May 20, 2002 - May 24, 2002
News - May 24,2002
SPAMMERs Expose Common ISP Flaw
By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently an unnamed man has been threatened by a SPAM (bulk E-Mail) group for reporting their activity to his ISP; however this has also exposed a common problem with many providers:
"They said they were going to make my life 'not worth living'. If you complain then they retaliate in a very vicious way. I'm worried that I could be subject to physical violence. It is a genuine fear - I fear for my own safety," he said.
The man in question has been mail-bombed a number of times and on one occasion received 250,000 emails within just a couple of hours. His Web site has also come under sustained attack which eventually led to its closure.
However, the ISP is powerless since the spammers set up anonymous pay-as-you-go accounts to send out the emails. If they're shut down, they simply set up new accounts using different false details and the cycle is repeated again and again.
The Register's item highlights another often overlooked issue, the way it's so easy for some to subscribe to a pay-as-you-go (0845) ISP account using false details and thus use it for abuse. |
Orange Add Unmetered Mobile Internet
By:mark.j @ 2:36:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Orange, one of the UKs mobile phone operators, is set to launch a new unmetered mobile Internet service with unlimited access to news, entertainment and email for a single monthly fee:
It will launch first in France, priced at 6 euros a month - that's £3.80. It will be available to customers with GPRS and WAP-enabled handsets.
It's expected to be extended across Europe by the end of the summer. No tariff details are available yet for the UK.
It's hard to form an opinion without more details, although this looks like a promising move, especially with all the new colour GPRS phones slipping into the market right now. Here's to still waiting on Nokia’s 7650, more @ Ananova. |
NeonHippo Upgrade Network
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Customers of NeonHippo's various resold or linked ISP services, such as 123 ISP, 24-7FreeCall and many others, should see some service improvements following a recent upgrade.
Details aren't clear, although we're told that the upgrade was conducted to help, "eradicate outstanding connection issues". We can only assume that they're talking about issues such as engage tones, which have been common for many over the past few weeks.
Do let us know if you've seen an improvement via our forum. |
Oftels Annual (2001) Report
By:mark.j @ 9:06:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Oftel has published its 2001 annual report, which covers the work they undertook during 2001 to enable consumers to get the best possible deal for their telecoms services, or so they say:
Other important achievements during the year included:
* continuing to play a key role in establishing OFCOM, the new single regulator for the communications industry;
* developing the regulatory framework for the rollout of broadband to allow companies to deliver high-speed services to consumers;
* setting out new proposals for the future of BT's price controls.
Commenting on the publication of the report, David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said: "2001 was a challenging year for the telecoms industry, but competition continued to deliver benefits to consumers despite a slowdown in market conditions.
A series of market reviews allowed Oftel to ensure proportionate regulation in key communications markets - protecting the interests of consumers, without threatening companies’ abilities to invest in new technologies and services.
Oftel’s strategy of appropriate regulation stood up to the tests faced in 2001 - from establishing a regulatory framework for the rollout of broadband - to contributing to the development of a new European regulatory framework and the work to create OFCOM.
This strategy is helping Oftel to build on its achievements in 2002."
The Telecoms Advisory Panel's annual report 2001 has also been published today. The Panel, comprising the six Chairmen of the Advisory Committees on Telecommunications (ACTs), meet regularly with the Director General to discuss wide ranging telecoms issues. |
e-Voting Report Sights Problems
By:mark.j @ 9:00:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] New research conducted by Leicester's De Montford University and funded by various government departments has found that while e-Voting trials were a success, problems still remain:
Potential security problems have also been raised as a major hurdle, and the report recommended that more pilots be carried out and that decentralised counting be continued to minimise the risk of fraud.
The government's e-voting strategy is now expected to focus on evaluating technical, legal and security concerns through further pilots. Although facilities were expected to have been put in place to support a national electronic poll by 2005, Raynsford said the government would not "rush ahead".
He added that the government would continue "at a sensible pace with the aim for the possibility of an e-enabled general election some time after 2006".
