October 25, 2000 - October 30, 2000

News - October 30,2000

Callnet - 'possible irregularities'

By:Ross14 @ 6:21:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Receivers of the ill faited ISP Callnet are today investigating the firms accounts, after some apparent accounting irregularities. The Register has more:

"The receivers of Callnet, the crash-and-burn free ISP, are to investigate the firm's accounts for 'possible irregularities,' today's Evening Standard reports.
Administrator Malcolm Cohen of BDO Stoy Hayward said the sale of the ISP (to E-Tel Ventures, a privately-owned firm) had, the paper reports, "freed his team to investigate Callnet's complicated financial history, which is understood to include some apparent accounting irregularities".

Meanwhile, Callnet's US parent company World Callnet is on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by shareholders accusing directors of "looting the assets for their own personal benefit, and contrary to the best interests of the company and its shareholders", VNUNet reports today."

Well, it's starting to get worse for Callnet, but with a huge 0845 customer base, there still might be hope for another re-launch of services, maybe some free, in the near future...

NTL Slashes Cost Of High Speed Access

By:mjinglis @ 1:03:PM - Comments (10) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Observer newspaper yesterday reported that NTL are preparing to cut the cost of their high speed Internet access. The report said that NTL are preparing to cut the cost before the start of next year.

The price currently at £39.99 will have to be cut substantially to compete with other services such as Telewest.

A report by NetImperative suggests that the cost could be cut to as little as £5.

Now that would be good!

News - October 29,2000

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 10:51:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This shouldn't be a long update as I'm trying to design a plastic keyboard cover with an electric shock system. This is, of course, to keep the furry moggies from restarting the computer; later I plan to devise a similar device for the top of the monitor =).

Anyway - on to ISPr, it's been a busy week with the new reviews layout and various requested changes being made to certain sections (review/article index's). We've also been further improving the forum to load faster and help us display live visitors at any one moment on ISPr (doesn't cover the whole site, just the index page [this one] and forums).

You may have noticed other smaller changes around the site as we try new things. That said and we're now coming to the end of a month which we actively set aside to improve the parts of ISPr people wanted us to. However we'll keep on improving things, with the complaints section the next to be overhauled (soon as we know how).

So what's on the agenda for next week? The usual 'new month' updates will take place, Richard will introduce a wonderful new unmetered list and work on a new broadband section begins. Oh and of course we'll investigate how best to improve the complaints section.

Lastly, those on our ISPr Freecall list will know that we hope to get the ISP online by/for Friday. Hopefully if FRIACO proves it's worth we'll be able to enhance the package by vote on what people want the most. So keep watching ISPr next week as it looks to be very interesting =) - now where's that cat gone..

C.U.T On OECD

By:mark.j @ 10:23:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

For the C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) lovers out there, they have updated the news with some perspective on OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). Most people won't find this interesting, but anything from C.U.T is worth a mention.

In the article they look at OECD's approach and highlight some difficulties that should be addressed. We'll highlight three of the suggestions that most took our eye:

*It merely compares services provided by dominant operators - we presume BT with BT Internet in the United Kingdom. This is not appropriate for countries, which have a wide choice.

*It compares metered and unmetered access. Doing so is pointless as they are fundamentally different things.

*It uses wholly inappropriate 'baskets of calls' - for example, unmetered access is defined as 150 hours per month made up of thirty calls of five hours each.

Barry Dial

By:Daniel @ 1:21:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick note that Barrys world have released a dialler where you don't need a username or password for it, although you must not have caller id disabled due to legal reasons.

For more info go to Barry Dial

News - October 28,2000

Scam RHA Email - REMINDER!

By:Ross14 @ 1:15:PM - Comments (10) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A Scam RHA email has been found to be going round RHA users and on news:alt.internet.providers.redhotant. It looks like this:

Dear RedHotAnt customer,

Due to technical difficulties in allowing some people free time on our red hot offers we have received numerous complaints in Internet speed and efficiency, so as from next week we are moving our customers on to a faster more reliable server to the beneficiary of you. In order to move you on to our redundant server (the new name for the high-speed server) we will have to verify your username and password and also the user 0800 number because each section of people have different 0800 numbers and we need to put the people with the same 0800 numbers into bands. This then entitles you to receive the new key to the super sonic "redundant" server. So please reply to this email stating your username, password and 0800 number being used. Remember the first replies will be first to benefit from this Internet revolution.

Regards,

Sam Armenia

We must warn you all now not to reply to this email as no company would ever ask for you to pass username and password details over email.

If you have already fell for it though, we advise you to call RHA and ask them to change your password.

