August 5, 2000 - August 10, 2000

News - August 10,2000

ClaraNET Launch CyberCafes

By:mark @ 8:54:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This morning ClaraNET have sent us a press release regarding their joining with Tower Records. This team up (nobody's saying merge or takeover) will allow ClaraNET to offer its ISP services via Cyber Cafés around the UK:

"Leading independent UK Internet Service Provider Claranet has joined forces with Tower Records to provide Internet cafés in its stores throughout the country in order to encourage customers online.

The record store aims to open Internet cafés in all its stores across the country from Southampton to Glasgow before the end of September, with five stores already complete including Piccadilly, Whitelys and Kensington in London, as well as the Tower express stores in Windsor and Weston-Super-Mare.

The first cyber café is in the London Piccadilly store, which has been developed as a pilot as part of the recent £1.5M refurbishment programme. The Piccadilly Internet café, which comprises of 16 Apple iMacs, offers customers Internet access for £1.00.

The cyber café has thousands of Claranet CDs giving customers free Internet access and free Internet calls in addition to a selection of games, link to useful software downloads and an online Tower Records Guide.

Nick Wells, Claranet’s marketing manager said: “We are delighted to partner Tower Records in this exciting project. Our CDs are giving Tower customers the opportunity to trial a selection of our services for free, to decide which one best suits their individual Internet needs.

Tower Records’ online marketing manager Jez D’Netto, said: “The proliferation of the Internet and commercial online services has provided Tower with a clear opportunity to develop the digital shopping expertise. We now use multimedia servers to offer our customers a vast electronic inventory, and aim to have 10% of our customers using the online service by the end of the year.

He added, “We selected Claranet as our Internet partner, because as the UK’s largest independent ISP Claranet has established its credentials as one of the most innovative companies in the sector.
"

We'd rather use a Cyber Café with ClaraNET at the helm of ISP services than say, RedHotAnt, yeah imagine that =). So the only obvious question left is, what package will they be using with/for the service?

BTSurftime Supporting 128Kbps ISDN?

By:mark @ 8:46:AM - Comments (7) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One reader has contacted us to say that they've managed to channel bond their ISDN connection on a BTSurftime account to 128KBps ISDN:

"I've currently got a BT Connect account which is with surftime and just thought you might like to know that 128K ISDN seems to be working on it for the past 2 days...

The channels bond first time every time and even suspending them and resuming again has worked every time I try :))
"

BT still aren't saying they support 128Kbps just yet and indeed they won't for a little while longer, however we never said you couldn't use it. What we said was that you'd only get freecalls on one channel and the other would be charged for.

This has been confirmed by BT and so if you're bonding to 128Kbps before BTSurftime supports it then you could be paying the price =(.

FRIACO2 Finally To Surface

By:mark @ 8:34:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite BT's original claims that FRIACO could have been out and with consumers within weeks, it never managed to surface. Thankfully things are looking up after the revised FRIACO (FRIACO2) plan was put forward and now looks set for GO.

"Plans for a wholesale unmetered Net access package that would let providers compete directly with BT's SurfTime product have been watered down - for the time being at least.

The original FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) deal is still on the table, and the subject of ongoing and detailed negotiations between BT and other telcos.

When it was announced at the end of May industry insiders said FRIACO would be available to British Net users within a matter of weeks, not months.

Since then, there has been a series of stumbling blocks over accepting the proposals, not least over pricing and technical issues.

Last week BT slapped a new deal on the table - dubbed FRIACO Hybrid, or FRIACO 2 - which it's hoped will be introduced as an interim product while the details of the original FRIACO offer are thrashed out.

The Register has learned that this revised product could be made available within a couple of weeks and that at least two operators are poised to sign up to the offer.

The main difference between FRIACO and its successor lies in the fact that the original product was supposed to provide a full wholesale unmetered access package for telcos that effectively capped their exposure to spiralling telco costs.

FRIACO Hybrid, on the other hand, is partly metered and partly unmetered, which means that operators are still faced with an element of uncapped risk.

No costs have been released as yet.
"

You can read the rest over @ The Register, but at least things are finally starting to move in the right direction after many delays. Quite what they mean by a, "partly metered and partly unmetered, which means that operators are still faced with an element of uncapped risk", package is not yet clear.

Either way it'd be interesting to see if FRIACO2 can work after the large portion of complaints over BTSurftime based ISPs. Generally people complain that the cost out ways the service and that there are better ISPs. The TV media has another view, it believes unmetered providers to be another fad that will be gone within a year.

Unfortunate for the TV media then, as while many of today’s freecall ISPs may not be around tomorrow, a new bread will rise from the unbundled local loop.

Totalise Unmetered Details

By:zeon @ 8:22:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The package costs £235 for 2 years; this is a £58.75 setup fee and £176.25 for the access. The Unmetered access won't start until 1st Jan 2001 up until then they will give you 100 hours per month unmetered. Any calls made after using up the 100 hours are charged at 1p per minute. The package also includes 1,250 shares in Totalise PLC. Here are the full details from Totalise site:

  • *24x7 Unmetered Internet access from 1st January 2001 (or sooner)
  • *100 hours access per month, anytime of day, until 1st January 2001
  • E-commerce linked rebates against the entire package cost
  • 1,250 shares in Totalise plc (value at 9th August £368)
  • After 12 months a further 140 shares if you have not sold any of the original 1,250
  • Unlimited email addresses accessible by Webmail, POP3, IMAP4, WAP, SpeechMail
  • 24x7x365 Freephone technical support
  • Customer service from ISPA Best Consumer Customer Service award winner 2000
  • Package designed for domestic and home based Internet users

    Extra Details From T & C:

  • 1 hour cut-off
  • 5 minute inactivity cut-off

    You can find the Totalise site HERE

    For the average net user 100 hours of access in a month is enough. The price does seem a little high but as this is over 2 years it's only £7.30 per month and there are very good features such as free phone support e-commerce rebates. Thanks to Neil for informing us of the story.
  • News - August 9,2000

    Man Landed £1,800 Phone Bill by Virus

    By:Daniel @ 8:52:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Here's an article that should make you more weary about accepting files from strangers.

