June 12, 2002 - June 15, 2002
News - June 15,2002
Update On Tele2 ISP Situation
By:mark.j @ 9:29:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Quite a few sites picked up on our Tele2 rumours yesterday and some gaps have been filled in, unfortunately it's still unclear how the problems will affect the broadband wireless ISP:
A spokesperson for the company refused to comment on the state of the company, but said a statement on the situation would be forthcoming. A source close to Tele2 said the company had not entered administration but had shut its sales operations.
This combines with what some forum posters had been saying about having their new account subscriptions declined. Unfortunately there's still no official statement on the website and probably won't be until Monday at the earliest (next working day).
One of our forum posters, ‘Web Buddy’, also posted a reply he got from Legend Internet, whom are linked with Tele2’s services. The key part is as follows:
Today we have been informed that Tele2 have laid off the majority of its staff, the consequences of this are yet unknown.
Clearly there’s some conflicting information being passed around the Internet, although we’ll have to wait and see what the ISP itself says. Hopefully it’s not all bad news, hopefully. |
News - June 14,2002
Update: KPNQwest Dodges Immediate Shutdown
By:ross @ 10:30:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Just hours before a deadline set by former KPNQwest staff, liquidators for the bankrupt service provider reached an agreement that should see the network kept online--albeit only till the liquidators' own deadline of 31 June. Liquidators confirmed, after the 1700 CET deadline, that the network would be kept online, probably for the rest of June, because a deal had been struck with the disgruntled former employees of KPNQwest.
The liquidators want the network kept live till the end of June in order to maintain it as an asset that is as saleable as possible. However, the staff, who have been keeping it going unpaid since they were laid off by the bankrupt service provider, demanded that all should be paid, or the network would be shut down today, effectively leaving the liquidators with a much less saleable asset.
The employees have settled for a deal which guarantees to pay 70 of them for the next two weeks--a good deal short of the 350 they were reportedly hoping to keep.
Source: ZDNet |
Has Wireless ISP Tele2 Gone Bust?
By:mark.j @ 3:36:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UKs only true fixed-broadband wireless provider, Tele2, could be in trouble if the growing rumours are to be believed.
A number of different posters on our forums have stated that the company have either gone into liquidation or are in the hands of the administrators after Millicom, the US backers, apparently pulled the plug on finance.
Typically we've been unable to confirm any of this and it's hard to believe that virtually all of Tele2's staff have also been laid off in such a short space of time.
In other words you shouldn't believe a word of this until we can get through to Tele2 and find out whether the rumours are made-up or not, hopefully they're false. If true the closure of Tele2 would be a major blow for alternative broadband providers. |
Quik ISP Launch Unmetered 128Kbps
By:mark.j @ 3:01:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Quick Internet is to launch several new unmetered dialup packages from next Monday for residential customers:
Quik Internet Launch Residential 128K Unmetered Packages.
From Monday 17th June 2002, due to public demand, Quik Internet launch new Unmetered Packages specifically for Residential Customers. The good news is they can be used for 128K access and you can choose to use off peak or anytime.
Channel - Contention - Cut Off - Off Peak* - Anytime
Single Channel 10:1 2hrs £10.99 incl £17.99 incl
Dual Channel 10:1 2hrs £17.50 incl £35.25 incl
Dual Channel 10:1 4hrs £27.00 incl £58.75 incl
*Off peak hours are 6pm – 8am Mon – Fri and all weekend ie 6pm Friday – 8am Monday. 15 min idle time cut off. All subject to Acceptable Use Policy.
The price is a little steep for off-peak only, yet there's no mention of any specific usage limits, although the 10:1 ratio makes it less favourable for heavy users. On the bright side and 128Kbps ISDN users now have yet another choice, which is most welcome. |
BT Must Improve Wholesale Broadband
By:mark.j @ 2:50:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Ack, here we go again. Oftel has slapped BT and told the operator to improve its wholesale broadband services to business customers. It's hoped that the move could encourage lower prices among rivals, specifically leased line products:
The key components of leased lines are called partial private circuits or PPCs. David Edmonds, director-general of telecommunications at Oftel, says: "PPCs allow operators to compete with BT in the leased lines market, giving them the real potential to reduce their costs significantly and, therefore, to reduce prices to end users.
