October 20, 2000 - October 25, 2000
News - October 25,2000
Oftel Offers Shared LLU Access
By:mark.j @ 10:36:AM -
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Oftel has today put forward a draft plan that could potentially allow Telco operators to offer different services over a single line. This would make it easier for competitors to enter the market and give operators the choice of offering both voice and high-speed data services, or just high-speed data services.
The shared access proposal means two operators will be able to offer different services over a single telephone line, making it easier for competitors to enter the market, says Oftel, “as it allows companies to offer DSL services without voice telephony.”
The proposal is that either incumbents, being BT or Kingston, lease the necessary spectrum to other operators, or that the competitor takes control of the line and leases the voice frequency back to the incumbent.
The article @ Netimperative states that Telco's are welcome to submit feedback up until the 21st November 2000, soon after they'll issue a formal statement depending on that feedback. Sounds interesting enough, but just how flexible can such a thing really be?
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Online E-Photos From SupaNet
By:mark.j @ 10:29:AM -
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What's an e-photo you ask? Well that's a good question and one the SupaNet ISP could have the answer for. If you own a digital camera then there's now a very easy way to get quick and professional prints of your photos:
ISP Supanet.com has teamed up with Pixology, the digital imaging software company, to offer its users an e-photo printing service.
Supaphoto enables people who have digital cameras and scanners to turn their digital images into traditional glossy prints at the click of a button.
Customers can insert the memory card from the camera into a card reader, or connect the camera directly to the PC, and the pictures will be automatically displayed on the website.
The article @ NetImperative is certainly something we haven't seen before from the ISP industry and quite an interesting innovation at that. As you'd expect these photos could be fiddled with and finally sent by post directly to your door, now that really is digital photography! http://www.supanet.com
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Freeserve T&C Changes
By:mark.j @ 10:19:AM -
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More people informed us of Freeserves new T&C changes than can be found in a large anthill! So thanks to you all:
Dear Unlimited Freeserve Time member,
re. Revised Terms and Conditions Of Unlimited Freeserve Time Service
According to Clause 1.7 of the Unlimited Freeserve Time Terms and
Conditions of Service you accepted at registration (which stated that we may alter terms and conditions on 21 days notice to you), this email is to inform you that new terms will come into effect 21 days from today's date.
The new terms contain a clearer description of the Unlimited Freeserve Time Service and the steps that may be taken in order to manage network capacity, including a new right to impose limits on storage space provided under the service. Both of these changes have proved necessary in order to safeguard network capacity for the majority of those using the service.
A copy of the new Terms and Conditions of Service, which have been agreed between Freeserve and your network provider Energis-Squared Ltd, may be found at www.freeserve.com/time/terms.htm
Please note that there is no need to re-register. The new terms are on the Freeserve portal for your convenience to view only.
If you do not wish to be bound by these new terms, you may terminate the agreement at any time before the new terms become effective. However, you shall be deemed to have accepted the new terms if you continue to use the service after that date.
Regards,
Freeserve
Not knowing exactly what the original terms were we couldn’t exactly see what has changed. Either way the bit we've highlight might be cause for concern, we personally don't agree with changes to T&Cs that affect service AFTER LAUNCH.
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NTLs ISP Growth
By:mark.j @ 10:11:AM -
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Despite NTLs service getting a very mixed reception, some bad - some good, according to today’s statistics they still seem to be making progress:
Internet services have provided a large growth area, with total UK Internet subscribers growing to over 1.5 million from 1.1 million three months ago. 665,100 of these were using ntl or Cable and Wireless branded Internet services, including 381,000 using the unmetered ntlworld service. The remainder use wholesale products, mainly the Virgin Net service that ntl recently agreed to acquire.
Turning importantly to the flagship ntlworld product, it is confirmed that the much hyped backlog of orders for disks to access the service has now been cleared. Unless you live in an ex-CWC area where the service has yet to launch, your disk should be dispatched immediately. After months of delays and confusion, it looks likely that supply problems have relented for the next few months at least.
Although the company reported that 80,000 customers were now using broadband services across Europe, only a few thousand of these are believed to be in the UK. Fortunately recent pricing trials would indicate an imminent more aggressive stance, and the operating statement today confirms that:
"The demand for this product is substantial. Accordingly, the roll-out of cable modems will be a major emphasis of NTL in the fourth quarter and into 2001 and beyond."
You can read the full article @ CableNews, although from the complaints we get it might be wise for NTL to slow the addition of new subscribers to ALL services - down!
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News - October 24,2000
BTOpenworlds Speed BUG
By:mark.j @ 5:14:PM -
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Apparently BTOpenworld (broadband ADSL ISP) has been hit with a nasty bug that prevents people from using the high speed - always on, broadband service. The bug only seems to affect USB devices (typical) and as yet a patch issued has failed to resolve the problem.
