August 10, 2000 - August 16, 2000

News - August 16,2000

More AltaVista Non-sense

By:Ross14 @ 3:13:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Our kind hearted friends at The Register decided to get to the bottom of the AltaVista net shamble by paying a visit to their London Head Office.

"The Register went to the heart of AltaVista's UK empire this morning in a bid to get to the bottom of the great AltaVista mystery.

After blagging our way into AltaVista's central London offices we waited for someone to come and speak to us.

AV's fine young receptionist told us to sit down and help ourselves to drinks, newspapers, coffee.

We did.

Shortly afterwards, Evan Loevner, head of distribution at AltaVista UK, appeared.

Not surprisingly, he refused to comment on allegations that AltaVista's highly-publicised unmetered Net service was little more than a sham."

So, the only person that can come up with the answers is AltaVista UK's MD, Andy Mitchell, who is returning from his summer holidays later this week and will be back at his desk on Monday. Only then, we will find out the true Av story.

Yesterday, the Consumers' Association weighed in to the debate saying that the service didn't "seem to exist".

ISPr Freecall Online Interest System

By:mark @ 10:34:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If you're be at all interested in ISPreview offering a freecall (unmetered 24/7) ISP service specifically for ISPreview readers, then you can now register your interest. After we first announced intentions to investigate doing such a system we had a lot of positive replies, so today we are launching a service to monitor how many would actually be interested.

No prices or package offers have been put forward yet as talks with various people are still going on, however anybody on the list would be the first to know as events unfold. So please register your interest if you would seriously consider joining if we were to go ahead with a freecall system, thanks.

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

*Update*

If you had some 'confirmation problems' then they should be fixed now, strange bug in the script. Please make sure you use the correct E-Mail address or it won't accept you.

Ten RIP Q & A's

By:mark @ 9:31:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

So we're all a little nervous about what the new RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) law will do to our usage of the net. Will we be secretly monitored by corrupt police officers or will our privacy just be broken in half? Either way The Express has done a Question and Answers session to clear things up:

1) Who is responsible for the Act?

The Home Office pushed through RIP due to persistent police concern going back over the last five years that the internet was beyond their control.

2) Does it monitor all e-mail traffic?

No, according to the Home Office web site, the police will only be able to pick up the e-mails of people they suspect of serious crimes. But it has to look at everything to find the mail of the person it is after and can only store the suspect's data.

3) Who decides who gets bugged?

The Home Secretary will sign the warrants. Given that he signed 1,645 phone tap orders last year - with each request needing 20 minutes of ministerial time or around 1 hour 20 minutes a day - it looks as though the Home Secretary will spend most of his time deciding personally who gets
bugged.

4) How will it work?

Once in possession of their warrants the police hot foot it to the internet companies (ISP's) and install little black boxes into the computers they use for the web. These will be programmed to only pick up the e-mail of the suspect.

5) What if that mail has been encoded?

The police will be able to demand that you supply them with the relevant password. Failure to do will result in a two year prison sentence. This is one of the most controversial parts of the legislation.

6) Why do we need it?

The Government claim they are expecting a flood of technologically-competent master criminals, dealing in everything from drugs to people, to swamp the web and want to be ready for them.

7) So what happened to the carefree new world of the web?

Cyberspace is being fleshed out. Just as people are starting to build the shops so the policemen are arriving to move the cars along. To achieve a realistic virtual world you have to have some people telling other people what to do.

8) Why should I be worried?

As civil liberties activists and business interests point out, the devil is in the detail. According to a Home Office spokesman: "The powers of interception are only directed at those suspected of involvement in a threat to national security, a threat to the economic well being of the nation or involvement in serious organised crime." So that could be anyone really.

9) Are we alone in this?

Not quite , but as with Sir Robert Peel and his invention of the police in 1846 we are setting the pace. It seems the UK now has the most repressive system in the developed world - so at least we're a world leader in something. What happened to New Labour's pledge of openness and accountability? You may well ask. Meanwhile, across the pond, the FBI has announced a startlingly similar system called Carnivore which is currently scaring the pants off politicians in Washington. Journalists are already likening it to the oppressive state surveillance systems used in the UK.

10) How can I avoid it?

This is what's so dumb about the legislation. Avoidance is quite simple really. Go to a small ISP, take your e-mail account overseas, use a one-time encryption key, get an account with the totally encrypted Hushmail or Ziplip and go to an anonomiser like Zeroknowledge to strip all identifiers from your mail.

ISPreview still isn't happy because the primary concern will always be there, that the system has massive potential for misuse.

News - August 15,2000

Totalise Freecall Package

By:mark @ 6:24:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've already known of stranger offers than those from Totalise, although The Register does have some updated information on their latest one:

While Britain's ISPs appear to be climbing over themselves to ditch unmetered access, there's one, at least, which appears to think it's still a good idea.

Totalise wants to give users 100 hours a month of free Net time. In return, it wants punters to hand over £200 plus VAT.

In case that sound a bit steep it's sweetening the pill with £400 worth of shares - for free.

The Ultimate Surf has already been offered to Totalise's existing customers and a couple of hundred people have already taken the bait.

Tomorrow, the offer is being extended to non-Totalise subscribers. The service will be limited to 100,000 people.