At the moment, many operators' circuits have not been transferred to the wholesale products. I want to see a far greater take-up to ensure that consumers see the full benefits of competition in the leased lines market."
The Ananova item notes that this completes the first part of a two-phase investigation; the second will concentrate on pricing and service level agreements (SLA). Decisions are expected by October. |
Freeserve - MPs Must Get Tough On BT
By:mark.j @ 2:45:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The French Wanadoo owned UK ISP Freeserve has told government MPs from a Joint Communications Committee to get tough on BT or plans to relax media ownership could be in jeopardy:
The slow take-up of broadband has meant that many of the content companies that were around two years ago are not there any more, he said.
"We believe we understand where blame lies and that sits very firmly at the feet of BT," Melville said. "And unfortunately the emerging approach to what is being described as light-touch regulation is making a bad situation worse."
However, BT told the BBC that Freeserve was just using it as a convenient scapegoat for its own problems.
First AOL sides with BT, then THUS nocks Oftel for being too slow to deal with its complaints against the same operator and now Freeserve is trying to put the heat on BT as well by rallying MPs, whatever next? More @ VNUNet. |
THUS Complains - Oftel Too Slow
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] THUS Telecom has criticised Oftel for taking too long to deal with a complaint it raised 10 months ago, which was to do with BTs unfair competitive advantage:
An Oftel spokeswoman said: "It is a very complex issue. We want to set a long-term framework, and not a quick fix. It is important we make the right decision and these things are resolved properly."
Thus chief executive Bill Allan said: "Despite minor elements of the complaint now being resolved in favour of Thus and the other alternative carriers, it is disappointing that Oftel's "fast track" procedures have been unable to resolve the primary issues in the 10 months since the original submission."
He continued: "Oftel needs to be in a position to resolve complaints of this nature quickly and efficiently to ensure a level playing field for all telecommunications operators."
More @ Ananova. |
KPNQwest To Close @ Roughly 4pm
By:mark.j @ 2:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The patience of 100 or so former KPNQwest employees, whom have been working unpaid for the past few days, has finally run out.
Unless a buyer can be found very soon (unlikely) then the pan-European network will be switched off later this afternoon at roughly 4pm:
It could mean a slowing down of the internet, rather than the predicted blackout that certain sections of the media have mistakenly suggested, as Ebone's data traffic will be rerouted through other, possibly less-advanced networks. The Ebone network accounts for around a quarter of all European internet traffic, though KPNQwest's market share is only around 4%, with much of the capacity farmed out to resellers.
Workers are expected to pull the plug at 4pm today after servicing the network for eight days, without pay. Clients such as AOL, Easynet, Deutsche Telecom and Telecom Italia will be forced to quickly seek out an alternative supplier.
Don't expect too much chaos among UK ISPs since most should be fine, although traffic to European servers may be slow from some providers. More @ netimperative.info. |
New ISP Review Survey
By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We've just introduced a new poll/survey, which asks the question: What do you think is the best broadband type?. The results from the previous survey are as follows, this will be available in the survey archives tomorrow (not quite expired yet):
What type of unmetered dialup package suits you best?
70.1% - (899 Votes) 24/7
22.4% - (287 Votes) Off-Peak + Weekends
4.5% - (58 Votes) Daytime + Weekends
1.8% - (24 Votes) Daytime
0.7% - (9 Votes) Off-Peak
0.3% - (4 Votes) Nighttime
Out of 1,281 total votes, 70% of people obviously preferred '24/7' access, which was hardly a surprise.
