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April 23, 2001 - April 26, 2001

News - April 26,2001

UK Broadband Is 21st Out Of 30

By:mark.j @ 10:06:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Only a month ago NetValue brought out a broadband report that placed the UK as being second to last (Korea) for broadband take-up. Today a new report from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has once again put the UK near the bottom for broadband penetration:

At the same time, questions are still being asked about why BT is not issuing figures for how many subscribers it will have by the end of the year and why it is yet to employ self-install ADSL modems.

The figures -- part of a wider study looking at the growth of the information society -- challenge the government's assertion that the UK is well on course for being the best industrialised nation for high-speed Internet services by 2005. According to the OECD, the UK comes 21st out of 30, with France, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Norway, Spain, Germany, Austria and the Nordic nations all ahead of it.

In an interview with ZDNet News, the e-Minister Patricia Hewitt rejected recent surveys from NetValue and JupiterMMXI which cast considerable doubts on the UK's ability to lead the broadband revolution. She referred instead to more optimistic figures from research firm DataMonitor. However, there is doubt over the accuracy of DataMonitor figures. It claims the UK now has 131,000 cable modem customers but according to Oftel and the cable firms themselves subscribers do not exceed 34,000.

The ZDNet item goes into a lot of detail and does a good job of discrediting the e-Ministers previous comments about the last report. Her argument last time was that the NetValue report didn't look at the whole picture, although the new one does and we're still way down the list.

The good news is that we're not as far down as before, although it's only 8 places away. The news isn't likely to go down well with the government and will further put pressure on BT.

Freeserve Owner Sees Share SlowDown

By:mark.j @ 9:54:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Wanadoo, French owners of UK based ISP Freeserve and a unit of France Telecom have today reported a slowdown in first-quarter sales, thus sending its shares lower as investors fled the stock.

Wanadoo said first quarter sales totalled £195 million pounds, down 10.5% from £218 million pounds in the 4th quarter of last year as revenues from portals and directory slowed. It gave no comparative first-quarter figures.

At 10.43 a.m. the stock was down 4.05% at 6.64 euros, making it the biggest loser in Paris on Wednesday. Parent France Telecom was down 1.01% at 78.70 euros at the time, in line with the broader market trend.

Wanadoo's shares had rocketed in the past two sessions after a three billion euro bid by Italian yellow pages and Internet group Seat Pagine Gialle for Swedish phone directories company Eniro AB boosted interest in the sector.

"It is a big disappointment. Particularly in the access business which makes the bulk of sales," said ETC analyst Manuel Lachaux, who was betting on overall sales of 342 million euros.

Tiscali Buys LineOne - £62 Million

By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following on from their acquisitions of World Online and LibertySurf etc., Tiscali (Italian Provider) have today secured a deal to buy popular British ISP LineOne from at a cost of £62,000,000 in cash and shares.

Tiscali will pay 80 million euros in new Tiscali stock, roughly 5.4 million shares, and 20 million euros in cash. It said the share price was based on the average of the closing price of the last 15 days.

The purchase of the formerly BT/United News and Media Company owned, LineOne, will take Tiscali to the 4th position in the provision of Internet services in Britain. Tiscali said the purchase of LineOne should generate net annual synergies of "over" 20 million euros."

With LineOne, Tiscali will have 16 million registered users in Europe, with 9.5 million unique visitors and 7 million active Internet users. As of March 31, LineOne had 1.85 million registered users of which 430,000 are active dial-up users, Tiscali said.

In March, LineOne recorded Internet traffic of 300 million minutes or an average of 23 minutes per user. Quite how this will affect LineOne is not yet known, although Tiscali has a habit of clearing the staff for its latest acquisitions.

Online Shopping Booms-Credit Card Fears Grow

By:mark.j @ 9:39:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The latest research shows that 6Million Britons are shopping online in order to find the product they want at the best price. Despite this it has also emerged that over half the public are still concerned about online credit card security.

Thankfully Which? have recently published The Which? Guide to Shopping On the Internet that is to offer an A-Z of online shopping sites. Listing some 1,000 web traders, it's been published to allay these fears and ensure consumers get a fair deal when buying on the Net.

It points that shopping online is less stressful than traipsing round crowded shops and can be quicker and cheaper as it allows users to shop around and compare prices from a range of retailers.

"The book aims to dispel some of the myths that surround shopping on the Internet. It guides you through the maze of online shopping sites, shows you how to find what you want and boosts your confidence," Sian Morrissey, compiler of the guide said in a statement.

"It also points out the pitfalls and tells you what to do if something goes wrong."

The guide recommends online shoppers look for the TrustUK logo, which shows a site subscribes to an officially recognised code of practice, before divulging information like credit card details.

Other safety tips include shopping on secure sites that display a padlock symbol in the bottom corner, checking for "real world" contact details and researching a company on a directory site such as shopsmart.com before buying.

It is also a legal requirement to receive confirmation from a company after placing an order.

