December 19, 2000 - December 31, 2000

News - December 31,2000

ISP Review Weekly Update - 2001 Special

By:mark.j @ 11:07:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

With the obvious exception of Monday 1st January 2001 (we said things return to normal on the 2nd) where many will lie comatose and sleeping with their worst fears =), normality should return. We have to say that it was nice having at least a partial break from ISPr, when you deal with ISP complaints and problems everyday it can take its toll.

Sadly I won't be able to go out and enjoy the festive fun thanks to having a Winter Virus that’s a cross between a cold and flu, yet is neither. Still some of you are no doubt wondering what's ahead in 2001 for ISP Review and so here's a rough action plan:

Things to do in 2001 - rough order:
1) Finish up the automated ISP Listings system, will potentially be introduced for everything except the unmetered listings that require more detail.

2) Finish up the broadband section.

3) Install a reader Review and Article comments system.

4) Code or introduce a reader ISP reviews system.

5) Launch ISPreview Version 2.

The chances are that the new design (No.5) will come before No.4 because 4 will take a lot longer to develop knowing the logistics of such a system. So our goal in 2001 is to achieve greater interactivity for the readers and a sparkling new design.

We've already set on a rough idea for ISPreview v2, if we decide to use it then it'll be completely different to what you've seen so far. The reason it'll take so long is because the nightmare of converting current content to the new layout will be big.

Everything will be integrated into the new design, much as it is now with the current, but in a visually different way. That said and you never quite know how things will pan out, so all info about ISPr v2 will be kept private until Easter/Summer. The actual launch date would likely be between Easter and the end of Summer.

That aside and you can expect all the usual updates and site changes leading up to it, ISPr and its forums/content will change a lot in the coming months. We've set ourselves rather a mammoth task for 2001, what we've outlined is a lot harder to implement in a large site than it seems.

With all that said and depending on how things are come Summer 2001, I may or may not continue to work on ISPreview. In other words I'd pass/sell the project onto a new group more able to deal with the large workload. The overall economics look sound for about 6 months.

There comes a point where the site is strong, but you've lost so much from creating it that it needs to move on - a typical business scenario. Not to mention I need a change and could do more good by joining Ofcom or writing for a magazine/newspaper of influence.

So to finish up, ISPreview has a rather good future and I'll continue to update it. The chances I'll leave the project during the summer are actually quite small, so no need to worry. Watch for some new content and features in the coming days/weeks and...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

News - December 30,2000

Site Update - Ask The People

By:mark.j @ 12:03:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While chugging through some magazines we noticed that a lot of people can have problems with networks and connections, or even computers in general. So today we've added a new forum to the 'Website' category called 'Connection Help (Ask The People)'.

In this forum you can ask questions about computers and networking, be they very basic or very complex and people, including us, will try to help. Whether you're new to computers or are very advanced, the collective experience can often give you good advise, view it HERE.

The Worst ISP/Telco TV Ad's

By:mark.j @ 10:35:AM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This should brighten up that cold winters morning, awards have been announced for the ISPs and Telco’s that have had the most annoying TV adverts, guess who's number one:

These pretigious accolades are given to the companies with the most annoying TV adverts. They were awarded by the ad industry trade paper Campaign.

In with a bullet at number one was AOL with its adverts featuring Connie and her pudding bowl haircut. The judges said: "A prissy know-all is a strange choice to symbolise the exciting new media revolution."

In second place was Cellnet's Silver Surfer campaign - "naff and dated" said the judges, who didn't think much of the concept of having a surfer surf the Net.

We can't help but agree that AOL's advert has to be one of the most annoying, but at least it wasn't as insulting as Breathe.Net's 'Breathe Freely', which they played right up until the very end! More @ The Register.

News - December 29,2000

Oftel Finalises Exchange Charges

By:mark.j @ 12:00:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long ago Oftel proposed some initial charges for Telco's wishing to access local exchanges run by BT. Then only a few weeks ago we saw some further rumours and yet another slight change, however today they have finally put the official figures down.

The original proposal would have required third part Telco's (operators) to pay a £118 per annum rental charge and then £95 for the actual connection.

Oftel said operators who take a local loop from BT will now pay a rental of £122 a year, with a one-off connection charge of £88. The regulator added that final retail charges to customers would be set by the operators.

In other words the price has barely changed, although would ultimately be slightly more expensive after several years. It'll be interesting to see how well this translates to consumer prices in the near future.

Broadband Takes Off - Or Will It?

By:mark.j @ 11:53:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Register has done a very interesting look back and ahead at the state of broadband and LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) in the UK. They question whether the technology will really take off and whether BT can meet the deadlines:

Compared to France, Germany and Holland, the UK was simply not up to speed, it noted.

"A direct UK comparison based on the current allocation to operators of space at BT's local exchanges would show that it would take the operators over 30 years to achieve parity with BT's own roll out," it concluded.

There was also accusations that BT had "blacklisted" key exchanges preventing rival telcos access to these sites. This has always been denied by BT.

Who knows what 2001 will actually bring to us in terms of LLU, broadband and unmetered. One thing is clear, BT, The Government, Oftel and other Telco's all have their own and very much conflicting agendas. Unless these groups can find some common ground then problems will continue.