ISPreview Site Update

By:mark.j @ 11:21:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Another quick ISP Review site update and by request of a few people, Paul in particular =), we've made the following changes:

-Removed Server/IP details from "Who's Online" Output (security etc.).
-Installed Login script for forums for those with problematic cookie logging (if it doesn't remember you) - so use that.
-Installed obvious link back to main ISPreview page from forums.
-News is now archived on a daily basis rather than every three days, so if you missed it you won't have to wait before it's there.

Broadband Wireless - EDGE

By:mark.j @ 10:18:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just when you thought 3G was about to surface, in comes another broadband wireless technology known as EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution). A recent report from Northstream suggests EDGE could be a commercially viable alternative to 3G:

Although EDGE was initially thought of as a step between GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and UMTS, it should be seen as a simpler way to boost telecommunications technology, said the report. The report also points out that the GSM industry has put all faith in UMTS, a choice that may prove ‘extremely risky.’

It is often urged that EDGE technology will become available at the same time as UMTS/WCDMA, and that it can, therefore, be ignored. However, this makes the dubious assumption that there will be no delay in WCDMA development, a completely new technology.

Additionally, the cost of implementing EGDE over UMTS is far lower, spurring some industry analysts to tout the technology as a safe bet for those operators which have failed to gain 3G licences. Nicky Scott, Ovum mobile consulting group, said: “EDGE is looking to be the standard of choice for those providers without a local 3G licence. Most of the players with the licences will probably go straight from GPRS to 3G, because of the costs involved in such wide area upgrades over short periods.”

The article @ NetImperative shows just how competitive the wireless and mobile industry is starting to become. Multiple competing ideas and standards are always a sign of a growth industry, which Mobile seems to be.

News - October 27,2000

IGClick Drop 128Kbps Without Notice

By:mark.j @ 7:04:PM - Comments (22) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Why is it that some ISPs feel they don't need to tell customers when an essential service is about to be dropped, such is the case with IGClick that's going from bad to worse:

I thought you may want to announce that IG Click are officially removing 128KB access under the residential accounts.

I have an account with them, which I don't use all the time, and today I tried to dialup, and it refuses to channel bond.

Having spent 20 mins on the phone it turns out that it will be a second £80 now for 128KB access.

I'm awaiting a callback (which I will get, because either they call me, or I'll keep calling them) from "Tim Hughes" the manager on duty this afternoon as to why they believe *WITHOUT ANY NOTIFICATION AT ALL* they can remove something which I was originally allowed to have.

Not bad since so far that's a climbdown on no disconnections, which are now 5-6 hourly, or whenever it feels like (so it would seem), constant downtime on the mail server, a lack of IP addresses to allocate meaning that you can't do anything even though you can connect....

The person, who wishes to remain anonymous, will keep us updated on the situation. In the recent past we've tried to contact IGClick and nobody would reply, so much for the ISP claiming to defy convention and WORK.

Yet again we see an example of who ISPs take it upon themselves to remove a key service without any kind of notification. This is the very reason we need a proper and general regulatory organisation.

Europe To Investigate RIP

By:mark.j @ 5:36:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just when you thought the day couldn't get much better after Oftel finally did something (although not much), now it looks like RIP could be for the gallows. The EU is apparently investigating what we've been saying all along, that RIP in itself could have broken the law:

The legality of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act is currently being investigated by the European Commission on four separate counts, according to information released today.

It could even be in breach of the Treaty of Rome - a central plank of Europe's legislation.

Replying to a parliamentary question tabled by British Lib Dem Euro-MP, Diana Wallis, European Commissioner Liikanen said: "The Commission is currently examining the Act to determine if it is compatible with the provisions of several Community dispositions."

The Registers article proves Europe does have its good points as well as bad ones. However whether or not they will reach the conclusion everybody would like to see has yet to be determined.

BTs Slow LLU Could Cost Them

By:mark.j @ 5:30:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ironically the very reason BT delays unbundling, keep competition out and profits high, could actually have the exact opposite effect. In fact BT could stand to make a packet from LLU if they took a long-term via of the DSL market in particular:

According to a report by research firm Analysis, Delivering DSL in Europe, whilst European incumbents, like BT, are aware that they could lose market share at the retail level, they will cause a huge increase in the size of the market in the long term by increasing competition at the local exchange.

At present, the delays caused by negotiations between incumbents, regulators and new entrants participating in unbundling has put the UK at the bottom of the broadband pile and a year behind where it could have been, had BT stopped what the report describes as “obstructive behaviour.”

The report finds that incumbents will be able to accrue significant revenues from other operators winning broadband customers, in providing the unbundled copper, co-location facilities and added services. It adds that companies like BT should also be able to restructure themselves in the longer term to take advantage of this new position in the value chain.