More @ netimperative.info . |
NTL Downtime - Service Upgrade
By:mark.j @ 8:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy is reporting that essential ntl:home customer service systems will be down on 29th May, this is no doubt related to the introduction of new TV and radio channels to its line-up:
Our sources at ntl have told us that customers are advised to 'book' upgrades with the customer services centre ahead of May 29th so as to avoid delays in the days immediately following that date as many other customers seek to upgrade their packages.
Customer services are usually busy at the end of the month taking bill payments - in addition to that and the long Bank Holiday weekend, the outage will cause further disruption and delays. |
BT Upgrade 13 Exchanges - ADSL
By:mark.j @ 8:47:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that a further 13 local exchanges have just been upgraded to broadband ADSL technology, which of course comes from the original list of 100. They are as follows:
Brackley (SMBY)
Dundee Steeple (ESMAI)
Gorleston (EAGOR)
Stone Staffs (WMSTO)
Winkfield Row (THWR)
Ryde (SDRYD)
Downland (LSDOW)
Newton Abbot (WWNABB)
Cantley (SLCLY)
FALKIRK (ESFAL)
Wantage (SMWN)
Brigg (SLBOI)
Bordon (THBR)
The upgrade process certainly appears to have picked up speed. |
News - May 23,2002
Tiscali UK ISP Turns To Porn
By:mark.j @ 2:57:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Telewest isn't the only provider in trouble today, once again customers of Tiscali's UK ISP wing have been complaining, this time about the provider’s use of x-rated banners. One such user says..:
"They are shown almost continually every evening...they are at the top of the screen right in front of your eyes and can not be avoided, If you click on some of them your browser is filled with explicit pornographic images that can be very difficult to get rid of...as soon as you shut one down another opens," he said.
No one from Tiscali UK was available for comment at the time of writing. But in a statement the ISP defended its action claiming that it had "made a decision to include selected adult entertainment as a balance between customer demand and commercial reality".
It went on: "We are aware that certain content is sensitive to a particular sector and, as a result, we have placed appropriate warnings along the way, as well as introducing a viewing watershed of between 11pm and 5am."
The Register notes that Tiscali isn't the only ISP to do such a thing and probably won't be the last. |
Telewest Upgrade Causes Anger
By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] An upgrade to Telewests broadband cable modem and TV set-top-box software, named Liberate 1.2 and promising enhanced interactive features, has caused some anger among customers:
Among the gripes are the inclusion on the electronic programme guide of all channels, even those not subscribed to. It says this includes titles of adult programmes that are "very inappropriate for children".
It claims channel hopping is delayed by a 2 second pause, complains about the legibility of some text, the inability to place favourites in any chosen order and distorted sound.
The Web-User item notes that a PETITION has now been setup, although Telewest has yet to make a formal response. |
Government & E-Mail / Life / Work Balance
By:mark.j @ 2:44:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We recently reported on how a new report showed workers spend nearly 49 minutes a day managing their email and only 25 minutes for playing with their children.
The government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has now resolved to solve this problem by showing that businesses could do more to tackle the long-hours culture:
The DTI has relaunched its Work-Life balance site with new features including:
* Details on how to apply for government funding to implement work-life balance policies and practices;
* Advice on the various policies and practices that can help business achieve a healthier work-life balance;
* Access to research and statistics illustrating the benefits of work-life balance;
* A search engine that enables organisations to search for case studies, by sector, size or region.
More @ ZDNet. |
South Korea Tops Broadband Survey
By:mark.j @ 2:37:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A new survey conducted by the UKs second largest cable operator, Telewest, has reinforced the knowledge that South Korea is still the kick of broadband:
The country easily outstrips the rest of the world where it comes to broadband take-up. It has a 60% take-up rate compared to 11% in the US. The UK trails far behind with just 1% penetration.
The findings emerged in a survey conducted by Telewest Broadband, timed to coincide with the World Cup build-up.