Totalise’s CEO and founder Dr Peter Gregory, said: "Totalise has watched very closely the performance of other companies who have rushed in with unmetered access offers and how several have had to be withdrawn."

We have to say that £200 is a little steep for your average Joe and is not likely to attract the 100,000 subscribers the ISP hopes. It certainly might be of interest to keen share dealers, but for many it's likely to induce fits of annoyance. A large population of the net is under 21yrs old, how many of those even have that kind of money to spare (that’s one price group ruled out)?

However if it does attract even 50% of the opened 100,000 subscription spaces then it could affect pricing structures for other future ISPs.

Sega Spout PC/Dreamcast ISP

By:mark @ 6:12:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Register is reporting that Sega is to launch their own UK ISP service imaginatively labelled as SegaNet. But wait, before you get all excited this isn't a freecall ISP =(:

Sega is putting its full weight behind online gaming, when it launches its SegaNet ISP on 7 September, part of a major attempt to keep its head above the marketing tsunami that will mark the launch of Sony's PlayStation 2 in the US and Europe.

And, in a major shift of strategy that de-emphasises console gaming, Sega will push its ISP at online gamers who use other platforms.

Sega today announced it has licensed French software developer NexGen's TCP/IP software, NexGenIP, to allow Dreamcast games authors to build online multiplayer action into their upcoming titles.

Tucked away in the release is the phrase: "On September 7th, Sega will take gamers where gaming is going - which is online." Licensing NexGenIP now doesn't give developers much chance of meeting that deadline, so the announcement must be something more than a mass software release. Sega announced SegaNet, an ISP aimed initially at Dreamcast users, last April. SegaNet was then said to be scheduled for an Autumn launch, and indeed, 7 September appears to be the date Sega has pegged for the ISP's debut.

And then there's this: "SegaNet is also an ISP for Sega Dreamcast and PC users, offering gamers everything they need to know about gaming."

It's a pity Sega haven't cottoned onto the idea of unmetered ISPs, although they likely have good reason. Imagine several million subscribers on an unmetered ISP service, eeek RedHotAnt all over again.

Full details aren't yet known, although we're sure this is of interest to the Dreamcast gamers out there, PC users look elsewhere.

Brits Net Boom

By:Ross14 @ 1:30:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to a report issued by MMXI Europe, a quarter of all british households now have access to the net, that equates to a staggering 7 million.

"The number of households online has risen by more than two million since October 1999.

MMXI Europe also reckons that of the 20 million people who have access to the Net, 10.6 million hooked up to the Web in June.

Mari Kim Coleman, UK MD at MMXI Europe, said: "The Internet proves to be a valuable source of information for more and more people in the UK.

"Although there is a shortfall between those who access the Internet regularly and those who have the opportunity to do so, this gap is getting smaller as people get used to the Internet."

Most of the big 'net boom' is probably due to the rising number of unmetered ISP's and as such. And as the article says, the wealth of information on the net has attracted so many surfers, undoubtedly, so has online shopping.

Source: The Register

Last Call for AltaVista Users

By:mark @ 12:27:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The campaign to actually find people who can give evidence they are using the AltaVista unmetered service continues for its near third week. So far ISPreview, The Register and several other sites have only managed to get word of mouth and nothing more.

Isn't there anybody out there that's actually using AltaVista Unmetered and if so can they take a screenshot or give some evidence to prove as much (E-Mails, screenshots etc.)? So if there is somebody out there with the elusive evidence then please let us know =)

Yet again, AA fails to comment. 200,000 subscribers online and yet nobody can prove it, hmmm.

NEW LAYOUT LIVE!

By:mark @ 11:32:AM - Comments (14) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The subject just about says it all and as you can see we have introduced the new main page layout. Combined with the new footer ISPreview should load a fair bit faster now and be more polished. We've set a specific font to make things seem to link in better and a few new section and tables can be seen (some not live yet).

Anyway feedback is always good so do let us know what you think, we're off to update all the footers not in the SSI file and fix up some other pages.

PS”We are aware that Netscape users see nasty grey boarders instead of smooth black ones, if anybody knows a solution then let us know.”

ISPreview Site Update

By:mark @ 9:21:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just to let you know that we plan to introduce the new main page layout sometime today. There are still a couple of issues that need to be sorted and we've left some things out, however the test is already working fine.

We haven't been able to tell exactly how much smaller it is than the current design, but estimate some 15-20K or so. That means it's about 20% smaller (news takes the most K) and so should load even faster. We doubt everybody will like it, but the large percentage that vote in THIS old survey should be happy.

42% of you clearly wanted a faster loading site (we're already fast but who cares =]), so after a week or two of planning and 6 days of production we'll bring it to you very soon! Estimated launch time is around noon today.

Mobile Phone Laptops?

By:mark @ 9:07:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's one thing to collect E-Mail on the move via your Mobile, it's another to do exactly the same with your Laptop and also be able to surf full colour web sites! However that's the plan Orange have for launching their new Mobile PCMCIA Plugin card for Laptops:

Orange has launched the high-speed data transmission system it promised last month. According to senior product manager Adrian Dobbs: "By next Monday, every shop will have it."

