August 16, 2000 - August 22, 2000

News - August 22,2000

The Matrix Closes!

By:Daniel @ 8:34:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While we were doing the daily browsing for news we came across this sad news from The Matrix:

"We're sad to announce that we are closing down The Matrix after a run of 12 months. The main reason for this decision is our lack of time to dedicate to the project - you've probably noticed the distinct lack of regular articles lately. Unfortunately, since this situation is not liable to change in the near future, we decided to shut down the site before readership figures started to drop of their own accord."

Its a shame to see them go but we wish them good luck in the future.

OFTEL Comments on AV

By:zeon @ 6:38:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Oftel have spoken out against AltaVista delaying their unmetered service, on The Register:

Oftel maintains that the wholesale unmetered access package from BT currently on the table "provides a sound basis to promote competition in unmetered Internet access."

David Edmonds, DG of the regulator, said: "I recognise consumer concern today at the announcement by AltaVista that they are putting their unmetered internet access product on hold.

"It is disappointing to see AltaVista withdraw from the market. But competition is developing and other companies are already offering unmetered services to consumers.

"AltaVista chose to launch their product in March, in advance of wholesale products being available. It is up to AltaVista, as other commercial companies, to make sure that before they launch a product they have a sound business plan to support it," he said.

If FRIACO is on the table then why are no Telco's yet using it? The answer is most probably that it just isn't good enough for the ISPs. Then there is FRIACO 2 which apparently should be finalised in the Autumn. BT seem to want all ISP's to use it's own Surftime and therefore has no competition as Surftime is the only real way for an ISP to make money out of unmetered, unless they offer a service for £20+ per month. Oftel is meant to promote competition but seem reluctant to say or do anything against BT.

24-7Freecall Respond to AV Issues

By:mark.j @ 5:49:PM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

These days it seems almost like second nature for 24-7Freecall to come up with a comment after another ISP fails, mind you they can't be blamed, at least their service works =). That is apart from random disconnections being encountered by ISDN users, has this been fixed yet?

Either way they've issued their own response and since this is now officially 'watch the silly happenings @ AV/BT' day, we'll post it in full:

Media Alert: For Immediate Release
22nd August 2000

WHO GIVE’S A **** ABOUT ALTA VISTA?
Actually we all do… or should.

It was announced today that Alta Vista has pulled its free internet access. Many people will be disappointed and although Alta Vista may mean “high view”, the sad fact is that they appear to be attaining a very low view in public estimation.

So okay, no one died, but 250,000 people registered for a service that didn’t happen. Should heads roll? Maybe the 250,000 Alta Vista subscribers who registered in anticipation might have a say on that.

The damage that Alta Vista may have done to the industry and in particular to ISPs is much more real. The sad fact is that Alta Vista are blaming BT for their troubles. Certainly BT are no angels but they have recently become the whipping boys for any ISP that seems to be experiencing problems.

When Alta Vista made their first announcement in March they had yet to secure the services of an ISP or a Telco. Andy Mitchell, the Alta Vista UK Managing Director appeared on BBC News to famously rip up a telephone bill in a symbolic gesture to indicate the end of high telephone bills for Internet access. On the revelation of FRIACO, Alta Vista claimed to be one of the instigators along with MCI WorldCom and AOL. They concluded by saying that their Unmetered offering to be launched on 30th June would be based on FRIACO. Since then Alta Vista have consistently claimed that a service was ‘live’ when in fact no service apparently ever existed. And what have ClaraNet, the service provider, to say on the subject?

ISPs are well aware that they can expect no favours from BT when addressing the issue of ‘unmetered’ Internet access. 24-7Freecall therefore approached Telia UK, a subsidiary of Telia AB, Sweden’s national telecommunications group, with a business model that would allow UK net users to access the Web in return for a small flat-rate monthly subscription.

Someone, somewhere along the line has to pay the piper, in this case our friends BT. The 24-7Freecall offer is totally transparent. The subscriber pays just £19.99 per month for access to the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week with no call charges, no set-up costs and no limits.

Already, thousands of subscribers are using 24-7Freecall and experiencing the Internet with less of the frustrations or restrictions usually associated with ‘unmetered’ access.

-more-

And here’s a 24-7Freecall promise. FRIACO will be implemented by 24-7Freecall as soon as it’s available and the savings passed on to the subscribers immediately because as an existing unmetered service provider 24-7Freecall can respond to these developments sooner so that subscribers benefit faster.

Today 24-7Freecall is fast growing into a recognised force within the Internet industry. As an alternative to our consumer business where numbers are growing fast, 24-7Freecall also offers reseller packages where other ISPs, even Alta Vista, can become an Affinity Partner and take advantage of our delivery platform.

Why?

Because it’s real and it exists and you can have it today!

Visit the website at http://www.24-7freecall.net for more info.

Sal Abdin
Marketing Director
24-7Freecall Limited

Looking deeper at the PR and we can see 24-7Freecall promise to make full use of FRIACO as soon as it's fully available. This could mean yet more price drops; we'd say that 24-7Freecall is charging a good borderline price for true unmetered access.

If you think it's too expensive then just remember that by comparison to the charges BT ask of ISPs it’s relatively cheap. Those expecting to get a reliable service from cheaper ISPs should remember that it might not last. More in our 'cost of unmetered' article when it's done.

If we see one more AV item then there are rumours that ISPr staff could potentially explode into a zillion pieces =).

BT Say, "It's not our fault GUV"

By:mark.j @ 4:23:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Anybody who knows anything about unmetered access knows that unless you've got an incredible amount of money, you simply can't start your own unmetered ISP. This problem is the result of BT's inability to offer a more cost effective rout into their network for ISPs.