    Patrick S, a businessman from Straubing, Bavaria, almost suffered a
    stroke when he looked at his phone bill. The telco was charging him a total of 9,000 deutschmarks (£1,800).

    "I immediately wrote to the telecom company in protest. Usually my bills amount to roughly 300 deutschmarks a month," the victim explains to ZDNet. Around three weeks later Germany's largest Internet provider told him the case had been looked into, and that nothing unusual had been found.

    When the second bill of 15,000 deutschmarks (£4,629) arrived, the angry customer became even more suspicious and turned to the police.

    T-Online notified Patrick S in writing that the total sum of approximately 25,000 deutschmarks had not been paid. His T-Online account was blocked and business ISDN line was cut off. "It was only once I filed an official complaint at the Regensburg District Court that the telecom company reconnected the two lines," he says.

    Meanwhile, the Straubing police department discovered that that someone had managed to get hold of his private account information. This data was probably retrieved via a email integrated backdoor-virus named "Sub-Seven".

    "The suspect must have then spread this information over the Internet. We have now tracked down 85 users within the country who use the same account," explained Klaus Pickel, spokesman for the Straubing police department."


    We wonder if anyone has had a higher phone bill than this.

    Read the full article at Yahoo! News

    Narrowband vs Broadband

    By:Ross14 @ 4:16:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    A very interesting and informative article has been published today at ZDnet UK. It details the fight between narrowband and broadband and if narrowband's loss will be broadband's gain:

    ""Broadband can't be sold on speed or functionality. The only thing people understand is that it is flat rate. It is a straight trade-off with telephone bills," says GartnerGroup analyst Adam Daum.

    Broadband may be helped along the way by the demise of many of the narrowband flat rate services. Although Raube denies that the decision to cut the cost of blueyonder was a direct response to the unmetered debacle, he thinks many disgruntled narrowband customers will swap to broadband. "We anticipate the majority will migrate from dial-up access and the new price will make it more accessible. The fact that it is truly always on is a key difference from dial-up," he says."


    You can read the full article by going HERE.

    AltaVista to get ANOTHER ISP?

    By:mark @ 12:13:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    With all the recent controversy surrounding AltaVista's GHOST ISP service, it's humorous to see they now fancy buying an ISP?:

    "CMGI - the company that owns AltaVista - says that it is looking to buy an ISP or telco to help generate more traffic for its portal.

    Marcus Bicknell, CMGI European president, said he is looking for acquisitions in Britain, France and Germany.

    "It will be many weeks before we make a move, but I wouldn't be surprised if we go a little deeper in the Internet access business, either by associating with major telecom companies or by acquisition of Internet service providers," Bicknell told Reuters yesterday.

    Hang on a minute. Hasn't AltaVista already got an ISP in Britain offering unmetered Net access?
    "

    You can read the rest over @ The Register, this certainly is some interesting news considering many believe AV's ISP doesn't even exist. Considering AV is supposed to have 1,000,000 Pre-Signups, you'd kinder expect them not to need much more.

    So far we've heard from three people on the service, all of whom state it to be a little slower than most, yet useable. Look at little closer though:

    "says that it is looking to buy an ISP or telco to help generate more traffic for its portal"

    That could actually mean one of several things considering the way they chose to phrase it =).

    Forum Update

    By:mark @ 9:36:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    We've been making more changes to the forum in order to speed it up, however we are aware of a few bugs. Two people have reported that they get strange 'username unknown' errors when posting in specific groups such as '0800'.

    We're going to be taking a look deep into the forum today; it should be easier to uncover the problem now we know where to look. If you have this problem and ONLY this problem then E-Mail us your username and what area of the forum it occurs on.

    If you're just noticing that posts don't appear after you've posted then that's a bug with UBB and large posting numbers. Generally postings do appear, albeit somewhat later than immediately.

    *Update*
    It's 11:39am and we've just finished a major cleanup operation on the forum. The changes mean even faster loading than the recent ones and yet more features added and some removed. Those that found their usernames weren't working should try again; if it still doesn't work then let us know.

    SurfUnlimited Service Status

    By:mark @ 9:20:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    The Matrix has noticed that the service status page for Telewest’s Surfunlimited has been updated with the following:

    "We have focused our efforts in addressing the following areas:


    1) Improving Modem Capacity

    2) Improving Network Capacity

    3) Resolving Rising Tones Issues

    4) Reducing the Frequency of Random Disconnections

    5) Enhancing Throughput Speeds

    6) Improving Service and Availability (e.g., Mail, News etc)


    Our investigations into these issues have included a complete audit, not just of our modem rack (POP) infrastructure, but also the associated telephony infrastructure. The results of these improvements are detailed below along with details of our plans for continuing to improve the service during August.