What is it? Currently it's a PC card (PCMCIA; based on GSM). Shove it in your laptop and you'll get 28.8Kbps up and down, no cables, no modems, no mucking about with infra-red (and that's 90 per cent guaranteed, says Orange). It says this is as good as most fixed-line modems, which is mostly true, and three times faster than other mobile transmissions, which is true.

What about the cost? Orange isn't subsidising the cost price, so it's £299 for the card. You will also have to cough up an extra £5 a month for the service and another £5 a month of you want two mobiles on the same service. As for the cost of calls, it is cutting a "promotional" price deal so it will be the same as current mobiles (15p a minute peak, 5p off-peak).

The truly interesting thing about this is that while nobody has done it before, it's not actually that unique. People have been able to plug GSM mobiles (with this system you just have the card) into a GSM compatible PCMCIA card to do the same job for a long time. The difference is that this method kills off the mobile, but for the price is it worth it?

To be honest with £299 we'd by a Nokia Communicator (smaller, same job, damn slow etc.) or just get a GSM phone + compatible PCMCIA modem card. Chances are you'd have enough left over for a good meal and several pints, love the fringe benefits =). You can read the rest over @ The Register.

CallNet0800 Tycoon Speaks Out

By:mark @ 8:57:AM - Comments (12) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One of the key individuals behind the doomed 4UNetwork (CallNet0800, Phones4U etc.) of freecall ISPs has spoken out about the recent closure of their unmetered offer.

Tycoon John Caudwell has vowed to launch a new internet service after being forced to withdraw his much-hyped free-access system.

Sentinel Sunday yesterday revealed the "embarrassed" Stoke-based mobile phone salesman is to completely close his internet service from September 5.

In its place will be a pay-for system costing 2p a minute at peak times and 1p a minute at other times. Mr Caudwell blamed members of the public for not using the 4uNet system "sensibly" enough, and the service suppliers for misreading demand - a situation he intends to avoid next time round.

He said: "The internet is the future, and a crucial part of it will be the merging of technology. As the biggest mobile phone business in the country, we have to be involved in it. But with the proposition we come to market with, we will have to make certain it is not in the hands of a third party."

The fiasco is estimated to have cost him millions of pounds, although he declined to reveal the level of his loss. Mr Caudwell, whose company also has sites in Crewe and Newcastle, blamed the fiasco on two outside firms.

He said: "It's embarrassing and it is with great regret that I'm in this situation. My supplier decided the service could not be sustained. It was found the economic model couldn't possibly work. We thought people would use the internet sensibly, but they have been using it for an average of 30 hours a month. The cost of that was colossal."

"The suppliers got their sums wrong, they assumed people would use the internet in the same way as paid users. The service is being terminated and we are providing the option for customers to take a service at a cost of 1p a minute, which is the wholesale cost of the service."

Mr Caudwell confirmed the replacement system was being offered by CallNet, one of the two original operators.

Like we've always said, if you offer a freecall system then don't expect them to use it for short periods anymore. Perhaps instead of closing they could have realised this sooner and given people a choice by imposing more restrictions (GreatXscape - 20hrs per month).

Still what's done is done and many of us have lost at least £20 on this ISP, in fact I alone have had the dialler but never once been able to login. To me the only known existence of CallNet0800 is a £20 charge for a now unusable dialler =). Read more @ FISH.

News - August 14,2000

Freeserve in trouble

By:mark @ 6:43:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

An interesting article over @ NetImperative has exposed some of the problems people are having with the Freeserve unmetered package:

The Freeserve homepage carries a ‘service status’ message that states: “We are making significant progress on the work to restore our standards of service during the evenings and weekends to their usual high levels… It is expected that Freeserve will be able to restore its usual high levels of service for all members by mid-September.”

The complaints have centred on Freeserve’s Off-Peak Freeserve Time, which offers free internet calls in the evenings and all weekend for £4.99 using BT’s Surftime package.

However, some users say they are often disconnected before the allotted two-hour cut-off period elapses, have to make multiple attempts to log back on, and that download times have increased.

The company has laid the blame for the problems at the doors of a number of parties, including slow local exchanges, overuse by subscribers, and the recent high-profile failure of a number of other unlimited ISP offers, which it says has led to a greater number of surfers turning to the Freeserve package.

A spokesman said: “We don’t think its over-subscription to blame since certain parts of the country are experiencing a better service than others. There are other players now out of the market and that has led to more interest and here is still a case for people ignoring the terms and conditions, which warn users about milking the service too much.”

We've received a fair few number of complaints about them as well, although not nearly as much as BTI or RHA frequently spout. Still at least it seems as though they are trying to fix things, more than we can say for some (ehumm.. RHA).

NoCallFee Fails to go Live

By:mark @ 6:36:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Strange happenings with the new unmetered ISP NoCallFee that was supposed to go live today, as Clive says:

"I signed up with nocallfee.com for their £30 a month per ISDN channel, no kick off period, etc... (I took 2x64K channels - £60 a month).

The service was due to launch today, but upon contacting nocallfee.com, I was informed by Dominic that Oftel had put a stop to it until 1st September."

Unusual, Oftel putting a stop to something before it’s even launched? Clive goes on to explain how concerned he is that they could be a scam, so anybody who knows something should contact us ASAP.