The article @ NetImperative shows that what might seem like an obviously money grabbing move by BT, could actually backfire if they don't get a move on. So it's in BT's best interests to move forward? Time will tell.

ISPreview Site Update

By:mark.j @ 5:25:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We had a few server problems in the early hours of this morning and so if you experienced slow loading then that'd be the reason. Anyway you may have noticed we now have a live (people active at any one moment) ISPr counter on the main page.

Unlike normal counters it tells you exactly who's sweeping the ISPreview pages, where on the site they are and some simple client details. It'd take too much server time to do the whole site so this only works for the main page and the forums - took awhile to make it work.

I’ll save the other stuff for the weekly update on Sunday.

Oftel FINALLY Regulates BT!

By:mark.j @ 10:44:AM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Early this morning Oftel made a first big step to gaining back SOME consumer confidence when they issued some tough new guidelines for British Telecom. They have decided to keep their price control system, which BT disagrees with, and forced BT to cut phone bills by £270,000,000 (2.3%) and drive down charges by other operators.

Oftel claims it would keep its price control system for at least another year and claimed BT's reasoning for having it removed couldn't yet be justified:

"BT has argued that price controls should be removed because of the extent of retail competition"

On top of that it also proposed tougher controls on the prices BT charges rivals for connecting to its network, saying this should lead to other operators offering lower call prices if they passed on their savings. At present while BT charges £9.99 for its line rental, it charges third parties closer to £11+ per month.

Oftel didn't stop there; it warned that further measures would be introduced if competition does not increase significantly in the coming year. Could be a little hard if BT's refusal to meet the LLU deadline of January 1st 2001 isn't met.

BT said it was disappointed by the move, no accurate timetable for the changes has been given, although they are expected to all be implemented by July 2002 when Oftel will make yet more forecasts. It looks like Oftel are finally starting to do their job, which is quite rare.

This announcement is likely to be a big help to competitive Telco's and could see things such as line rental drop by a pound or two from such operators.

Internet Users Concerned About Privacy

By:mark.j @ 10:30:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In the wake of RIP and other privacy infringing bills, acts, regulations and laws, a new global survey has found people are more concerned about net privacy than anything else:

Most respondents claimed they were not concerned about general monitoring by governments, but were more afraid of corporates following their every move on the internet.

Two thirds of the 2096 respondents to a survey carried out in Italy, the US and Singapore by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), said they have ventured onto the web, but the majority agreed that internet users put their privacy at risk every time they go online.

Most respondents also claimed that the internet does not promote isolation. The study found that 47 per cent of users go online each week in the company of other household members, and the majority (88 per cent) said that the internet has neither caused them to reduce nor increase the amount of time spent with the people they live with.

The article @ VNUNet is just another survey on a subject, which seems to be in all our minds right now. Considering they now know what we're all so concerned about, will somebody finally set out some measures to ease it?

Virgin Net Delay Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 10:19:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Virgin Net, which has been running a closed beta of its new unmetered product for some time, has yet again postponed the public launch. Apparently the delay is yet again down to sorting out problems that continue to exist from the beta trials:

Virgin Net told vnunet.com in July that a national rollout of the service would be delayed until September, because of a "cross section" of issues which need to be refined, including technical and customer support issues. A Virgin Net spokesman said today these problems are still being ironed out and would not confirm a definite date when the full service will launch.

"We were hoping to have a full service available in September, but a number of problems encountered in the trial means we will not roll out nationally until we reach a point where the service is robust," said the spokesman, adding that Virgin Net will not commit to a new potential launch date.

The article @ VNUNet shows that we might not be seeing a public offering of Virgin's unmetered for sometime yet. This is the third delay in so many months, although we doubt anybody will loose sleep over it. The news comes a day after AltaVista made it clear they would NEVER go back to an unmetered ISP plan or offering.

Wireless Broadband Auctions

By:mark.j @ 10:12:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Wireless broadband, it's a strange concept, but none the less existent and one, which is about to be sold out to various bidders. The fixed wireless access licenses will be auctioned off to nine potential holders from the 10th November, although all is not as it seems:

The nine bidders now consist of EIRCOM NI, Broadnet UK, Energis, Faultbasic, First Mark Comms, Formus Comms, Norweb, Unica and Winstar. Eircom, parent company to EIRCOM NI, recently announced that it was considering the sale of its mobile business (Eircell) to Vodafone, and that it had received an unconfirmed offer for its fixed line business from an unknown bidder.