BT disagree and blame it all back on AltaVista for trying to offer an impossible service, the following is a PR sent out by BT to all major publications, The Register got wind of it first:

BT REBUTS ALTAVISTA CLAIMS

Commenting today on AltaVista's abandonment of its proposed Internet access service, BT's director of regulatory affairs, Ian Morfett, said: "AltaVista is standing reality on its head as it tries to wriggle away from the consequences of its ill-considered marketing hype.

"Back in February the UK Internet world was buzzing with innovative unmetered offers from BT, NTL Telewest and AltaVista. Even the Prime Minister welcomed announcements from all four. BT has delivered working unmetered access for BT Internet and other leading ISPs. The cable companies have delivered offers restricted to their own ISPs. AltaVista has delivered nothing.

"Today's claim that the launch of their service was dependent on BT inventing new products is not what they told the world last February. When they announced their offer last March, they had held no talks with BT nor, as far as we know, with any other telecoms operator. Back then, it was as much a surprise to BT as it was to the whole industry - many observers asking how AltaVista could make such an offer before having negotiated a deal with a telecoms supplier. Now, with the press exposing the emptiness of their hype, they appear to resorting to bluster, blaming everybody except themselves.

"Using BT's Surftime, BT phone customers are able to dial any one of around 30 ISPs, including Freeserve and from this month Demon, with others joining all the time. We have over 200,000 registered Surftime customers already, proving that unmetered Internet access is entirely possible if you have a business model based in the real world.

"At the same time, BT Internet customers have enjoyed unmetered surfing since February, and we have no intention of taking that away. In each case, people are paying a fair price for a good unmetered deal.

Around the turn of the year, some ISPs were offering too-good-to-be-true services that were never sustainable. In AltaVista's case it appears they simply issued a press release and signed up customers, but the press tell us they've been unable to find a single customer who's ever received an actual service.

"Even if AltaVista couldn't make the business add up using the same products as the successful, unmetered ISPs, there's been a BT wholesale unmetered product (FRIACO), agreed with the regulator, that has been on the table since the end of May. That no other operator had taken it up says more about the difficulty of establishing credible business models than it does about BT's innovation and competitiveness. BT is continuing to innovate, and has offered enhancements to FRIACO following discussions with the industry. One operator has now taken this up, having signed up this morning.

"Overall, BT and the UK in general have some of the lowest Internet charges in the world, especially in the vital off-peak mass consumer market. But if you're prepared to pay nothing, in the long term, you get nothing."

Yawn, make of it what you will but we all know the reason behind this. It's AltaVista & BT's fault, not either or. AV did indeed try to offer an economically impossible service and those that pay small sums a year should expect rubbish ISP quality. However BT is still to blame for failing to come up with a more cost effective option.

BTSurftime is still too expensive and they also claim that FRIACO has been on the offering table since May, which is not entirely correct. FRIACO is, to this day, still being sorted out after technical issues stopped it from going ahead properly. Then just recently Oftel under pressure from other Telco's and ISPs chose to refine it for more cost effective use.

As of this moment we're still waiting to hear news of the revised FRIACO package, but instead all we hear are lies and marketing propaganda. When will these people realise that your average person is not dumb and oblivious to such goings on?

AltaVista Blame it on BT

By:mark.j @ 9:33:AM - Comments (18) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As more details of the report seep out it is now apparent that AltaVista have blamed their failure to launch a service on BT:

Andy Mitchell, AltaVista UK MD, said in a statement that BT’s failure to launch flat-rate circuits made an unmetered service unviable.

Mitchell said: “AltaVista access is the symptom but not the cause. We are reliant on the provision of flat-rate circuits from BT, direct to the end-user, to be able to offer a service that is sustainable, quality-focused, and economically viable. To date BT has failed to make this possible, and its continuing delays make it difficult to plan a solution.”

However, that will be of scant comfort to ISP companies such as Breathe, Virgin, LineOne and LibertySurf, all of whom have been forced to scale back or even cancel their unmetered services due to over-demand and soaring costs.

NetImperative has the most information on the subject, yet the worrying thing is AV are 100% correct. We're still putting the finishing touches to our 'Cost of unmetered' article, which will expose the true cost to ISPs.

Had BT been able to finalise FRIACO2 with Oftel (both guilty) then we might have actually seen AV by now. We could list around 11 ISPs waiting on Oftel and BT, yet nobody seems to care.

*UPDATE*
A BT spokesman told ISPreview that Altavista's claims were "nonsense" and he said that they will "fully cooperate" with anyone wanting to use the FRIACO system.

BT have also told netimperative:

"If they are blaming BT, that is ridiculous … an offer has been made on the table since 1 June to provide flat-rate access. BT is offering exactly what we agreed with Oftel and if companies launch with unsustainable business plans it’s rather rich to try to blame uninvolved, blameless third parties."

He also told them:

"I think we’ll join the rest of the industry in laughing at them."

Well yet again BT seem to be saying this but is it really true. Altavista claim FRIACO will be in January next year but BT say they already have it?

News - August 21,2000

Altavista Own-Up - SHOCK!

By:Ross14 @ 7:41:PM - Comments (7) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

AltaVista have just announced that their free service never existed! Read on:

"Altavista UK has confirmed that it never launched its much-hyped service to give users unmetered internet access.

The service was due go live in June, but the company now says it was never turned on.

The company says it was defeated by the economics of the UK telephone market.

It is advising the thousands of people who signed up for the service to opt for one of its other offers. These either restrict how long users can stay online, or ask them to pay their telephone charges.

And AV go on to mention that until the situation of the UK's telecom market changes, they will not be launching any new net access plans..