FreeChariot Makes a Stand

By:mark @ 6:10:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The fairly new unmetered ISP FreeChariot has made a stand against recent claims that unmetered access in the UK is on a down streak. More specifically, they have sent us a CC response to a damning report by the The Times into the state of UK unmetered ISPs:

Following your article in the "free THE NET" section of the interface in the Times today 14/8/00, we feel the need to humbly respond to the misinformation going about regarding the demise of unmetered internet services. The biggest lie seem to be the focus of articles like yours on only the so-called big fish in the industry. It seem hard for some to grasp that the reason why the big fish are unable to offer reliable unmetered service, is that they spend too much on advertising, pay too much for overblown number of personnel and burn up cash on irrelevant infrastructure and buildings.

Alta Vista, from the beginning has played the media for all its worth since they came to the market with an idea second handed following our attempt to secure a particular venture capitalist for our free unmetered service. Instead of the media wising up to the publicity stunt of Alta Vista's announcement, everyone has continuously been primed to keep waiting for the service like waiting for a bus that will never arrive. In the meantime, Alta Vista is milking the traffic generated by the stunt continuously. Meanwhile, everyone is using BT for a weeping tree.

We have one of the best offers in the industry(if not the best) and we say that with humility, our customers can attest to this fact. This is why various organisations are trying to work with us in setting our "SightLinx" network for the visually impaired, the dyslexic and people on the move. The article below published in some media has led to a large number of unhappy line one and 4unet customers to join our service. We will work with ISPReview if they are serious in setting up an unmetered service that will rival the best in the market. Good unmetered services especially free ones - which takes the call traffic, are privileged services which should be offered as such - it is not manna from heaven.

We quite agree with FC, the mass media is constantly focused on the big fish and always neglects the smaller ones. ISPs such as 24-7Freecall and Freechariot simply don't get the credit they deserve and are not just 'exceptions to the rule'. By focusing on the larger ISPs such as RHA, BTI, Freeserve, TFI etc., the media ends up promoting a distorted view of the truth.

The truth, as if you couldn't guess, is that there is a large portion of good quality freecall ISPs. We'll take a look into all the top ones very soon, FC also enclosed details of future expansions to their services:

It is with great regret that Freechariot view the present performance of some Internet service providers. That companies run by so-called professionals, could treat customers with such contempt as to pack up widely acclaimed and promised services less than 4 months into launch shows gross lack of proper planning.

Freechariot is a FREE Internet communications provider, started in June with a firm target. The target is to peg the level of membership at 30,000 for the first 6 months so as to let the network be reasonably tested before progressing with more membership intake.

Future services will include:

- "SightLinx", total voice Internet access on the move for easy access to mail, services (such as restaurant, gyms, clubs, dating etc) and information - beneficial to visually impaired surfers, the dyslexic and those on the move - available in the next 6 months.
- WAP and GPRS enabled site.
- Anti-fraud on-line payment system.
- Full free unmetered local off-peak voice calls.
- Expansion to Europe and multi-lingual cross boundary site access and services.

So far ISPr hasn't received any complaints about FC above perhaps one or two at the very start.

BT ADSL - Have Your Say

By:mark @ 4:17:PM - Comments (16) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Please E-Mail me any concerns you have about ADSL as we know an ISP that's meeting with them on Wednesday. Recent issues with port blocking have forced them into this meeting and they've asked us if we have any Questions to ask.

We have some of our own but please E-Mail me today or tomorrow morning with anything you'd like to ask. Only E-Mail if it's a proper question - thanks. You can also leave a comment but please keep the posts clean, E-Mail is the way to submit proper Q's.

ISPr Site Changes

By:mark @ 10:12:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Please ignore any strange happenings on the main ISPreview page, we're changing some things ready for the new layout.

ISPreview Freecall Online

By:mark @ 8:46:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ISPreview has been looking to do its own Freecall ISP for sometime, we're currently talking with some ISPs but nothing has come of it yet. If nothing does come of such talks then we have a backup plan, to offer a simple and 'freecall ONLY' service to undercut others.

First thing to understand is that this wouldn't be anything big, we're targeting ISPreview readers only. In general this would mean something like 850 terminals (modems) to 1,000 subscribers or half that to start with. No web space or third party services, just newsgroups, e-mail and dialup access.

Having no cut off is possible, but it costs too much money as this would all come out of my own account (ugg). Instead most people seem to like 3hours and so we'd aim for 3 and a half or 4 hourly cut offs. As for the price, £5 or £7 a month is the specific aim.

The idea being that by aiming at a smaller number of people we can offer a better service. Talks with several networks are being looked into, although Planet Online seems to back the best performing ISPs. However for now this is all a pipe dream, we have a duty to stand by our free (0845) ISPr Online subscribers and so that changes things a bit.

Obviously this is not a profitable service; we'd just like some comments on the specific package idea mentioned above and nothing else. Please E-Mail these comments to me personally, we'll likely put up an 'Interest' system to see how many might or would join if we could do it.

Note, no need to state the obvious, such as subscription cut offs before levels rise too high, we'd obviously do things like that =).

*Update*
Judging by the fullness of positive replies in our mailboxes, most of you find the idea of a straightforward 24/7 Freecall ISP to be good. Keep the e-mail comments coming, as they are all useful in shaping any future services.