A spokesperson for Eircom said: “At the moment we are still going ahead with the auction – we committed ourselves as bidders several months ago. I believe we are the only Irish company bidding.” The licences’ reserve prices are set from £4m for London to £100,000 for Northern Ireland. It is not yet clear how Eircom plans to use the relatively cheap licence – if gained – if it sells off its telecom expertise.

The licences have an inbuilt ‘use it or lose it’ clause, making the acquisition of one useless without the necessary infrastructure and investment. The DTI was not willing to comment as to the deadline for further withdrawls.

The article @ NetImperative goes on to explain about the providers that dropped out from the original 11 and their reasons for doing so. Although we rather like the idea of a USE IT OR LOSE IT clause, at least then you know it'll be a credible company who uses it.

EU Votes For LLU Legislation!

By:mark.j @ 10:06:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Well yesterday the European Union put the new legislation that made a legal framework for LLU to be ready by January 1st 2001 on the voting strip. So how did things pan out?:

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of introducing legislation to speed up the process of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) in Europe.

The new legal framework - widely tipped to be carried - only needs the go-ahead from the member Governments of the European Union to become law.

Although the new regulation could still fail at this point, many see this final phase as a mere rubber stamping exercise.

The article @ The Register is likely to be a big thorn in the side of BT considering their date of July 2001 is somewhat different to January 2001. Although the big question is whether the EU would actually take action against BT, legally, if they do continue along this path?

Knowing the EU they'll probably adopt the 'Tony Blair' approach of shocking BT into submission by writing a letter.. wooo scary.

VisualDepth Launch New Unmetered Offer

By:mark.j @ 9:55:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The unmetered ISP with a history of fraud and deception, VisualDepth, seems to be making a concerted effort to clear its name. Today they finally announced that existing VD customers would be able to join their new unmetered offering:

Dear Customers,

We would like to confirm that we will be launching our new unmetered service very shortly. We hope the first batch of customers to be connected to the service before 25th November. All current customers with accounts will be given priority over new customers. However, the service should be open to new customers from the end of November and a Press Release shall be sent out to anyone on our Mailing List. You can join the list by visiting http://www.visualdepth.com/unmetered.htm

In light of the new offering we will be undergoing some large office changes which will mean that telephone and fax support will not be available. Our offices will be closed from 31st October to 15th November. However, alternatively you may e-mail us on support@visualdepth.com On 16th November normal telephone and fax support will be available on the usual numbers. We apologise for this inconvenience, however this is necessary to upgrade facilities for the new service.

We would advise that you contact support or sales by telephone on 0845 130 7080 before our offices close. You may call between 9am-5pm on Friday or Monday if you require any assistance on any matter. We would also advise you to resolve any problems you presently have before the offices close, as e-mail support may be limited at times.

If you are still awaiting a refund, then we would ask that you are as patient as possible. Our Accounts/Billing Department are working overtime to get your refunds to you as quickly as possible.

Details of the new service can be seen at http://www.visualdepth.com/unmetered.htm however, at present the offering may change slightly and the complete service features are yet to be confirmed.

May we also make you aware of some DNS changes taking place which may affect our web site.

We look forward to offering many of you the service which was originally promised and we hope to obtain extremely high levels of service whilst doing so.

Regards,

The Visual Depth Management Team

The offering itself is quite good, yet people will no doubt be put off by past problems with the ISP and we'll reserve our judgement until it gets reviewed. However you will notice the line we highlighted in bold, there must have been so many customers without net access when EzeSurf died =).

News - October 26,2000

RedHotAnt Scam E-Mail

By:mark.j @ 7:22:PM - Comments (15) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Planet Inferno have just E-Mailed us to mention that there is a fake RedHotAnt E-Mail going around which tries to get your details. NEVER give your login and password details over E-Mail to a technical support agent, always use the phone.

For full details visit the site:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/planetinferno/news.htm

LINX Not So Linked

By:mark.j @ 6:47:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

LINX (London Internet Exchange) seemed to be having as much trouble as rail travel this morning when they suddenly started to experience problems. Being the UKs Internet hub this ended up as quite serious and not only took our several ISPs, but websites as well:

The email, which has been forwarded to netimperative.com, explained: “This means that sites in the UK may be slow, or completely unresponsive.”

A spokesperson at ISP Pavilion, which was affected from 9am said: “At midday it was apparent that LINX was the source of the problem. The exchange went down and that knocked out multiple ISPs.”

Pavilion’s engineers then liased with LINX engineers and apparently took almost two hours to fix the problem.

The article @ NetImperative gives you a minor glimpse at the chaos, which occurs when a major backbone network provider goes down. This comes only weeks after UUNET suffered similar problems; are British networks finding it hard to cope with the extra load from new net growth?