Well, we would have thought that AV wouldn't have lied about this, we honestly thought that there were genuine users out there. But why did it take so long to actually tell the truth?

Source: BBC Online

*UPDATE*
Hopefully we can reveal a few more details when we talk to AltaVista tomorrow.

Freeserve All Jammed Up

By:zeon @ 5:30:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

VNUNet have reported that Freeserve have sent a letter out to customers about the current problems accessing their Unmetered service:

"Freeserve claims its networks have become log-jammed by a flood of new subscribers from failed unmetered internet service providers (ISPs). In a newsletter to customers, Freeserve said the withdrawal of unmetered access packages by other ISPs - including Lineone and Callnet - has lead to an increase in Freeserve subscriber sign-up.

It said this was the reason why many users, especially in the North of England, have been experiencing problems connecting to Freeserve. Users have complained of difficulties logging on and the frequent need to make multiple attempts to connect to the service. Other users have experienced decreased download speeds.

Freeserve admits there is a problem and they will probably work to fix it unlike some other ISPs.

AltaVista To Issue Statement

By:mark.j @ 12:39:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

After several weeks of speculation regarding AltaVistas unmetered service, Andy Mitchell (MD) is now back and preparing to issue a statement any minute. The Register writes:

AltaVista is to issue a statement later today confirming it has been rolling out its unmetered service since June 30th and that it has, indeed, signed up tens of thousands of users.

Andy Mitchell, MD of AltaVista in the UK and Ireland and the only person authorised to speak about his company, is back at his desk today.

According to a spokeswoman, the statement will "set the record straight" and clear up all the uncertainty about whether or not the service is operational.

We look forward to Andy’s statement knowing for a fact (thanks to ClaraNET) that the network the service runs off does exist. We just don't know if the users do?

*UPDATE*
Andy Mitchell still hasn't contacted ISPreview or The Register and Altavista haven't issued a statement. Maybe tomorrow then...

ISPreview RIP Petition

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

Just to let you know that our petition system is now live and the first petition is to give RIP more regulation. In other words, as it stands a police officer could simply get your E-Mail details and start looking. Since the law is now in place, it can't really be removed, that's not to say it can't be updated.

Our petition proposes that police officers need at least get something similar to a warrant before they can view anybody’s E-Mail. Just like searching somebody’s house, a warrant is required first. By signing our petition you would be agreeing with that, we'll then pass it onto the appropriate person.

More details on the page (this is just the first trial, it'll get better in the future):

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/survey/survey.shtml

Inland Revenue Falls Over

By:mark.j @ 9:05:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The majority of people don't exactly like the Inland Revenue due to what it stands for, still that's no excuse for using taxpayers money on a system, which doesn't work. The Register is reporting on how the 'Online Tax Statement Submission Service', that’s being talked about so much on TV, has fallen over:

The Inland Revenue has shut down part of its Web site because of software errors.

The Internet Service for Self Assessment - which allows citizens to submit their tax returns via the Net - was shut yesterday.

It should be open again by next week.

A message on the Internet Service for Self Assessment Web site reads: "We are sorry but our Internet Service for Self Assessment (SA) is temporarily unavailable."

"The service has been closed down until Sunday 20 August to upgrade the system and improve the service to customers. We apologise for the inconvenience that this will cause."

The temporary closure will come as further embarrassment to the British Government which has forged ahead with plans to modernise the workings of government by using technology.

Less of an ISP news item and more of a reminder for those above certain ages, it's tax time again. The time of the year where clever people try to hide anonymous income and others try to off-set their tax through re-claiming it via business related purchases =).

So long as you’re under that £30,000 limit then things should be just fine anyway =), boy does this world ever tax you to death.

C&W Cable Modem Rumours No.2

By:mark.j @ 8:52:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Good old CableNews has posted the latest Cable & Wireless rumour about prices for broadband and such:

Following on from our rumours of price reductions and new channels for the ntl digitalplus service from 1st September, we have received an email suggesting that this could be the date for even bigger changes. The email received by cablenews:uk from a person claiming to 'have a friend who works for CWC' suggests that 1st September is being planned as a milestone in the integration of the two companies. More details will be available nearer the time, but the source was able to pass on the following details:

-Installation charges will be abolished.

-The prices will be harmonised and lowered so that the packs should be cheaper for CWC users but the channel line up will not be entirely syncronised (probably due to the difficulties of different programming contracts prior to the acquisition by ntl which will take time to change).

-A clearer plan for the release of ntlworld and cable modems for CWC users will be released (if only internally).

Wasn't it the 21st September those rumours were pointing too and not the 1st, still that's the problem with rumours isn't it =). Either way the truth will be known whether it's on the 1st or the 21st, it's not far off.

News - August 20,2000

RIP Back Down on Business

By:mark @ 10:22:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In an article inside this Sundays Financial Times it's said that the industry has forced the government to back down on plans that would have prevented companies from reading employees' emails without the senders' and receivers' consent.

The controversial RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act), which is designed to regulate police surveillance, angered companies because they said it would make it impossible for them to read e-mails for people who were away from work. Yeah and numerous other reasons not mentioned in the report =).

The government has finally caved in and managed to compromise by saying that companies can read employee's e-mails if they are away on holiday or off sick. Sounds like another loop whole in employee privacy has arrived.

The Department of Trade and Industry is also trying to extend a four-week consultation period on the rules, which are due to end next Friday, the paper added. Hopefully ISPreview can get our petition system live in time to have people vote their opinions, we'll then send them in for you.