News - August 13,2000

£20 for Cable Modem

By:Daniel @ 8:00:PM - Comments (37) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We think most people would love broadband Internet, but due to cost and such things as port blocking, people get put off. Cable and Wireless are thus going to introduce a faster service than Blueyonder for £20 a month!

"Ex C&W Digital customers will be offered cable modem access beginning 21st September for £20 a month.

It runs Liberate Technologies' software. Download: 2 Mbit/s,
Upload: 256 Kbit/s & Videostream: 1 Mbit/s.

*Update* - Mark
Just noticed this post by Daniel, for the record nobody knows whether this is official or not and it's an old rumour as I saw it ages ago but never posted for that reason. I'll leave it up here so people remember that, ehumm Dan =).

ISPreview Weekly Update

By:mark @ 9:27:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As another week passes we wish Richard (Deputy Editor) a happy vacation until the 18th when he arrives back. As for ISPreview, well it's actually been quite a full week and you should see the fruits of that in the next 7 days, we hope.

Firstly there's the new main page layout, we heeded the majority that cared more about loading times and the new design is almost completed as such. Just remember that we scrapped a more cosmetic and attractive look because you guys wanted speed, let it be on your heads =).

Generally we cut the entire INTERNAL layout out and managed not to use any GFX at all, yet the look should feel the same as the current one. We're also going to loose the current footer since nobody really uses it. There will be several new links (sections) such as a petition, but these will not be online straight away.

Other than that the last week saw us spend countless hours fixing up the forums, making a comments and rating script for the ISP listings and doing more articles and reviews + main page design. We didn't get the VisualDepth report up because of it, although that should go live soon.

The real highlight of the week came when ISPreview was mentioned on several pages in .Net Magazine. Richards quoted in there several times and the odd picture is also housed on the pages. Normally such a thing wouldn’t bother us, however .NET is our favoured Internet rag and so it was doubly interesting to see.

So what does the future hold this week? Well our primary aim is to finish the new main page layout and get it Online ASAP. Then we'll post a new ISP review + article and spend the rest of the week adding in some new services and sub sections. We're also trying to sort out an unmetered ISP of our own, currently in talks with several ISPs.

Until next week remember that beer helps clear the mind when preparing for another days work. Hmm or is it no beer helps clear the mind? Anyhooo....

Unmetered Fiasco

By:mark @ 9:06:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Net4Nowt have done an interesting news item come article on the unmetered Fiasco. It asks about who is to blame and how ISPs hold no responsibility if their service fails:

Oftel is being blamed by The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) who are also warning consumers not to be taken in by free offers.
"The market has become more and more competitive and each company is trying its best to capture market share. They are making fabulous offers and consumers have to ask is it too good to be true," says an ISPA spokesman.

Although Oftel admits it too has received complaints, they are unwilling to accept any responsibility.
"It is for companies to devise sustainable business models, we can't intervene," says a spokesman. "We point out to consumers that companies can change their terms and conditions. People can always try alternative providers."

A spokesman for The Campaign for Unmetered Access CUT lies much of the blame at BT's door because they believe that the unmetered dream was always going to be a nightmare while service providers still paid BT for leasing telephone lines.
"You had a mad situation where ISPs were offering unmetered services but not wanting people to use them too much," he says. "As users we are sick of the industry continually underestimating how much we want these products."

The CUT believes there is light at the end of the tunnel.
"BT is now in the process of talking about viable unmetered products -- principally Friaco -- and that was unthinkable six months ago."

If you ask us it's too much to take in on a weekend we should all be relaxing in the sun =). None of this is especially new and what we shouldn't loose sight of is that things have been getting better and not worse.

With the exception of a few ISPs (RedHotAnt etc.), many such as 24-7FreeCall are setting new standards for the industry with quality service. While others like EzeSurf remain borderline, offering good services but blaming engaged tones at peak hours on BT, 80% of the time it's not their fault (BT).

Every unmetered ISP has some sort of fault, be it cosmetic or physical and that's just the way it'll be for awhile. For example I spent the weekend using ClaraNets 0845 number =), why? Simple, was tired of RHA engaged tones, annoyed with dual channel ISDN on EzeSurf 75% of the time failing to function when channel two connects (takes everything down) etc. So who’s to blame you ask? Everybody is to blame collectively for not understanding their customers and the market.

News - August 12,2000

BT ADSL In Excessive Port Blocking

By:mark @ 8:35:AM - Comments (39) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One of our readers (Scott) was able to get in touch with BT regarding their new ADSL packages and he has some disturbing news. Please note that we can't confirm this information just yet. BT have also removed specific information related to it from their site (usually means they are going to change or just want to hide something):

I have heard from inside BT that their ADSL service will be port blocked - excessively. Apparently not even ICQ will work! He said...

"YES B.T will block most, if not all, of the Ports that gives you access to those services that you've mentioned. This is to avoid the might be JAMMING for traffic that occur as ADSL is an always on service. Until we know how much traffic there is we can't plan anything else. BT is like that, they won't spend anything unless they have to."