    Before explaining the improvements hich have been made we would like to request your help in addressing one particular issue that has been affecting the service. During the period where we were having capacity issues on the modem racks customers were advised to try phoning alternative POP numbers to connect to the service.

    As a result of this, some parts of our telephony network became congested resulting in customers getting busy tones when attempting to connect to non-local POP numbers. With the increase in capacity that we have added to the POPs it should no longer be necessary to dial in to a POP other than your local POP.

    Please ensure that you are currently configured to dial into your local POP by default as failure to do this may result in continued connection problems. We would greatly appreciate your help in this matter as this shall help ensure that we can improve the overall service for everyone. The local POP numbers can be viewed at:

    http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/html/support/connect/pop.html

    Customers in the London area, in particular, should check this site as a new area code for the whole of London has been introduced:(020). (0171) and (0181) are being permanently removed in the Autumn.
    "

    The individual service details and improvements were far too long to add onto the ISPreview page, so we've just posted the first part. ISPreview hasn't actually had much in the way of complaints regarding SurfUnlimited for a while, so this is news to us.

    ISPreview Goes Paperback?

    By:mark @ 9:07:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Some interesting news this morning, ISPreview will be appearing in one or possibly more books by Zing:

    "In October, Zingin.com (www.zingin.com) is releasing a set of eight web guide books, published by Prentice Hall, which review the very best web sites in the categories of travel, family, shopping, sport, food and drink, money, entertainment and searching the Internet.

    I`m please to tell you that you are selected as one of the "best of the best" sites in your category and will be featured in at least one of the books along with a full review and a screenshot.
    "

    The books, as it says, are scheduled to be in all major bookshops sometime during October'2000, quite an honour. We should have a screenshot of the printed version sometime over the new few weeks.

    News - August 8,2000

    AOL Unmetered Details

    By:mark @ 6:32:PM - Comments (12) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Thanks to our friends @ Net4Nowt for pointing the way to NetImperative, where they have an article regarding AOLs sneaky unmetered offer:

    "AOL is understood to have offered unmetered internet access to a limited amount of customers, at the same time as a slew of ISPs have ditched their own unmetered services.

    A source at AOL said the trial, which began last week, was a random test with 500 customers. On Thursday last week, AOL apparently charged a flat rate fee of £19.99 and then dropped the price to £14.99 on Friday. The company was not able to provide an official comment at the time of writing.

    The test is understood to be going on for a few weeks as AOL tries to work out a pricing plan for unlimited internet access. It is unknown when the UK release of such a service will happen, but could tie in with the release of AOL version 6.0 next month.


    AOL has been the most reluctant to join in the unmetered internet access bandwagon, which has now been abandoned by several other internet access providers in recent weeks, including Line One, breathe and CallNet. Virgin, ntl, Telewest and AltaVista are all operating or trialling unmetered access services, despite the recent problems of others.
    "

    £14.99 per month seems like a fairly average and acceptable price of unmetered 24/7, so long as there aren't any specific restrictions involved. It's amazing to think that under a year ago most people were paying £14.99 per month just for 0845 on several leading ISPs.

    ProStats Update

    By:mark @ 3:07:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    I just want to thank those people who have been helping to test out the Professional Statistics website visitor monitoring system. Through the testing we've managed to fix 99% of the Internal problems and have today added the requested features:

    -Stats by Weekday (overall).
    -Stats by Month.
    -Hourly Stats.
    -Refering Domains & URL Stats/Details.
    -Numerous other additions.
    -General Layout changes here and there.


    There are still some smaller issues that need to be resolved before it goes live (final content, smaller page icon etc.), but generally it's working as it should. If you run a website of any sort, anywhere and want to help test the system then please hop along and sign your site up.

    As with all my other projects it's FREE and there is no charge for the service. If, as a tester, you have any suggestions then E-Mail my ISPreview address until the POP mail is fixed on the ProStats server.

    Altavista Fails to Provide Proof

    By:Ross14 @ 2:01:PM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    The much-hyped unmetered service that was announced in March from AltaVista could be no more than a ghost ISP, according to The Register.

    AltaVista have failed to provide any evidence of users on their service or even that of the service being rolled-out:

    "Despite repeated requests for confirmation the e-company has failed to deliver any proof that the service has been rolled out.

    One PR said the service was being used by more than 100,000 people and that 90,000 a month were signing up to the service. However, when pressed, another PR said this was merely the number AltaVista could accommodate per month.

    No one using the service has come forward despite a Register plea yesterday for them to do so. A similar request made by the Mirror also proved fruitless.

    A newsgroup search has also failed to unearth any evidence that Net users in Britain are using the service.

    And no one at Alta Vista's PR agency was able to supply details of a single user.

    There is a growing weight of evidence that something is not quite right at Alta Vista and that its unmetered service is simply bogus. Whispers of suspicion surrounding the authenticity of its offering have grown over the last couple of months to a deafening roar."


    They also go on mentioning someone who signed up for the service from day one but has still not been assigned an account with AV, and to add more embarassment, "I have been sent several emails about how super the service will be, however," he said."

    Is there actually anyone out there who is using the AltaVista unmetered service, or as The Register says, is it all just a phantom service?

    Tiscali + World Online v Freeserve

    By:mark @ 9:27:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Earlier this week the UK ISP Freeserve was quick to disband rumours that it was in Takeover talks with the Italian ISP Tiscali, although that didn't stop Freeserves shares jumping up 9.5p (3.4%). Businesses do this sort of thing now and again because they know it'll boost shares.