News - April 25,2001

SupaNets Unmetered Press Release

By:mark.j @ 4:31:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

For those wanting more details and information regarding SupaNet's new unmetered and ADSL products then they've now sent us the full press release for you to read over:

PRESS INFORMATION.........
25 April 2001

supanet has announced today the launch of a new unlimited access product available immediately to its ISP users. The product, supahighway, will become the company's flagship service, and will allow subscribers to take advantage of a lower contention ratio (target 15/1) unlimited Internet access for just £12.99 a month. Customers can sign up for the service on the supanet portal www.supanet.com.

supahighway is based on the BT surfport product, which supanet believes offers the most flexibility and best cost benefits for its customers. The company has selected surfport over the much talked about FRIACO product because it offers full nationwide access and is considered a more flexible and reliable service that will deliver on the service promise that supanet gives its users. supanet is able to offer the economies of scale required for an unmetered service as a result of a deal with partner, Kingston in Business.

"We have been trialing supahighway for over 2 months now and we are confident that our users will not suffer from the service delivery problems experienced by some of our competitors," says Norman Wellington, CEO of supanet. "We promise reliability and our focus has always been on managing our network and our ability to match resources to demand. We are committed to ensuring that our unlimited product exceeds supanet customers' expectations and continues to provide the quality Internet access they have come to expect from supanet."

The product will be targeted at members of its family-based customer profile who use the Internet for more than 30 minutes a day. For these customers it will be cost effective to make the switch from supanet's existing pay as you go and subscription services. As supanet is a family ISP it does not expect to attract high usage groups such as gamers to its product.

In line with its commitment to providing quality services, supanet is aiming to offer the product with a contention ratio of 15/1. This means that customers will still get the reliable Internet connection they expect from supanet but with no restrictions or call charges. For more details and signup for the product customers can find details on the www.supanet.com portal.

supahighway from supanet - user requirements
* A PC with modem
* A BT phoneline with Caller Line Identification
* Payment mechanism - direct debit or credit card
Details of the service
* supahighway has a minimum contract of 12 months
* 4 hours continuous active connectivity
* 15 minutes inactive connectivity
* Single concurrent session per user
* Domestic use only

For more information please visit www.supanet.com

3G Less Lucrative Than Previously Thought

By:mark.j @ 3:59:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

MMXI Jupiter have today released a report showing that the revenue to be collected from future 3G (broadband wireless) technologies could be far less than expected:

Next generation services include the GPRS high speed, always-on mobile networks that are currently rolling out, as well as the coming 3G services. However, 3G, despite the hype, "will not dramatically change the market situation" before 2005, according to the report. "Only between 2003 and 2005 will 3G devices penetrate the market and the main difference from today's handsets will be better screens. Bandwidth will be improved but it will still not be enough to stream music or video," it says.

Revenues from mobile advertising, shopping and other interactive services in Europe will rise from £116m last year to £8.1bn in 2005, the report predicts. By comparison, operators Vodafone, Orange, BT Cellnet, One2One and Hutchinson 3G spent £22.5bn last year on 3G licenses in the UK alone. Industry analysts estimate the cost for all European 3G licences will top £100bn, with a similar expenditure to follow on building 3G infrastructure.

Total revenues from mobile phone subscribers will hit £124bn by 2005, but the lion's share will come from voice calls, according to Jupiter. Compared to this figure, revnues from interactive services will be miniscule. The report predicts that it will take two years for technical issues to be resolved to the point where interactive revenues take off. "Only in 2003 will revenues exceed £1bn but, divided among all players, this revenue is small," it says.

The ZDNet news item summarises the latest report into something we've all heard before, that 3G won't be profitable for sometime to come - nothing new. However we do have to criticise the authors technical knowledge and experience, as it states, "Bandwidth will be improved but it will still not be enough to stream music or video".

This is simply not true, modern music formats such as WMA and MP3 could easily be pushed over the consumer level bandwidth of 3G or for that matter, GPRS - it doesn't all have to be ultra high quality. Not to mention that PacketVideo have already made a video codec that can push Mpeg-4 quality video over a tiny 9,600Bps connection, which even GSM can manage.

Sadly the rest is true, while Japan delays 3G and also tries to introduce wideband 3G (3G's Second Generation), the rest of the world is less technology proud. It'll take Europe some years before it's a profitable platform, cost is bound to big a big drawback, pity.

BTOpenworld Give Portal Virtual 3D World

By:mark.j @ 3:37:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BTOpenworld have yet again added a new feature to their ever-expanding portal, this time in the shape of a virtual world in 3D. The user is able to explore several unique 3D environments and engage in voice over IP (VOIP) or text chat (similar to ICQ or IRC) with other users. Users can also control their avatar's body allowing them to convey emotions [Ed – hmm, open to abuse =)?]:

BTopenworld launches its first 3D, virtual reality world in agreement with Worlds.com

In a UK ISP market first, BTopenworld, BT's mass market Internet business, has launched its first branded three-dimensional (3D), virtual reality Internet site, built by Worlds.com as part of a revenue sharing agreement between the two companies.

The BTopenworld 3DWorlds browser, which can be downloaded to a PC from
http://www.btopenworld.com/3dworlds, will provide an immersive virtual community experience, complete with custom avatars for all Internet users, including BTopenworld's Broadband and Dial-Up customers.