ISPreview Weekly Update

By:mark @ 10:15:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ahhh another week and another update, the last week saw an interesting BT ADSL Interview article along with the Hosting and Freecall interest systems go live. To this moment we've registered 325 people interested in ISPr offering a Freecall service, 25 more than predicted. If a service were to open then it's estimated we'd need capacity to serve 500 or so individuals.

Still enough on that as we'll explain more when to knowing the services future in a couple of weeks time. For the coming week we are concentrating on the integration of a petition system that's been devised and also a general comments system for the manual broadband and unmetered listings.

The people involved in trying to code our more detailed article and review comments system have vanished, so we're not sure what's going to happen there. Currently pursuing more commercial lines to have the system coded unless they re-surface.

There will be at least one new review next week and one new article, both of which should interest most readers as they are popular subjects. We'll explain more about them in our newsletter to mailing list members soon (bottom left).

Also, don't forget that if you have or fancy running a web site on an ISP based topic then ISPreview can host it for free and give you a Sub-Domain account for it. Just need to place a banner at the top of the page and that's all. Note this has nothing to do with the website hosting interest system that's at the top of ISPr, that's commercial.

That's just about it for this week, accept to say that until our article and review comments system is live then checkout CIAO. They actually PAY YOU money for every comment or user review about an ISP, sadly we could never possibly do that, but if you want to make some extra ££ then have a try.

PS "Hehe we missed getting the VisualDepth article online yet again, we'll try again for this week but it's a lot of work."

X-Stream 0800 Back

By:mark @ 9:52:AM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Several readers have pointed us in the direction of the X-Stream homepage where an image resides that when clicked, states:

Fantastic News! Forget about the cost of going online. The X-Stream Network 0800 FREE Internet access number is up-and-running once more and is available during all off-peak hours (evenings and weekends).

This is only on a trial basis at the moment, so take advantage and enjoy free-surfing!

ISPreview never even knew it had stopped because nobody informed us on our ancient X-Stream mail account. We'd never of worked it out anyway as even while running the service was impossible to reach for most of the population.

Sadly it's not all gold, the trial is only on offer for Sundays and Mondays according to an X-Stream support technician. Not to mention that once again it's just a trial and you are required to view banners (can be hacked) while using the service via special software.

With CallNet0800 gone that leaves IC24, X-Stream and possibly even FreeUK the only ISPs offering free 0800 net calls - somewhat limited though.

Freeserve Broadband Update

By:mark @ 9:43:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While Freeserve toy with their unmetered service and toil with engage tones, many have neglected their broadband offer. Well despite ADSL not yet able to reach 75% of people, Freeserve have still found the time to introduce their service regardless - Net4Nowt reports:

Named Freeserveplus, the service will have three bandwidth options - 1/2, 1 and 2Mbits per second, and is primarily aimed at small businesses and also offers a similar service to home users of Freeserve.

The business and multi user service is designed to connect to a network,and the minimum requirements are:

BT standard phone line and account
A Freeserve account
A PC encorporating either Windows 98/98SE/2000
A Pentium 166Mhz processor
32Mb of RAM
A 16 bit sound card
4xCD-ROM drive
A 10baseT Ethernet Card
A DirectX/Direct Draw compatible video/graphics card

The home user service has minimum requirements of:

A BT standard phone line and account
A Freeserve account
A PC encorporating either Windows 98/98SE/2000
A Pentium 166 Mhz processor
32Mb System memory
A 16bit soundcard
4x CD-ROM drive
An available USB port
DirectX/Direct Draw compatible video/graphics card

The home user package offers download speeds of approx. 512Kbps, and upload speeds of approx.256Kbps, and those small businesses that are without LANs are expected to sign up for the home user service.

Prices are the standard for ADSL and set at £40 for home users and upwards of £99.99 for business. Sadly it doesn't look as though any of the ISPreview staff will have access to broadband options for around another year. We'll likely be asking for some other people to help review the various ISPs on our behalf, although it's quite complicated doing so.

Wonder whether the prices of ISDN will finally come down? Not likely knowing BT.

News - August 19,2000

Censorship one-step too far

By:mark @ 10:11:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Fair enough, it's one thing to protect children from Pornography and on-screen violence, but what if your name has a sexual term in its letters? Do you start censoring people directly? Apparently so according to this article @ The Register:

A Los Angeles attorney has been blocked from joining the New York-based BlackPlanet.com online service - because her name doesn't fit.

Sherril Babcock was barred from joining the African-American community site because her last name was deemed "unacceptable".

According to the cyberrights group, Digital Freedom Network (DFN), BlackPlanet.com uses a software filter to censor words deemed to be offensive.

It claims "c***" triggered the political correctness shutters and barred Ms Babcock's application.

As Ms Babcock explained: "Babcock was my father's name as well, and I am very fond of him."

Although BlackPlanet.com's Moderator for Member Services, Crystal Martin apologised twice for the inconvenience, she told Ms Babcock: "Unfortunately, the letters that form the word 'C***' is [sic] acceptable and will not be recognised by our system."

And BlackPlanet.com is refusing to override the system manually and bypass the dotty process. In fact, it is defending its use of the censorware.

After we'd managed to stop laughing we laughed some more before our eyes popped out and ran all over the floor. You'll notice we stared out the last three letters above as a kind of joke, something’s only offensive when it's intended as such.

Oftel Claps Down on BT

By:mark @ 10:00:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Perhaps it's because people have been loosing faith in Oftel to do their job, whatever the reason it seems to be working as they have taken yet another step to unlock BTs local loop. Our friends @ Net4Nowt have the word:

It emerged yesterday that ISPs will have to pay no more than £107 for each high-speed DSL line - and this figure may fall following further Oftel investigation. There will also be a one-off connection charge of £145.