We will be asking some of our contacts for confirmation on this, however the bad news doesn't end there:

BT have increased the home user contention ratio to 80:1 - and coincidentally removed all reference to the ratio from the BT Openworld site.

WOW! 80:1, that's 80 people able to use a single users connection and sounds totally implausible. If true then most people would be surfing @ 14400Bps style speeds in major city’s. The currently known contention of 50:1 is bad enough and even 20:1 (business) is pretty horrific, but 80:1 is just plain stupid.

By comparison Cable Modems are way ahead of ADSL if this information is true, god lets hope it isn't.

SurfSaver POWER!

By:Daniel @ 12:43:AM - Comments (19) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ezesurf has scraped their Surfsaver package and has brought another package called SurfSaver POWER.

It costs £79(Worth of shares) which is a little more than the original package but it has a lot more features.

The following are the features of the new package:
Free internet access
Free .co.uk domain name
ISDN installation
Unlimited email aliases
15Mb of webspace
Voice and fax to email
150 company shares
National rate techincal support

Also it says you get instant activation.

Sully from the comment system said
"And its good to see that they're raising the price instead of cutting people off or ending it completely!"

Lets hope the recent allegations about Ezesurf will not come true and that they continue offering a good service to their customers.

News - August 11,2000

EzeSurf Update

By:Daniel @ 8:41:PM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We have just seen this posted on our forums

"After an interesting "discussion" with ezesurf "customer services" today, it appears that the £39 offer has now ended and that no further applications can be made. Instead there will be a £79 offer which offers few benefits for myself!!!!"

We decided to check out their webpage and it says:

" We are currently upgrading our servers to improve our service to you. During this time our website will be unavailable. Pleace check back soon, when we will have news of an exciting new product launch - the birth of SurfSaver POWER!"

So it looks like Ezesurf are launching a NEW surfsaver but it will cost more.

Thanks to Mr Bojangles from ISPr forums.

CBI Stepping on RIP, Or Are They?

By:mark @ 7:41:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Looks as if the CBI are trying to have the DTI expand the time people are being allowed to pen their thoughts on the RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) act. Or so The Register reports:

"The Confederation of British Industry is to leap to the defence of UK Internet users.

In a letter to today's FT, the director general of the CBI Digby Jones states his organisation's grievances over the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act.

Jones intends to pen a letter to the Department of Trade and Industry to "suggest" giving the public longer than three and a half weeks to comment on the regulations in the Act. The RIP proposals in question would give bosses the power to read staff emails, in certain circumstances, without their consent.

He said RIP would "certainly place additional burdens on business".

"The real issue for business is that the regulations must grant legal certainty and are practical. What our members want is for e-mails to be available within the business in exactly the same way as paper-based communications," Jones wrote.

"The RIP Bill was greatly improved by the government taking the time, and being prepared, to accept amendments. We hope that the regulations will be treated similarly - and we are writing to the Department of Trade and Industry to suggest that, with this in mind, the deadline for comments be extended."

The DTI has given the public until Friday 25th August to fill in a questionnaire on the regulations. The CBI wants this deadline extended to the end of September."

ISPreview has never exactly spoken on the same side as RIP before (putting it mildly) and we don't intend to start now, but this has to be pointed out:

"The RIP proposals in question would give bosses the power to read staff emails, in certain circumstances, without their consent."

Quite true, although where business employees are concerned the bill is designed to protect them from employer snooping and not open them up. Yes it does give employers the ability to look at employees E-Mails if they have been given legal authority, although no such legal authority exists at present.

Thus what we're trying to say is simple, as far as this case is concerned, it's actually less of a burned on employees now then it is on employers. Obviously some clever tact and language is being used to make it seem the other way, although in reality it's quite the opposite. At present there’s nothing truly illegal about viewing employees E-Mails, but there will be soon and that has employers worried.

PlusNET Prize Off Free Net Access

By:mark @ 7:27:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Looks as if PlusNET is either getting really desperate for users or its come up with an inventive way of getting even more. Fancy winning one years Off-peak access including the Surftime fees? If so then take a gander:

"If you've taken a look at your PlusNet Website recently you may have noticed a big new button that's appeared on the main page? It's for a great new feature that could win you a WHOLE YEAR'S COMPLETELY FREE Internet access!

Tell your friends about PlusNet and you get the chance to win one of many fabulous prizes! For every person who mentions YOUR name when they sign up for a PlusNet account, you get the chance to win a whole year's subscription to PlusNet and BT SurfTime. Yes, that's right. We're offering the chance for you to do as much OffPeak surfing as you like for the next 12 months, and pay not one single penny!

All you have to do is enter the name and e-mail address of someone who you think would be interested in learning more about PlusNet and our great range of Internet access services. If your friend signs up for a PlusNet account (that's any Free+, Surf+, OffPeak+, 24+7 or Biz+ account), we'll enter you into a monthly draw. The winner, drawn at random, gets an OffPeak+ account together with BT SurfTime connection, giving you COMPLETELY FREE OffPeak Internet access for a whole year!

There's no limit to how many times you can enter, so get recommending!"

Somewhat more ideal for those already subscribed to PlusNET, although that kind of defeats the object doesn't it? Still if you've never used them before and fancy 1 years free access at Off-peak times then might as well try.