Nor was 22% for 'Off-Peak + Weekends' and the rest barely registered; clearly people hold unmetered weekend access to be very important because those listed without it didn't fare so well. Hardly anybody was interested in unmetered surfing during the night. |
EDRi - New Digital Civil Rights Group
By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Ten European Internet privacy and freedom groups have merged together to form a new international civil rights group called the European Digital Rights (EDRi):
The new organisation will be based in Brussels, where it will "focus its activities towards developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe". This is necessary, because rulings on privacy and interception are coming more and at an EU, and the introduction of new civil rights-threatening regulation is coming at an increasing pace, the group says.
EDRi will also act as an umbrella under which "existing European privacy and freedoms organisations work together in raising awareness of policy makers and the public about the upcoming threats to our privacy and freedoms".
Its remit includes: data retention requirements, telecommunications interception, the cyber-crime treaty, initiatives for rating and filtering of internet content, notice and takedown procedures of websites and fair use restrictions.
While it's a good idea we fear as if the more communist styles of modern European rule will do little to listen or car until it's too late, more @ The Register. It won’t be long before countries like China have more freedom than we do =). |
AOL Backs BT - NO Rural Broadband!
By:mark.j @ 9:20:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The ISP that likes to think it speaks for everybody, AOL UK, has sided with BT and other Telco's over their attitude toward extending broadband coverage into rural areas.
On a more positive note and AOL did state that if the government wants everybody to have broadband then it had better be ready to help foot the bill:
Several members of the committee voiced their disagreement with AOL. Committee chairman Lord Puttnam, the successful film director and Labour peer, insisted that the private sector had an obligation to work in partnership with government to create social equality.
Nick Harvey, Liberal Democrat member for North Devon, agreed with Lord Puttnam. "It isn't right that when a new technology appears, the telecoms industry should cherry-pick the profitable bits and then leave the government to come to the aid of everyone else," he said.
AOL's comments put it in the unusual position of supporting BT, which has insisted for months that it cannot be expected to provide high-speed Internet services in sparsely populated parts of Britain where there are not enough potential broadband users to justify the expense.
Of course as we've recently seen, BT could still make money in many rural areas even without setting such high demand targets, something they never agreed with or fully explained.
For some reason AOL also highlighted 3G wireless as being in the same league as ADSL, which is wrong because 3G will not be powering PCs anytime soon and Satellite is still too expensive and restrictive. ZDNet. |
Oftel Welcome Telecoms Ombudsman
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We last heard about Oftels plans to establishing a new industry-funded consumer body (Ombudsman) over a year ago, now the telecoms regulator has finally introduced it:
The Telecoms Ombudsman will investigate complaints from consumers against their telecoms company and can order companies to provide compensation if they are found to be at fault.
The new Telecoms Ombudsman Elizabeth France is currently the Information Commissioner, responsible for the enforcement of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
David Edmonds said: "I am delighted that Elizabeth France has been appointed. She brings the necessary credibility and clout to the job of Telecoms Ombudsman. The new Telecoms Ombudsman will provide a fair, impartial, speedy and effective service to consumers that are in dispute with their telecoms service provider."
"I welcome the fact that most of the industry supports this service, and will meet the running costs. I have written to the Chief Executives of the telecoms companies which have refused to give their support asking them to reconsider."
"I look forward to working closely with Elizabeth France and the Telecoms Ombudsman Council to ensure that consumers have access to a fair and impartial service to investigate their complaints."
Unfortunately this is only useful if you need to complain about a Telco, there’s still no general industry regulation for Internet Service Providers and even OFCOM appears unlikely to cover the area properly. |
New Virus Infects Image Files!
By:mark.j @ 9:05:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Sharing pictures over the Internet could, in the near future, be seen as yet another massive security risk thanks to the new 'Perrun' virus.
While the virus itself isn't spreading fast, the concern is for what may come further down the road. It’s the first to imprint itself into picture (image) files, which could obviously cause massive problems:
Perrun still needs some tweaking to become dangerous. The virus arrives via email or a floppy disk as an executable file. Security experts always warn against opening programs sent as email attachments.
Once run, the file drops an "extractor" component onto the victim's hard drive. When a computer user clicks on a picture file with the extension .JPG - a common picture file found on the web - it is infected before it appears. Because the picture displays normally, Mr Gullotto says, the victim may not know there's anything wrong.