BTopenworld believes that 3D Worlds is an excellent example of an application, which will encourage the formation of 3D online communities of the future. The user is able to explore several unique 3D environments and engage in voice over IP (VOIP) or text chat (similar to ICQ or IRC) with other users. Users can control their avatar's body allowing them to convey emotions. This all occurs in real-time, around the globe.

Virtual friends can always find each other instantly when they are online by creating a 'Friends List' of other users enabling them to 'teleport' to wherever they are, even in other worlds. Avatars can be customized by the user, allowing people to adopt a variety of different appearances, adding texture and personality to this fun experience.

Nick Witte-Vermeulen, creative lead, BTopenworld 3DWorlds, said: "I believe these environments will play a major role in the development of new wave internet rich-media. 3D Worlds could drive a more involving and interactive online experience for the future - one where users can walk around, meet and interact with other people whilst shopping and viewing online content all at the same time. Users can choose to experience MP3 music soundtracks, streaming video and 3D animation in these virtual spaces simultaneously."

"Possible opportunities for chat, education, commerce, virtual conferencing and online gaming could be vast. Virtual spaces have a lot to offer in order to help us learn what makes online communities grow - our users are the people who will play their part in shaping their online Worlds."

So if you plan to become one with a strange 3D world of Internet users (perish the thought) then pop along to - http://www.btopenworld.com/3dworlds .

New Article @ ISP Review

By:mark.j @ 11:36:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In the past few months we've been covering an increasing amount of news on the new broadband wireless (mobile phones) standard, 3G (UTMS). In order to explain why this future technology is going to change things so much we've done a four-page introduction article.

This should explain in plain English just why the technology is so attractive and will show the kind of devices you can expect to see.

3G Broadband Wireless:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/3g

08002Go Live / Problems Abound

By:mark.j @ 10:09:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As predicted last night the new unmetered ISP 08002Go finally went live at Midnight. This morning the site simply states:

Thank you for being patient we are pleased to announce that our service is now live

Sadly the readers posting in our special 08002Go Forum seem to be having mixed luck. Despite the late hour (least usage time) last night many still had to push through a barrage of engage tones in order to login, up to 40-60 in the most extreme cases.

On top of that many Pre-Subscribers have still NOT been sent their authentication details and are angry that those just signing up seem to get them almost instantly. You tend to expect teething troubles, but problems on this scale are never a good sign.

New ADSL Alcatel Speedtouch USB Drivers

By:mark.j @ 9:59:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to the team @ ADSLGuide, the French company behind the most popular Speedtouch USB ADSL Modems, Alcatel, has today released new drivers.

Numbered at version 1.3.4, the new revision is supposed to fix an SMP bug, although not much else is known. Get them below:

http://www.alcatel.com/consumer/dsl/dvrreg.htm

Leased Lines To Jump The ADSL Gun

By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In an age of ADSL Broadband with comparatively cheap prices, Leased Lines have almost been completely forgotten. Nearly a month ago Oftel ruled that BT must now provide a more competitive set of products, today more details have emerged:

Leased lines provide high-speed, always-on connections to large businesses, and providers have been complaining to Oftel that BT is simply not offering a cost-effective wholesale product to them. "The price we pay for leased lines means there isn't a cost-orientated product out there," explained Iain Osborne, head of telco procurement at Ebone, the broadband division of networking firm GTS.

In something of a victory for rival operators, Oftel ruled at the end of last month that BT must provide a new wholesale product for the leased lines market. Now the two camps have five weeks to find a solution. According to Osborne there is a whole set of issues on the table, from technical and implementational to pricing. While negotiations are on-going he is reluctant to go into details, but if BT refuses to budge then matter could be taken to the EC.

The ZDNet item is sparse on information, although it'll be interesting to see what the final outcome is. In some parts of America people have found Leased Lines so cheap that they've actually had them installed in their homes. Knowing BT it's unlikely to be that flexible in the UK.

ADSL may be good for SME businesses, although larger corporations will most likely choose to make use of faster systems such as leased SDSL etc. Leased Lines have benefits in stability, manageability and speed, although they’re currently far from cheap.

USA & UK To Crack Down On Net Fraud

By:mark.j @ 9:41:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Up until now Internet fraud conducted outside the target country has always been difficult to attack and ultimately stop. Conflicting laws and border disputes (beurocracy) usually manages to get in the way of any meaningful action.

Now the USA, Britain and 11 other countries will start sharing confidential data about the complaints they receive from consumers in a bid to crack down on cross-border Internet fraud, the Federal Trade Commission said today.

The FTC voted unanimously to begin pooling its U.S. complaints with those from other countries to create a single database, something it said "will greatly improve international law enforcement agencies' ability to address cross-border Internet fraud and deception."

The countries participating in the project, in addition to the United States, are: Australia; Canada; Denmark; Finland; Hungary; Mexico; New Zealand; Norway; South Korea; Sweden; Switzerland; and the United Kingdom.

Under the agreement, law enforcement agencies in each country will have access to the database through a single, password-protected Web site, the agency said. FTC officials said the information will tip them off to Internet scam artists who are operating across national borders.

Of course we can't help but worry that if all they use is a single password protected website then the chances of being hacked is even greater. It also seems to be a move somewhat outside of the EU's own agenda.