    However Dutch based Internet Service Provider (ISP) World Online did confirmed it is in exploratory talks with Italian internet and telecommunications company - Tiscali .

    "Discussions with Tiscali are exploratory in nature and therefore we cannot anticipate whether these discussions will lead to agreement on future cooperation," World Online said in a statement released late on Monday.

    The ISP said it maintained an ongoing dialogue with other European Internet and telecommunications providers in line with its strategy to maximise its network capabilities. Rumour has it that even if the deal were to go ahead, that it could take at least a month to materialise.

    A link up would create a company to rival Germany's T-Online, Europe's largest ISP and the one recently back in talks with Freeserve. This certainly is a tangled web we weave, everybody’s in talks with everybody else, little like in breeding =).

    Vispa Go ADSL Nuts

    By:mark @ 9:05:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Seems as though BT must finally be getting things right as all the ADSL supporting ISPs are going live in roughly the same space of time. Today’s top ISP is the well known Vispa Internet who have launched their business ADSL packages and new website as of this very morning.

    The residential (USB) services will be launched when BT finally get the appropriate hardware out to clients. Right now BT is still trying to fix a serious issue with drivers and hardware on the USB devices. The business packages use Ethernet cards as you'd expect and come with the standard 20:1 contention ratio. Although high, it's a far cry from the 50:1 ratio for standard residential.

    The packages themselves range from the 512Kb downstream bandwidth and 256Kb upstream option @ £286 Ex VAT = Set-up and installation & £94 Ex VAT = Monthly Rental £94 Ex VAT. Vispa Seems to be sticking firmly to the BT guidelines on prices and all three packages only differ in bandwidth speed.

    The new website also has some initial details about their unmetered services, although as yet not much has been said until FRIACO2 issues are sorted. This is an early notice; Vispa will be issuing a full Press Release later on, thanks for the heads up guys!

    News - August 7,2000

    BT Customers say £13's fine for ADSL!

    By:mark @ 9:41:PM - Comments (22) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Along with the same Oftel report we mentioned earlier, we also managed to find some even more interesting information in it. Apparently consumers are not prepared to pay anything near the £40 per month BT is charging for high-speed Internet access.

    Thirteen pounds was the average price people were willing to spend on broadband ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) services, according to the survey of 2,070 British adults. That's quite a bit less than most even charge for unmetered ISPs!

    Oftel said that with more than 30 companies lining up to compete with BT on ADSL, prices would come down. Especially since 100,000 people have already registered there interest and were fully aware of the costs involved.

    "We expect to see from those competitors some products well below the 40 pounds a mark, perhaps heading towards 13 pounds," a spokesman said.

    BT said it had carried out vast amounts of market research and believed its price was competitive. However Oftel claim that not even higher income groups or Internet users were prepared to pay more than 13 pounds on average. Only larger households were willing to pay more, but still only 20 pounds.

    It's difficult to see quite what this means, it seems as though the market has been blurred by ISPs offering freecall services. This blur seems to be confusing people, especially since it does actually cost quite a bit just to get one ADSL user online. ISPreview doubts we'll see anything closer than perhaps £25 in the next three years.

    PS “Oftel, thanks for the humour with spelling it ‘Assymetric’ in your report =)

    IGClick Launch ADSL Services

    By:mark @ 9:29:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    You may remember IGClicks unmetered ISP services going live not that long ago, well now their ADSL services have as well:

    "I.G. Systems Ltd are pleased to announce ADSL services as of the 7th August 2000. The product we offer is:


    IGClick Vitesse X (Residential users only - Where X stands for the speed of service). During the first week of launch (7th August 2000 to the 13th August 2000 inclusive) the product will be on a special reduced price (See below).

    Connection
    £ exc VAT £ inc VAT
    512k (0.5MB) / 256k (0.25MB) 01/08/00 127.65 150.00
    1028k (1MB) / 256k (0.25MB) 01/08/00 127.65 150.00
    2056k (2MB) / 256k (0.25MB) 01/08/00 127.65 150.00


    Monthly Rental
    £ exc VAT £ inc VAT
    512k (0.5MB) / 256k (0.25MB) 01/08/00 34.03 39.99
    1028k (1MB) / 256k (0.25MB) 01/08/00 51.05 59.99
    2056k (2MB) / 256k (0.25MB) 01/08/00 68.07 79.99


    The standard lead-time is 20 working days from date of order. We have a separate product for business customers. I would like to confirm we are now live with ADSL and are ready to take orders.
    "

    You can also find some more specific IGClick ADSL information here:

    http://www.adsl.igclick.net/

    All in all the packages look fairly standard by BTOpenworld comparison and nothing out of the ordinary. Well worth a look, even if it's just a casual glance.

    UK Online Population Grows

    By:mark @ 7:53:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    A recent report from Oftel (technically today’s) says that At least 22% of the UK population - 14m people - now use the internet at home.

    Around 25% (6m) UK homes have access to the Internet and 34% of Internet users use more than one ISP. Most of that's down to just us having accounts with nearly 217 UK ISPs and that's no joke =).

    The survey also found that 5% of UK households now use mobile phones instead of fixed phone lines. Certainly some interesting stats and it’s only going to grow, lets just hope the ISPs and Telco's grow with it and not against it.

    ClaraNet Update

    By:mark @ 7:46:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    ClaraNets latest newsletter contains some interesting new details about their recently launched ADSL services:

    "On 24th July we launched the first in a series of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) packages, giving our business customers permanent high speed Internet access via the ADSL network.