Telewest Trial VoIP

By:mark.j @ 6:39:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long ago we heard of how NTL owned Cable & Wireless planned to overhaul their telephone network by going completely digital and using Voice Over IP instead the usual hardware. According to CableNews, Telewest seem to be doing a similar thing:

Telewest have selected Motorola Broadband and Marconi to trial a cable modem-based Voice-over-IP (VoIP) solution on their broadband cable network.

If successful, the VoIP trial will allow Telewest to migrate more voice and data traffic off its twisted-pair telephony network onto the fibre-rich cable network - the same network which carries television signals, radio services and cable modem access.

Unlike C&W this is just for the broadband lines, but could allow them to advance the system further if they wanted.

SurfingRabbit Reject World Online Customers

By:mark.j @ 6:36:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You usually don't find a problem with moving from one Telco (copper wire) to another, whether it's BT to NTL or NTL to WOL etc. However SurfingRabbit, the other 24/7 free local calls provider next to FreeChariot, seem to take the opposite stance:

You may wish to inform all readers of ISP Review that Surfing Rabbit are declining applications from anyone that is not currently with BT or a cable provider, especially WorldOnline customers (like myself).

I had been waiting for a response from them for a number of weeks now, and today I actually managed to speak to someone other than an answering machine.... (I rang TelecomGB instead).

Needless to say I (and my colleagues who have also sent off applications and are WOL customers) am not happy about this, and have to go through the whole process of finding a new ISP again... (we don't like WOL's policy of changing the T&C's to suit themselves and not the customers)

We couldn't publish the transcript of the message without the other party knowing, sorry about that. However if the message is to be believed then this could be bad news for some:

"Well yes... but at the end of the day it's company policy to decline applications from current WOL customers".

Usually so long as the wire is a standard line based on BT hardware then this is not a problem, especially for bigger Telco's. Our guess is that SurfingRabbit only have an agreement with BT and that perhaps the above quote has been miss-represented? Anybody else have similar problems?

Hesitation For KPNQwest Over ADSL

By:mark.j @ 12:51:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One of the newer groups planning to provide ADSL broadband in the UK, KPNQwest, has today cast a shadow of doubt over its future plans. Instead they may choose to offer wholesale services from Colt Telecom, whatever happens a dramatic down scale in their previous outlook seems to be inevitable:

The company is to slash its rollout from 1300 central exchanges to 300 in Europe. It will continue to operate services in exchanges where its equipment has already been installed, where it is already serving key clients or in locations that serve a sizeable business community.

In the UK, however, the picture is more complicated. In September, the operator applied for co-location space at BT’s exchanges but installation has not yet begun. A spokesperson for KPNQwest said: “That evaluation process is still going on. We can’t confirm where we will go into the UK or if we will go into the UK.”

It has also said that it may expand an existing ‘Master Series’ tariff agreement with Colt Telecom, which supplies metrofibre network connectivity to KPNQwest’s fibre optic backbone in many European countries. This will depend on competitive pricing for wholesale services from other players, but there are certain advantages with Colt. The spokesperson said: “Colt has a presence in the largest number of countries in Europe so there are economies of scale in negotiating large bundles of capacity from Colt.”

The article @ NetImperative suggests the deeper reason for this change of plan is the UKs feet dragging in local loop unbundling. Another victim of LLU or just an easy excuse to avoid doing something they didn't want to anyway? Sounds more like a combination of the two.

HomeHighway BT Free Local Calls Update

By:mark.j @ 12:26:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite a BT manager only recently telling us an announcement would be made on the matter of HomeHighway ISDN users and Free Local Calls come 1st December, one of our readers appears to know different (Stephen):

After lots of 'phoning around, I have been reassured by BT that the prices I have are correct.

HH with Talk Together £119.97 rental with £18 call allowance (per quarter incl VAT).

HH with Surf Together £119.97 rental with £18 call allowance (per quarter incl VAT).

HH with Surf and Talk Together £128.97 rental with £18 call allowance (per quarter incl VAT).

So the most expensive one comes out at around £42.99 per month, which is actually quite an improvement if true. However if you've been following the saga as we try to uncover the truth then you'll know everybody is saying something different to their customers @ BT.

As such we urge people not to take this as gold and to be open minded because now we're going to have to call BT all over again.. and again.. and.. =). If it is correct and finalised then it's not such a bad deal by comparison to current rates, although nor is it perfect.