SupaNet Announce Unmetered Package

By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've known SupaNet have had an unmetered package coming for sometime through reader rumours and later by their own admission. One of our recent reviews rated them as having good customer support and one of the fastest dialup networks in existence, as good as the popular ClaraNET.

Today Net4Nowt have confirmed Supa's new unmetered offer (24/7) will cost £12.99 per month. A special price of £10.99 PM will also be given to pre-subscribers who register their interest in the ISP within the next 2 weeks.

The only downside is that there's likely to be a 2hour cut-off (normal/unless we're told differently) and you're locked into an outdated 12month contract. At this time SupaNet have not yet issued a formal press release, although we expect it soon.

The ISP recently published their latest financial results that showed them making money where most are loosing it.

US PSINet Collapse Could Ripple The World

By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We haven't covered this very much, although in the last few weeks the USAs largest independent ISP, PSINet, have been on the verge of a possible collapse. Due to their size and independent status it raises more questions about the stability of the market as a global issue.

Computing reported last week [12 April] that PSINet was planning to apply for bankruptcy protection, leaving UK customers to find alternative ISPs. PSINet is trying to sell off parts of its business to offset huge debts run up by a wave of acquisitions in the last two years.

Two UK customers, easyJet and FTSE.com, said they had contingency measures in place should PSINet go under. When the biggest independent US ISP cannot survive in the market, alarm bells should be ringing for every business, say analysts.

Robin Duke-Woolley, senior consultant at Schema, said the overcrowded market and the falling price of bandwidth will lead to further consolidation among ISPs, so users must choose carefully. "There is too much fibre around and not enough business to fill it. We will see a consolidation, which is overdue, and some service providers will go out of the market," he said.

"After PSINet, users should be aware that other service providers will be in difficulties too," Duke-Woolley warned. "Most are now part of larger carriers, and customers should be looking to see the financial strength of the carrier the ISP belongs to."

The contracting market theory is supported by a survey of 45 UK ISPs by messaging consultancy Outrade.com (reported on roughly two weeks ago). It revealed that the industry expects 40% of UK ISPs to fail and 17% to be sold in the next year.

Luckily in the UK the only ISPs likely to close will be that offering simple 0845 services and still charging for them. The UK ISP market is in a better position, although ISPs have been closing faster than they appear since early 2000.

News - April 24,2001

Quick 08002go Update

By:Ross14 @ 5:33:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Long awaited but they are finally here - 08002go are due to launch today but just by the skin of their teeth because they launch at 11:59pm - yes, 1 min to midnight!

One of our Forum goers, Gopikanta, posted this in the 08002go Forum:

Well how about that I just this minute received a phone call from 'Emma' at 08002go saying that they are going to go live at 11.59pm. Reasons were given that they wanted to be absolutely sure that the system will run free of hiccups...and so far it seems to be working. We're to start looking for our e-mails anytime from 8-9pm onwards. Phew!

Well, lets hope they launch for sure.

Employee's Find Internet Addictive & Distracting

By:mark.j @ 3:50:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Internet Company Websense have released new findings that show employee's in the UK often find 'In-Work' Internet access to be addictive and to cause distraction:

"The survey shows that the Internet is clearly a valuable business tool for employees, but at the same time it can be a distraction," said vice president of Websense in Europe. "It also shows that companies need to strike a balance and be aware that employees may object to having their Internet access at work managed."

There remains confusion over the extent to which employers can monitor workers. Confusion stems from conflict between the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which allows unrestricted monitoring and new Human Rights Act, which seeks to protect individual privacy. The government's Information Commission recently pushed back the publication of a code of practice outlining guidelines for employee monitoring, which was due to appear the spring, to the end of the year.

The ZDNet item clearly shows an increasing amount of people are accessing the Internet for leisure purposes on company time, something that's angered employee's. Until the R.I.P act can finally come into power there won't be any strong rules to stop such behaviour, just a quick hiding should do it.

M.O.D Plans To Stop E-Mail Viruses

By:mark.j @ 3:42:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The M.O.D (Ministry of Defence) have today issued details on a new method that could stop E-Mail viruses such as the famed 'I LOVE YOU' from spreading in the first place:

The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (Dera) -- an MoD agency -- on Tuesday unveiled software that detects when a virus is attempting to send emails to all the names in your address book -- the way such bugs as ILOVEYOU and Kournikova caused such widespread havoc so quickly. The software requires you to authorise any such action, theoretically nipping global virus attacks in the bud.

The new software -- ::Mail -- is a response to growing concern about the vulnerability of corporate and government computer systems to viruses. Dera's Simon Wiseman, who led the Dera's software development team, said the group used MoD experience with preventing confidential information leaks to come up with the ::Mail concept.

Perhaps somewhat ironic, but the method mentioned in ZDNet’s news item already exists as a 'Confirm Before Send' feature in most E-Mail specific applications. Most don't use it because it gets in the way of normal operation, or they simply didn't know it existed.

Onyx Internet Launches 'Onyx Scotland'

By:mark.j @ 1:05:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've just been sent a new press release from Onyx Internet that explains about their now Onyx Scotland BISP (Business Internet Service Provider) and services, including ADSL etc. As usual we'll publish the full release:

24th April 2001

ONYX SET TO SPARKLE IN SCOTLAND

BUSINESSES in Scotland are set to benefit from very fast broadband connections to the Internet, following the announcement of major investment by one of the UK’s leading BISPs (Business Internet Service Provider).