    From Autumn this service will be available to all our customers increasing the speed of Internet access, and enabling you to access the surge of new services over the Internet such as real-time audio and video, in addition to existing web pages.

    Running on your existing telephone line, all you'll need is an ADSL modem and then you can surf the Internet to your hearts content and still make telephone calls at the same time.

    If you'd like to enquire about availability, pricing or register your interest online click on this link:

    http://www.clara.net/adsl/interest.html
    "

    Although not related, they also have some useful information about MS Outlook and E-Mail viruses:

    "Microsoft has warned that Outlook and Outlook Express could become infected by email viruses before they even get to the mailbox, rather than when an infected email, or attachment, is opened - the method used to spread viruses such as the 'I Love You' virus.

    All Outlook users on Windows 2000 are affected, as are users of Outlook Express bundled with Internet Explorer. In order to protect yourself, install the following security fix:
    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/critical/patch9.htm

    For more information click on:
    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS00-043.asp
    "

    What we wouldn't give for some bug free Microsoft products and a good ADSL or Cable Modem connection, but then, miracles rarely happen.

    Callnet0800 Shutdown Confirmed

    By:zeon @ 5:45:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    An article on Vnunet confirms that Callnet0800 will be shutdown on September 5th. The service will be replaced by Callnet1p which will charge 1p per minute off-peak and 2p per minute peak:

    "The ISP told subscribers today that it would scrap the 0800 service altogether, citing "industry changes". It said the rapid development of the "internet culture in the UK requires an innovative response from responsible service providers".

    The new service will provide internet access at 1p a minute at off-peak times of 6pm to 8am Monday to Friday and all weekends, with a rate of 2p a minute at other times. A £9.99 registration fee will normally apply to new users. However, this registration fee will be waived for existing CallNet0800 customers who convert and register online before 5 September.

    The first 100 existing 0800 customers to register for Callnet1p will receive a £5 credit. To register, go to http://www.callnet0800.com/signupuk/"


    This news isn't exactly a surprise as Callnet clearly weren't making enough money from the phone calls to pay for the internet service.

    Source: Vnunet

    Forum Update

    By:mark @ 4:20:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    We're upgrading the forum and so it will be off-line for an hour or so, with any luck it won't even take that long.

    *Update*
    The forum is now back after about 30-40mins of downtime, you'll find a new search feature and some other smaller changes. Most of the extra stuff is just related to internal changes.

    New Reviews & Article @ ISPreview

    By:mark @ 3:48:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    We've just thrown up two new ISP reviews, E-Plus and FreeISP:

    http://ispreview.co.uk/reviews/freeisp/
    http://ispreview.co.uk/reviews/eplus/

    We've also got an interesting new article up called 'Invasion of Online Privacy', which looks at how the new RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) bill is going to affect Internet users privacy:

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

    QUOTE:
    "As such the UK has, following the USA, become one of a select group of country’s around the world to integrate a new type of security measure. While systems and details differ from place to place the fundamentals of the services remain the same, to catch cyber criminals. It may sound good on paper but there’s a good reason many of us should be cautious about it."

    If you were ever worried about being spied on, then your worst nightmare could well be coming true.

    IDMO Details

    By:mark @ 2:24:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Thanks to the chat hoster David for passing onto us some of the details revealed in last nights 'ItDoesntMatterOnline' chat event. Apparently the website will be launched on the 28th August with some extremely interesting details and the service will have no cut-off.

    Not only that but they promised to NEVER impose a cut-off and are flying out to Belgium so as to secure a Telco deal with Viatel. The service will have a 5minute inactivity cut-off though, but we'll know more details in time.

    They still have a lot to prove, hopefully the 28th will bring the answers we all want to hear and see.

    Official BlueYonder Prices

    By:mark @ 10:46:AM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Thanks to Scott for letting us know that BlueYonder (Telewest) have finally made their new Cable Modem prices 100% official:

    "blueyonder hi-speed internet is fast, very fast, up to 15 times quicker than a standard 28.8kbps modem - and the cost of this amazing speed?

    Blueyonder is yours for only £33 a month - that's just over a £1 a day, and £6.99 less than BT Openworld. There's no line rental, no call charges - usage is unlimited, and that includes FREE cable modem rental.

    Compare blueyonder at £33 a month with the cost a standard dial-up internet connection. Just an hour a day at 1p per minute would cost you £18 per month in calls, add to that BT line rental at £9.25 per month and you'd be paying £27.25 per month for a substantially inferior narrowband experience, and limited usage.

    And with blueyonder there's no dialling up, you'll have an always on
    permanent connection to the net, which combined with ultra-fast access allows you to really explore the true potential of the web.

    There's a one-off connection fee of just £50, and your PC will need a
    Network Interface Card (NIC)* for connection to the cable modem, for which you should expect to pay between £45 and £70 depending on the specification required. Please go to our system requirements page for more information on NIC card suppliers as this is not included in the
    blueyonder service.

    Register now, and see for yourself how blueyonder hi-speed Internet can revolutionise your internet experience. Why wait?

    * NIC installation is not available as part of the blueyonder service - for more information on NIC card suppliers, please go to (page URL).
    "

    Good news for Cable Modem users both past, present and future, bad news for the much delayed ADSL and Leased Line operators. If only Telewest sold them down here we'd be on like a shot, wow £33 a month is good and finally official.