People who've signed up to the £40-a-month service have reportedly been suffering access difficulties for the last week or so and at the moment there appears to be no resolution to the problem.
It's understood the glitch centres on a dynamic IP address server, which is not recycling dynamic IP addresses once they have been freed up by someone logging off or losing their connection.
In non propeller-head speak, it means that instead of continually re-using IP addresses, they are simply used up until there are non left. When that happens, Net users are frozen out of the service until BTOpenwoe reboots its server and the IP addresses can be used again.
The article @ The Register also asked BTO when they now expected it to be fixed and no firm answer could be given. Until more is known the best advise is to just keep trying to connect, as you may get on eventually (don't disconnect thou =]).
At the heart of the article is how BTO's support staff failed to keep people informed about the bug properly, just typical of all BT groups in all aspects. They give you a nice face and smile, but either end up telling you twoddle or just nothing at all.
BT is considering compensation after some people hadn't even been able to get on for 11 days!
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C.U.T On Bandwidth Limits
By:mark.j @ 5:04:PM -
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Don't confuse that title because it's just the C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) taking up that big bandwidth issue that Plus.NET recently brought about. Customers were suddenly astonished when the ISP reminded them there was a 500mb bandwidth limit, something broadband simple isn't designed to work with:
As it happened the Secretary of the Campaign had previously signed up to the PlusNet service, objected strongly when informed, by another mailing list member, of the limit and cancelled; PlusNet accepted his cancellation and he is awaiting a refund of the installation fee. He asked the questions above but was ignored; he would not have signed up if there had been a bandwidth limit stated at the time.
We have noted many often-contradictory emails and newsgroup postings from PlusNet staff trying to defend their company; our most charitable interpretation of what has happened is that PlusNet always had bandwidth limits but, fatally, forgot to tell the outside world until it was too late.
This sorry affair exposes many wider issues. The most pressing is that imposing bandwidth limits could be an easy way for a dishonest Internet Service Provider to milk its customers.
As usual CUT bring a fine tune or light to a dark matter, which has consumers up in arms the UK over. Not only that but they even brave mention to the recent Freeserve problems as a disjointed parallel of sorts.
However the bit we agree with the most comes next, please remember that the ISPA is a regulation group for 1/6 of the total UK ISP population:
We are taking the issue very seriously and will be pushing various organisations to do something; it is difficult to know where to start as - as noted before - there is currently no regulation of Internet Service Providers and they can more or less do as they please, but we will try.
Maybe ISPreview should try and put some regulations together and submit them to the government? What do you think?
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New Reviews @ ISPreview
By:mark.j @ 4:40:PM -
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Government Expands Wireless Broadband
By:mark.j @ 1:16:PM -
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Everything seems to be getting faster these days, no sooner than ADSL and Cable Modems finally surface we suddenly find wireless broadband on the doorstep:
The government announces it is to extend the auction of fixed wireless Internet access in a bid to improve the choice of broadband services in the UK.
Two new radio frequencies -- 3.4GHz and 10GHz -- will be made available to supplement the existing 28GHz and 40GHz frequencies that are currently being auctioned off. The spectrum allocations for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), will make it possible for broadband Internet exceeding the capacity of ADSL to be delivered to home and small business users without laying new high-capacity land lines.
While the higher frequencies -- which will provide many times the bandwidth of ADSL -- are targeted at large businesses, the 3.4GHz and 10GHz frequencies is aimed at home and small business users. It will be up to network operators, however, to decide what capacity is on offer to customers, which will depend largely on the cost of building and operating the infrastructure.
You can read the full article over @ ZDNet, although most people will likely still be using their WAP phones and Modems for some time to come. Industries move fast, but they'd better not move so fast that people can't afford to keep up.
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Dutch Relaxed Over LLU
By:mark.j @ 1:10:PM -
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It's good to hear that while the British are up in arms about BT's LLU delays, at least the Dutch Telco - Novaxess - is taking it in its stride. That all despite the fact they remain committed to offering broadband ADSL services from the beginning of next year:
Indeed, the Amsterdam-based company is remarkably mellow and laid back, preferring to take a more conciliatory tone towards solving the issues surrounding this complex issue.
Marc Destrée, CEO Novaxess told The Register that while BT had to face up to its responsibilities and obligations, it was pointless taking legal action against the incumbent.
He said that legal action was "extreme" and that it was his ambition to build a "bilateral commercial relationship with BT".
The article @ The Register comes only days after the European Commission played down rumours they had any sort of legal plans to act against BT if the legal legislation is finally passed this week.