No Government Investigation For BT

By:mark.j @ 11:45:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Apparently the earlier report by The Times Newspaper, that BT was to be investigated by the government, is false. Instead the investigation was aimed at Oftel and regulation:

Responding to a story which appeared in the Times earlier this week, the spokesman said the Government was set to investigate the role of the regulator, Oftel, not BT.

The report said that Lord Haskins - affectionately called the 'red tape czar' - would lead an investigation next month into the telco and its hold on the network.

Clarifying the story, a BT spokesman said: "They're looking at regulation, not BT. It may even ease rigorous controls on BT."

Well that'd explain it then; we had been wondering why they'd investigate BT so soon after praising them. Of course we couldn't help but notice the last quote and ponder, isn't the problem that BT aren’t regulated enough and not too much?

So they reckon that if BT weren’t regulated so much we'd all have unmetered access, cheaper calls and better connections do they? Hmm it's almost as thou the government wants more money and we know the findings before they are even published =), more at The Register.

New Unmetered ISP - Kalnet UK

By:mark.j @ 11:35:AM - Comments (13) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While doing the usual forum sweeping because news has always been classically limited over Christmas, we found a new unmetered ISP currently in trial stages - Kalnet UK:

Through out Trials that we have conducted, we have seen fit to set clear limits on how much you can use the 0808, why you may ask? Because we pay a per minute charge which equates to a lot if on-line time is not controlled...

Basic 0808 Package (freephone)
Charge - £12.40 month
On-Line limit Month - 48 Hours
Will be arranged to limit to 48 hours a month or 2 hours a day, it's your call.

Ex-stream Sports Surfing (freephone)
Charge - £25
On-Line limit Month - 250 Hours!!!
Will be arranged to limit to 250 hours a month or 8 half hours a day, it's your call.

All calls will be through three 0808 dial up numbers, you can dial into any one. The only difference between accounts is the amount of time you can spend on-line. You can access our service 24/7...

System info...
All we can say right now is we intend a modem ratio of 1:2 and increase or decrease if need be, the reason why they are so low is because you are paying our going rate to dial up (the call charges we incur).

PS. We accept 128k ISDN, however you will have to pay twice. However your second account will have a 20% discount...

This is all unofficial, you can call our call centre for more info...

At present this ISP looks a little rough around the edges, some images on their site have been borrowed from other web pages and the layout is extremely suspect. The packages themselves are at least honest and economically realistic, thus such an excellent 1:2 ratio would indeed be plausible with these prices.

The other plus is that they have support for Dual Channel ISDN, but at such a price it's a risky venture with FRIACO2 just around the corner. FRIACO2 will allow for a lot more flexibility in dual channel usage due to not having an underlying metered charge. We'd advise to wait until this ISP is official.

News - December 28,2000

The EDGE (GMS2) vs GPRS Debate

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

GPRS is supposed to be the new data standard for broadband wireless communication with mobile phones. Or in a rough sense you could say GPRS = WAP2 and EDGE = GSM2, both are standards that should ring a bell with the technological mobile crowd.

The problem is GPRS looks set to be as bigger flop as WAP and people predict that just like the original GSM system, only EDGE (GSM2) will bring the quality Internet apps to mobiles - the fight continues:

Aberdeen claims that problems with WAP services – shortage of handsets, lack of applications and inflated public expectations - are likely to be repeated with GPRS services.

According to Aberdeen, in the 12 months since their launch, WAP services have gained only 5m customers worldwide – less than 2% of all GSM subscribers.

Although GPRS networks are theoretically capable of transmission rates of 171 kbps, Aberdeen estimates that live networks will only support a measly 14 to 28 kbps, limiting the possible killer applications and making public disappointment more probable.

EDGE would realistically provide a stable transmission rate closer to a 36/56Kbps modem, which is fine for a small screen mobile and just about everything else. Although if you really want a quality technology then perhaps Japan is the place to look, where full colour concept phone style devices have also started to circulate. More @ netimperative.com.

News - December 27,2000

Visual Depth Refunds - Update.3

By:mark.j @ 11:01:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not strictly an update on the refunds, but somebody who is connected with the VisualDepth Fraudsters (we exposed them last summer) has sent us another update. This person is obviously keeping his details anonymous but we can vouch for his authenticity.

He writes the following because he is concerned about the continued lies, lies that still continue to cover up the increasingly factual belief that some will NEVER get a refund no matter what VD keep telling them:

My company is currently employed by Soccer Dreams (sister company of visual depth) under contract, and to tell the truth it is a very major one, which we do not wish to lose. However, just to give you a few more details:

Not only is Soccer Dreams a sister company of Visual Depth, but as is a company called Elite Play http://www.eliteplay.com.

My company uses VD for web hosting. The actual package that we have is not at all bad, but one must really ask questions of a web hosting company that must resell packages from another hosting company (something seems familiar here – ezesurf?). I know that they resell fasthosts.co.uk things. I also know that their technical knowledge is next to nothing. Any time that I have a problem with our account, I am always told that he (Martin Case), must give Fasthosts a call to find out if they know what do to! Yet, I am not allowed to speck to Fasthosts directly, even though I am sure that this would be the quickest thing!!! Being the MD of Games Galore Software, I recently received a Christmas Card from Visual Depth and Soccer Dreams Ltd. This was from both Martin Case and Colin Case. Seems like their directing staff is not all that large then! Also, despite the general consensus on the internet that they have moved premises from Dear Leap House. I am almost certain that they have not.