Onyx Internet, one of a handful of major independent UK ISPs, is investing £¾m in a new ‘Onyx Scotland’ division to target the huge potential of the business market in the central belt and Aberdeen. This includes a major upgrade to its UK network with a new high capacity link via Thus directly from London to Edinburgh, bypassing existing networks through Newcastle, plus 1,000 sq ft of hi-tech space in central Glasgow.

Onyx has offered Internet services to companies in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen for 12 months, but operations director Neil Stephenson believes that a local presence is essential to maintain the personal contact that differentiates Onyx in the field of quality business Internet provision.

He explained: "Our research suggests that of all Onyx’ UK markets, Scotland currently has the greatest potential. The region is seeing heavy growth in e-commerce, and recent research has shown that 75% of SMEs believe that traditional methods of accessing the Internet are too slow."

"More and more businesses need to be online permanently, need systems capable of transmitting larger amounts of data, and are looking for faster Net access. Consequently lots of Scottish businesses are currently upgrading or restructuring their Internet solutions, making this the ideal opportunity for Onyx to invest in its new Scottish division."

"We have built a large UK network, but our success has been built on maintaining good local customer relationships. We are determined not to lose sight of this as we continue to grow, and so we are already recruiting direct sales teams to work with our Scottish customers face to face."

Onyx’ services include leased lines, secure co-location at Scolocate in Edinburgh and broadband ADSL connections plus web design and hosting and domain name registration. It has thousands of customers nationwide, with those in Scotland including the award-winning creative new media agency Black ID.

David Lees of BlackID said: "We’re delighted that Onyx will now have a Scottish presence. We’ve worked with them over nine months, gradually moving our clients to their hosting facilities. For us, Onyx’s broadband, connectivity and security capabilities have been key, providing the depth of service and reliability that we need."

Onyx Scotland, based in Brooke St, Glasgow will be launched on 9th May

Britain To Be Broadband Leader By 2005

By:mark.j @ 12:53:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite a recent survey showing the UK as being next to Korea (bottom) on a chart of broadband usage, today the governments E-Minister (Patricia Hewitt) has hit back:

E-minister Patricia Hewitt has rejected mounting criticisms about broadband Britain, claiming everything is on track for the UK to be the best place in the industrialised world for high-speed services by 2005.

Speaking exclusively to ZDNet, the minister dismissed the glut of recent surveys, which suggest the UK is falling behind the rest of the world in its rollout of broadband services. NetValue, for instance, puts the UK at the bottom of the broadband league table with just one in every 32 online homes connected compared to one in two in Korea, one in nine in the US and one in 16 in France.

"NetValue is completely misleading," said Hewitt. "It only looks at people using the Internet, and Germany has half as many connections. We have 40 percent Internet penetration and Germany has 20 percent."

ZDNet's article is a long and interesting read; we especially like the above quotes where the E-Minister cleverly manages to dodge the topic. She mentions our high Internet penetration, yet the whole discussion area is to do with broadband penetration and not overall penetration, two very different things.

Despite all this she does go on to make some realistic comments about the LLU process, which in our mind actually benefits from the drop out of certain Telco's, leaving only the strongest left to provide services.

No Global 3G Delays After Japans Late Arrival

By:mark.j @ 12:45:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

NTT Docomo's (Japan Operator) delay of their 3G Broadband Wireless technology by several months shouldn't delay 3Gs global rollout, claimed Nokia today. "We don't see any change in the 3G schedule on a global scale," Nokia's chief spokesman Lauri Kivinen claimed on Tuesday (today).

"This seems to be affecting the initial launch phase in Japan and not the mainstream launch of WCDMA on a global scale which is expected to occur next year."

Earlier, the Japanese wireless giant announced a four-month delay in the launch of the eagerly awaited mobile Internet service in Japan. Japans delay is important because they’re the first to bring the technology into a mass consumer market, while most others will not integrate 3G for sometime yet.

It should be pointed out that WCDMA is better known in Europe and the UK as UTMS.

MIS (Security Firm) Criticises BTs Security

By:mark.j @ 12:38:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A member of respected security firm, MIS, has today criticised BT over its overall security following the recent breach last week:

Paul Rogers, network security analyst at MIS, said that although BT has fixed the problem, which left customer details vulnerable on Friday, it is still possible to view other customers details if you have certain information.

"One of the URLs on the site contains two fields," said Rogers, "Telnum= and Custref=. These represent telephone number and customer reference number, respectively. By substituting different numbers in these fields, you can access other customers' details."

Although Rogers acknowledged that the vulnerability was more theoretical than practical, as both numbers would need to be attributed to the same customer, he criticised BT for not using a stronger form of customer authentication.

The VNUNet item points out that BT is not considering the above information to be an issue because you still need both pieces of correct information. Not all computers are privately owned and another user could easily copy the URL and thus a persons account information.

Most software encrypts the URL in some way so as to jumble the publicly displayed information, perhaps BT should consider something similar.