Dogma Upgrade & Network Takeover

By:mark.j @ 12:17:PM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Dogma, who run unmetered ISP http://www.onlineserve.co.uk , have sent us an update on their network and business situation:

Network Upgrade in operation
thedogmagroup.com has begun its extensive network overhaul, increasing the network with 40 newly installed Windows 2000 Servers and a bandwidth increase of 155Mbps. This means that the network will be 'off-line' for certain part of the day until Sunday of this week. We are extremely sorry for this inconvenience and apologise in advance. The main website, thedogmagroup.com will be 'off-line' to keep trafic around the network to a minimal, until Saturday.

Take over finalised
The Take over of thedogmagroup.com by 1st Media has been finalised. The Group, who have been estimated to be worth £5 million, is now partly owned by 1st Media, a US and UK new media specialist Firm. Their on-going investment in the Company has allowed it to begin making preparations of its launch on the world wide Internet Technologies market; with Offices now opening up in the far east, namely Abu Dhabi, and Islamabad and the America's (offices in New York and Seattle) thedogmagroup.com sets to make even more of success next year. The Company, who is always looking to take on new investors, can be contacted on 0800 542 9550.

Lets hope they get back online soon and without further problems for those who use them.

No Unmetered From AltaVista - EVER

By:mark.j @ 12:06:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Who could forget AltaVistas famous fallout of the unmetered ISP industry during last summer, controversy and blame shifting were figureheads for the day it happened. There had never been an ISP, despite the network they had ready in a status of online and waiting.

However at the time they simply stated it as being "on hold" and not abandoned for good, a tune being sung very differently today:

Now AltaVista, under a new managing director in the UK, Stephanie Himoff, has squashed any suggestions that it may try to relaunch the service. It said it will instead focus its attention on rebuilding itself as a comprehensive search platform.

Speaking to vnunet.com, Himoff said: "We have definitely abandoned any plans to launch an unmetered internet service. AltaVista is going back to its roots and will become the search engine of choice for internet users."

Himoff was appointed managing director following Andy Mitchell's resignation at the end of August. Mitchell's departure was said to be inevitable after he admitted making mistakes in the embarrassing failure of AltaVista's unmetered service.

The article @ VNUNet and UK.Internet is quite a turn around, but then nobody truly believed AV could launch another service of any kind after the last attempt.

New Review @ ISPreview

By:mark.j @ 10:16:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

To help round off this month we've done a review of the ISP FreeChariot, one of the first ISPs to take advantage of the new FRIACO package from BT.

FreeChariot - http://ispreview.co.uk/reviews/fc/index.shtml

The Internet Revolution

By:mark.j @ 9:49:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Barry Schuler, top brass @ America OnLine, today claimed the Internet revolution would be bigger than the industrial revolution. Although to be honest, isn't the Internet just an extension of computers that make for the computer revolution these past twenty years or so?:

Speaking to attendees at Fall Internet World in New York, he said the "Internet Revolution" would "transcend the Industrial Revolution on the effect on mankind". Schuler, who is president of the US ISP's Interactive Services Group, was relentlessly upbeat throughout his presentation.

Around 75 per cent of e-shoppers have bought online while in their pyjamas, which is a good sign, he told the assembled masses. This means cyberspace is getting into more aspects of people's lives, and users are spending longer online - AOL reckons its average customer spends one hour per day on the Net.

And the next wave will be through the use of non-PC devices to get online. The technology behind the four key boxes in the home, the TV, music player, computer and telephone, will converge through the Internet in the next decade, he said. They will all be run via one broadband pipe in the home - in his words, just part of: "a huge wave of transformation" we should expect.

The article @ The Register makes it all sound very wonderful and like a brave new world, but there's a problem, Telecommunications. Won't people need more phone lines and hardware will have to be flexible, the problem with current crops is they don't allow you to change ISP.

Perhaps more worrying still is that the AOL chief hopes their ISP will be at the heart of all these new devices, we're not quite sure what to make of that.

Wonderful news for the likes of BT and new Telco's entering an industry that's about to boom, not so great news for the consumers - at least not for a few more years. Give us an Internet box/appliance that allows the use of an unmetered ISP please!

24-7Freecall Apologise

By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - Comments (28) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Last week, in response to the large number of complaints we had been getting related to the 24-7FreeCall ISP, we sent out a tough letter to get more information. Earlier in the week we were told a full response would be pending and now today it has arrived:

24-7Freecall

A LETTER TO SUBSCRIBERS FROM THE CHAIRMAN, ALIAS DASS, IN RESPONSE TO RECENT CRITICISM.

First of all I would like to apologise to our subscribers who have suffered an intermittent standard of service over recent weeks.

I have set out below the reasons for the current problems and also what we are doing to resolve these as a matter of extreme urgency:

1. As you are aware, the service is only 4 months old and the first three months were effectively a 'soft launch' period where the service was only available to a controlled number of new subscribers. During the soft launch we had experienced certain technical issues which have since been resolved.