Allegedly, Visual Depth acts as a child company of Soccer Dreams Ltd. Isn’t this something that many international criminals do in order to have a ‘fake’ business front, a disreputable firm covered up by a reputable firm.

Almost everything above we already knew from the early days, but it's the part we've highlighted that's of relevance. VD have blamed previous refund delays on moving premises or that the refunds have got lost in the post.

Now the fact that quite a few people reported that VD told them refunds were lost in the post, and the rest related to moving premises, is cause for concern. It seems hard to believe that so many individual refunds could go missing.

Another two lies that need adding to an ever-lengthening list? We'll know if VD doesn’t do something soon. Trading standards promised they'd keep us informed on the subject, although have gone decidedly quite since last summer. But then they didn't manage to do anything about IGClick either; despite the fact that they had been warned.

Government Investigates BT - But Why Bother?

By:mark.j @ 10:17:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's at times like this that you begin to loose all confidence in our various leaders, when everybody contradicts what the others do. That seems to be what's happening yet again as the government is to launch an investigation into BT's handling of the LLU (Local Loop Unbundling).

Hold on, Didn't they do that last week as well and then end up praising BT?:

According to the Times, Lord Haskins - affectionately called the 'red tape czar' - will lead an investigation next month which will, no doubt, focus on the telco's bid to unbundle the local loop.

He is to look at complaints that the cost of telecoms services, including mobile and Net access, are simply too high and that BT has failed to loosen it grip on its dominant market position.

This latest twist in BT's fortunes comes less than a week after CEO, Sir Peter Bonfield, won the praise of an influential group of MPs who, according to the FT, "praised" him for "speeding up the unbundling process".

It seems as though the order of the day is to investigate BT while appealing to the audience who want the investigation and then turn around and shoot them in the face. All the public ever hears are contradicting whispers and interviews, which only makes us loose ever more confidence.

We'll place a bet that this latest government investigation will start off on a high horse and end up praising BT once again. After all, if they found the opposite then just what do you think they could do about it anyway? BT means money for the government etc. Read the rest @ The Register.

ADSL Guide - Win ADSL FREE For One YEAR!

By:mark.j @ 10:08:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A fellow network site, ADSLguide, have just launched a competition that allows you to win an ADSL connection for one year completely free!:

ADSLguide has teamed up with Eclipse Networking to provide a Christmas competition to win a FREE ADSL 500k USB connection for one lucky winner, for a whole year! Here's what you could get:

-FREE Installation
-FREE ADSL 500kbps Connection (USB) - for 12 months!
-FREE Domain name (.com or .co.uk)
-FREE 20MB Webspace (UNIX, NT, FrontPage, ASP)
-FREE Catch-all POP3 Account

If you want more then go here http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ , we're a little late in posting it for obvious reasons.

Back In Action

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

Well it's Tuesday and the ISPreview team should now be back in partial operation, as the notice said it’d just be E-Mail and News updates/checking this week. We'll be back in full mode for new content etc. come Monday next week (Jan 1st).

So expect all the usual news and E-Mail replies, but nothing more until next week. That said and I hope you all had a nice Christmas and its back to work, well at least for most of us (Not Students/Children).

News - December 26,2000

Watchdog May Ease BT Regulations

By:Ross14 @ 1:50:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Regulators are discussing whether it's time to ease regulations that restrict BT from actions in the open market as a result of investigations by the Government's red tape watchdog.

The Cabinet Office's Better Regulation Task Force is conducting an investigation into the regulatory framework surrounding the telecommunications giant to see whether it is still appropriate.

And task force chairman Lord Haskins has signalled that he is willing to consider lightening BT's regulatory burden, by stressing that the company is no longer a monopoly in the telecoms market and now faces fierce competition that did not exist when the rules were drawn up.

But he stresses that no decisions have yet been taken, and his team will not report until the middle of 2001.

To be fair to BT, the market is starting to get more heated, but on the other side BT still actually do have a monopoly, regardless of what is said in the Government's findings.

Source: Ananova.com

News - December 24,2000

Local Loop - A Year in Review

By:Ross14 @ 8:17:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As well as our own 'Year In Review (2000)' which can be found at http://ispreview.co.uk/articles/yir2000/, silicon.com have written a very good and slightly detailed review on the fiasco of the local loop throughout the year 2000.

Here's a taster:

Undoubtedly one of the most vital issues of the year has been the continuing epic saga of the unbundling of the local loop - the 'last mile' of phone cables between the exchange and your front door. It's also BT's last complete monopoly.

To continue reading the review, click HERE.

News - December 23,2000

Nildram Surftime Update

By:Ross14 @ 12:33:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Nildram have updated their website with their latest surftime packages. Hold your breath because the prices are pretty steep!

Nildrams Surftime packages will launch on Monday 22nd January 2001 and will include:

Nildram Surftime @ £10 + VAT & £5.99 fee to BT (per month). Free Evenings & Weekend Surfing. 5 min inactivity cut-off and 2 hour default timeout. Total Fee Payable £17.74.

Nildram Surftime Plus @ £20 + VAT & £5.99 fee to BT (per month). Free Evenings & Weekends Surfing & 1p per minute daytime or @ £20 + VAT & £19.99 fee to BT (per month) for 24/7 free access. 5 min inactivity cut-off on both packages but there is uncertainty over how long the hourly timeout is. Total Fee's Payable £29.49 for off-peak & £43.49 for anytime 24/7.