Vague E-Mail Snooping Rule Costs Business

By:mark.j @ 10:11:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Apparently delays over the production of guidelines for businesses and E-Mail monitoring (snooping) have been delayed, something that's said to be costing businesses £500,000,000 in productivity each year:

The government's Information Commission was due to publish a code of practice for employee monitoring this spring, but has pushed back the publication date to the end of the year. Experts said the delay is prolonging confusion, as firms struggle to understand the law. "We were relying on the code to clarify the right to privacy. We need it to help employers, as much as employees," said Sarah Veale, senior policy advisor at the TUC.

Justin Fry, managing director of international operations at Elron, argued that monitoring software, such as that provided by Elron Software, SurfControl, and e-Sniff, will provide safeguards for employers and employees. "By using monitoring software, individuals are not routinely singled out," he said.

Wilmott believes that the potential damage to firms makes it necessary to monitor staff. "Providing policies are based on common sense, and employees are party to their development, monitoring policies provide vital safeguards," he said.

The ZDNet item highlights a continuing problem that's ultimately related to the R.I.P law, which nobody wants.

C&W Sells 5.3 Million NTL Shares

By:mark.j @ 10:06:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Cable & Wireless (C&W) has confirmed the sale of 5.3Million NTL shares (1.9% of total stake), leaving it with 31.1Million left over. Overall this is said to have earned the NTL owned company roughly £100,000,000 allowing it to set its eye over some potential new acquisitions.

Exodus Communications Inc, Genuity Inc and PSINet Inc are among U.S. Internet companies that could become takeover targets for Cable & Wireless Plc, analysts said on Monday. C&W is now said to be in the market for acquisitions in the United States and Japan to reshape itself into a leading provider of Internet services.

C&W will have around six billion pounds of cash by the autumn after the sale of its Australian business.

Exodus, the world's largest manager of company websites, jumped to the top of the list of possible targets after a Sunday newspaper said C&W was casting its eyes over the business. C&W refused to comment.

Analysts said Exodus would be a logical target for C&W as its shares are about 90% off their highs, giving the company a market capitalisation of $5.5 billion.

But according to a report on the Financial Times' news website FT.com late on Monday, Exodus has already rebuffed an approach from the British group, on the basis that its current market value is too low.

Internet access provider PSINet, which has warned it may go out of business or reorganise under bankruptcy protection laws, is another possible target, said Marco Fasoli, a managing director at takeovers adviser Broadview. He said C&W is one of the few companies currently able to snap up such "distressed assets".

Totalise Secure £1.48Million For Dial-Up Rights

By:mark.j @ 9:56:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to Net4Nowt, although not officially issued on the ISPs site yet, the shares based ISP Totalise have announced the sale of its rights to dial-up revenue.

Apparently the deal with Brightview Limited took place last Friday (20th) and the ISPs CEO is known to have said: "With the future of 0845 Internet access under some debate, this is a great deal for us. Little will change as far as the customer is concerned. However, with this cash in the bank - we are now in an even stronger position."

This could put them in a better financial position to launch some new FRIACO based unmetered services we've heard unofficial word on. As yet the full release doesn't seem to have been issued on the site, which is unusual, we’ll post more when it is.

Tiscali To Buy Another ISP - SurfEU

By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Tiscali, the crazy ISP buying Italian operators (WOL + LibertySurf etc.), have further marched towards the status of 2nd largest European ISP with the acquisition of pan-European ISP SurfEU. Costing roughly £43,400,000 in paper and cash, Tiscali said it would now be the third largest ISP in Germany with 1.8 million active subscribers.

Tiscali said in a statement on Tuesday that the payment would comprise around 18.7 million euros in cash and 50.9 million euros in new Tiscali shares. The exact amount will be defined on closing of the operation, expected before end-June, based on the number of active users at that time.

It said it was buying SurfEU, which is present in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Finland, from its founders Dov and Anat Bar-Gera, Media Saturn and other shareholders.

Tiscali said that after the acquisition Sardinia-based Tiscali would have a base of around 6.6 million active users as of March 31, 2001 with over 14 million registered users and monthly Internet traffic of around 3.1 billion minutes.

Tiscali said the acquisition of surfEU would have a positive impact on group EBITDA. "Within the framework of Tiscali's pan-Europe strategy, the purchase allows the company to further consolidate its place as second ISP," it said.

News - April 23,2001

StarSpeeder / SkyStorm Satellite Near Launch

By:mark.j @ 4:15:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The latest official announcement from the UKs broadband satellite provider, StarSpeeder, is that their services are now almost ready to go live:

At last we are pleased to announce that a full test service is now successfully operating. Connection speeds of 1.6Mbits have been achieved at our North East Office although we understand that the normal service will be capped at 400Kbits.

We are now awaiting the roll out of the service and will keep you informed of developments.

SkyStorm, reseller for StarSpeeder, have also posted information from test of the consumer level service. Apparently downloads between 30 and 40K-ps (KBytes) have been reported, which seems roughly correct.