    ISPreview Weekly Update - Late

    By:mark @ 10:08:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    A day later than predicted, but better late than never, a phrase I hate more than trying to pick tiny pieces of mushroom out from mixed rice bags (hate mushrooms, yuk). This week’s update is rather short by comparison, generally work continues and nothing special is going on.

    However you can expect two new reviews and two new articles this week, the articles should be of interest to people. We'll try to get the VisualDepth article live as well, although it's quite a few pages =). Generally this week is being devoted to content, I'm also going to add a comments system to the broadband and unmetered listings.

    That's about it, back to life and stressful jobs. Oh and if you E-Mail me expecting a reply and don't get one, then sorry. I have replied but for some reason outgoing E-Mail traffic isn't working.

    IDMO Chat Event Update

    By:mark @ 9:54:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Well I don't know about anybody else, but when trying to join the IDMO Chat event last night I was unable to access the chat service.

    Still David wanted to clear one thing up; the site with the chat room (URL above) was not IDMOs, but actually his (he's the Net4Nowt chat operator). It was held there because N4N wisely didn't want the event held on their site until they had proof of the service.

    So there you go, the site is NOT IDMO's, but the N4N chat operators, Net4Nowt themselves have nothing to do with it. If anybody got onto the chat and kept some details then please let us know; thanks.

    Connect25 Unmetered

    By:mark @ 9:37:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Thanks to Ben from the newly re-opened PlanetInferno for pointing out Connect25 to us. It seems to be another unmetered ISP, however we'd urge caution as it's also one we haven't heard of and details are someway 'iffy' to say the least.

    There are next to no details and the sign-up form only allows payment by postal order, cheque or cash. Three modes of payment that are next to impossible to claim back if the service is a fraudulent one. Not to mention the form also misses the most basic of security, so anybody could hack into it (do people even know SHTML & SSL exist?).

    Apparently the service will set you back £25 per year and comes with a modem to user ratio of 1:3 and support for 56Kbps modems; ISDN will follow soon. The service also has an hourly (1hr) cut-off, but won't allow streaming formats such as Audio and Video, nor does it have Newsgroups. The following is also stated:

    "Due to the high demand on this service, to ensure that all applications are processed within 14 working days, we will process a maximum of 10,000 customer applications per week."

    There is no phone number on the site and generally what we've said above encompasses it all, so be cautious. Once again we can't stress enough that this is an unknown ISP and likely a VISP (Virtual ISP) service. If anybody knows more about them then we’d like to know, thanks.

    *Update*

    Interesting WHOIS data from the Connect25 domain =):

    Domain Name: CONNECT25.CO.UK

    Registered For: Vince Cai****

    Domain Registered By: FREENETNAME

    Registered on 04-Jul-2000.

    Domain servers listed in order:

    MAP1.DNS.GXN.NET 195.224.255.22
    MAP2.DNS.GXN.NET 195.224.255.26
    MAP3.DNS.GXN.NET 195.224.255.30
    MAP4.DNS.GXN.NET 195.224.255.34

    WHOIS database last updated at 08:05:01 07-Aug-2000


    So a commercial company using a free domain provider, hmm yeah that's just the kinder company we'd trust our money in, if our heads actually grew from our asses by law! =)

    ISP Self-Regulatory Body

    By:mark @ 9:20:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    You may remember not long ago towards the end of July that an article @ VNUNet discussed the need for a general ISP Regulatory body. This would stop things like RedHotAnt from ever getting to the severity they are at now, hopefully.

    Well we also put the question to our readers and surprisingly the majority said they didn't want one. Sighting various reasons from incompetence to not doing the job they are supposed to (Oftel). So it was interesting to learn that although 5 days behind on reporting it, UK.Internet have come up with news of an ISP Self-Regulatory Body:

    "ISPs in the UK promised today to set up a self-regulatory body to establish internationally recognised industry guidelines. The body will allow ISPs to protect themselves from the growing menace of legal actions.

    The blueprint for a 'best practice' framework for self-regulation in the industry, laid down by UK Internet hub Linx, is designed to avoid the costly legal battles, which ISPs including Yahoo, AOL and Demon have recently fought.

    "ISPs are becoming the dumping ground for what is wrong on the Internet," Keith Mitchell, executive chairman of Linx, told uk.internet.com. He said that many ISPs had been forced to roll out teams dedicated to deal with legal problems about content on sites hosted by their servers.

    Recent European legal precedent has found ISPs liable for any defamatory material hosted on their servers. But Linx said its self-regulation framework could form a foundation for establishing international Internet regulation guidelines. "Self-regulation is the only way to address Internet issues," said Mitchell.

    "We are trying to improve the co-ordination between international ISPs over Internet abuse cases. We will look at everything from spamming to hacking attacks," he added.

    Tony Lock, senior analyst at Bloor Research, said the problem with self-regulation is that people do not see many examples of it working. "Self-regulation, when it does work, should have the same properties as a good referee. However, like the poor guy in the black, self-regulation can expect the abuse of most of the crowd to be hurled in its direction," he said.
    "

    This is indeed an interesting twist in the tale of British Internet access and one, which could have the most effect. The body is supposed to be in league with all the major UK ISPs and those from across Europe as well.

    As yet no details or guidelines have actually been set out. It'd be especially nice to see how they deal with none direct ISP issues such as Telco capacity. Some of the problems with engage tones in the UK actually end up as regional Telco capacity problems with BT's network; it just can't handle so many unmetered calls.