Interestingly most other surveys state that the UK has a penetration of just over 2%, heading toward 3%. Perhaps Telewest is only including their cable modem service? More @ Ananova. |
Freedom2Surf Block ADSL Ports
By:mark.j @ 9:01:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Freedom2Surf ISP support site, Freedom2Support, has today pointed out a F2S service update in which the ISP has announced its intentions to temporarily block certain ADSL ports. Not surprisingly it's the ones related to peer-to-peer file sharing:
Important Notice for ADSL Users (updated 22.05.2002)
Due to increase in demand and usage of ADSL our current connections into BT are at maximum capacity. The effects of this will be slower download rates and increased ping times. To help reduce the problem some p2p ports have been temporarily blocked (in particular: eDonkey and KaZaA).
We have on order an STM4 interface (620 Mbits) running over gigabit ethernet which will permanently resolve this issue. Due to the delays in this installation we are also acquiring an existing spare BT pipe from another ISP. Unfortunately this has also been delayed the past few weeks due to internal BT legal timescales. Whichever one of these installs happens first will solve the current problems. Please check back here for daily updates.
Unfortunately F2S doesn't even guess at how long the missing kit might take to arrive, we can only wait. |
Home Users Dominate Irish Broadband
By:mark.j @ 8:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Ireland’s broadband ISP access market is estimated to be worth $89Million by 2006 and it's all thanks to home users, whom are expected to make up the most valuable sector:
Jill Finger, research manager for IDC's European Telecoms Service told ElectricNews.Net that broadband usage in Ireland would grow steadily over the next five years and home user prices would fall in that time period.
The report from IDC said that broadband take-up increased rapidly in most European countries over 2001, driven mainly by incumbent operator deployments and aggressive marketing rather than competition by alternative competitors.
At the end of 2001 broadband access was available to at least 50 percent of European homes and businesses, but only four percent of homes and eight percent of business sites are paying for it. The overall European market was forecast to grow from USD2 billion in 2001 to USD24 billion in 2006.
More @ ElectricNews . |
BTs Rural Broadband Doesn't Impress
By:mark.j @ 8:48:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's hardly surprising, although BTs proposed One-Way broadband satellite ISP solution for rural areas has already failed to impress experts, including BT themselves:
While download speeds are offered at speeds of up to 256Kbps, upstream traffic must be sent over standard dial-up connections, which adds an additional layer of cost, as well as frustration to the business user. However, BT claims that higher speeds - up to 4Mbps - will be available on a pay-as-used basis as the trial progresses.
Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: "It is not true broadband, but it will provide much faster internet access to many people who could otherwise be denied."
But Mark Blowers, senior researcher at the Butler Group, anticipated very little take-up, even among customers keen for faster downloads. "It won't be of any interest even to small businesses. This service offers no advantage for them."
He added that consumers would be unlikely to stomach the connection fee once service providers added their margin for such a limited service. "I can't see people being that interested. People want more now. It doesn't give anything useful in remote areas," Blowers said.
The VNUNet item notes that the trial 'wholesale' price is likely to be less than £15 per month, which would put it on a similar footing with Wires-Only ADSL, although ISPs have yet to set a price.
Unfortunately the hardware and connection charge is still a colossal £400; quite how BT expects an average residential user to afford such a cost is beyond us. |
Pace Resume NTL Shipments
By:mark.j @ 8:39:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy reports that Pace is to resume supplies of set-top-boxes for NTLs digital cable TV service:
Shipments were suspended in March following concerns over the ability of ntl to pay Pace for the boxes. At the time, Pace's CEO Malcolm Miller said: "It's impossible to get credit insurance right now, and we don't intend to take the risk on ourselves. We cannot get further credit insurance so we don't intend to ship. We have a very good relationship with NTL, but if we can't get credit insurance they understand it's impossible for us to give them product."
An existing order of 300,000 boxes will be shipped over a 13 months period terminating in 2003. Notably, the agreement includes "additional software projects" and enhanced service and repair provisions.
Apparently the move will have little impact on Pace's current year revenues. |
Government Pushes On - e-Voting
By:mark.j @ 8:34:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The government has decided to press on with its e-Voting plan, which follows the recent publication of research on prospects for an e-enabled General Election for 2006:
Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford says there will be further trials of such systems in council contests on May 1 next year.