BT To Meet With Rivals - Settle Differences

By:mark.j @ 4:05:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BT has agreed to meet many of its rivals from the likes of Vodafone and AOL to Oftel etc. this Wednesday in an event dubbed Bandwidth Aid. The idea being to clear up as many of the differences and problems such companies have with BT as possible:

BT is also about to launch a major new multi-million pound PR campaign to restore its battered public image. In the meantime the telco remains determined to see the funny side of its new impoverished status. Commenting on the upcoming pub battle a BT spokesman said: "It's in the bag... unless the so-called opposition try to bribe their way to victory as er... there'd be no way we could raise the cash to outbid them."

Internet service provider AOL has become one of BT's most outspoken critics, leading the campaign to get unmetered access widely available in the UK and now taking on the battle to improve BT's broadband service. It is equally bullish about Bandwidth Aid. "We haven't lost a battle with BT yet," a spokesman pointed out.

Hopefully BT won't try to turn such serious criticism into a farce as they've been known to in the past, rivals are hoping BT will finally sit down and ‘discuss’ realistically for once. The ZDNet item doesn't go into much detail, although we're sure the usual news leaks will slip into the publics baited hands.

Bill Gates Loses His Crown

By:Ross14 @ 3:54:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Bill Gates, commonly known as the leader of the Software Market and the founder of Microsoft has bowed down from the title of the 'Worlds Richest Man.'

As published yesterday in the Sunday Times Rich List, its been revealed that Walmart and Asda supermarket owner, Robson Walton, is now the proud owner of the title. Silicon.com has more:

Scant consolation for Gates is that he is still keeping ahead of Larry Ellison - though the gap is narrowing considerably: Ellison's wealth rose by $30.1bn while Gates' fell by $22.5bn, closing the margin between them from $65bn to $13bn. However, with Gates still worth a reported $54bn and Ellison weighing in at a not inconsiderable $41bn neither will be struggling to make ends meet as the economic downturn continues to take hold.

The Rich List also shows that darlings of the dot-com boom have faired little better on UK soil. Martha Lane Fox just scrapes into joint-last place in the 'top 100 richest young people' with £5m to her name - a far cry from the heights of lastminute.com's over-hyped flotation, and a sum that sees her residing in the company of the now largely forgotten members of long-defunct boy band Take That.

Gov Denies Renewed Reports Of 3G Refunds

By:mark.j @ 3:53:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A Government official has denied a report that Britain was considering refunding the 22 billion pounds mobile operators spent on third generation (3G) telephone licences.

The Guardian newspaper website quoted a senior government official today as saying a refund was under serious consideration. "There is no substance whatsoever to any of these reports," a Treasury official told Reuters.

The report, on http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk, said the most likely scenario was a "vendor financing" deal, where the government would loan back the licence money to pay for 3G networks.

"There will be some sort of deal done over investing in the networks," a second source close to negotiations between the operators and the government told the website.

"The government will dress it up as encouraging investment, but in effect it will be paying back the companies. They are putting the money back in the pockets of those who paid."

Spokesmen for Vodafone Group Plc and One 2 One would not comment on the details of the article.

Five mobile companies paid more than 22 billion pounds last year for licences to offer third generation services, based around fast Internet access and enabling video conferencing and music downloads. Whatever the truth one thing is for certain, the government is actively investigating these options, although nothing has been decided.

37.2% Of British Homes Online

By:mark.j @ 3:48:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The latest survey from research group NetValue shows that roughly 9 Million British homes are now connected to the Internet.

This gives Britain a household Internet penetration rate of 37.2%, above France and Germany at 20.6% and 30.2% respectively, but below Denmark and the U.S. which have rates of 52.6% and 48.8% respectively.

With an average of 1.41 users per household, the total number of home Internet users in Britain now stands at over 12 million, the survey revealed.

In a positive showing for British telecommunications company BT, the survey showed that Yell.com, BT's online directory service, was the most visited directory website during March with nearly one million users. In addition, Yell.com was the tenth most active advertiser in March, reaching over a fifth of all Internet users.

Private equity groups Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst are understood to be in exclusive talks with BT to buy Yell for around three billion pounds. The rest of the numbers are believed to include some employee business connections and mobile phone (WAP) connections.

Online Banking Egg Cracks Up

By:Ross14 @ 3:48:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The incredibly successful online banking firm Egg, owned by Abbey National has today cracked up after 60,000 credit card customers had their Direct Debits cancelled! Silicon.com has more:

Up to 60,000 Egg credit card holders have had direct debit payments cancelled after the bank scrambled a new payment processing method.

According to one customer service officer, the problem has been ongoing since last week, as Egg changes the way it processes direct debits. Only customers who had card applications approved in January are affected, according to a spokeswoman.

Callers to Egg's enquiry line were assured that cancelled payments will be re-requested within 15 days.

Well, at least it only involves a handful of customers and not the whole banking system. But still, it shows that even Banks can make huge mistakes once in a while.

RHA/JAK Pull Plug On Free4All

By:mark.j @ 10:30:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Roughly one month ago RedHotAnt finally pulled the plug on ALL of their old services, we've also been reminded that their 0845 FREE provider, Free4All, has now also ceased to exist:

THE LAST MESSAGE

This service has now stopped accepting new users on an indefinite basis.

All existing accounts will continue to run email and web and domain hosting until the end of July 2001 and will then be deactivated.