Oftel will now conduct a full analysis of how BT arrived at these charges to determine if they are acceptable - the results of which will be published in October. A final directive will be issued in December when the first operators will be given access to the local loop.

Bare in mind this is ISP/Network side and not consumer side; such a shift in pricing could mean that business broadband packages become more acceptable than their residential cousins (less contention for less money).

However we're all still waiting for the big news, what Oftel plans to do on the revised FRIACO plan? Neither BTSurftime or FRIACO have actually been that good, hopefully they'll give ISPs some extra profit if Oftel does it right (that means cheaper access for us as well).

News - August 18,2000

UK Gov monitoring us again

By:mark @ 8:05:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

People still aren't used to the last privacy scandle (RIP), but today The Register has revealed yet another. Firstly UK Government decided they'd track our E-Mail and now they want to track us totally! But not the way you think:

The British Government is to employ dotcoms to keep tabs on its citizens.

A pilot scheme due to be launched next month will automatically inform different Government departments when people move house or change address.

Ihavemoved.com, simplymove.co.uk and the Royal Mail - which all provide change of address services - will take part in the Net-based trial.

Until now, the problem has been that while people might inform utilities, banks and other key groups about change of address, many people forget, or delay, or refuse to tell different Government departments about their new circumstances.

The issue is further complicated because different Government departments do not currently share change of address information between themselves.

It's understood that the Government will not pay for the information during the pilot although if successful, it will have to negotiate commercial terms with the suppliers.

The initiative is part of Prime Minister Tony Blair's drive towards e-government. Those backing the scheme claim that it will make Government more effective and that farming out the service to dotcoms will also cut the cost significantly.

Those against it are concerned about people's right to privacy.

Well fair enough, it's not as bad as it sounds, perhaps not even so torrid as the whole RIP scandal. However yet again it brings consumer privacy into question, how do they plan to keep the data secure? What EXACTLY will it be used for? Don't they think we can't do it for ourselves? Do we have a choice?

Questions.. questions... questions...., that's all governments ever raise and it seems truly difficult to get answers. Pushing forward the dramatics a bit, someday we'll all have cameras in our homes and electronic tags up our asses! Just so they can see all the crap we get up to =).

Rha Users Site

By:Daniel @ 3:47:PM - Comments (23) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A new site for RHA users is nearly finished and they said "I hope its going to be better than the 'haha lets take the p*ss out of RHA"

This new Rha site is looking for forum moderators. Anyone who is interested in the backend development side is also welcome.

If you are interested in joining a team of 'staff' to work with the site then email nat@theantcolony.com .

Freeserve go Broadband

By:Ross14 @ 2:56:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A new Broadband service for business users called Freeserveplus has been launched today by the successful ISP Freeserve. But home users are not being left-out with a service for them being slated for launch later this year.

"Small businesses without LANs are expected to take up the home user package, which offers download speeds of around 512Kbps and upload speeds up to 256Kbps.

The minimum requirements for the business/multi-user service are: BT standard phone line and account, a Freeserve account, and a PC equipped with Windows 98/98SE/2000, Pentium 166Mhz processor, 32Mb System memory, 16bit soundcard, 4x CD-ROM drive, DirectX/Direct Draw compatible video/graphics card, and 10baseT Ethernet Card.

The minimum requirements for the home user service are: BT standard phone line and account, a Freeserve account, and a PC equipped with: Windows 98/98SE/2000, Pentium 166 Mhz processor, 32Mb System memory, 16bit soundcard, 4x CD-ROM drive, DirectX/Direct Draw compatible video/graphics card, and available USB port.

At present the service is only available in major metropolitan areas such as Greater London, West Midlands, Manchester/Liverpool, and Glasgow, of which a full map is available on their website at the address below.

Source: Netimperative

*UPDATE*
You can visit the Freeserveplus website @ http://195.92.248.233/ADSL/CFMcode/fsbs_home.cfm.

There are three levels of service, all with monthly flat fees:
512Kbs connection - £99.99 (excl. VAT)
1Mbs connection - £139.99 (excl. VAT)
2Mbs connection - £189.99 (excl. VAT)
The once-only installation of Freeserveplus costs £260.00 (excl. VAT).

ISPreview Website Hosting

By:mark @ 11:14:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This was actually intended as a separate business and still remains that (hosting, not ISPr), however we're going to give ISPreview readers a special choice of packages. Like the future freecall service it's also commercial, however we will be offering FREE Sub-Domain 'ANYTHING.ispreview.co.uk' accounts to those who have keen ideas for ISP related sites (your own site under ISPr).

You'll need to contact me personally if you want to do that and have a layout ready for preview, we may ask for our network sponsors banner to be placed at the top of the sites pages, but that's all. We've just thrown up the 'Website Hosting' INTEREST page as well, this is the commercial system.

All we want to know is if anybody would be interested if we could offer it through ISPreview at a price to undercut others. As usual we can do this by claiming next to no profit, although unlike the freecall idea the services would be of extremely high quality.

Some more basic details can be found on the page, although 200mb web space, 7gb of bandwidth (PM) on Unix/Linux based Pentium3-550 servers is the rough idea. Support for PHP, MySQL, CGI, SSI, Frontpage, RealAudio/Video etc. are all going to be there. There would likely be several packages, although a rough price tag of £10 to £15 per month is what we're looking at (would be other packages).

If you're into hosting then you know that's a good price, beware those who offer unlimited bandwidth; it doesn't exist! They usually mean 3-5gb's bandwidth per month.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/hosting.shtml

BT Strung up by Oftel

By:mark @ 9:20:AM - Comments (29) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just when you thought Oftel was a useless regulator that couldn't even get BT to unbundle a fax machine - they hit back with force. Oftel now plans to look deeper into the unmetered access issue as yet more ISPs complain of the charges they are facing - VNUNet has the words:

The move has been prompted by the failure of BT and a number of ISPs to agree on how to adopt Friaco (flat rate internet access for call origination) - the telco's scheme for offering rivals unmetered access over its lines.