In its current form, an infected JPG file sent to a friend or placed on a Web site isn't dangerous without the extractor file. But Mr Gullotto says there's no reason a virus writer couldn't stuff the entire virus code into the JPG, making the picture file a virus itself.
The Ananova item highlights something very worrying for the future, we'll just have to keep watch and see what comes. |
UK Businesses Still Not Online
By:mark.j @ 8:57:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] According to B2B vendor Ariba, UK businesses are still falling well short of the 20% target set by analysts:
While early analyst statistics estimated that take up would hit the 20 per cent level by 2003, leading IT suppliers including Dell and Microsoft believe the real figure remains significantly lower.
"It depends on how you cut the cake, what do you consider to be an electronic transaction? If you include email transactions then it's probably about 20 per cent," said Mark Buckley, server solutions marketing manager with Microsoft.
Buckley's opinion is shared by many other IT suppliers who all widely agree that businesses are stretching the definition of electronic procurement to include everything from email orders to more complex XML-based e-procurement systems - thus making the business look more like the paperless ideal extolled by IT leaders than it might actually be.
More @ Silicon. |
News - June 13,2002
Boring Government Sites & Broadband
By:mark.j @ 2:57:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Andrew Pinder, the government’s e-envoy, has today criticised local and central government websites for being too boring and unable to address the needs of customers:
"We need to get services online that are attractive, that people want to use and that are easy to use, and we've not done very well. In central government, we're still looking out from our silos," said Pinder.
He warned that pressure on departments to hit the 2005 targets had distracted them from working with others to develop creative online services that meet customer requirements.
At the same time another VNUNet item has noted some comments from the government’s e-Commerce minister, Stephen Timms, regarding his attitude towards broadband:
Broadband infrastructure development could make or break a minister who, until two weeks ago, was responsible for school standards. But Timms isn't ducking the issue and claims full personal responsibility for it.
"Broadband is about to take off and we are on the brink of something very substantial," he explained. "The prospects now look extremely promising, and we are going to see very significant growth in the UK's relationship to other countries in the next few months. The extent of competition we have now will fuel dynamism and growth."
Timms is quick to scotch rumours that the government's much-publicised 'aggregated demand' strategy has gone off the boil, and indicated that the Prime Minister has taken a personal interest in making sure it succeeds.
Oh goody, so long as Tony Blairs involved then everything should be peachy - pfft. Outside of the usual political yarns of positive babble there's very little constructive information, but then that's politicians for you. |
Telewest Network Hit By Vandals
By:mark.j @ 2:46:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently 700 of Telewests customers were cut off after two of its street cabinets in North London were vandalised. The incident took place between Monday night and Tuesday morning, an investigation has now been launched:
One customer told The Register that when he contacted Telewest about the problem he was told that it was the result of employee sabotage.
Said the customer, who asked to remain anonymous: "When I finally got through to the faults department I was told that a disgruntled Telewest employee had slashed the phone connections."
The Register goes on to report that Telewest has no record of said conversation and apologised for any confusion. |
BT Group Raises Growth Target
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT Group has today raised its retail division's revenue growth target from 3% a year to 5%. The unit, which sells phone and Internet services, is hoping to save £800million:
BT says the sales and costcutting targets will be met by March, 2005. It has reiterated that it plans to boost revenue at its BTopenworld consumer internet access unit by 35% by March, 2005.
The company says spending on networks at its internet business will not exceed £600 million a year over the next three years. BT expects to trim its debt to less than £10 billion in three years.
The Ananova item reports that BT is also to issue a key update on the progress of its 3G broadband wireless mobile phone technology rollout; although no specific ETA has been set. |
BTOpenworlds 100,000 ADSL Users
By:mark.j @ 9:44:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not Surprisingly BTOpenworld has become the first ISP to officially hit the 100,000 broadband ADSL subscriber mark:
BTopenworld has announced its 100,000th active broadband consumer customer on June 12, 2002, underpinning its commitment to broadband Britain. The announcement demonstrates the explosion in consumer demand for broadband since BTopenworld slashed the price of its broadband access to only £29.99 per month, earlier this year.