Begs the question, what's the point in such legislation if you state it won't be used? Kinder defeats the objective doesn't it? We'll never truly understand such politics. However they didn't say it wouldn’t be used, just that no plans would be made until AFTER it was passed, so it's all clear now - get it?
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RIP Comes Into Power TODAY
By:mark.j @ 1:01:PM -
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Watch out, look over your shoulders and clear those naughty E-Mails becaise RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) has come into power as of today:
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill has come into effect today, giving employers powers to monitor staff emails, internet activity and phonecalls.
The controversial bill, which was passed in the Commons in July after a number of amendments, will mean that companies can check both internal and external emails sent through their work computers. It also allows employers to monitor which sites staff are accessing.
The government claims the bill will serve to protect staff by giving companies the chance to intercept computer viruses or pornographic material.
Almost everybody we've spoken to has been utterly against the bill, which almost totally evaporates online privacy and paves the way for abuse. The two key campaigners against the bill, the Data Protection & Human Rights act continue to try and have certain parts of the bill amended even today.
Despite all this opposition the government has still gone ahead and thus sold its online industry down the river and left it open for total corruption and or abuse. It'll be interesting to see what ISPs like ClaraNet do, who not long ago said they'd shift mail servers to other countries in an attempt to avoid RIP.
Of course if you're clever you can avoid the system entirely, but you may have to search our news archives to find out how =). The key issue all along, lack of regulation is what still dogs the new law even today. Of course the $10,000 question is, has the government broken some of its own laws by introducing it?
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ISDN To ADSL Update
By:mark.j @ 12:41:PM -
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Speccy from good old Barrysworld sent us along an interesting E-Mail he got related the to the 'ISDN TO ADSL' discussion going on @ ISPreview right now:
You might be interested to know that I was recently trying to get my ISDN2e upgraded to ADSL and hit the same problem with them requiring a PSTN line. The difference with me however is that I actually wanted to keep the ISDN as a backup line until I knew how good the ADSL was for online gaming.
Well I phone BT and they said that they do not consider ISDN/HH as a first line so I would have to pay £99 which is their standard charge for new lines (£49 is the charge for a second PSTN line). Basically the charge which Nildram are saying is something they have managed to arrange is BT's standard charge for this downgrade anyway plus the cost of the ADSL install after that, so it would make no difference if you arranged it yourself and just went to Nildram for the ADSL install.
Also, I recently mailed Easynet asking for information on getting the ISDN changed directly to ADSL or them co-existing and they replied:
This is something we are discussing with BT and hope to be able to offer both in the near future. We should know towards the end of next week.
Any further enquiries please feel free to contact us.
Regards
******* Easynet (UK) Ltd http://www.easynet.net
Good old BT, yes good old BT indeed, ISDN users are already being overcharged and now we actually have to pay if we don't want it anymore - GOOD OLD BT! So it now seems that no matter what you do there will still be a charge to get rid of ISDN - £99.
Interestingly the BTHH Site currently states the installation cost as £49, so if we are to believe BT then it actually costs more to remove than install - WE LOVE BT - REALLY WE DO! Why does nobody ever get these things sorted out? Oftel? Trading Standards? Anybody?
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BTOpenworld Consumer Site
By:mark.j @ 10:24:AM -
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Every couple of weeks or so a customer with HTML knowledge from a troubled ISP comes up with a website aimed at customers of the very same service. Thanks to all who informed us, but this weeks troubled ISP is the broadband (ADSL) provider BTOpenworld, who now have one very unhappy customer:
http://www.btopenwoe.org.uk/
What follows is one person's experiences with BT Openworld. My aim is to get people to share their experiences, be they good or bad with me, and to post those here. Anonymity will be preserved
The reason I'm doing this is that every time a BT Openworld exec is interviewed by the press, they assure us that their roll-out is going smoothly. My experiences with them have been very bad so far, and from what I have read on more informed technology web sites, so have a lot of other people's.
Oftel say that they are not responsible for BT services such as this, so I'm on my own. With your help, by collating and publishing a list of other peoples experiences, it will be a lot harder for BT Openworld execs to deny the problems that many people currently face.
Less of a complaints site and more one persons own experience at the hands of heavy handed BTOpenworld.
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News - October 23,2000
EC Has No Plans To Attack BT Over LLU
By:mark.j @ 4:58:PM -
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Contrary to an article spread around by the newspapers today, where an EC (European Commision) spokesman claimed the EC was planning to take Britain to the European Court of Justice if it fails to comply with the law (Doesn't unbundle LLU). Such a report has now been put down and described as, "speculation" and came "a little bit too early".
This is of course related to the European legislation that's designed to crack down on incumbent Telco's who don't get LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) completed inside the correct timeframe.
