spoken of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). In his speech he claimed that LLU requires less, rather than more, competition to make it work.:

"There may be a danger that, if you insist on competition, trying to get as many people into the market as possible, you may end up with no-one in the market," he said on Monday.

Whittingdale was making his first appearance as shadow Department of Trade and Industry spokesperson at the Parliamentary IT Committee fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool.

In other areas, he spoke in favour of more competition, such as in methods of broadband access. "I think it would be a great mistake for government or shadow ministers to say which one is desirable and which we should back," he said.

The VNUNet item highlights a view that's also shared by the governing Labour party, that is, judging by some of their recent commentary.

Perhaps from this we can assume that the ultimate solution would be to have one provider, say.., BT? Wow yes, politicians are pretty damn clever when it comes to business. In fact they can also magically reallocate money from thin air, imagine the possibilities.

Gov Reallocates £30m To Broadband

By:mark.j @ 3:57:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Another good reasons to avoid trusting anything a politician tells you is that they have a tendency to re-announce old things in a 'new' context.

Yesterday the governments e-Minister, Douglas Alexander, announced another £30 million to aid broadband technology in all parts of the UK. That's right, you guessed, it's the same £30 Million they announced in February - GENIUS!

We've just thought, if we were all allowed to do this for our various bank accounts then we'd never be short on cash =). Perhaps we'll see 'The Amazing £30 Million' again come 2005? One wonders whether any of it will ever get spent.

Lord hope they ever cotton on to using this where tax is concerned! OH wait, they already did – silly me.

Nutshell CEO Issues Statement

By:mark.j @ 3:43:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The CEO at troubled unmetered dialup ISP, Nutshell (Net In A Nutshell), has this afternoon sent us along a formal update to help allay some of the growing fears surrounding their service problems.:

Dear Customers,

There have been concerns around Nutshells current level of service.

First let me assure you this is not caused by Nutshell. We have strived since the beginning to bring you the best quality service at an affordable price. Our technicians are working very closely with our supplier to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. Nutshell has invested a substantial amount to insure the infrastructure can support our tens of thousands of customers. This short-term problem WILL be rectified and the service you have come to expect from Nutshell will resume, and continue unabated!

Second, Nutshell is also fully committed to ongoing customer service and support. We are currently hiring additional technicians to support our massive growth over the last several months. Since our competitors demise, we have seen increased growth at an exponential rate, and keeping up with demand has been challenging, but Nutshell is absolutely committed to keeping the high quality of customer support you have come to expect.

Finally, I would like to personally thank everyone who continues to use Nutshell products and services. Everyday I receive letters of thanks from avid Nutshell supporters who have enjoyed our service from the start, and understand our short-term situation. To others who are no longer able to continue service with us, I wish you all the best.

With Regards,

Scott Ide
CEO
Net in a Nutshell Ltd.

Posted first and exclusively to users in our Nutshell unmetered forum, the reaction has been an angry one. Clearly the ISP is trying to make a concerted effort at keeping people informed, although as ever a provider is judged on what it does and not what it claims to be doing.

We noted that people still seem able to subscribe to the service, perhaps a wise move would be to suspend new subscriptions until this matter is resolved.

Clara.net's Unmetered AnyTime Update

By:mark.j @ 9:46:AM - Comments (7) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The popular and currently troubled broadband and unmetered dialup ISP, clara.net, has today issued an update in their latest editors newsletter regarding the 'AnyTime' unmetered service.:

Some of our Freetime Anytime customers have been experiencing more engaged tones than usual in the last few weeks. The launch of our new Freetime Anytime Business product should help alleviate this problem.

We have now contacted the heaviest Freetime Anytime users and asked them to upgrade to the new Business product, and we will be monitoring how this progresses.

If you are interested in the new product you can request the account change online at http://www.clara.net/members/ or by calling our helpline on 0845 3551000.

Note that if you're planning to change from the home product to the business one then we'd suggest you E-Mail accounts or use the phone. It's possible to be refused due to 'availability', even when you're just swapping to a different number on the same service.

Hopefully we'll also see some options for dual channel ISDN users in the future as had once been hoped. Clara.net's service quality has fallen (especially multiplayer) dramatically since the new unmetered offers were introduced.

Freeola ISP Upgrades Capacity

By:mark.j @ 9:36:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The popular local call rate (0845) ISP, Freeola, has sent along a quick status update regarding some changes to their service.:

We are writing to remind you to change the telephone number your computer uses to access the Internet over to the new Freeola number: 0845 112 1400.

In order to further enhance the stability and speed of Freeola we have moved another 600 ports over to the new Dial Up access number.

The old telephone number is now being wound down and if you have not yet changed over you may start to get engaged tones.

BT Rethinks De-Merger Plans

By:mark.j @ 9:26:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Perhaps not unrelated to recent attempts by various third part groups (Earthlease, WestLB etc.) to buy out parts of BTs fixed line local loop, the debt laden Telco has opted to remould de-merger plans.:

BT has rethought its plans to split its retail and wholesale operations. The move means a bid for the company's network infrastructure - even only on a local level - is less likely.

Comparable European telcos are relatively more bogged down in debt than BT and there had been fears that more splits could see a de facto break-up and sell off all the telco's assets.

The Silicon item doesn't go into much detail about exactly what this could mean, although it would appear as if any future split is now likely to be less 'fractured'.

News - October 8,2001

Nutshell Update No.4

By:ross @ 4:42:PM - Comments (12) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Nutshell have updated their service status page which can be found by going to www.nutshell.net and clicking on the 'HELP' tab:

Service Status Monday 8th October

Dear all Users, please find explanation for the difficultied being experienced with our network since Thursday of last week.
Firstly our network provider lost their SQL data base servers, this gave us authentication and therefore access problems.

Then to follow this we experienced a massive uptake for our service and our network provider could not roll out additional capacity quickly enough to cope with demand. This additional capacity is currently being implemented and it is our aim to return the service to its previous quality within the next 24 hours.

We spoke with Andy at Nutshell and we were told that the company directors are meeting with the technicians to get things moving quickly. Although originally anticipated to have all problems lifted by 4pm this afternoon, there have been delays in getting the new ports online.

Nevertheless, good news that Nutshell staff are available on the phones, they are answering emails, they have created and are continually updating a status page for your benefit. And just to make it official, the 2 hour cut off that has been implemented is also for the users benefit to cut down engaged tones and to help all users to get online, even if it does take longer than usual...The outlook looks hopeful guys :)