BTopenworld is committed to increasing the number of broadband subscribers, making today's announcement a fantastic start. It is connecting broadband customers in greater numbers and at a faster rate than any other DSL ISP in the UK.
Since the launch of Plug and Go, BTopenworld is installing a broadband customer every 79 seconds. The 100,000th customer is Mr Graham Winch from Manchester who wins a day out for two at the British Grand Prix.
Note: BTopenworld also has over 61,600 business broadband customers. |
AlphaPhe Offer 3 Months Free Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AlphaPhe, the unmetered dialup ISP, is to offer 3 months free if you subscribe to the service for a full year ahead. There's also mention of Internet access for X-Box users, which is novel:
Firstly please allow us to apologise for the downtime during the last 10 days that you may have experienced, it was directly due to server upgrades and improvements, and although we tried to keep downtime to a minimum there were periods where users were unable to connect, you'll be pleased to know that all work has now been completed.
PAY ANNUALLY AND GET THREE MONTHS FREE!
Unmetered package 1,2,3,4 & 5 users
If you are registered with one of the above packages and are satisfied with AlphaPhe.Net's level of service and would be interested in paying for your account annually, you can do so now and get three months absolutely FREE!
To take advantage of this limited special offer, please send your cheque/postal order for your 9 months subscription, made payable to "AlphaPhe.Net" to:
AlphaPhe.Net
5th Floor
Charles House
108-110 Finchley Road
London
NW3 5JJ
Please ensure that all cheques sent to us have your username clearly stated on the back.
If you are unsure how much to make your cheque out for, please refer to the table below:
Level Amount
Package1 £80.91
Package2 £53.91
Package3 £107.91
Package4 £215.91
Package5 £35.91
Coming Soon... XBox Internet Interface
We are currently developing a XBox multiplayer internet interface that will allow XBox users to connect their XBox to a compatible PC and play against other AlphaPhe.Net XBox users over the Net!
While this may seem attractive, we always advise to avoid paying annually upfront for any unmetered dialup ISP service.
AlphaPhe is still far too new to warrant such trust, it's best to see whether a service is still operating after a year and to what quality before making any risky long-term investments. |
AOL Previews Customisable v8.0 Client
By:mark.j @ 9:20:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AOL has issued the first preview release of its forthcoming v8.0 client software, which will include more ways for users to customise the service:
The preview version, offered to beta testers this week, is not a drastic shift in appearance and functionality from AOL 7.0. Since the new version is in beta, AOL 8.0 will likely undergo more changes and additions as the release date, slated for this fall, draws closer.
Interestingly, the AOL 8.0 beta comes bundled with Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. Over the past year, AOL has waded further away from using IE as the default browser in its various online services and has warmed up to its Netscape Communications subsidiary instead.
If there is a central theme to the scattered collection of new features in the AOL 8.0 beta it would be customisation. For instance, AOL 8.0 allows members to add wallpaper graphics to their instant messenger interfaces, alter the colours of their IM smiley faces and block individuals from communicating with them.
The ZDNet item also notes that many of the final v8 features aren't in the first preview, which is thus more of an alpha than a beta. |
Nildram Cancels Satellite ISP Trial!
By:mark.j @ 9:15:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It appears as if a large number of those whom had registered under Nildram’s broadband satellite ISP trial have found the service cancelled before it even started:
Thank you for the interest you have shown in the High Speed Satellite Trial.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside our control, we have had to cancel our launch of this service at this time.
If you wish to be advised of any future developments in this area, please let us know.
We would like to apologise for any disappointment caused.