The actual legislation obliging European Union governments to liberalise access to the local loop, the last mile of cable which connects peoples' homes to the telephone network, is due to be endorsed by the European Parliament this week.
Obviously being of political stature the legislation would mean nothing whatsoever unless it's passed:
"The regulation first has to come into force. The Commission would then monitor its implementation in a balanced way," the commission spokesman claims. Finally, as if to clear things up - he states, "We have no plans at this point in time to take action against the U.K. or BT on this issue".
Not that it'd matter, as we keep saying, it's now so late that whatever happens delays are inevitable.
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Six Telco Shoot Out Over LLU
By:mark.j @ 4:43:PM -
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High noon as a group of six trigger happy Telco's line up at the end of town to defend their business. On the other side stands BT and Oftel, hands tightly clutched together - hugging and kissing like those annoying couples in public places. In the middle stands the E-Minister.
Sounds like another day in the life of Local Loop Unbundling to us, where the troublesome six (as BT might say) have now issued an ultimatum to the E-Commerce Minister - do or...:
According to the Telegraph, the six outfits - Cable & Wireless, Colt Telecom, Energis, Kingston Communications, Thus and WorldCom (Worldcom have just called to say that they weren't there) - went toe-to-toe with Patricia Hewitt demanding she intervene.
In what was described as a "robust exchange of views", the six said they would "consider legal action and a public campaign", unless she forced BT and Oftel to get a move on.
Colt told The Reg that it took part in the meeting because it was "concerned about BT's ability to deliver space in its exchanges".
The article @ The Register provides for yet another notch in the never-ending saga of LLU - soon to be made into a book, ok we lie.
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Nildram: ISDN To ADSL Rip Off
By:mark.j @ 4:31:PM -
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Nildram are a very popular British ISP, which are not only fast, but have good support and services too. However, they are also the first to trial a scheme that allows you to upgrade your ISDN line to ADSL for £99 inc V.A.T. At least that's what we and many others thought until one of our readers (Ewok) got clarification:
I just got confirmation from Nildram on the £99 conversion to ADSL. Which I thought was a bit unclear until now. According to the reply I recieved from Nildram today, the £99 charge does NOT get you an ADSL line. What it gets you is a standard PSTN BT phone line whcih you then have to pay a further £150+vat to get converted to an adsl line.
So basically BT are charging people £99 to remove their homehighway, which then basically gives you a standard telephone line. Now seeing as people paid for the original PSTN line to be installed, and THEN paid for the homehighway line to be installed, how can they charge you the cost for a brand new line just to remove the homehighway and put the line back to the state it was in when you originally paid for the line to be installed? Your basically then being charged TWICE to have the SAME phone line installed.
And thats the thanks we get for the loyalty of having a BT homehighway line in the first place and the hassle that goes with doing ANY kind of dealings with BT. I mean christ, we should get FREE adsl installation, not have to pay £99 MORE than anyone else!!!!!!!!!
It looks as though Nildram have joined the new 'Where's the logic and justification in that then?' group, which currently also contains Plus.Net (bandwidth issues) and anything BT =). We've heard of paying for something to be installed, but not having something uninstalled!
Imagine if you had to pay repossession groups to take away your house and belongings, it just wouldn't make sense. If you've finished the 12-month ISDN contract then it would seem easier to just cancel ISDN and install ADSL.
Perhaps the £99 charge is more suited to those still inside a 12-month contract, we simple don't know.
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24-7Freecall Update
By:mark.j @ 1:32:PM -
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After we sent an angry customer style letter to 24-7Freecall last week on behalf of our 24-7Freecall based readership, we have today received an initial response:
Thanks for your recent email.
We are working with Telia to resolve the issues quickly and I will be emailing you with more information shortly.
Best Wishes
This seems like an all to similar E-Mail we had several months ago that was never followed up. This is most likely not what our readers were hoping for in a reply, but we'll see whether anything new comes soon - here's living in hope.
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E-Mail Privacy Battle Continues
By:mark.j @ 12:16:PM -
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While the RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) act and Human Rights Bill are currently trying to reach agreements, one of the RIP spin offs, related to business e-mail privacy, continues to cause havoc:
The new law, the next round in what could be a long fight, gives bosses wide monitoring powers. The crux of the issue is whether workers have the right to expect privacy if they use a work phone or email connection.
In one corner are businesses, who say they need wide access to staff communications to do their job properly -- to answer business mail sent to a worker who is taken ill, to control telephone help lines, or to check for computer viruses.
On their side is the new act on Lawful Business Practices Regulations, whose initial monitoring restrictions were loosened after companies complained they would form an intolerable burden.