Nildram Surftime Gold @ £80 + VAT & £19.99 fee to BT (per month). Free 24/7 surfing and permanant connection with no inactivity cut-offs or timeouts. Total Fee Payable £113.99.

All Charges are charged quarterly in advance

Some extra points to note are that Dual ISDN is NOT supported (they only support 56K or Single Channel 64K ISDN). There is no static IP but Nildram are looking into this. Services include all the usual advantages of a Nildram Dial-Up account, including a mailbox and global roaming.

Visit http://www.getsurftime.co.uk/ for more information.

News - December 22,2000

Merry Christmas From ISP Review

By:mark.j @ 5:16:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This is the last update you'll be seeing from me until next Wednesday, nor will I be collecting E-Mails or checking the forum, instead all of the team will finally be getting some compulsory time off. We won't actually be back into full operation until Monday January 1st.

Anyway, it's been a good year and lots has changed with ISP Review + we've grown quite considerably. Q1-2001 will bring the automated ISP listings (finally an updateable system!), reader review/article comments and later on a 'Readers Reviews' service.

When all of the above has been finalised and implemented we'll move on to develop the new ISP Review v2 design. So there's your rough look into the future, after all that is completed we'll concentrate on reviews and consumer issues 100%.

So once again, it's been a wonderful year and the whole team thanks you for visiting us and making us what we are. We'll continue to aid in your consumer issues and put our best effort into making ISP Review an even better place to visit.

We're looking forward to having a few days off and will see you all again after Christmas, until then you may see the odd update from staff - but not myself. Have a wonderful Christmas, stuff yourselves with Turkey and drink enough Wine to put a smile on your faces.

We'll finish up with some X-Mas suggestions =):

1) When serving Christmas lunch, try not to use a live Turkey!

2) Avoid using medical urine decanters to serve Wine from, you never know who used them last. Why do restaurants have so many of these? We often wonder where they come from =).

3) Avoid stuffing the Turkey with alcaseltza as recently depicted on 'The Jeremy Clarkson Show'.

4) After lunch switch on the TV to watch the usual and very much compulsory James Bond film, DO NOT switch to the Extreme Adult channel for some unique festive fun.

5) Never imitate Santa Clause by using real reindeer and a slay, then attempting to fly off the edge of a cliff, only he knows where the controls for FLAPS are.

6) If you see a reindeer then remember, Rudolf is a myth and punching a reindeers nose until it's Red is simply not the same!

7) Try not to die, it ruins the whole mood - speaking from experience (no not directly).

8) Avoid the Christmas movie with Arnold Swahtshisname in it - that's just a piece of healthy advise.

With those tips you just can't fail, unless...

Happy X-Mas

NTL World Price Increase from £10 - £15

By:rich.p @ 2:30:PM - Comments (20) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yesterday this appeared on the Cablenews:uk rumours page:

"From John Murphy in ntl.talk:
---
My wife got a NTL CD today (C & W customer) offering the NTL deal for £10 a month now but going up to £15 in February.
---

*UPDATE*
Well now it appears the staff were talking rubbish earlier this has now appeared on the http://www.askntl.com/internet/ntlworld/joining-x9.asp page:

"ntlworld will be delivered alongside the ntl telephone service through your existing BT line.* All you have to do is pay a one-off set-up fee of £10, and make phone calls on our network to the value of £10 a month. (From 1st February 2001 the minimum spend will be £15 per month.)

It is up by £5 from February 1st. Not a huge change if you already make £15 worth of calls.

Zone Corp. Sues BT For £37 Million - Update2

By:mark.j @ 12:43:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You may remember that we posted all about Zone Corp. (aka 08002Go) last Monday, however we noticed a small bit of new info. from The Register:

Despite its troubles, the ISP has not been put off by its experience. It intends to offer a 24/7 unmetered service from the end of January 2001 with another, as yet, unnamed telco. It already has 720,000 users signed up for the service, said Cawley, although he has a limit of a million users.

A spokeswoman for BT said the monster telco would be defending the claim "vigorously".

She also disputed the amount of damages involved, saying it was nearer £500,000.

To be honest we hope the ISP wins because it's about time somebody took decisive action against BT. They have to learn that they can't keep doing this to the market.

New Reviews @ ISP Review

By:mark.j @ 12:30:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We finish this week up with two new ISP Reviews following on from last weeks three. This time we take a look at the highly respected Madasafish unmetered multiplayer provider and the lesser known 0845 hosting ISP QuickSpace:

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

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

It should be fairly easy to work out which URL goes to what review =).

U.S Urges U.K To Open Up Telco Market

By:mark.j @ 10:50:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Trade Officials from the U.S.A credited Britain for making 'SOME' progress towards opening up its telecoms market to foreign competition. However they then went on to say that despite this, the overall pace has been slower than hoped.

A senior U.S. Trade Representative - Charlene Barshefsky, said:

"At the same time, we are concerned that the UK will not implement these rules by the end of the year, as required under the European Union's regulation on unbundling of the local loop"

You may remember the EU passing a law that provided LLU to be completely opened up by all EU countries come January 2001, a date that's sure to be impossible to make now.