The research, led by Leicester's De Montfort University, aimed to identify barriers to e-voting via internet, television or phone and how to overcome them.
It'll be interesting to see if the government does eventually do a U-Turn and allow e-Voting for the next election, something they had previously ruled out. More @ Ananova. |
News - May 22,2002
Netscape Web Browser v7 Released!
By:mark.j @ 5:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The AOL owned Netscape brand has managed to sneak in a very early preview release 1 of its next v7 web browsing technology, which is rumoured to have been updated with the latest Mozilla code. Some FTPs are as follows:
FTP Mirror 1
FTP Mirror 2
Typically this is very early code and is likely ridden with bugs. |
Tiscali UK ISP Looses E-Mail
By:mark.j @ 3:23:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We've had a couple of E-Mails from readers reporting Tiscali's E-Mail servers to be on the blink, which comes just two days after a major E-Mail outage with another UK ISP, BTClick.
Apparently the issue has been confirmed and it's now being put down to an intermittent technical problem:
A spokeswoman for Tiscali said the company hoped to have the problem resolved "as quickly as possible" but declined to say exactly when that might be. Tiscali also declined to say exactly how many people have been hit by the glitch.
In a statement Tiscali UK said: "Tiscali customers using email are unfortunately experiencing intermittent delays in sending and receiving emails. The majority of this backlog is now being cleared by our engineers, who will resolve the remainder of this issue imminently.
Customers have been notified through Tiscali’s service status pages online as well as on service status phone lines. Tiscali sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused."
Unfortunately Tiscali has become rather a familiar face on our complaints page and The Register reports that this latest problem has caused some customers to simply pack up and leave, with others threatening legal action. |
AlphaPhe ISP Explains Engage Tones
By:mark.j @ 2:58:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AlphaPhe, the unmetered dialup ISP, has today issued a brief service update regarding the engage tones being experience by a small number of customers (thanks Keith):
We have had a couple of users saying that they have had an engaged tone a few times over the last couple of evenings, not really a surprise as the FRIACO port usage went into our buffer capacity recently for a short time, amazing really when we are running at such a low user to modem contention ratio!?
Anyway, we have already provisioned a further 50% increase in port capacity, this should be live within the next 5-6 working days. |
Wireless Broadband via DTV Signal?
By:mark.j @ 2:54:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently parts of the same radio spectrum used to transmit digital terrestrial television services (DTV), such as the now defunct ITV Digital, could also be used for broadband wireless:
A spokesman for the Independent Television Commission (ITC), the body which governs the sale of licences, said a change of function from digital television to broadband internet access was a possibility.
But it could mean that players in the wireless market will probably have to provide television services in conjunction with a broadcaster, such as Sky or the BBC. "It is up to people to make business propositions," said the spokesman. "We are not ruling anything out. It is really up to an applicant to apply."
Currently each multiplex can carry 24.1Mbps of data. The network covers over 70 per cent of the country. Wireless broadband could occupy up to half that space with the rest used for transmitting digital television. There are 80 sites from which broadband could be carried.
The VNUNet item notes that one of the UKs only fully operational fixed broadband wireless providers, Tele2, believes this is unlikely. Aside from the aching technical problems, demand is also absent. |
AOL ISP Subscribers Unhappy
By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While not directly UK related, the research firm ChangeWave has found that a survey of its clients, current and former subscribers of AOL, shows 40% were dissatisfied with the service.
An AOL spokeswoman called the survey unscientific. "We're very confident based on our own research that this survey is utterly meaningless and couldn't be further from the truth," she said.
The report comes at a time when AOL Time Warner's management is struggling to get the online service back on track as it suffers from an anaemic advertising climate and slower growth in its dial-up subscriber base.
Of the 402 respondents in the ChangeWave survey, 73% were still subscribers and 27% had left AOL in the past year. 40% said they were clearly dissatisfied with the brand, service and customer support. Some members also resented the cost of $23.90 (£16.40) for the service.