Friaco includes a flat rate connection between the end user and the local exchange, combined with a low, but metered, charge, thus driving ISP traffic between the local exchange and the main digital switching unit into which ISPs connect.

But ISPs said last week they were not happy with the plan, and demanded that BT allow unmetered access direct to BT's switches.

Many reading this really have no idea of the costs involved in bringing a workable unmetered solution, we'll soon publish an article detailing costs involved. The article goes on:

"There is no technical reason for BT not to offer wholesale unmetered internet access," said Matt Peacock, a spokesman for AOL UK.

"We have been waiting a long time for BT to provide a fixed-cost internet access service," added Lee Strafford, managing director of ISP PlusNet. "ISPs are struggling to provide services and businesses, and consumers are losing out on huge savings," he claimed.

BT said that it has already copied the US model of unbundling the local loop. "Unmetered internet service is already available for ISPs if they wish to build their own networks to access BT's local exchanges," said a spokesman.

But Peacock disagreed. "The difference is that in the US telcos and ISPs were able to connect to local exchanges without paying a fee, and there was not a market player such as BT holding 85 per cent of the country's consumer market," he said.

Finally, as a result of all this Oftel have finally decided to get up and actually do something constructive. A Technical expert panel will investigate if BT's network has the capacity to provide ISPs with unmetered access to its primary digital switching units.

They are also expected to release guidelines that will force BT to provide ISPs with direct access to its switches, or develop a new version of the Friaco scheme (already being done). One way or another many ISPs such as Vispa face delays while the Telco’s and regulatory powers try to work things out.

Not a Linx Witch Hunt

By:mark @ 8:54:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Apparently the earlier reports by VNUNet that Linx were witch hunting for the ISP who leaked details about the opposition to MicroSoft joining are not quite correct. At least that's what The Register is saying:

Dismissing the witch-hunt, Roland Perry, Regulation Officer at LINX, told The Register: "We must make sure our members know that if things are confidential, they should remain confidential."

He denied that the source of the leak would be tracked down and expelled insisting that there was "never a doubt that Microsoft would be accepted".

The 110 members of LINX will be reminded of their duties and obligations when LINX meets again next week.

Even if it was just a single member then there clearly was a doubt about MS joining no matter what Linx said. ISPreview believes the ISP just became confused, for example, if MS wanted to back my ISP (don't have one - hypothetical) then I'd show some disgust but still vote them in for the extra support and cash.

People will never like MS but business always works with those who have the most to offer. Dispelling Microsoft from the network would just show how pety people were in business matters, they didn't like it but they let MS in anyway. This single ISP simply got the wrong end of the stick.

PS "If your computer knowledge is good then try typing Linx and not seeing Linux appear on the screen =)."

News - August 17,2000

New Broadband UK Website

By:Ross14 @ 6:53:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Along with our own Broadband Listings which can be found at http://www.ispreview.co.uk/new/broadband.shtml, we have been told of a new UK Broadband website, which looks good.

Broadband Help looks at the current state of UK broadband ISP's, as so does our list, but goes into much detail, such as Networking, Privacy and Proxie articles.

There are also a bunch of links and Reviews of UK Broadband ISP's, including Atlantic Telecom, EuropeOnline and Blueyonder.

Check it out @ http://www.broadband-help.com/home.asp

Thanks to Alan for pointing it out to us.

FAX ISPreview

By:mark @ 3:27:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've set-up a private fax only line for ISPreview readers and business to contact us on if they feel that mode suits their specific needs better. It might not be online all the time but we'll try to maintain some sort of 24/7 status.

Fax only: 01202622564

We're also looking at voice mail; sadly a standard person-to-person line isn't possible because we're not doing this as a full-time job.

General Site News

By:mark @ 11:30:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Time to take a look at reader contributed events over ISPreview, namely the Top50 and Complaints pages. At the moment our Top50 seems to be the base for a rat race between both 24-7Freecall and World Online:

1) World Online
2) 24-7Freecall
3) Totalise
4) Telewest
5) IGClick (Up from 7th)
6) Plus.NET (Down from 5th)
7) EzeSurf (Down from 6th)
8) LibertySurf
9) Pipex Dial
10) Barrysworld

We're sure Barrysworld will be pleased to see that they've just managed to beat Freeserve and many other top ISPs into the Top10 =). We'll likely remove some older ISPs from the list and replace them with newer ones in due course.

As for our complaints page, RedHotAnt complaints broke 100! today with people clearly getting irritated at such poor service (engaged tones). Freeserve also found it's way onto the complaints page due to peak hour engage tones, that's likely also the reason they dropped from the Top10 in our readers Top 50. CallNet0800 (4UNet) has also gone for good since they chose to kill the freecall service.

Finally, one of the Hottest forum topics is about RedHotAnt problems and can be found HERE.

New Article (Interview) @ ISPreview

By:mark @ 10:21:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

On Monday we asked our readers to think of some questions they'd like to ask BT about their ADSL services. This was because Vispa had kindly said they'd ask them for us in a meeting just yesterday, which they did and now we have the two page interview online:

1) Will ICQ or IRC be blocked / Will Online gaming be blocked, ie, Quake 3 etc?