She went on, "We encourage OFTEL to ensure that competitors gain access to all available exchanges in a timely, non-discriminatory manner".

Barshefsky also urged OFTEL to act quickly on requests by competitors for access to local BT exchanges to offer Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) high-speed data services. DSL technology allows voice and data transmissions to occur simultaneously over the same phone line.

The UK continues to lag behind the rest of Europe on this issue and it doesn't look set to change whilst BT are at the helm. The basic fact of the matter is, thanks mostly to Oftel and following that - BT, we started the LLU process far too late.

EU Mobile Operators Will Consolidate

By:mark.j @ 10:37:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to yesterday’s Financial Times, Nortel Networks are forecasting that there will be some more consolidation in the EU (European) telecom sector. This is down to operator’s beginning to develop expensive third-generation mobile phone networks

Pascal Debon, European president of the Canadian communications equipment manufacturer, was quoted by the FT's web-site as saying operators would be forced to join together as national infrastructures were integrated into a single pan-European network.

"We will see in the next few years some consolidation in Europe. More and more operators are talking about pan-European services and will need to integrate to achieve it," he said.

In many ways this is advantageous to the consumer who travels around Europe for business/pleasure reasons. However in other ways it makes for less overall competition in the market, we'll have to wait and see exactly what this all means.

Kid Hacker - Xmas Laugh!

By:Ross14 @ 10:00:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While we were just looking at a few news stories this morning we came across quite a funny one at The Register. A fifteen year-old High School Student from Washington has been given a 5-day suspension because he hacked his schools computer system...

...Fifteen-year-old Washington State high school student Aaron Lutes defeated filtering/security software on a school computer system after his teacher dared the class to try it.

Elma High School computer science teacher Giovanni Colombo issued the dare in class, joking that the students might get a reward from the software maker if they cracked it, and adding that he wanted ten per cent of the eventual payout for having thought of this brilliant idea.

Young Lutes was only too happy to oblige, and did, but his ultimate 'reward' was five-day's suspension from school and a trip to the local police lockup where he was held briefly on charges of unauthorized access to government data.

Of course, the teacher involved has now said that the whole thing was meant to be a joke and the students should have seen the funny side of it - well, no. Teens these days will prove anything, so watch out before you open your big mouths about so called school 'super-douper' security systems!

News - December 21,2000

The Digital Divide

By:mark.j @ 5:18:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Are we so arrogant as to think that those less well off are not less likely to be online? Well apparently the government seems to think so, sounds like the facts of life have been made politically correct once more:

Only ten per cent of the poorest tenth of the population has any form of net access at home, compared to 60 per cent of the richest tenth, and more men that women have accessed the web, still, despite that particular gap seeming to close a little.

Age is another dividing factor: although 80 per cent of people between 16 and 24 have been online, this number falls off rapidly with increasing age - only half of the 45-50 age group had accessed the net.

Despite this the government insists that we are not a nation of have-nets and have-nots. Cabinet Office minister Ian McCartney told the FT: "All schools and libraries will be online by the end of 2002," as well as mentioning government plans to distribute "reconditioned" computers to low income families.

We can't help but wonder just how 'reconditioned' these computers will be, although we’re sure they’ll meet the politically correct needs of the government.

VisualDepth Refunds - Update 2

By:mark.j @ 5:09:PM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While celebrating the joys of Turkey and Wine this Christmas, spare a thought for the poor soles that have had to wait months for a refund from Visual Depth and still not got it:

I still haven't received my refund (as haven't my friends) from VisualDepth that was promised me back in September. After your report from 8th December I received an email from Steve Mann who promised a refund within seven days but two weeks on and still nothing. I am growing a little tired to say the least so I decided to contact them by phone yesterday and was told two things:
1) That they had a lot of people to return refunds to and it would take time to get them done.
2) That my cheque had been sent out but must have got lost in the post since I hadn't received it.

I therefore requested that the cheque be stopped before another was issued. The person I spoke to, Chris (01305 851900, the only person who seems to answer calls) claimed this could only be done in the new year and that a lot of people had had this problem of cheques being lost in the post, apparently. My four friends haven't received their refunds either and are equally dissatisfied.

I have now placed the matter in the hands of Trading standards in the belief that the tactics VisualDepth are using are designed to either delay the refund process or avoid giving refunds at all.

Three months is an inexcusable length of time to have to wait for a refund for something that was paid for in good faith.

So a lot of people have had problems with missing cheques? Well I guess we'll put that all down to Royal Mail shall we? No - didn't think so. If you have received a refund from VD recently then please let us know and if you're still waiting then do the same and post a comment.

BT's New Unmetered Product - SurfPort24

By:mark.j @ 4:59:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BT has just launched a new alternative to their BTSurftime system that will allow ISPs greater control over issues such as billing (no more dual charges etc.). The new service, known as SurfPort24, is also expected to be cheaper - per port, per month is £110 for a one-year contract, £90 for two years and £87 for three.

To be honest this had us a little confused and combined with BTInternets latest changes we're now utterly lost as to what's going on with BT and why:

BTnet SurfPort24, is a managed service that grooms traffic from the local exchanges onto BT’s Colossus IP network and onto the ISP or carrier network. According to Danny Sullivan, VP service providers and channels at BT Ignite, ISPs will be able to build their own packages, like those tailored for different users such as children or OAPs and handle the billing for these packages.