CallNet0800 Update

By:Ross14 @ 1:29:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Our mates over at Net4Nowt have been in touch with Callnet0800 over what will happen to customers accounts. This is the reply that they received:

"The unmetered deal ends on 5th September and will be replaced with the CallNet1p package. You will still be billed for the telephone calls used as well as 1p per minute for off-peak access and 2p peak-rate. If current customers sign-up before 5th September, then you will not have to pay the £9.99 registration fee. In addition, they will be giving the first 100 existing customers to register a £5 credit to their new CallNet1p account."

Customers have also received 4 x £5 vouchers to be used on their Callnet0800 telephone accounts. Well, bills are being sent out this month and Callnet say that any unused vouchers can be used on your Callnet1p account.

If you prefer not to sign-up to the Callnet1p service, then any unused vouchers can be refunded by sending them to the following address:

Customer Billing Department
CallNet Plc
PO Box 31149
London
E14 9ZF

You can contact their customer service department on 0800 279 7290 for more information.

Freeserve Shares Drop

By:mark @ 8:26:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As we predicted yesterday, Freeserves shares stood to quite literally fall after the second break up of talks with T-Online hit the company. The loss carried Freeserve shares to not far from a low of 276 pence set on August 7 and way below a peak of 978p seen in early March, the height of mania for Internet-related stocks. It was among the biggest fallers in a weak FTSE 100 index.

However there may be some good news, Freeserve was pursuing further partnership deals along the lines of a linkup with mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley, announced on July 10. The idea being that Freeserve will offer mortgage advice and online property information. Hardly the same size as T-Online discussions, yet big none the less.

UK ISPs Don't Like MS' - Shock Horror

By:mark @ 8:18:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Lets face it, most of the people who use Microsoft products including us, don't like them much. Perhaps it's something to do with over-priced software that comes with bugs and crashes more than pensioner drivers. The only reason we use them is because there is no viable alternative with the options, although Linux is starting to do well.

So when MS decided it wanted to join the influential London Internet Exchange (LINX), ISPs clearly felt the same way:

"The beast of Redmond submitted its application on Monday and although it passes all the technical qualifications for entry to the influential Internet club, there are fears it could be blackballed by members who are not keen to peer with the monopoly software company.

Peering is a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-your-back type of agreement whereby members share Internet traffic with one another.

However, some of the 109 members don't believe MS' intentions are wholly honourable and that it doesn't have the best interests of the British Net community at heart."

A vote is scheduled to go ahead today and we should hopefully have the answer to just how many UK ISPs dislike the idea then. The Register has the rest, although so far it looks as if almost everybody is against the idea. Good going MS, you've managed to really [insert profanity] everyone off again.

Freecall Access a Shambles

By:mark @ 8:10:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to the MD @ PlusNET, a Sheffield based ISP using BTSurftime, unmetered access in the UK is a shambles:

"The MD of Sheffield-based ISP PlusNet has spoken out at the confusion in the unmetered Net access market and warned that unless the issue is rectified, it could inflict long-term damage on the industry and dent consumer confidence.

In a candid interview with the The Register, Lee Strafford warned that Net users in Britain were confused by the different offers - and subsequent withdrawals - of unmetered Net access.

He said that Oftel's ruling on FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) - which should have paved the way for a wholesale competitive product to BT SurfTime - had raised people's expectations about cheap unmetered Net access.

But the delay in getting this product from the drawing board to the marketplace was proving damaging to the industry and to Net users in Britain. It was also affecting the uptake of SurfTime.

"SurfTime is a failure because the market thinks it is going to get FRIACO since 1 June - but it won't happen until next year," he said.

Of course Strafford has a vested interest since PlusNet is one of four ISPs currently offering BT's SurfTime unmetered package.

But The Register has learnt that less than 200,000 customers have so far signed up to SurfTime or its 24/7 sister-product, AnyTime. This figure is disappointing, but what's also clear is that as the casualty list of ISPs offering unmetered Net access grows, BT's unmetered product will continue to look increasingly more attractive."

You can read the rest @ The Register and we certainly think it's all quite interesting, not least the part about FRIACO now coming next year? Last we heard (yesterday) FRIACO2 was going to get the all clear inside two weeks time. Unless he has some more updated information about why it could be delayed for so many months, we'll think the best =).

We might not describe less than 200,000 customers as a bad number considering most people dislike BTSurftime for several reasons. Not least on the PlusNET package specifically is the issue of cut off times, bandwidth limits and expense.

Customers don't want to be paying £25-30 a month for 24/7 when you could now have Cable Modems for the same. Not to mention that many unmetered ISPs (EzeSurf, RHA [yes I know], 24-7Freecall etc.) charge far less for better services without Surftime.

News - August 10,2000

BT Facing £37m Headache

By:Ross14 @ 3:40:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP Zone is wanting £37m of compensation from BT over the FRIACO service that would allow ISP's to offer flat-rate wholesale internet connections.

"UK ISP Zone Corporation claims it was promised an unmetered wholesale charge by the UK telco, on which it was planning to base a free-phone internet access.

However, shortly before the service was due to go live in June, BT informed Zone that the Friaco deal on the table was the hybrid version that included a metered charge.

According to reports, Zone claims this charge has meant the 08002go service was no longer viable and it is claiming compensation for advertising and other related costs."