Regards,
Nildram Broadband Team
We believe Nildram was one of the ISPs involved with BTWholesale's Satellite service trial, although none of the other ISPs involved have reported any problems. If anybody can help to shed some light on this matter than please contact us ASAP. |
BA Offers In-Flight Internet Access
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It had to happen, for a three month trial period British Airways is planning to offer its Business and first class travellers the use of in-flight Internet access:
It will be installed on Boeing 747-400 aircraft after research found that 75% of business travellers take their laptops on board.
During the trial, which begins next February, passengers will pay about £20 per flight for access to the Connexion system made by Boeing. It will allow them to send emails at 10 times the speed of traditional connections.
The Ananova item reports that BA is also investigating streaming audio and television content, although it all depends on the trial. That said and £20 per flight seems a little steep, but then they are 35,000ft up in the air =). |
Liberty Media Want Telewests Debt
By:mark.j @ 9:02:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy reports that Liberty Media has launched an offer for over $3.5m of Telewests debt load:
The move comes following a rejection from ntl, Britain's biggest cable operator, when Liberty expressed an interest in taking a part of the company's restructuring plans. Clearly, Liberty is still very much interested in the UK market. The company holds a 25% stake in the ordinary share capital of Telewest. |
NTL Lost 73,000+ UK Customers
By:mark.j @ 8:59:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently NTL lost more than 73,000 UK customers over a three month period to March, which was while the company carried out rescue talks with investors:
This figure equates to about 800 people a day in its residential internet access, telephony and cable TV services.
During the three months up to the end of March its customer base dropped in the face of a desperate attempt to put together a debt-for-equity swap deal.
The Silicon item also reports that these losses haven't stopped and could continue until it comes out of Chapter 11, which it expects to manage in September. |
News - June 12,2002
Looking Beyond The Corporate Firewall
By:mark.j @ 3:06:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK Security Online Ltd has today sent us another press release, this time it's aimed at trying to make people look beyond Firewalls for security:
New security information portal UK Security Online, officially launched on Monday, have today called on home and business users to look beyond the protection afforded by the perimeter firewall, personal firewall, anti-virus software and even IDS and start looking at the vulnerability of their servers and, in particular, workstations and PC's to malicious (behind-the-firewall) attack via trusted applications.
Mr Miszti, CEO of UKSO, says "If a known dangerous system program (like ftp.exe) or unknown program can be executed on any workstation within your company network from under the control of say a remote web site then basically your firewall can be renderred useless and your security can be easily breached."
We have pieced together a variety of tests from different sources that will test the leakiness of your firewall, susceptibility to Active X attack and vulnerability to cross site scripting attacks against your internal workstations. These are included in our Home User Self Defence Guides under the section on testing current security.
The links to these sections can be in our news area at http://www.uksecurityfocus.com/news3.php#260
All companies have to do much more within their networks and not just on the perimeter or on their key servers, or they can undo much of the good work they may have done in those areas.
Some of the measures that can be taken (much of it common sense) include:
* Good operating system hardening, extending beyond the servers to workstations
* Regular application of update patches and security patches on all workstations as well as servers
* Multiple layers of defence deployment - including perimeter firewalls, perimeter anti-virus and anti-scripting-exploit measures, desktop firewalls, intrusion prevention or sandboxing of applications on all desktops and servers
* Use perimeter firewalls to block unkown (spoofed) IP addresses (sometimes referred to as egress filtering) from being passed to the outside world, possibly leading to the use of your network in Denial of Service activity.
* Have effective security policies in place with user education
* Regular security testing of the network from inside and outside the firewall
* Higher security awareness within management and all levels below
The testing documents are far from complete and very much "work in progress" - more tests will be added. |
UK Broadband Is Cheap & Competitive
By:mark.j @ 3:02:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] According to Oftels (UK telecoms regulator) latest research, broadband Internet access is as cheap in Britain as it is in France or Germany and the market for such services is more competitive.
Britain lags the rest of Europe in broadband take-up, and some operators blame this on high prices and a lack of competition in the UK market.
But Oftel said recent price cuts had increased user numbers and made consumer DSL (digital subscriber line) packages -- high-speed Internet access through souped-up copper lines -- cheaper in the UK than in France or Germany.