In this way it is different from BT SurfTime, launched earlier this year and sold by BT Retail, in which BT decides the packages – currently evening and weekends or always on - and handles the billing relationship with customers. ISPs including Plusnet and Thus offer unmetered access packages based on BT SurfTime.

BtnetSurtPort24 has been launched as a direct competitor to other telcos that offer unmetered access wholesale managed services. According to Sullivan, BT Ignite buys the Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination (FRIACO) product from BT Wholesale in the same way that other telcos such as WorldCom, which sells a product to various ISPs including AOL.

As if it wasn't confusing enough with the changes that continue for the FRIACO mould, then BTSurftime, followed by BT Surf & Talk and now SurfPort24. You'd easily be forgiven if that all made you more than a little woozy with just a single thought.

More can be found @ netimperative.com , although we'll obviously be keeping close tabs on this latest development - if we can follow it.

BT Continues to Miss Charge For Surftime

By:mark.j @ 1:40:PM - Comments (14) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Contrary to popular belief, even journalists get miss charged by big corporations. Sadly more proof today that BT just can't get anything right and don't listen to customers, this time it's from my own experiences.

In June we signed up for Plus.NET's 24/7 Surftime product, however we decided to cancel it for financial reasons a month before the service actually went live. We mistakenly assumed that Plus.NET wouldn't put customer details through until the date Surftime was live, we were wrong.

Hence that when my first quarterly bill arrived there was a 'Surftime Anytime' charge of £52. Interesting since it should have been roughly £60 because it costs £19.99 per month. We phoned BT and asked that they refund the money for an unused service and not charge again for it. We even phoned them a second time just to confirm (you should always confirm things with BT!).

So when we received this latest quarterly bill (December) there was another surprise in store. Yes a charge of £51 was there, which was interestingly different to the £52 before. What's more they hadn't refunded the last lot either, so here we have some £103 lost to BT and without explanation.

Not having used any Surftime ISPs from this location you can understand our anger. What's more BT don't give you written confirmation of Surftime's existence, so be very vigilant about your bills. This is one of the bigger reasons why we dislike Surftime, you have to pay two people and one is incompetent - sometimes both =).

I plan on ringing them up once more although frankly I don't trust that they'll follow my orders. We'll keep you informed although it's fair to say that we'll want a direct refund this time. Has anybody else found this 'RECENTLY' and how much did they charge you? Was it different?

Ever single time we discuss anything with BT they get what we want wrong or feed us incorrect information, nobody ever actually does anything about it thou – Oftel?

Cisco Preps IPv6 For February 2001

By:mark.j @ 12:34:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

IPv6 is a small part of what is to make up the second generation of the Internet and hopefully expand to Telco services in the more distant future. We'll cut out the techno babble and just say that it gives you more numbers in your 'IP' address (Ex:255.123.1.90), thus allowing more computers on the Internet.

The good news is that Cisco will FINALLY begin shipping routers for the new services/system in February 2001!:

Speaking at the Global IPv6 Summit conference held in Osaka, Japan, Stephen Deering, a Fellow with Cisco's Advanced Internet, Architectures Group, said the company has settled on a three-stage roll-out of IPv6 services, according to the Nikkei newswire.

The initial release is aimed at early adopters - the early systems won't offer the same level of performance as later versions, because much of the new technology will be implemented in software not hardware, said Deering. The mainstream release will come around the middle of the year, introducing more advanced routing equipment that can handled conversion of existing IPv4 addresses to their IPv6 equivalents through the use of technologies such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).

Chances are that ordinary people such as the majority read this now, will not see IPv6 directly until 2005/8. This is roughly the time set in 1995 for Internet2 to come online, although its been so long since we heard about it that nobody really knows for sure.

In its plainest form, Internet2 is an upgrade to the world’s networks and should cater for broadband technology. The Register has more on IPv6.

Telewest Threatens Oftel Over FRIACO

By:mark.j @ 10:37:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Oftel and BT are already in deep enough water for delaying and taking so long to get the new FRIACO system right (unmetered ISP service). Now the Cable Co. Telewest says it's unhappy with the new system and is threatening legal action if changes aren't made:

It warns that FRIACO - the mechanism that allows ISPs to offer unmetered Net access in the UK by fixing telecoms costs - could harm Telewest's future profitability.

In a letter written by John K Cluny, Head of Regulatory Economics at Telewest to Oftel dated December 8 Internet, he said: "We regard the present proposals as hugely damaging to Telewest's long term commercial viability, and we will consider pursuing any appropriate legal remedy to challenge the current Oftel proposals."

Cluny argued that FRIACO has not been thought out properly and that it will lead to "excessive regulatory intervention and market distortion".

Details of exactly what Telewest were so upset about in FRIACO seemed to be rather thin on the ground @ The Register. The large Telco simply isn't saying anything, although for some reason decided to back Oftel once more after the press started to ask questions.

Why do they keep doing it? One moment they’re at Oftels throat, then BT, then Oftel again and finally they all get back together in a happy family - only to start the same again next week. We should know more after X-Mas.

The Three C.U.T Updates

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

C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) seems to finally be back online again today after being down for several days. As such there are three new and very interesting updates. The first is about comparing costs:

Based on what the OECD did earlier this year, OFTEL has released an International Benchmarking Study of mobile telephony and Internet access tariffs.