Nearly 60% of the survey's respondents who were current AOL users said they planned on moving to a broadband service. About 49% of those said they would stick with AOL while 46% said they would leave the AOL service.
Jupiter Media Metrix analyst Joe Laszlo said some early adopters could be moving away from AOL but noted a preference by users to stick with their current Internet service provider if it is available at a good price.
"When you ask dial-up consumers who they would want to get broadband from, there is a slight preference to stick with the current ISP if that is at all possible," Laszlo said. "I think AOL could be more aggressive about broadband but I don't think they have lost the game yet." |
Iomart Completes Restructuring
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having sold its broadband ADSL business for £2m to Centrica and its consumer ISP business (Madasafish) for £3m to Brightview, Iomart has finally managed to move on.
Unfortunately the group has today posted a loss for the 15 months to 30 March 2002, although they did manage to complete restructuring:
Iomart posted a loss of £7.9m for the period on sales of £5.4m, but chairman Nick Kuenssberg said: "Although these figures are factually correct they are largely irrelevant to our ongoing business. Iomart today is effectively in start-up mode as a software company in the enterprise security sector."
The company decided to "exploit rather than abandon" its web hosting and co-location business, which led to the acquisition of a controlling interest in a company founded by the entrepreneurs behind Business Serve. The company, renamed iomart Internet, is based in Lancaster but supported by iomart's Glasgow head office.
The company, with its £6.5m in cash an burn rate of just £275,000-a-month, said it is now better placed to provide long-term capital growth for its shareholders. Shares are unchanged at 14p.
More @ netimperative.info . |
ISP Review Site Update
By:mark.j @ 10:55:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We've just introduced a new survey / poll system and so have chosen to end the old poll, which last stood as follows:
Would you subscribe to BTs new ‘No Frills’ ADSL service?
Yes - 27.3%
Maybe - 19.2%
No - 53.5%
Total votes: 520
We were quite surprised to see that nearly 30% would, especially considering that there are clearly a number of better full ISP alternatives for less. It'd be interesting to find out why, perhaps a lack of knowledge? Maybe even a lack of trust for the cheaper ISP options?
Either way we've started the new survey system off by asking, What type of unmetered dialup package suits you best?. It's more or less designed to gauge how and when people prefer to use the Internet.
Note that there's little difference between this system and the last, aside from the fact that it's more stable and virtually manages itself – less work for us. |
BTO & Moved ADSL Customers - Update
By:mark.j @ 8:59:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] This is an update to our earlier news item on BTOpenworld and moving house. If you remember, those not changing ISP were unhappy with having to pay off the whole of their ADSL contract and re-subscribe.
Thankfully ISP Review succeeded in getting BTOpenworld to notice this and they will in future deal with those moving house on a case-by-case basis to avoid earlier problems.
Despite this it wasn't clear to us whether those whom had originally complained and now moved would still be refunded. We have finally got a reply, although first here's what we asked:
That's excellent news, although it's not clear whether there will be refunds for those who complained to us in the first place and had to move regardless of how long it took BTOpenworld to respond.
Can we assume that if they moved, cancelled, paid the bill and then re-subscribed to BTO that they'll now be given a refund?
BTOpenworlds response:
Thanks for the email - just to confirm, BTopenworld are contacting any customers they have received correspondence from on this issue to resolve the situation.
With regards to the process described below, yes this will now be the case.
So there you have it and we hope this is of help to some of you still stuck in such a situation. |
BTO Extend ADSL Setup Savings
By:mark.j @ 8:46:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld has today announced that the introductory offer of free line activation (Plug & Go broadband ADSL products) will be extended until 31st May, saving customers £65.00 on activation costs:
BTOPENWORLD EXTENDS CUT-PRICE BROADBAND OFFER
Businesses and consumers can save £65 on line activation costs until the end of August 2002
BTopenworld, BTplc's mass market ISP, is extending its promotional offer on its Home 500 and Business 500 Plug & Go broadband products. When the ISP launched its self-install broadband services in March it ran a promotion waiving the line activation charge of £65 for customers signing up before May 31.