2. In October we have experienced an unanticipated level of new subscribers due to the sad demise or suspension of other unmetered offerings.

3. This has been compounded by a number of abusers and people using the service for business purposes. We have identified 'keep-alive' software and business users both of which are prohibited by our Terms & Conditions. Some accounts have been consistently online for 720 hours per month and this is resulting in congestion problems for other users.

4. We are working with our technology partner Telia UK (www.telia.co.uk) to increase capacity and return to the usually high levels of service for all of our subscribers. This is in conjunction with our policy to diligently enforce our Terms & Conditions and eliminate abusers and business users using legal action where appropriate.

I will of course keep you informed of progress.

Yours sincerely

Alias Dass LL.B (Hons)
Chairman

It makes for a refreshing change to see such an ISP actually apologise for the problems rather than sweeping them under a blanket of politics. It's also good to see they actually responded, yet the response doesn't really address the individual issues that we wanted to know about.

One other thing we're sure our readers would have highlighted is the remark about re-dialling software and being online for 720 hours. For an ISP with no cut off this should be expected and why does re-dial software even need to be used? Simply, 24-7FC keeps auto-disconnecting people every few minutes; that's why.

In fact the whole increase in capacity sounds wonderful, yet our readers claim speed is not so much the problem. Engage tones, random disconnects and problems with the login system are. No explanation for those =(, we'll wait and see what more comes.

News - October 25,2000

ISDN To ADSL Problems Continue

By:mark.j @ 6:34:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

More bad news for those waiting for a proper and REAL way to move DIRECTLY from ISDN to ADSL as BT now says we'll have to wait until next year:

BT has told ISDN customers who want an upgrade to asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) that they can't have the service until early next year, while customers with no ISDN connection are already being signed up.

BT said the problem, which has infuriated Home Highway customers, is due to a combination of technical and administrative issues. It said a method for smoothly transferring ISDN customers to ADSL is still being developed, and won't be ready until early 2001.

One irate vnunet.com reader said: "I am told by BT that the reason I am delayed is that I am a Home Highway customer and must go to the back of the queue, as analogue phone users are being given preference even if I pre-ordered."

The article @ VNUNet also goes on to highlight some of the other issues we've been talking about recently @ ISP Review. Thankfully most people with ISDN wouldn't be able to get ADSL until early next year anyway. Lets just hope their idea of an upgrade isn't what they are currently testing with Nildram!

Mistral Internet Ltd. Go ADSL

By:mark.j @ 6:29:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yet another new broadband (ADSL) provider is Mistral Internet Ltd. that are specifically for business and can have you connected within seven days! If they don't manage it then you can always get your money back:

Mistral, which is reselling the BT ADSL wholesale product, has been trialling the service for two months with 150 business clients, and says it’s now one of the few ISPs to actually be live with a service. “While some 29 companies claim to offer ADSL, our own research found that only around 10 can accept orders and deliver, and most of them offer a lead time of 30 to 60 days to install,” said Steve Spink, founder and managing director, Mistral.

According to Karl Robinson, sales manager, the company is able to deliver in seven days because it has managed to lock-in the necessary level of service with BT. “You need to get a point of contact set up properly [with BT]. 99% of the time you’re not speaking to the right person at BT – they really need to start offering some SLAs [service level agreements]” he said.

The article @ NetImperative goes into quite a bit more detail on this offer, although we love the idea of a service level agreement. We certainly think there are a good few ISPs that could benefit from having an SLA they actually stick to - rare.

FreeChariot Help The Disabled

By:mark.j @ 6:13:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

FreeChariot today seem to be one of very few ISPs that are taking an active stance to help the disabled or those stuck at home (alright for some =]):

Freechariot – A thought for the Unbounded talents of the Disabled and Homebound Women.

Women at home and the disabled no longer have to fall in line for the leftovers of large National companies. A medium sized Internet service provider and Telecommunications Company is offering a chance for homebound women and the disabled to further enhance and showcase their talent, through the greatest communications tool in the world.

While the major telecommunications, and ISP companies argue about the direction of Internet access, and unmetered calls, Freechariot decided to stop the bickering over pointless pennies. The company presently offers free unmetered Internet calls and free unmetered local phone calls at all times.

National companies use people in the workplace. They have not taken the time to realise that talent and brains exist in abundance within the ranks of homebound women and the disabled. Freechariot has recognised that there is a need to share the possibility of success for the individual within the rank and file of this large section of the UK populace. It offers a chance for the disabled and women at home, to break the barriers and communicate to the world from the comfort of their home at no cost. For the visually impaired, Freechariot is developing a Voicelinx communications portal whereby the use of hand movement is not required.