The document is 63 pages long, ten times as long as the OECD contribution, but this is mainly because all raw data is provided, albeit in the form of bar charts.

The results are too detailed to summarise - except to note that the United Kingdom generally comes off reasonably well in comparison with the 4 to 6 other countries used as comparison depending on the tests used - but we have a few comments on the methodology.

Checkout C.U.T to read the rest, although it's not really useful for the average Joe surfer. The next article looks at FRIACO and the paradox of BTInternet turning its back on Surftime and using another mans technology:

The eagerness to announce FRIACO-based products is surprising given that the various flavours of FRIACO and how they interact is not yet finalised. The back of our envelope says that the eventual cost of FRIACO to service providers could vary by a factor of 4, there could be anything from almost zero to very large infrastructure changes, and anything from small to large regulatory hurdles depending on what happens in the end, never mind sales and marketing having to be completely recast and billing systems installed in some cases!

But, given recent collapses and warnings from ourselves and others that the credibility of the telecommunications and ISP industries is in danger of being undermined - if it is not already undermined - perhaps minds are finally being concentrated.

The final article is the most enlightening and is based around phone networks making use of IP (VoIP) technology rather than analogue. It's a subject ISP Review will be covering in a lot more depth come early 2001:

It is just as well that OFTEL is considering IP connectivity now but, really, it is disgraceful that it was not sorted out 2 or 3 years ago. We have mentioned repeatedly to OFTEL that something had to be done.

If it had been done the United Kingdom would have been able to speak truthfully of having the most advanced telecommunications network in the world - far ahead of America, for example, which is not the telecommunications Utopia it is often assumed to be - and, as a byproduct, there would have been sustainable narrowband and broadband Internet access without the idiocies we have chronicled over our existence.

So there you have the three latest C.U.T updates, all are relevant and if you have nothing better to do then pop over and read all three =).

News - December 20,2000

Zone Corp. Sues BT For £37 Million

By:mark.j @ 4:47:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to David who pointed us to ITV Teletext page 331 where there is an interesting article about an ISP/Telco that’s suing BT for £37Million!:

Title: Internet Company Sues BT

Story:

A Manchester-based Internet company is taking BT to court for breach of contract in a landmark case believed to be worth about £37m, it has emerged.

Zone Corporation Ltd said it had an agreement with BT to offer unmetered internet access to consumers by buying line access from BT for a fixed price.

The company claims BT reneged on the deal and began charging by the minute.

It sounds rather like BTSurftime to us and you may remember that in the early days admin problems with BT caused some billing problems similar to those above. It never really occurred to us that BT could be sued for it, however looking back it does seem like a just course of action.

Most ISPs would probably not pursue such action because relationships with BT for many are bad enough as it is. Suing would only make matters worse, so we'd guess they might have to sue again =).

NextCall Telco Challenge BT

By:mark.j @ 4:03:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As we already know, BT wasn't the only provider to introduce the concept of a free local calls Off-Peak offer. FreeChariot and SurfingRabbit are also offering similar packages, the latter has yet to materialise for many.

Now a new system has come online that in many ways does away with the 'first hour free, rest normal rates' system. Calling themselves NextCall, they offer a rather unique service by manipulating FRIACO - very clever:

Talk 10+ is advertised as offering totally free, unmetered, off-peak internet access in addition to savings on BT local, national, international and cellular rates. To access the service, consumers pay a monthly line rental of £12.90 and sign up to the company's free ISP NextCall.net.

Damien Read, director of product development at NextCall, said the equivalent from BT came to £19.99 through BT Talk & Surf Together. He added that, from the list of ISPs compatible with the BT package, only Freeserve is a free ISP, so consumers will be paying a monthly ISP charge on top.

Read also expressed surprise that BT's new wholesale rates (through the Friaco pricing structure) allow NextCall to offer a more competitive product than BT itself. "Their wholesale rates still allow us to make a healthy margin. It strikes me that BT's retail arm must be very inefficient internally," he said.

You can find more news on this and a response from BT @ UK.Internet and VNUNet, although in typical ISPreview style we decided to do some more digging. In actual fact what you have to do is subscribe to two packages, firstly NextCall Talk 10:

NextCall Talk 10

NextCall is a great way to cut the cost of telephone calls.

If you usually spend more than £70 (including VAT) per quarter on your telephone bill, then we can guarantee you will save money when you move on to NextCall.*

* see the NextCall £100 Price Promise

For only £11.90 (including VAT) a month, you automatically receive:

*25% off all local calls
*50% off all national and international calls when you use the NextCall 1623 prefix
*5% off all calls to mobile phones when you use the NextCall 1623 prefix
*There's a further benefit for all NextCall subscribers - a MAXIMUM call charge of just 10p for all local weekend calls
*Full maintenance of your telephone line by BT

Additional Services

*A Freephone Home number, so that your relatives and friends can call you at no cost to themselves

*NextCall Cards to use when you're away from your own phone - saving up to 50% off BT Chargecard rates.

Once you've got the above, which is fairly standard, you can then join up with NextCall Talk10+, this is where the good stuff comes in:

NextCall Talk 10+

Our 10p maximum local call charge at weekends has proved so popular with our customers that we have decided to give you the chance to extend it to other times.