The article @ ZDNet suggests that a legal confrontation is looking to be an increasingly real possibility. Any outcome from such a proceeding could have a real effect on the RIP law itself.
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Freeserve Backlash Continues
By:mark.j @ 12:05:PM -
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Comparitivly, Freeserve are actually the smallest offenders when it comes to throwing people from a service for abuse that they themselves try to encourage. Unlike some ISPs, their upper limit was higher than anything we've seen before, but that doesn't excuse them from the complaints.
We now point you to an exceptionally well written article @ The Register which, highlights three well made complaints about the problem - here's a quote from one
No one can actually hog a connection for more than two hours and all are being thrown off on a two-hour rolling rotation. In that case won't the ratio of abusers connected be the same as the ratio of abusers to good guys in the queue trying to connect. As the queue gets longer the ratio of abusers drops - so the abuse is self regulating, as demand increases the number of modems used up by abusers is reduced.
There are several levels to this dispute and whatever your opinion of what is or is not 'abuse' the fact remains that this is primarily a contractual issue. I was lured into a contract as a result of advertising which very clearly and specifically sought to suggest I was entitled to connect to and use the internet for as long as I wanted, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. There is no other reasonable way to interpret Freeserve's advertising of this product. The terms and conditions endorse that belief by specific reference to the Freeserve Time web page which is (or was, until it was recently amended) dominated by the terms 'Unlimited', 'day and night', '24 hours a day' and so on. The terms and conditions also say that you will be disconnected after two hours of use but there is no limit on the amount of times you can re-connect in any day.
The terms and conditions make no mention of time constraints or bandwidth limits. I accept they do allow for termination of the service where it is abused. But you simply cannot argue that using the service for 17, or even 24 hours a day is an abuse when the product name, its advertising, and the terms and conditions not only condone, but encourage such use in offering it as a specific selling point. Freeserve set the price, I would have paid more and am now doing so. I did not ask for a cheap service I was offered it and merely accepted the deal.
A very well made point as I'm sure you'll agree, the T&C's in general seem to depict a political contradiction of terms. On the one side it encourages you and the other it gives them the right to terminate your account without justifying to what end this would be the case.
It's about time EVERY ISP, unmetered or not, defined this area clearly. You can't use language that positively encourages lengthy system use and then kick people when they follow suit, it's just plain WRONG!!
Where's this general ISP Regulatory body we heard about when all this is happening, why don't we have anybody to help protect us outside of concerned news sites and media? These are questions without answers and such a thing is never good.
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BT ISDN (HH) & BT Talk Together...
By:Ross14 @ 11:36:AM -
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In the on-going Saga of whether HH customers will be able to receive the BT Talk (and Surf) Together packages, well we can give more hope to you all by quoting the words from a BT Manager, "it should definetely be available."
We have today spoken with a BT Manager, and we were told the following:
-As HH is classed as 1 line (because both 2 PSTN and 2 Digital Lines run off the same line) then the BT Talk and Surf Together Packages should be available, and because of this, it is looking likely that BT Talk Together will only be available on your main line (ie, line 1 on your HH box)
-Prices aren't clear yet, but BT are presently designing packages that HH customers shall benefit from.
-Customers who are on HH should call 0800 055 555 for pricing information and the packages available in the last few weeks of November or they should check the bt.com website. Promotional Mailing should also be sent out after 1st December to all HH customers.
Well, finally we are now getting somewhere! At least BT have finally noticed that they need to stop ignoring HH users, and get on with giving us more options.
Let's just hope that the line rental comes down and that it won't be too expensive to have BT Talk Together on your HH package.
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RedHotAnt Authentication Update
By:mark.j @ 10:32:AM -
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RedHotAnt have updated their status page with a little item about those authentication errors the majority have been putting up with:
23rd October 2000 09:46:00
Users may experience intermittent authentication problems with "password incorrect" errors being displayed. Our engineers are working to resolve this issue and we hope to have the problem fixed as soon as possible.
We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.
Lets just hope ASAP means in the next few days and not months like it usually does, at least RHA do seem to be improving, although it’s a slow improvement.
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UK E-Commerce Dwindles
By:mark.j @ 10:24:AM -
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More proof this morning from The Times Newspaper that our very own UK is starting to lag behind the rest of Europe on e-commerce:
BRITAIN is lagging behind France, Germany and The Netherlands in embracing the e-commerce age, according to a survey released today. The eCom index, which tracks 250 companies earning more than 1 per cent of revenue through e-commerce, found that the UK scored only 15 points on its index, compared with 22 for Europe.
Phil Race, e-commerce business manager for CMG, a global information and technology group based in London and Holland, which tracked the companies during four quarters, said that four main factors were holding Britain back from doing business over the Internet.