Please send any communication relating to this service to enquiries@free4all.co.uk

EcosseTel Finally Launch 24/7 Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 10:27:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to Steve for letting us know that after waiting several months and suffering a half-finished service, EcosseTel are finally ready to roll out their full FRIACO based packages:

EcosseTel Roll Out FRIACO based packages

From Monday April 23rd Scottish based ISP and telco Ecosse Telecoms introduce their unmetered internet packages across the UK. Whilst local and single tandem level FRIACO ports are being installed across the country, we have concluded a deal with a major carrier to introduce an 'interim indirect access' FRIACO service. Dial up traffic will be routed via indirect access and a non-geographic number to the nearest available FRIACO port, where it will be picked up by EcosseTel and transmitted to our IP backbone.

This move is a temporary measure whilst FRIACO ports are being installed in around 700 exchanges across the U.K., and customers will have to reconfigure their dial-up software when a FRIACO port goes live in their area. This service is only available to customers using BT lines to access the net, due to the fact that we have to have 'billing control' to make this system viable.

If you have pre-registered and wish to ensure that you are on-line from Monday April 23rd please call our customer services on 0870 088 5404 to confirm your BT telephone number. Both our advertised packages will be available 'Vroom2' at £79.99 a year which is a basic residential package for surfing, email and newsgroups. This package is limited to 200 hours per calendar month of usage. After 200 hours you will be charged at 1p per minute excess charge.

BCom-Xtra is our dial up business level / heavy residential user service giving unlimited access with few restrictions for £12.76 + VAT per month (£14.99 inc VAT). There is no time restriction on this package. This package is payable quarterly in advance.

For further details email friaco@ecossetel.co.uk or check out http://www.ecossetel.net

Further details: EcosseTel 0870 088 5404

The £79 per year package giving 200 hours per month (roughly 6.5 hours per day) seems like quite a good deal, although service quality on the finalised product remains to be seen. Subscribers who've now been waiting nearly half a year will certainly be glad to see the package come to life.

Siemens To Prep First UTMS Test For BT

By:mark.j @ 8:37:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UTMS, one of the primary technologies to be found in the broadband wireless range will soon be given its first commercial test through Siemens on the Isle of Man.

Siemens, which built the network for the British telecoms operator with its Japanese partner NEC, will connect 400 mobile phone users to high-speed data and normal phone services.

The UMTS network, in a first phase, is expected to be able to transmit data more than five times faster than existing ISDN technology.

It's the first time that UMTS trials in Europe have been taken out of the laboratory, and Siemens is hoping it will reveal the commercial possibilities of UMTS.

The Munich-based group has secured 17 contracts for UMTS networks, with some of Europe's biggest network operators, including Nokia, Ericsson and Nortel.

European telecoms groups have spent around 120 billion euros on (UMTS) Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Licences, with services planned for 2002/2003.

Zen On RADSL & SDSL Technologies

By:mark.j @ 8:28:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following last weeks post reguarding Zen Internets new RADSL broadband technology, they have today updated us with the latest version of their news release on the subject:

ADSL reaches outer limits

To get ADSL service at present, potential consumers must be located no more than 3.5 kilometres away from an enabled BT telephone exchange. From June, this 'broadband zone' around exchanges will be expanded to more than 5 kilometres. It means that most premises will be included. On average, 90% of subscribers' lines terminate within a 5.5 kilometre radius.

There will be no extra charge for the new service, known as RADSL.

Speed: RADSL will be available in 512Kbps multi-user and 512Kbps USB single-user versions. Customers living closer to the exchange will still be able to order Zen's multi-user 1Mbps and 2Mbps ADSL services.

Difference: The flexible new ADSL service that breaks the 3.5 kilometre barrier is Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line. It 'adapts' according to line conditions. Most of the time, this should make no difference, and performance will be identical to that being enjoyed by neighbours living nearer the exchange. (There will be times when data leaving the computer could be slower, but incoming speeds will be the same). Downloading files, viewing Web pages and receiving e-mail will not be 'rate adapted'.

Technicalities: On current ADSL services, the maximum upstream (outgoing) line speed is 278Kbps. With the new extended service, this line rate will be dynamically 'adapted' to between 278k and 64kbps - depending on line conditions at the time. Since the majority of traffic on ADSL travels downstream (receiving files, viewing Internet pages etc) most users will notice no difference.

Register: Be first in the queue this time. Orders and enquiries turned away after line testing during recent months should be able to pass pre-installation checks easily when the 3.5 kilometre barrier is lifted. To register interest in Zen Internet's new RADSL service, and get the latest information as soon as it's released, check "YES" when you complete our request form here: http://www.zenadsl.com/Info/information.asp#RADSL

Horizons: Using the same form, you can also register an interest in SDSL ('same speed both ways' Digital Subscriber Line) the DSL alternative to Leased Lines. Zen Internet provided some of the earliest ADSL installations in the UK when service first became available in July 2000, and we expect to be leading the way with the latest technology again as soon as SDSL is introduced, perhaps at the end of this year.

http://www.zenadsl.com

RADSL looks set to help providers cover a greater distance and thus improve people’s chances of being able to use broadband services. However since no RADSL availability checker exists then we simply don’t know by how much it will improve the situation. That said and if you’re thinking of broadband, yet can’t get it, then signing up for RADSL could well be the quicker solution.