Due to the success of the offer, BTopenworld is to continue to discount the product throughout the summer. The move underpins BTopenworld's commitment to Broadband Britain and is designed to motivate more consumers and businesses to install broadband connections.
Customers who respond to the renewed offer will only pay the equipment charges (£85 for a modem and two filters from BTopenworld) and then the monthly subscription fee of £29.99*.
Alison Ritchie, CEO, BTopenworld, said: "The response to our new Plug & Go broadband products has been really strong. In our first week we tripled the number of consumer orders. Added to this, SME business orders have increased by 66 per cent week on week. By extending the activation offer we hope to encourage even more customers to sign up during the summer months. For businesses and consumers there is no better time to get a high speed, always-on connection to the Internet."
*(All prices for home products are inc. VAT and for business products ex. VAT) More information about BTopenworld Home 500 and Business 500 Plug & Go broadband can be found at:
http://www.btopenworld.com/broadband |
Insight Launch Non-Technical Broadband
By:mark.j @ 8:42:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Insight Technical has today become the latest group to introduce a broadband ADSL service, yet it appears to be for ISPs. Full press release follows:
Insight bridges the gap between the Internet user and broadband revolution
Insight Technical, the National provider of telecommunications and computer technical support services, has launched a solution designed to help the non-technical PC user utilise broadband. Now, consumer’s don’t need to know how to configure a PC or cable a telephone socket; Insight engineers provide a complete in-home installation.
Andrew Godlington, Director of Insight said “The average Internet user doesn’t want to tackle hardware installation, PC configuration and potentially spend hours fault-finding or on technical support lines. Insight bridges the gap between the Internet user and broadband revolution”.
“Research told us that one of the barriers for people considering broadband has been the perception of it being a ‘techie’ product. But with pricing now falling to around the £20 mark, this is now very much a mainstream Internet product.”
Insight offers over 50 ADSL products through its interactive e-commerce site at www.insight-technical.net. Consumers and business users can also order full installation services and security testing services online.
Insight is offering a total solution to ISPs in the UK, bridging the gap between the Internet Service Provider and their customers.
The service delivered by Insight uses a combination of the voice and data installation skills of the Insight engineers. Insight plans to expand its team to 30 engineers throught the UK by the Autumn. All engineers undertake a comprehensive training and assessment programme to ensure they meet the highest possible standards.
The team at Insight bring together some 20 years of voice and data experience with a distinct focus on professionalism, quality and reliability.
Insight offers a comprehensive range of sensibly-priced products and services, with an introductory 15% discount to customers who choose to have Insight complete their installation.
Insight recognises that customers may already have hardware or get it as part of an offer from their ISP. Insight still provide a complete installation, irrespective of equipment or ISP selected.
The standard installation includes a remote security check. The Insight team includes a ‘Certified Ethical Hacker’ who has designed a set of remote tests that are completed to ensure a customer’s installation is as secure as possible. |
News - May 21,2002
AlphaPhe Apologises - URL Re-Direction
By:mark.j @ 2:56:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently some people attempting to reach AlphaPhe.net's unmetered dialup ISP site have mistakenly made it to a similar site (alphaphe.co.uk), which appears to be re-directing to a conservative party website:
I believe there have been a few isolated incidences where our users have been going to the URL of http://www.alphaphe.co.uk/ in error, which currently appears to be redirecting to the conservative party website.
We are currently in legal dispute with the owners of this site as they registered the domain after we commenced trading.
We stress that we are in no way or form linked to this site and would like to take this opportunity to apologise to any users who have been confused, after accidentally arriving at this site.
Look for the .net and not .co.uk =). |
More MS X-Box Broadband Details
By:mark.j @ 2:52:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from last week’s item, Microsoft has now officially announced their new broadband multiplayer platform for the X-Box game console - X-Box Live.