NextCall will now be introducing an additional tariff which brings with it even better savings…. a 10p maximum call charge for all local off-peak evening calls - for only £1 extra per month.

In total it comes to £12.90 inc V.A.T per month, of course it beats BT by having a 10p max charge and after that its all free. We decided to see if there were any serious limits, such as a cut off, and the good news is we couldn't find any. However people who sign up may get a better look at the Terms & Conditions - so please let us know.

Obviously the free phone 'Friends' number and max 10p offer easily make this an affordable service that beats BT's offer. Sadly we could find no details on their Internet Access policy or ISDN support, so please be aware of that.

BT's Side Of The LLU Story

By:mark.j @ 12:21:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You didn't think BT would take all of yesterdays flack without saying a word did you? No of course not and now details have started to emerge of what Peter Bonfield (BT's Chief Executive) had to say in response:

Bonfield, who admitted he was not a fan of regulation, detailed a number of practical difficulties that his company has faced when "dealing with the complex issue of local loop unbundling". These included the co-operation with planning authorities, building contractors and workmen, as well as the other operators.

He said that while the company would allow its competitors access to 600 of its 6000 exchanges by July 2001, and is confident of meeting the requirements of the European Union regulation by 1 January, it needed to hire an extra 2000 staff to help with the process.

"I am not confident that we have all the resources, but I am confident we have the plans in place," said Bonfield. "We must work with the industry, and this requires all operators to play their part."

Can't imagine why BT wouldn't be a fan of regulation =), that said and as has been predicted, delays are now inevitable. No mention of the recent lies to BTSurftime supporting ISPs or unmetered access in general, you can read the rest @ VNUNet.

Oftels Draft Paper For Leased Lines

By:mark.j @ 12:10:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

To date Leased Lines have been a rather walked over subject when surrounded by more pressing issues such as Local Loop Unbundling, ADSL and unmetered access. However all that looks set to change as Oftel finally published a draft report into the matter:

The draft direction will force BT to provide wholesale leased line services to its competitors, and to do this within two months of the final direction being published.

This follows a proposal published by Oftel in August, which stated that UK prices for leased line services are much higher than the rest of Europe. In June, Energis, supported by other operators including Cable & Wireless, Worldcom, Thus and Fibernet, requested that the regulator look into the provision of partial private circuits, to enable them to offer their own leased line services. According to Oftel, the final determination should lead to reduced prices.

By forcing BT to open up the leased line options rather than retaining ultimate control is somewhat similar to the process of LLU. It'll give operators direct control/access to the hardware, thus enabling them to offer more realistic prices to business. You can read the rest @ netimperative.com.

The Multiple ISP Factor

By:mark.j @ 10:26:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This is more of a general interest news story, but in our travels around the world of ISPs we have come across some interesting restrictions. If you're one of those clever surfers with a little extra money to burn, then you might well choose to be with more than one ISP at a time.

It's a good idea and more people are spreading their money out and finding greater online stability amongst a difficult crowd. However there seems to be an increasingly fundamental problem with doing this, especially among unmetered ISPs.

Pretty much any ISP that wants to make a profit out of unmetered is ultimately funded by a Telco outside of BT. However there's a problem, for ISPs the market has the appearance of consolidating itself. By this we mean that the Telco's taking up things such as LLU and FRIACO2 are extremely limited and remain a select bunch.

This clearly narrows the choice of Telco that a typical ISP wanting to introduce an unmetered ISP product might have. That in itself is problem enough and a competition killer, but it's by no means the reason for this news post.

The problem comes when you realise that half of the viable Telco's, such as COLT, aren't using unique identifiers per ISP. A unique identifier can mean anything you want, from Caller Line Identification to a standard phone number.

So while the ISPs might differ in prices, services and what they offer overall, you might find similarities in issues such as the prefix and related CLI (Caller Line ID). This has the nock on effect of preventing you from signing up to two ISPs if they are on the same Telco.

It's not a hugely wide spread problem, but does effect three Telco's out of seven that we know most about. For example the unmetered ISP Madasafish and the freecall offers from ClaraNET rout through COLT Telecom. Thus you can't sign up with both on the same number, which if you're using ISDN can be a problem.

So there you have it, consider it a friendly warning to be careful about who you signup for. If you're planning on more than one account then it's always safest to use an ISP with a separate Telco to the other.

News - December 19,2000

Sniff Out Reaching 100,000 Users

By:rich.p @ 5:28:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In the latest Sniff Out press release they claim to be reaching 100,000 users on surftime linked options. They are also offering one months free surfing on the timeout product:

"For the 2000/2001 Christmas and New Year holiday season, we are offering one month's free subscription to TimeOut, the SurfTime linked off-peak Internet access package.

TimeOut costs £3.99 per month, and offers unmetered off-peak Internet Access at evenings and weekends in conjunction with BT's popular SurfTime, Surf Together, and Talk & Surf Together packages. Internet calls made during the weekday peak period are charged at only 1p per minute.

Like all Sniff Out packages, TimeOut includes an unlimited number of email accounts and personal web space, plus our fully featured UK specific portal site. There is no cut-off during active use, with a telephone Help Desk available at local call rate.

This offer is open until 31st January 2001 and is available to both new customers and existing members who enrol or upgrade via the online registration facility, and pay a further two month's subscription at the same time.