Looking at this article, it seems that Zone have a a right to the compensation, if BT promised the package. Although, we cannot really specualate as BT might have legal grounds to have changed the package to the Hybrid version.

Source: Silicon.com

150,000 Pending to Join NTLworld

By:Ross14 @ 3:29:PM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It is quite an astonishing figure, but NTL have announced that more than 150,000 customers are pending to join the ntlworld unmetered package, but that with capacity to sign around 20,000 customers per-week, the numbers should come gradually down.

"NTL today said that at the end of last week it had connected only 190,000 customers and taken details from, but not signed up, a further 150,000. NTL said the remaining customers would be connected by the end of September.

Launched in April, the ntlworld service offers unmetered internet access included in the price of phone rental for NTL customers. For non-NTL customers, they must purchase a line adaptor for £10 and spend a minimum of £10 a month on voice calls.

NTL said it is now capable of registering 20,000 customers per week. A spokeswoman for NTL said its gradual approach to getting customers on to the service has been "very sensible" and has avoided problems that other ISPs have suffered.

"We needed to be sensible in signing customers up, to protect the network and ensure a quality of service to existing users. The service itself has been very successful and feedback has been extremely positive. We are the only operator who is staying with the free access model," she said."

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

NTL have taken the precautionary step to launching their unmetered service but 150,000 pending registrations is a massive number.

Source: Vnunet

DSL Barely Out - Here Comes FS-VDSL

By:mark @ 1:14:PM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While the technological world moves in leaps and bounds, Telco’s and consumers don't. At least that's what the developers of new connection standards are going to have to think about after introducing FS-VDSL today:

"A group of 30 European telecoms and communications technology companies will form a committee to study the deployment of standardised Full Service Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Lines, FS-VDSL.

VDSL technology allows for broadband applications such as digital video programming, and high-speed data and voice services over traditional phone lines. The group is aiming for completion of an international standard within six months based on a spectral allocation known as Plan 998.

More info can be found at the VDSL homepage"

You can read the rest over @ The Register, but this certainly seems to be a bold step considering that ADSL has barely lifted off the ground. It's highly unlikely we'd see any sign of such a system soon, perhaps not for at least another two years.

Judging from the initial spec sheet the new standard looks more geared towards 'Internet2', the long awaited upgrade to the entire Internet. It's predicted transfer rates are quite impressive and makes modern day ADSL and C-Modems look like later 80's technology.

AltaVista User Hunt Continues

By:mark @ 1:00:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yep if you're reading The Register this afternoon then you might have noticed it a news item about AV. Saving us a bit of typing as well because we're in it:

"Three people have come forward to say that they have been using AltaVista's British-based unmetered Net access service in the UK.

The revelation was made by Mark E Jackson, editor-in-chief, of the ISP Review.

He said: "We've heard from three people on the AltaVista service (normally we'd expect a lot more to reply)".

"They say the service is fairly average and not exceedingly fast either, we haven't been able to get anymore details at this time."

"Apparently there isn't much to get anyway, AV is rather bland or something along those lines," he said.

Whether the service is up to scratch or not is neither here nor there. What's important is that after an intensive search some people have been found. This must be of great comfort to AltaVista, which has yet to provide the details of a single user.

However, these are still only reported cases and no one actually using the AltaVista unmetered service in Britain has yet to contact The Register, or any of the other people out there who've joined the manhunt. ."

If you happen to be a user of AltaVista’s unmetered ISP service then please contact me by E-Mail and forward some evidence so we can prove it exists =). We're quite surprised AV hasn't responded to all the recent media coverage, wonder why?

T-Online Quit Freeserve Talks

By:mark @ 11:19:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

T-Online have already pulled out of bidding for one of the UKs largest ISPs (Freeserve) once before, only to come back again moments later. Now they have decided to pull out yet again, or so the 'Daily Handelsblatt' claims:

"We're striving to bring one or another (acquisition) under lock and key by the end of December," Keuntje was quoted as saying.

Apparently they never were officially involved in talks a second time round anyway, and for an undisclosed reason have now pulled out altogether. T-Online is still looking at ISPs in the UK that it could bite into, although no new information has surface.

T-Online plans to begin operating in Switzerland at the end of this year and is also looking at Italy (Tiscali anyone?) and Spain for other acquisitions. The news is likely to send Freeserve shares down once again.

ISPreview General Update

By:mark @ 9:45:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

For some reason the news on the main page was failing to load this morning and caused the rest of the main page some stoppage. Seems to have resolved itself now but it also prompted us to add an extra page.

If you're on anything below a 336, which should load ISPr quickly enough, then goto TEMPNEWS. This page contains just the header/footer and news/headlines - nothing else. If you use a Palmtop then it should also work well with those, at least better than the main one.

On a final note, today production begins on the new main page layout. We've listened to you and your vote that 'Quicker Loading' is what you all want in websites, so we'll try to make ISPr even faster! We've got the rough design in our heads and so it's just a matter of putting it to the test, no timescale is being given.

The layout will likely also do away with the current page footers, as we don’t believe people use it anyway =). It’ll be some 50% smaller in download size than the current one, making it one of the fastest sites this site of the world hehe.