BT will provide a complete list of blocked ports within the week. However ports like IRC, ICQ are not expected to be blocked. There focus is blocking conference related ports such as Netmeeting, but until a full list of ports is revealed we will not take this as truth.

http://ispreview.co.uk/articles/btadsl/

Forrester Blames Low Net Usage on Weather

By:mark @ 9:15:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Well it's an older adage, when out of things to say just talk about the weather. Forrester Research has today redefined the term by blaming low net access in southern Europe on the hot climate.

The NetImperative has even more details on the report by Forrester:

"Spanish and Italians are less than half as likely to shop online as the rest of Europe due to their culture and climate and companies are urged to make technologies easier to use in order to encourage them online.

Forrester found that this trend is reflected in the divergence between mobile phone and internet adoption in the Southern European countries.

While 55% of Italians have mobile phones - compared to the European average of 27% - only 13% are online. Similarly, while Spain’s mobile penetration is 44%, only 31% of Spaniards have a PC, compared to 51% of the US population, and only 14% are online.

William Reeve, group director, European data products, said: "Climatic factors favor technologies that can be used outdoors in Southern Europe. On a sunny day, Southern Europeans may not be tempted to stay inside and shop online, while Northern Europeans often don't have that choice.""

You can't say it isn't a fair claim, anybody whose been to a hot country (take it as a joke if you will) can't help but wonder if it's really possible to work in such heat productively (Air conditioning helps - doesn't always work).

It's a well-known fact that countries in changeable climates (England etc.) evolved faster through the ages. The core issue with hot countries is it does physically slow you down and make you want to do less, no really. Have any of you ever been to the Caribbean? =).

BT Takes German Telecom Group

By:mark @ 8:59:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BT announced today that it had plans to take control of Germany's Viag Interkom by buying an extra 45 per cent in the business for 6.65 billion euros (4 billion pounds). BT's shares have been dropping a fair bit until now, the new acquisition is hoped to improve things.

BT's mounting debt knocked its shares to fresh 20-month lows just recently. The stock skidded as much as 2.6 percent to 802 pence, its weakest since December 1998. E.ON, which has embarked on a strategy of disposing of non-core assets, was up 0.6 euros at 59.7 euros.

BT, which already has a 45 percent stake, said it would exercise an option to buy the additional shareholding next year from its partner E.ON, the German energy group created by the merger of utilities Veba and Viag.

Viag Interkom is Germany's third biggest telecoms group, with both fixed line and mobile operations, and is currently bidding for a German third generation UMTS mobile licence.

It is BT's third largest acquisition in Europe with recent times, following deals in the Netherlands and Ireland. It has been converting minority stakes into controlling interests amid investor criticism over its lack of a solid foothold in continental Europe.

BT now hopes to see a shares rise after today’s announcement and rise they will, but to how much? Nobody knows.

RedHotAnt STILL NOT FIXED!

By:mark @ 8:48:AM - Comments (21) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's been awhile since we last said anything about RedHotAnt because there was nothing new you could expose. Well today Net4Nowt have noted an article on UK Internet about problems we've known for ages.

However the article on UKI does remind us that Trading Standards have failed to step in and take proper action, despite assurances that they would. Where are these people, nobody at RHA has given a service update in ages and things are NOT improving. A quick look at our complaints E-Mail box shows a plentiful supply of RHA related issues:

"Far from improving since their said upgrades, [Ed - That's because they never happened] RHA has significantly got worse. So far this week it has taken me >40 dial up attempts to log in after 6pm and one attempt was over 100. If this is their improved service I hope it does not get any worse. Still I can use ic24 after 8pm."

Another cuts to the chase:

"Next to impossible to connect at any time. They have the nerve to still accept new signups without solving the problems!"

We can only get connected before 9am, after that time it's simply not possible and we've stopped using RHA altogether ourselves. I recently visited BT at their Bournemouth base (local) and they showed me the issue was not a capacity problem (not for hear anyway). It's about time somebody did something and so we'll be taking the issue up with various authorities over the next few weeks.

Microsoft join Linx

By:Daniel @ 1:39:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It seems as though Microsoft has managed to join the Linx (UK ISP Network) despite fierce opposition; even the result was delayed.

"Microsoft's application to join the London Internet Exchange (LINX) has been accepted, The Register can confirm.

The result means that the reservations voiced by some LINX members about the suitability of M$ appear to have been overcome."

The linx(London Internet Exchange) is a building which has the primary connection point for UK based ISPS to the States. There are around 109 ISP's that are members of the Linx.

Read the full article @ The Register.

*Update*
VNUNet is now reporting that an unnamed ISP could find itself expelled from the Linx due to their opposition of the Microsoft vote. The ISP apparently helped to revealed the ISPs opposed to the joining, a PR Rep is quoted:

"This was not just a breach of the MOU, it was a breach of everybody's fundamental right to a confidential vote held under a due democratic process. This is the first time this has occurred and the very least that will happen is that we will formalise our disciplinary procedures at the next members' meeting. Although it will be very difficult to identify the ISP responsible, Linx is very much a community and we would hope to identify them by next week's meeting. Expulsion is certainly one option."

Ezesurf Rumours Update

By:Daniel @ 12:06:AM - Comments (20) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to "the real obi-wan" from the forums for providing us with an update on the Ezesurf rumours:

"We have been promised the following if we do not upload the website:

No longer "suspended"
Salary increase
Tax money returned quickly
P60's
Explanations of the "new Ezesurf"
A visit from our Personnel Management Team (PMT)
A question/answer session about anything to do with Ezesurf
Paid for time we were "suspended"
A training operation in Nottingham, with expenses paid

The following promises have been kept so far...

Our visit from the Personnel Management Team, who turned out to be the new office manager. We have yet to see if we get paid for the time we were off, or if we get paid at all. The trip to Nottingham or wherever was cancelled by us because we could not leave Dundee with 1 or 2 days' notice.