The primary reasons were over-hype and a risk-averse culture. “In March everyone was bullish about e-commerce. It was going to be the panacea for all organisations.”
The mood broke with the failure of several business-to-consumer (B2C) ventures. “It’s like the UK football team manager’s job, swings and roundabouts. One day they’re superb, the next they’re out of a job.”
Not looking good for poor old England, so much for Tony Blair’s promise to push e-commerce in the UK and make it a leader. Perhaps he could start by stepping in to sort out Local Loop Unbundling.
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News - October 22,2000
ISPreview Speed Up
By:mark.j @ 4:37:PM -
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We removed the old Tech News box from the middle left nav section here on the main page; it was the reason we had long loading delays. That's now been replaced with more LIVE forum output, this time instead of the Active Topics, it shows the Most Recent/New Forum Topics.
Hopefully those of you who complained about delays should find ISPreview much faster to load - hopefully.
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ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 1:01:PM -
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Late update this afternoon because we had a staff meeting so the new members could get to know each other a little better. The meeting itself was general, with no specific topics, so nothing to bother you about.
Back to ISPr and there should be two new things, possibly four, to look out for next week. Firstly we have the new reviews layout (yes again), the new ones are quicker to do and should be easy to update as time goes by. We just need to do a few test reviews and make sure they are printer friendly and then you'll see it.
Richard is also putting the finishing touches to a vastly more impressive Unmetered ISP List, it may or may not go live next week, but that's up to Richard. Either way you should all find it an obvious improvement.
Onto the forums, if you wish to comment about an unmetered ISP and we already have a specific section for it then comment in that section. If we haven't got it listed (can't have all of them - loading times etc.) then post in the general complaints bit as usual.
Other than the new reviews and listings + a possible new section or two, next week will be spent sorting internal matters. We're starting to look further into ISPr's future now and all your suggestions have of course been noted.
Hopefully next week’s update will be a happy one for ISPr if all goes to plan, we'll see.
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The Missing £5m
By:mark.j @ 11:28:AM -
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Net4Nowt have had their heads in the papers today as they delve out yet another article from the Sunday Telegraph. This time BT have made another mistake which resulted in them loosing £5,000,000:
Up to a million users of internet services managed by BT on behalf of other firms have unwittingly been getting free calls. Now the customers, possibly including those whose internet access is provided by W H Smith and Tesco, are being hit with big backdated bills.
A BT spokesman yesterday blamed the problem on a "computer glitch". Calls to some numbers that begin with the 0845 code and are usually used for internet access were read by BT's computers as free 0800 numbers.
No details of exactly which ISPs were affected have been released, although one thing is for sure, the consumers will still have to pay for the calls accidentally made free =(.
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Oftel To Oppose Free Local Calls?
By:mark.j @ 11:21:AM -
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It's bad enough we've all been crying out for a more competitive unmetered deal well in excess of two years, but just when you think things are getting good - they go bad - Net4Nowt reports on a Daily Telegraph Article:
Oftel's worries could lead to the stalling of British Telecom's plans to scrap per-second charges for off-peak local phone calls - the most radical change to BT's pricing announced in years. In private, the regulator is understood to be worried that one of British Telecom's proposed packages, due to be made available on December 1, could be construed as anti-competitive.
The concern focuses on BT's Talk and Surf Together tariff, which for a single £17.99 monthly fee includes unlimited off peak local voice and internet calls. This package is expected to be particularly popular, because it links a cheap internet tariff with an affordable phone deal for heavy users.
We're not entirely sure why Oftel thinks they could be Anti-Competitive in this respect. Our best guess is that by not offering the new Internet prices to competition, as with standard BT Surftime, they are being anti-competitive.
However as far as we are aware the Internet package has already been offered to one ISP, although the language was unclear so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. At such an early point the details are as thin as pond ice.
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Good News For BT ISDN (HH) Users?
By:mark.j @ 11:11:AM -
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Yesterday Richard had a little chat with BT in which they stated the Off-Peak Free Local Calls did not apply to ISDN (HH) users. However the situation seems to have been reversed when Ross tried to follow up, look out because BT are telling everybody different things AGAIN!:
Well, BT HAVE NOT confirmed this at all, and the real thing is that BT are in talks over what to do with us. They will be offering something, maybe the talk together package or whatever, but, something will be available us.
Mailing will begin after 1st Dec to HH customers over this matter.
That's all they could tell me....
We've had it up to here [Mark points to his neck] with poorly informed customer support staff. It's the same with BTInternet and all their other groups, you phone one day and they tell you something, you phone again and it's a completely different answer - I MEAN WHY?!