Apparently the service will cost roughly £35 per year (UK pricing and services yet to be finalised), with MS spending a colossal £1.4Billion on the services development:
John O'Rourke, marketing director for Microsoft's games division, said the company will spend that much to build out the network for online Xbox gaming and to fund research and development for the next version of the console and support for game developers. Microsoft representatives had already said the company would be spending $40 to $50 per game machine -- which Microsoft already sells at a loss -- to get the Xbox online service running.
The Xbox online service, dubbed Xbox Live, will launch at a date to be announced this autumn, O'Rourke said. "Unlike online gaming plans recently announced by Sony and Nintendo that allow consoles to connect via an existing Internet account, Xbox Live will be a closed subscription service run by Microsoft."
Microsoft will sell a $49.95 Xbox Live package, O'Rourke said, which includes a 12-month subscription to the service and a headset microphone that connects to the Xbox for voice chat. The fee does not include a broadband connection, which is required to subscribe.
We'd like to prod a few holes at Microsoft's attempts to make a 'closed subscription service' look attractive, although it's only £35 per year.
We assume Microsoft may have more to say for its UK/EU X-Box live prices come ECTS 2002 (ExCeL London), or something similar. More @ ZDNet. |
BTClicks Mail Servers Return
By:mark.j @ 2:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from this morning’s item, it's now being reported that after a colossal 18hour outage, BTClicks E-Mail servers are finally back online:
A BTopenworld spokesman said that not all BTclick customers were affected by the fault, but that there had been a "significant number".
He was expecting a backlog at the site while the servers try to deliver more than 18 hours worth of mail. The service is expected to be back to normal by this afternoon.
The VNUNet item reports that BTOpenworld is looking at what happened to see if the problem can be avoided in the future, we certainly hope so. |
ISPA UK Announces New Council
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UK Internet Service Providers Association, which has roughly 150 member ISPs, has today announced the formation of a new council and chairperson. You can read the ISPA's full press release HERE; what follows is a few quotes without the jumble:
Today (21/05/02) the Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) announces its Council and Chairperson for 2002-2003.
ISPA policies are agreed by the ISPA Council, a body of up to ten people selected from and representing the various interests of the membership.
Jessica Hendrie-Liaño, newly elected Chair of ISPA Council said, “ISPA represents providers of Internet services and the ISPA Council is selected from the membership. The diversity of ISPA members’ interests is reflected in the ISPA Council, which represents small, medium, and large companies including ISPs, content providers, broadband suppliers, application providers, telcos, domain name registries and exchanges. This new Council provides a strong base for ISPA to continue its work and remain the UK’s leading Internet trade association.”
The full ISPA Council for 2002-2003 are:
* Emma Ascroft, Manager, Political Liaison, Cable & Wireless
* Dr Stephen Collins, Government and Regulatory Manager, Yahoo! Europe
* Camille de Stempel, Director - Public Policy, AOL Time Warner
* Stephen Dyer, Founder, CentralNic
* Clive Feather, Internet Expert, Thus
* Matthew Hare, Founder, Community Internet
* Jessica Hendrie-Liaño, Company Lawyer, Freeserve (Chair of ISPA Council)
* David McMunn, Solicitor, WorldCom
* Tim Snape, Managing Director, AbbTel Limited
* Lee Wade, Regulatory Affairs, Nextra UK Ltd (ISPA Treasurer) |
BTClick Sees Mass E-Mail Outage
By:mark.j @ 8:32:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently yesterday saw a massive outage on BTClicks mail servers, which prevented thousands, mainly small businesses, from sending or receiving email:
Servers went offline at 11am with a mysterious fault and by close of play the system was still down. "Engineers are unable to tell what the problem is at present, although the theory is that a rogue mailbox somehow managed to remove access to both the main servers and their back-ups," a spokeswoman for the company said.
This was, however, only one of several possibilities, she added.
BT said that engineers were re-installing software and that it hoped the servers would be back online by close of business. But by 5.30pm, the spokeswoman said that the problem may not be fixed until the following day.
The VNUNet points out that much like BTInternet, BTClick is now administered by BTOpenworld. |
BT Bidding For COLT Telecom?