    Of course more and more ISPs are now starting to use that as an excuse for poor service just the same. However it begs the question, how would such a body look on issues like that?

    News - August 6,2000

    Ezesurf Update

    By:zeon @ 4:17:PM - Comments (13) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Since our last update about Ezesurf a few things have happened. Shortly after Planet Inferno published the ex-employee story it was shut down by Ezesurf. Planet Inferno have now had their account reactivated and have a statement from Ezesurf:

    "Ezesurf - as with most companies, at the beginning, we have had teething problems. We are proud to be able to bring you the new Ezesurf within the coming weeks and intend to be here for many years to come. We are committed to ensuring that our services and products improve with those offered by much larger organisations.

    Ezesurf would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the recent article posted. If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact Ezesurf in writing at Ezesurf, 11-19 Buchanan Street, Dundee. DD4 6SD.

    Now a little information for Planet Inferno Readers, that no one else has : Always remember when you get an engaged tone on Ezesurf recently, we regret that it's not Ezesurf it's your local area network that is encountering capacity problems. We would advise to keep contacting your telecoms provider to ask if they are increasing capacity at that exchange."


    Visit Planet Inferno

    The fact that Ezesurf shut down Planet Inferno's account shows something. Ezesurf are providing a great service they just don't seem to be able to deal with their staff that well.

    NoCallFee Site Re-done

    By:mark @ 9:45:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    No may remember that a full month ago we announced the rather expensive new unmetered ISP called 'NoCallFee'. It used modern unmetered systems to make a sort of cheaper leased line; well apparently they've re-done their site.

    We're not sure if this qualifies as news but hay, if it's unmetered then we're always keen to notice. Check out our unmetered list for some more details or better still head over to the site for everything.

    Sadly, while the service is a unique and wonderful idea, with cable modems now costing the same and possibly cheaper (soon), it seems somewhat suicidal. Had this system been introduced 10 months back then people might have actually cared, it's just way out of anybody’s league now.

    IDMO Chat @ 8pm Tonight

    By:mark @ 9:33:AM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Remember the ISP 'ItDoesntMatterOnline', well some of you may remember, but they are holding a chat event tonight @ 8pm on their site (link above).

    ISPreview will have a representative there (I will try to join in as well) and an IDMO.com representative (Chris Pinto) will also be present. This is your chance to voice concerns you may have or questions about their service offerings.

    It's fair to say there has been a lot of controversy surrounding them, not least because they have an AA banner and are using technically free web space (domain being fixed up). Sounds awfully like another VISP (Virtual ISP - Reseller) than a unique network to us.

    This chat will give anybody who wants to join that ability to finally question the people behind it and hopefully clear the air.

    CallNet0800 Conspiracies?

    By:mark @ 9:22:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Oh no, when you see a title like that then you know ISPreview is covered up deep in a bomb shelter, ready and waiting the A-Bomb overhead. An individual has approached us with internal information stating more about the true reasons for their recent choice to drop CallNet's 0800 service.

    Please bare in mind that this could be completely untrue since we had no way of checking the information, don't forget to check out our 'Terms of use' at the bottom of the site before reading =):

    "There was a major boardroom coup (or bust-up, depending on how you look at it) at WorldCallNet (who in turn own the CallNet Group) early this past week.

    It's been known that the 0800 service was losing money - cost of service not been covered by voice traffic revenue. The Company had already trailed its intention to change the model in a month or so. One of the Goodman-Simpsons is quoted on this in the latest issue of Practical Internet.

    Anyway, the upshoot this week was that the Australian shareholders who had bought a controlling stake forced out the UK Directors who have always been running the show (A**** and P**** Go******-Si*****, K**** Go*****), and they left immediately.

    Everyone is shell-shocked.

    Apparently the Aussies are said to be asset strippers and now are looking to close down, strip down or sell off the loss making CallNet ISP's, and concentrate on WorldCallNet's MailTV product - which is all they are really interested in.

    All the UK ISP staff are worried and have started looking for new jobs. Network Manager seems to have already left.

    So seems that CallNet's day's are numbered, one way or another.
    "

    Well it doesn't really matter now anyway, this sort of thing goes on inside the BIG companies all the time. Just interesting to know what could have really happened.

    News - August 5,2000

    VisualDepth Update

    By:mark @ 5:19:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Well the big news today is that of our VisualDepth conclusion, better still is that VD has now been in contact with us. Sadly we've chosen not to reveal what was said but you can expect a full announcement from VD come mid - end of September.

    Our investigation is now completely concluded and due to the format of the E-Mail from VD, we won't be contacting Trading Standards. If they fail to publish the announcement, then we will, the rest is being sorted internally. We'll try to get you more details sooner but that's not so much up to ISPr or VD as another company.

    Due to this recent change we will now (next week) publish the full VD Investigation to keep you tied over. It's basically an extension of what you saw earlier, but with all the evidence laid out. Once again we ask that nobody contact VD or even ISPr on this subject until after the announcement.

    AOL Offering Unmetered?

    By:mark @ 2:12:PM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    Our friends over @ Net4Nowt have been hearing from readers who use AOL that claim to be on their unmetered service. Strange? Yes, especially since AOL have yet to officially announce anything:

    "A couple of emails have arrived here at net4nowt.com saying that as of midnight Thursday, they have been offering 24/7 unmetered access for £14.99 reduced from the original price of £19.99.