More proof of the confusion arises when Ross remembers his call to them earlier on last Friday:
But this is funny, cos when I called up on Friday and i spoke with a supervisor, she told me that the talk together and surf together packages would DEFINETELY be available for HH customers, and that they would be able to give pricing info on Monday.
I tell ya, this is getting out of hand, everyone's being told different things!
To sum things up, Ross is told FLC (Free Local Calls) will support HH on Friday, Richard is then told the opposite, Ross calls a second time and gets an answer that's a mixture of the two. Seems like a fun game to play, see how many different answers the same support centre staff can possible give inside 48 hours =). What do all of you think?
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News - October 21,2000
BT ISDN (HH) and Free Local Calls
By:rich.p @ 8:17:PM -
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According to BT free local call packages will not be available for ISDN(HH). The packages will be PTSN(Standard Phone Line) only.
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BT ISDN To ADSL
By:mark.j @ 10:30:AM -
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Oftel - "What Free Local Calls?"
By:mark.j @ 10:27:AM -
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Perhaps it's because BT was forced to announce their Off-Peak Free Local Calls early, yet strangely Oftel have no knowledge of such new prices:
Oftel has confirmed that it has yet to receive formal notification from BT about its new unmetered price changes.
One of the winged watchdog's duties to is to approve any pricing changes introduced by the monster telco. The process usually takes 28 days to complete.
An Oftel spokeswoman told Reg: "We haven't received formal notification yet."
Thanks to The Register we can see that Oftel is as behind as ever, shouldn't prices be confirmed before they are made public?
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News - October 20,2000
Connect25 Looking Good
By:Ross14 @ 6:24:PM -
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A small peek at the connect25 website at www.connect25.co.uk allows you to see a slight change in design and also a new package!
Yep, it's true, Connect 25 are now offering Surftime Packages, in conjunction with BT, beleive it or not. Pricing for their new Surftime offer is as follows:
Residential Customers
* Unlimited calls to the internet every evening (6pm-8am weekdays) & all weekend (until 8am Monday morning).
* All internet calls OUTSIDE the above calltimes are charge at 1p per minute inc Vat (5p minimum charge).
* Technical Support provided via our customer service lines at 30 pence per minute.
* Total Cost - £13.99 inc. vat per month - Breakdown £5.99 from BT (plus) £8 from Connect25.
* Payment Terms - £5.99 on BT telephone bill & £8 monthly by standing order to Connect25 in advance.
Business Customers
* Unlimited calls to the internet at anytime, 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.
* Technical Support provided via our customer service lines at 30 pence per minute.
* Total Cost - £32.99 inc. vat per month - Breakdown £19.99 from BT (plus) £13 from Connect25.
* Payment Terms - £19.99 on BT telephone bill & £13 monthly by standing order to Connect25 in advance.
Although still not sure about the unmetered 24/7 internet access offer at £25 per annum, which should go live this Monday, the Surftime offer has to make us look at Connect25 a little bit differently, with hope maybe. And also, they are now accepting Standing Order payments, which is better than the usual cheque.
Anyway, time will tell.....
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BTOpenworlds F.A.Q Confusion
By:mark.j @ 3:16:PM -
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A small article over @ The Register is brining light to some obvious confusion in BTOpenworlds FAQ's:
Q.12 Can I choose my installation date?
A. Yes, the current lead time is approx. 8 days and you can also choose an am or pm slot. An exception may be when BT engineering need to change an appointment date - if this is the case, BTopenworld will contact the customer to explain and arrange another appointment.
Q.44 Can I choose my installation date?
A. Yes, the current lead time is approx. 15 days and you can also choose an am or pm slot. An exception may be when BT engineering need to change an appointment date - if this is the case, BTopenworld will contact the customer to explain and arrange another convenient appointment.
More proof that sometimes BT just loose all understanding of intelligent thought or just an excuse for yet more delays?
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LibertySurfs Abuser Blacklist
By:mark.j @ 3:10:PM -
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Ever since last Sunday there has been increasing news of how the unmetered ISP LibertySurf is miss-treating heavy users. Yesterday they denied kicking off customers who 'abused' the service and putting them onto a unworkable alternative:
In a lengthy statement issued yesterday the ISP justified its decision to put some Net users on a different service in the hope that "these users will come back to a more normal user pattern".
It did not disclose how many people had been targeted and denied it was punishing users for using the service too much.
However, this action has angered LibertySurf users who claim they have been "blacklisted" and given a service that is virtually impossible to use.
Complaints on our forum would seem to confirm this and worse still is you don't even have to use the service much to be moved. One of our readers claimed he was moved because he spent three hours a day online, is that really heavy use?