"As consumers get a better deal, take-up continues to rise. Prices for DSL have fallen by 39 percent since the beginning of the year -- and user numbers have increased by 50 percent," Oftel said in a statement on Wednesday. "The UK has a more competitive market for DSL than either France or Germany."
Oftel said the UK now has over 600,000 broadband connections with more than 20,000 new connections every week. Cheap yes, competitive? |
Affinity Outlook Remains Positive
By:mark.j @ 2:57:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Affinity, the group responsible for supplying unmetered services to several UK ISPs, has today announced reduced first-quarter losses:
Pre-tax losses fell to £2.5 million, from £6.63 million last time. However, turnover soared by 239% to £19 million.
More @ Ananova. |
COLT Offer Free ADSL Kit
By:mark.j @ 2:54:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The World-Of-ADSL was kind enough to point us in the direction of THIS update on COLTs ADSL service page:
Now you can move your business over to broadband and benefit from COLT’s latest ADSL solution.
The COLT self-install USB Broadband Starter Kit is ideal for giving individuals access to the Internet up to 40 times faster than traditional 56Kbit/s modems. And with our unique introductory offer, there are NO up-front costs. You’ll get free connection, free modem, free microfilters, free USB cable and free delivery – saving you £158 against our regular set-up fees.
Need Ethernet connectivity? With our four-port router option, you can connect workstations and servers in your office more efficiently. All you pay up-front for our Ethernet Broadband Starter Kit is £75+VAT towards the modem/router.
With both options, there’s no leasing or lending of equipment…everything is yours to keep. All you pay is a standard quarterly rental on a no-fuss 12 month contract.
Unfortunately COLT only offers business ADSL, which isn't so affordable for home users and you're also locked into a 12 month contract. |
AOL UK Escapes VAT On ADSL Service
By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not only is AOL UKs recently announced broadband ADSL service going to cost a whopping £34.99 per month, it's also going to make the ISP even more money because they STILL don't have to pay VAT:
It seems likely that the situation will remain the same until the middle of 2003, when the EU directive on e-commerce will be implemented, meaning that non-Europe-based companies selling services in the EU must also pay VAT.
AOL told ZDNet UK on Tuesday that it has no plans to raise the cost of its broadband product above £34.99 if it did become liable to VAT on its UK sales.
"Currently, our broadband product isn't VAT-able because AOL is based outside the EU," an AOL spokeswoman said. "We expect we will have to pay VAT once the EU directive comes into force next year, but we have no plans to raise the price at this stage," she added.
Surprisingly Freeserve, which is always keen to grab a chance to dig at AOL, wasn't prepared to comment. More @ ZDNet. |
APIG & ISPA Host Broadband Reception
By:mark.j @ 2:42:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The ISPA and All-Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG) are, on 10th July 2002, to hold a special reception on the House of Commons Terrace to discuss broadband.
Government ministers, parliamentarians from both houses and all parties, relevant governmental and non-governmental organisations and journalists are all invited:
Recent research into broadband availability ranks the UK 22nd out of the worlds 30 richest countries. Even though Britain has made infrastructure developments, less than 1 per cent of the UK population are connected to the Internet via broadband.
Encouraging up-take and providing infrastructure to all of the UK - including remote and socially excluded areas – are just two of the many challenges facing industry and Government attempts to achieve Broadband Britain.
Full details can be found on the ISPA's website HERE. |
Speedtouch USB ADSL Beta Drivers
By:mark.j @ 2:28:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide has some new information on v2 (beta) of Alcatel's Speedtouch USB ADSL modem adaptor drivers, which will support both new (SpeedTouch 330) and old hardware:
If you want to sign up to receive the beta drivers please send an e-mail with the following information to speedtouch.test@thmulti.com.
E-mail address where the drivers should be sent
ADSLguide username for our message boards
Current driver version
Operating System
USB chipset (if known)
Any issues you have with the current drivers
Avoid using a free E-Mail client because you may be unable to receive large file attachments, which is what will be sent. |
Andrews & Arnold Cut ADSL Prices!