Updates since

We were all underpaid. We were due 5 weeks' money, but received 4.
Our "Personnel Management Team" didn't turn up on time. Our trip is unsuitable for us so they are coming to Dundee on Friday.More and more accounts have been getting locked - customers and staff. Matt Bryson has been in contact with the staff, even during the time he was "unavailable for comment" to ISP Review. Matt has promised to refund our tax money up to the 25% emergency tax amount, from the 33% which he denied knowing about. Our new manager turned up on Friday, along with a lot of new temporary recruitment agency staff.

We have been contacted by the supposed office in Nottingham with rumours that Matt has "done another runner" from them, owing £ thousands, but this has not been confirmed as yet, as the person responsible for "leaking" the information has not been in contact since. We are all apparently going back to answering phones. New computers have been installed in the office, but they are yet to be networked. There is no sign of telephones or networking equipment / people"

Lets hope ezesurf manage to survive this struggling time they are having at the moment and they continue to provide a good service.

*Update* - Mark
Please note; you cannot assume the identity of a person is correct and that his or her information is factual. As such I feel we should point out that everything above could still potentially be false - it's rumours unless you can physically prove otherwise.

News - August 16,2000

IPStream 500 Launch Update

By:mark @ 8:00:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BT have updated their broadband pages with new information on the launch of their IPStream500 technology:

Background

Following the BT IPStream 500 briefing dated July 24 2000, this briefing confirms that following the successful testing of BT’s systems and processes, BT IPStream 500 will launch on August 29 2000.

BT IPStream 500 is planned to be available on the full BT Broadband footprint of 516 exchanges at launch. This equates to 35% of the UK and covers 11.4m households and 1.34m businesses.

Next Steps

If you wish to sign for the launch service or otherwise, please contact your BT Account Manager as soon as possible for timescales for submitting documentation.

Capacity Issues

As demand exceeds our current capacity, we have implemented a daily limit on the number of end user orders that we can accept from each customer. Whilst this means that individual customers may not be able to connect as many end users per day as they wish, it does mean that we can provide service to more customers. If your allocation is insufficient to meet your demand please inform your BT Account Manager and BT will employ reasonable endeavours to meet your customer’s requirements.

BT IPStream is a one-to-many broadband service that enables Service Providers and other operators to develop their own digital packages and deliver them to an unlimited number of End Users via an IP-based data network.

Using ADSL technology, BT IPStream turns an ordinary copper telephone line into an IP-based high-speed digital connection, giving End Users access to a wide range of innovative offerings and applications that make the most of broadband capabilities. One thing at a time, lets actually get ADSL first =); thanks to all those for informing us.

ADSL Not Out - Here Comes SDSL

By:mark @ 7:52:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One moment it's ADSL, then it's FS-VDSL and now here comes SDSL (symmetric digital subscriber line), all before the first product (ADSL) has even got off the ground. BT is, of course, behind this latest medium and has just announced the trials, here's the PR from the BT page:

Ignite, BT's Broadband and Internet Services company, have announced the invitation to major businesses and Service Providers (SPs) to become trialists for their new Broadband products that use Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) technology. The trials are planned to begin in December.

Ignite is looking for trialists for two new broadband products that will further revolutionise the info-communications market. Ignite is looking for Internet Service Providers, Other Licensed Operators and Major businesses to trial these new services. Two product variants will initially be trialled, a symmetric point-to-multipoint offering similar in nature to BT DataStream S, and a symmetric point-to-point offering similar to existing leased line services such as some Leased Line products.

DataStream 'Symmetric'

This new Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) product range will be an integral part of Ignite's broadband portfolio. The service will be similar in nature to BT DataStream S (ADSL) in that it will give service providers the ability to develop a broadband network with a many-to-one topology that can send and receive data at the same speed.

There will be 3 bandwidth options, 500kbps, 1Mbps and 1.9Mbs upstream and downstream dependent on reach, and will support a wide range of end user applications such as Internet access, audio and video streaming, audio and videoconferencing, gaming, e-mail and news feeds and, in the future, Voice over DSL (VoDSL).

Essentially SDSL is just like ADSL, accept faster and capable of pushing the same speed upstream as it does downstream. If you wish to take part in the trial then pop over to THIS page and click the relevant link.

We're not quite sure how to take this, is BT simply showing interest in the future or are they just expecting to take another few years to conduct another broadband trial? Either is good, or it could be read so as to show a lack of confidence in their already wilting ADSL line.

The Internet IS Important - Official

By:mark @ 3:33:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A report out today by the University of California and Los Angeles suggests that the Internet is considered a more important source for information than TV or radio.

Users also give the Internet, where anyone with computer access can post information, a high rating for credibility. A view not shared by those who have avoided its use, the report claims, obviously.

Two-thirds of survey respondents who use the Internet call it an "important" or "extremely important" source of information. Just 53% ranked television and 47% considered radio at the same level of importance.

"Whether you love it or you hate it, it's clear that the Internet is not a passing fad, and its impact is real and profound," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Centre for Communication Policy, which sponsored the report.

Some 55% of net users claimed "most" or "all" information in cyberspace is reliable and accurate, while only a third of non-users agreed.

"If online organisations and individuals hope to rely on the Internet as a communications vehicle, the public's perception of information delivered through this technology must shift considerably," Cole said.

Personally we think it's all a matter of perception, different people have different interests and invariably see different things. Not to mention they can have different software and different computers, it's all a bit, well, different.

Generally it depends who you are, but we'd stand by the claims that at least the majority of what you read is quality information, unless it comes from large business (ehumm BT, Microsoft etc.) =).