Freeserve considers 11hours heavy use and Breathe considers 6hours to be the limit. 3Hours seems rather poor by comparison. As usual the T&C's from LS protect them from the inquisitive eye of Trading Standards and lawsuits. It's about time we had some clear regulation for this sort of thing! Check the rest @ The Register.
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C.U.T On Free Local Calls
By:mark.j @ 2:59:PM -
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Ever the wizards of wisdom, C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) have of course done their own update on BT's Free Off-Peak Local Calls announcement:
There are a few restrictions. Although 'unmetered for an hour' is a contradiction in terms we can live with it - just remember to put the phone down and redial - but there is one obvious problem; unmetered voice calls are confined to evenings and weekends. BT has become mesmerised by the notion that business users use the phone during the day and residential users use it during evenings and weekends. Broadly this is true, but it ignores the fact that those who need the phone most are at home during the day, namely the disabled, the elderly and the housebound.
So, in our final submission to OFTEL's consultation on the Universal Service Obligation, we will be putting forward, among much else, three clauses thus:
* unmetered local voice calls, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a monthly subscription fee;
* unmetered data calls giving access to an Internet Service Provider, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a monthly subscription fee;
* a minimum guaranteed telephone modem speed of 28.8Kb/sec.
and proposing changes to the terms of the USO itself, if needed, to accomodate these.
If implemented these clauses would, finally, have unmetering written into legislation.
All the usual bits you'd expect from C.U.T are there and they make some interesting points and leave you with a question or two. If free local calls grow from the two third party Telco's offering it (SR/FC), then what happens to FRIACO and BT Surftime etc.?
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Sniff Out Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 2:46:PM -
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Well it looks like Sniff Out have been one of the first ISPs to make use of BT's new Surftime/Free Local Calls offer with their newest package offer. As usual we bring you the full press release:
PRESS RELEASE FROM SNIFF OUT
Dated 20th October 2000
EMBARGOED UNTIL 09:00 MON. 23RD October 2000
FOR THE FIRST TIME - 24x7 UNMETERED INTERNET ACCESS USING BT SURFTIME FOR UNDER £25 PER MONTH!
24x7 unmetered Internet access for under £25 per month, including BT
SurfTime charge, is available for the first time from today with the launch of ISP Sniff Out's new range of 'Open Road' Internet access packages.
Designed specifically for people wanting fully featured, reliable Internet access, the 'AnyTime' 24 hour unmetered offering costs only £24.98 per month. It is one of 6 new options which include unmetered Off Peak access ('TimeOut') at £9.98 per month, and a pay-by-the-minute SurfTime offering ('à la Carte') with rates from just 0.5p per minute. Non BT consumers plus occasional users can choose the 'DialPlus' option for 2p per min during the day and 1p per min at evenings and weekends.
Sniff Out believes that the new BT Talk & Surf Together package, available from 1st December, will make SurfTime the first choice for the consumers wanting safe, secure and reliable Internet access. The ISP has therefore made a significant commitment to BT SurfTime, and has the ability to enrol up to 50,000 new members per month, without placing any strain on its systems.
Every 'Open Road' package offers unlimited email boxes, unlimited web space for personal use, and an Instant Messenger. Sniff Out's portal site includes some 15 channels of news, entertainment and lifestyle content. First time users will appreciate the availability of a Local Call Rate telephone Help Desk.
Contact:
Selena Cherrington
Sniff Out Limited
Sounds very interesting, although at its heart beats the ever-present BTSurftime mould that so many frown upon. Despite this the price is good compared to other Surftime ISPs and we like the 0.5p a minute option. What do you think?
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USA Signs Away Online Freedom
By:mark.j @ 11:05:AM -
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More evidence this morning that the Internet is becoming increasingly regulated more and more everyday. Anonymity campaigners have suffered a serious blow after the Florida court of appeal ruled that an ISP could be compelled by the courts to identify people who post defamatory messages.
Or in other words, those who post messages on the forums of an ISP could find their privacy suddenly lost into thin air. That kinder brings them up to speed with the ridiculous laws here in the UK then!:
Former CEO of US company Hvide Marine, Erik Hvide, had asked a court to provide the identities of eight people who criticised both him and his company on a BBS. But the ISP had been temporarily blocked by a court order, pending appeal.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, had asked the court to rule on whether Hvide had actually been libelled before identifying the defendants. The ACLU argued that if there had been no libel, then the critics had a right to remain anonymous.
But in a landmark decision, the appeal court said Hvide had a right to know who had been saying what about him and the court was within its rights to demand the ISP hand over the information.
If this was a true libel case then we'd be in agreement, but considering they didn't prove any libel existed it makes the loss of privacy a paramount concern. So in other words, it's not so much this particular case, but the wider implications.
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