A sensation of misunderstanding might exist in some minds as to why any company would want to do this! The answer is thus. Freechariot believes that everyone should have the right to the information and communication the Internet can provide to all. Disabled users should also have access to the services available in their local area through a free unmetered local phone service.

Freechariot is also developing the best online configuration tool for small to medium businesses, which will enable the smooth migration from an ordinary off-line activity to a value-added on-line trading company. This company is really a revolutionary organisation that has much to offer to anyone in the UK, but has special interest, and support, for the massive talent within the ranks of women at home and the disabled.

The company is situated in the Docklands campus of the University of East London. Working with Mencap and other partners, freechariot intends to challenge and surpass the offers of large companies. This company may not have size yet, but it does possess power of vision and direction.

James Brown

Freechariot Media Relations Department

URL: http://www.freechariot.co.uk

In the past we've had some disabled people ask us about ISPs like this and haven't known quite how to answer, at least now they finally have some options to hand. To be honest we also know some other readers who wouldn't mind a way of accessing the Internet without needing to move =), sheer luxury.

24-7FreeCall Refunds

By:mark.j @ 11:44:AM - Comments (13) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Slightly off the topic of service problems and more onto the best way of getting your money back, for anybody considering this, Eric has some interesting information for you to read first:

I just phoned 24-7Freecall and had a long 'chat' with someone on their 'help'?? desk. It seems that if a user wants a refund or to cancel their a/c they have to contact freecall via e-mail?? or fax or letter - they wont take it over the phone. Also they said some people are getting connected and it was BT's local exchanges at fault. He did acknowledge that the initial problem had now turned into other problems and they were trying to sort these out as well.

On the subject of refunds, he did say his company wouldn't refund if it went more than a month without a connection - it was up to the user to do the dirty deed and cancel. So basically they will keep taking our money and 'we' will have to try and cancel it ourselves... nice huh? :)

Nothing too unusual there, typical way for most kinds of business to handle refunds. Usually doing it just by fax or post is simply a way of having physical evidence, although it shouldn't be a requirement.

Cloud Nine Gets Surfing – But at a COST

By:mark.j @ 11:04:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to a quick news posting from Net4Nowt we can now see that yet another heavy BTSurftime ISP, Cloud Nine, has moved itself onto the launch pad. By heavy we mean they have some packages with no cut off times for half decent business package prices - or are they?:

***NEWS FLASH***

NOW ACCEPTING ORDERS FOR HOMESURF AND BUSINESSSURF. NETWORK CONNECT TESTING FOR FRIDAY 27TH OCTOBER AVAILABILITY.

Expect delivery of HomeSurf and BusinessSurf orders from Wednesday and Network Connect from Friday or next Monday latest (contingent on migration of our existing 0845 dial-up users). HomeSurf Lite will be available within the next 10 days.

Please download a copy of our order form in Rich Text Format (RTF) and return by fax or snail mail. An online version of the order form will be available within the next 48 hours. Priority will be given to those who have pre-registered for our services.

Numbers will be limited in the first wave to enable us to monitor service performance and availability. As a business provider Cloud Nine will be ensuring that MySurftime users will enjoy some of the lowest user to modem ratios (typically 4/1 or less) to minimise the possibility of engaged connections. We will be monitoring this carefully to ensure optimum service.

Take note that Cloud Nines actual packages are NOT for the faint of heart. Starting at £16.98 per month for the lite option and rising to £57.01 for business offers - it's expensive.

None of these packages appear to offer 128KBps ISDN access and won't do until BT fixes the issue properly.

More Mobile Phone Warnings

By:mark.j @ 10:45:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to two separate research groups, one in the UK and the other Australia, mobile phones can heat the skin and cause nerve damage to the ears:

The UK study looked at the physiological changes during a 30-minute conversation on a cell phone. Researchers found that after just six minutes the temperature of the skin near the phone had risen by 2.3 degrees, and the flow of air through the nose had changed on the side closest to the phone.

The good news is that the researchers reckon the use of a hands-free kit can reduce our exposure to the heating, and so reduce symptoms. They acknowledge that the long-term implications for health are unclear.

The Australians cite the case of a man who had nerve damage to the side of his head, which they could not find the root of, even after a brain scan. They found that he had a marked difference in response on one side of his head, and suffered pain after using a phone for an hour on two consecutive days.

The article @ The Register goes on to detail out the proof of why this is occurring, although it's still a little thin. Much like smoking is the lung cancer, most people will likely take very little notice. We wonder how long it is before scientists prove a definite link between RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) and trying to browse WAP pages =).