    One such email says that they have been ringing up AOL billing for the past three months threatening to leave for another ISP that offers unmetered access. For the past two months, AOL has paid their subscription and asked them to wait.

    “They told me the service was available as from yesterday. They also said that they could only sign up 1500 customers in each 24-hour period. However, they said I was a good customer as I had been with them for many years and said they would add me to the service from midnight tonight.”
    "

    You can check out the rest @ N4N, although AOL is staying very quite. We just tried ourselves and they simply said, "Unmetered is coming, but we can't give any details out at present". Other rumours have it that AOL plan to make use of FRIACO2, although this has been contradicted by some who say it'll be their own freecall system (Alah CallNet0800).

    All will be known shortly.

    VisualDepths Concluded Report

    By:mark @ 10:23:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

    VD have failed to contact us regarding the conclusion of our investigation, they have also refused (by not replying) to make contact with EzeSurf so the issue could be resolved. We've given them just under two weeks and they clearly don’t want to resolve this issue out of the public eye.

    Sadly because of this we can't publish our full article, as it has to be used as evidence by Trading Standards. As such we'll give you a brief and incomplete update on our findings, the full details will emerge soon enough.

    Assuming most of you know this investigations history, people found they were able to login to VD and after taking a deeper look into the dialler found that it was connecting to EzeSurf (partial evidence shot from dialler 2000):


    (The IP 62.137.49.3 is one of EzeSurfs)


    VisualDepth shrugged it off as a 'Security Issue', yet refused to explain how this could be happening. It seemed strange because the ISP claimed not to use Planet Online (EzeSurfs network) as their network. They also claimed not to be resellers and EzeSurf agreed. A lot of stuff happened that can't be explained here and will be published later in full.

    Please take note that at this point VD agreed the issues existed by saying it was a 'Security Problem' (indeed). As I said recently, "we're not trying to find out IF the rumours are true, we're trying to find out why they ARE true.". We're not sure what the network is today, but if you haven't changed your details or account with them since the start then it should still be the same.

    Through speaking to Planet Online and EzeSurf we found the phone number of VD to not only be the same as Ezesurfs, but UNIQUE to EzeSurf! The same for their IP ranges. This clearly meant something more serious than a 'Security Problem'. Finally, through talking with EzeSurf (yes it's possible) we found that VD HAD been purchasing accounts through them unofficially.

    This is in direct contravention to EzeSurfs T&C's and not only that but because they were selling the package at a higher price then it also qualifies as fraud. Soon after Ian (EzeSurf Support Guy) published the following in their newsgroup:

    "As part of my job instruction I am currently looking into accounts that have been activated through a company named "Visual Depth". Unfortunately these accounts are not authorised through any of our Reseller Schemes.

    I would be extremely grateful if you could assist me by providing information of the service provided, the charges applied to your account for the service and your full username.

    Once I have these details, it would be extremely helpful if I can contact you later to advise the outcome of these accounts. Under our trading terms, your credit card must be debited by Ezesurf Ltd and no other company unless authorised in which I must advise that "Visual Depth" isn't.

    Kind Regards
    Ian
    Customer Services

    Ezesurf Ltd, 11-19 Buchanan Street, Dundee. DD4 6SD
    "

    Further communications with EzeSurf following this revealed just how they were doing it. VD has been signing up accounts with the same name and address, but using different logins, thus it all gets billed to one person who shall remain nameless.

    They then have people pay them a higher price and offer other services through other systems (Web space, E-Mail etc.), although you could just as easily use EzeSurfs E-Mail with your account. At this point we not only have people to testify against VD, we also have stacks of screenshots and evidence + EzeSurfs own official word and internal evidence.

    Just recently EzeSurf published the following official update:

    "Several companies online are charging customers in excess for a service then supplying them with an ezesurf.co.uk username at higher rates. If this has happened to you we advise you to request a refund from that company or your credit card company as this is not permitted by Ezesurf. It is permitted if you are only charged the Ezesurf Rate and billed by Ezesurf directly, in addition to this the companies authorised by ourselves must state that this product is "provided in association with Ezesurf""

    So there you have it, we've kept out all the details, as it simply wouldn't fit, however now we stand with somewhat of a predicament. VD has failed to resolve this out of the public eye. All they have to do is provide proof of their network for dialups over that time period and contact EzeSurf to clear things up, yet haven't.

    As such we are compiling a full report and will soon be submitting it to Trading Standards who will take over from us. We'd advise VD to contact EzeSurf who have been trying to contact them for ages, but without success. ISPreview would like to see this resolve quietly and without trouble.

    Lastly, a big thanks + Hugs and kisses to EzeSurf for giving us so much help =). We'll update you fully as soon as we've presented the report to 'Trading Standards', VD still has some time to reply if they want this to be resolve quietly without such intervention. We'd urge VD to contact EzeSurf specifically first, we are only reporting the evidence we've uncovered and are technically speaking for them. If VD can't contact EzeSurf due to Mailing system issues they have at present then we can relay the information.

    Due to the sensitive nature of this news item we'd like to point all our readers to the Legal Terms that are viewable on every page if need be at the bottom. Read them HERE.

    *Update*
    We'd ask you not to contact VisualDepth regarding this until we publish the appropriate update. You could make an already tense matter very much more difficult, we are relying on support from all our readers at this time and also VD who we are sure will now want to resolve this quiet and sensibly.

    Support us by staying out of the firing range while Ezesurf, ISPreview and Trading Standards work to uncover the truth behind the ‘Security Problem’.

    Sponsored

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