By:mark.j @ 10:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UK ADSL offering ISP Andrews & Arnold has today announced new price cuts for their 1 and 2Mbps business services:
New services and prices from Andrews & Arnold Internet
We are pleased to announce price reductions and new services.
Price reduction
Our 2Mb/s high speed ADSL internet services have been reduced by £20.00+VAT per month.
Our 1Mb/s high speed ADSL internet services have been reduced by £10.00+VAT per month.
Multiple IP blocks
We can now provide multiple IP blocks to our ADSL customers. This allows more efficient use of the limited number of IP addresses available by allowing customers to request blocks of IP addresses which match the structure of their network. It also allows migration to larger address blocks with an overlap, minimising disruption.
This is made possible by use of the wires only ADSL server where we can provide routers for the ADSL connection instead of BT. This provides much more flexability. Routers purchased with the service are pre-configured and tested on a live ADSL line before shipping.
ISDN/modem fallback
Our new dialup service provided in collaberation with Community Internet allows us to provide ISDN or modem dialup connections on the same IP addresses as your ADSL line. This means you can operate a transparrent fallback to ISDN in the event of an ADSL failure (albeit slower).
The FireBrick internet firewall can be used to constantly monitor an ADSL line and switch to an ISDN router in the even of a problem, notifying your by email if this happens. |
KPNQwest Doubts Loom
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The administrators of KPNQwest, one of Europe's largest data hubs, have let yesterdays deadline for receiving funds to keep the fibre-optic network running pass, which is causing some concern:
Hopes are fading that the network can be kept alive, although rumours suggested that a bidder, perhaps AT&T, is waiting till the very last minute to pick up a working network at a rock-bottom price.
Many of KPNQwest's large customers have made alternative arrangements, with cable TV operator UPC moving its traffic away on Monday. Since the customers are more valuable than the network, this must diminish hopes of any continuation of KPNQwest's business.
The good news is that the London Internet Exchange (LINX) has already stated that a KPNQwest collapse would be unlikely to hurt UK ISPs too much. More @ ZDNet. |
Intel PCs & Pre-Installed BTO ADSL
By:mark.j @ 9:02:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Intel's Product Integrator (IPI) dealers (resellers) will soon be able to woo clients with Pentium4 powered PCs complete with pre-installed broadband ADSL Internet access and all thanks to BTOpenworld.
BTOpenworld is hoping that the move will introduce another 30,000 small businesses into its customer base over the next 12 months.
Under the new programme, dealers can tempt users with six months' free access to BTopenworld's £10-a-month Internet Business Pack. This includes a static IP address, a .co.uk domain name and online advice from BTopenworld's resource centre.
The first 300 IPI resellers to sign up can also waive up to £150 in installation, connection and modem charges for their customers.
BTopenworld's products range from self-installed single-user lines to multiple-user lines offering forty times the maximum download speed of dial-up internet connections.
The entry-level product, Business Plug & Go 500, provides a 512K download speed and 250K upload speed. BTopenworld sells it direct for £85 plus VAT connection (for the modem), plus a monthly rental of £29.99 plus VAT.
BTopenworld's top-end, multiple-user lines boast a 2Mb download speed and 250K upload speed. The ISP levies an installation and connection charge of £260 plus VAT, as well as a monthly rental of £149.99 plus VAT. |
EC To Reopen UK 3G Bidding?
By:mark.j @ 8:56:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The European Commission (EC) is looking to reopen the auction process for 3G broadband wireless mobile phone communication licenses in the UK.
Such a move would allow Britain's mobile phone operators to extend or sell-off their 3G licences, which they paid billions of pounds for:
The Commission is expected to rule today that the UK Government can alter the terms of the licences.
It is also expected to allow operators to share infrastructure - something many of them have already been discussing doing.
The Guardian says that such changes are a tacit admission that operators paid too much for the licences in the first place.
The Ananova item reports that any such changes would apply to all other EU countries as well, although we'll have to wait and see what physical differences it could bring. |
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