By:mark.j @ 8:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Independent Newspaper has reported that BT is considering a £1bn bid for COLT Telecom in order to combine the network with its own BT Ignite division, yet a bid for the whole group seems unlikely:
COLT has around £1.3bn of high-yield debt, something that investors would be wary of given that Ignite is currently unprofitable. Yet COLT's network, which spans 32 countries across Europe, would overlap with Ignite's fibre assets that also reach far into Europe, covering 20 countries. With this in mind, shareholders might red light a prospective deal.
SG said BT would find benefits in COLT's strong European customer list, but much of COLT's value is in the UK, where Ignite is also strong. Both companies are suffering in a flat market for voice and data services, with many of their hosting centres left with surplus capacity.
To make matters worse, COLT is expected to make a loss of £270m during fiscal 2002, and could bleed around £400m in cash this year. But it has reserves of £1.2bn that should enable it to run on its own steam until the market recovers.
More @ netimperative.info. |
News - May 20,2002
ISP Review Site Update
By:mark.j @ 3:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We've had to remove the long-standing unique visitors counter from the bottom of the page, it emerged that the software had a memory leak and was causing some problems.
It's also too CPU intensive for such a visited site, not least because the images are dynamically created. Unfortunately there are currently no worthy replacements for this code on a big site, they either cost too much money or are even slower.
The last count stood at just under 9,000,000 unique visitors. |
Zipcom Expand Broadband SDSL
By:mark.j @ 3:29:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Zipcom, the next generation telecoms operator, has today furnished us with a new press release announcing the expanded coverage of its broadband SDSL business services:
Zipcom brings broadband technology to regional businesses
Zipcom, the independent UK telecoms operator, is driving forward the adoption of broadband technology throughout Britain with the launch of several new Points of Presence (PoPs). Centrally located in cities including Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Slough, Ealing, Coventry, Reading and Luton, the development of the new PoPs will provide an access point to the Internet for any size of local businesses.
With over 63 PoPs already deployed nationwide, Zipcom is bringing high speed Internet access – including leading edge SDSL (symmetrical digital subscriber line) to locations outside of central London.
The announcement comes shortly after Zipcom launched its SDSL service dedicated to UK businesses. First of its kind, the new service enables businesses to benefit from an independent broadband alternative to leased lines that provides exceptional service quality and speeds without the associated high costs.
Grahame Purvis, CEO of Zipcom comments, “Zipcom is a major driving force behind the adoption of broadband technology across Britain. The deployment of regional points of presence gives all businesses access to business quality broadband technology, traditionally reserved for those located in the London region. By using next generation technology, such as SDSL, we are providing businesses with a combination of speed, reliability, flexibility and cost effectiveness.”
Zipcom independently owns and operates one of the most extensive, secure and resilient national networks. A dynamic leading-edge provider of competitive high performance voice, data, Internet and e-commerce connectivity solutions, Zipcom is committed to next generation technological advances. Zipcom’s services are backed by a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA) and customers are offered a dedicated account manager, providing a single point of contact for all enquiries. |
Ignorance Holds Up Broadband
By:mark.j @ 3:25:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld has today issued their response to last weeks BTOpenworld broadband summit:
Broadband Britain held up by ignorance, not inconvenience
The biggest barrier to broadband uptake isn¹t price or the hassle of upgrading the connection it's simply that businesses don¹t know enough about it yet to make an informed decision.
At its Broadband Summit in London today, BTopenworld asked over 100 industry and thought leaders whether they had Internet access. Of the 99 percent who did, 43 percent were still on dial-up connections.
65 percent of non-broadband users say they are reluctant to sign up due to lack of education. Only 16 percent cited cost as the major reason for delaying on a decision, whilst the same number said that perceived inconvenience of changing from dial-up to broadband was the prime factor behind their lack of action in this area
Results suggest that Britain is waking up to broadband, but could lose its competitive advantage if the business community isn¹t made aware soon of the benefits of high-speed, always on Internet access.
This is similar to the comments made by Tony Harris below, although instead of threatening businesses, they're trying to provoke education. |
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