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April 17, 2001 - April 22, 2001

News - April 22,2001

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 9:40:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Last week certainly wasn't an uneventful one, what with the collapse of Connect25 and all the other ISP related news floating around. The market is now well and truly in the transition stage to a more stable set of products, costs and services; something that can only be good for the consumers.

ISPreview itself has also been going through some changes of its own, a lot of our pages and sections were updated and some even re-done. Sadly we didn't get to perform the forum update as we had hoped, it turns out that the latest update and code mods will take sometime to implement (two-three weeks).

We're also working on our new 'Reader ISP Reviews' system, we had looked at some third party solutions, although found these to be more like a 'discussion forum' than actual reader reviews. As such we're designing some demo pages and will have the system coded how we want.

On top of that we plan to add some of our own code to the 'Readers Top 50' (Your Top 50) and make it look a little nicer. We'd also like to have a readers Top ISP list for different ISP types (xDSL, unmetered etc.). This won't be done for a while, although it’s on the cards, yet we might just make it an automatic part of 'Reader ISP Reviews'.

Expect an article or two that we delayed from last week to arrive this week and hopefully with something special included. As a final note I should point out that I'll be taking a small vacation in early May and will be back on 20th of that month. More on this next week.

News - April 21,2001

UPDATE: BTs Web Site Security Flaw

By:mark.j @ 9:11:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As experienced by our very own Ross only a day ago, more details have now emerged about the huge security breach at BTs site:

The major security failure - which BT blames on an error introduced during a site upgrade - allowed customers logged on paying or viewing bills to see the account details of other BT accounts.

A BT spokesman admitted that customers were given the details of users who had only recently been on the site. He said: "We have no idea exactly why this happened."

The glitch was finally fixed on Friday afternoon, but the BT spokesman said the telecoms giant was reviewing its security procedures.

It's good the VNUNet item mentions the problem is now solved, although it's not good to see BT don't know why it occurred, an all to familiar thing to say.

UTV Internet Go Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 9:06:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to Keith, the latest ISP to launch an unmetered package since KeMe launched KeConnect last week is UTV. It's a fairly simple Off-Peak (6pm to 8am [next day]) package and costs the usual £9.99 per month. You can also have up to 25% off BT phone calls with an optional adaptor, although you almost get that with BTs own discounts.

News - April 20,2001

World Online To Boot 53 Staff

By:mark.j @ 3:46:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following WOLs takeover by Italian Telco Tiscali last year the ISP is now expect to boot 53 staff from its service, something now being described as the start of a "massacre of UK employees":

Employees at the company's call centre in Ramsgate, Kent, were told yesterday and are the first to go following World Online UK's decision to close part of its telecoms operation.

Further job cuts are expected at the firm's Surrey-based offices in Godalming as the Tiscali-owned business carries out a full strategic review of its UK operation.

But sources close to the company claim that when it's finished the Tiscali's UK operation will effectively become little more than a shell with key business functions outsourced to external suppliers.

According to WOL and Tiscali they're only restructuring [and consolidating] the business to be a top three player in the UKs growing ISP market. Tiscali are a company known for their attitudes towards making staff redundant and in the current climate is it really so unusual?

Arsenal Football Club Go Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 3:32:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to Net4Nowt, Arsenal FC are to launch their own Affinity VIP backed unmetered ISP on Saturday. Using BTs FRIACO cloned BTSurfPort24 technology, the ISP plans to sell its 24/7 service @ £12.99 per month.

Peter Smith, Sponsorship and Broadband Manager of Arsenal Football Club said, "Many of our fans visit our website at www.arsenal.com to keep up to date with the latest club news and chat, plus take advantage of the other services available. It is an important medium of communication with our fan base, so it seems a natural step to help them access the Internet cost effectively as well. The subscriber also receives an Arsenal email address, a must have status symbol for the discerning Arsenal fan."

Peter Collins, managing director of VIP, commented, "AFC Connect proved very popular and now we can offer Arsenal Football Club the latest generation of ISP products. VIP is committed to providing the highest possible calibre of service for Arsenal's fans."

In other words they're just trying to make some easy money out of Arsenal FC fans and it'll probably work too. They also have a Semi-Off-Peak option @ £4.99 per month that gives freecalls between 12.00 midday and 5.00pm, at all other times access is charged at local phone rates.

blueyonder problems

By:Daniel @ 3:12:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It seems as though the whole blueyonder service has stopped working
take a look at their status page at http://status.blueyonder.co.uk and you will see that all their services have a nationwide problem. Also quite a lot of their customers modems keep re-cycling because they cannot access the headend server.

BT.Com Security Lapse

By:Ross14 @ 3:00:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As many of you may already have found out, the bt.com website has been taken offline, but you may not know why for.

Well, we have the answer because while browsing the site, we ourselves were able to access other people's account details such as view my bills/calls and pay my bill and personal details such as name and address information.

Now, although the site is not accessible via bt.com, there are backdoor access routes such as www.bt.com/at_home.jsp and many others - in fact, type anything after www.bt.com/ and you will be taken to "page does not exist" and then you have header options to enter the site.

Meanwhile, the bt.com helpdesk said that they were aware of the problem when we called them. They said:"many people have rang in with the exact same story and it should be sorted by this evening." They also added that "backdoor routes will be blocked off accordingly and customers need not worry.".

UPDATE
The bt.com site is now fully operational and bt assure us that all accounts are fully secure although they wouldn't comment on how the site became 'unsecure'.

ISP Review Site Updates

By:mark.j @ 12:25:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As we do roughly every 4-5months, our 'Readers Top 50' (Your Top 50 ISPs) page has been reset and we've removed the following ISPs for various reasons: Connect25, BTClick (Move to BTI), X-Stream, StrayDuck (Move to WOL/Tiscali), Intensive Networks (Move to Games-World), Affinity, FreeChariot, RedHotAnt, LibertySurf, NoCallFee and Breathe.

In their place we've added in the following: EasyNET, SurfAnyTime, BigBlueSky, CloudNine, Ecosse Vroom2, KeMe (KeConnect), NetKonect, NetGamesUK, SupaNet, TotalServe and V21. Typically the Top 10 has also just been updated with the removal of Connect25. Enjoy and get voting.

Oftel To Complete Review Of Dialup Access

By:mark.j @ 10:41:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick reminder that a review of the UK’s Dialup Internet access market, started in September last year, is expected to be completed next month.

Chances are I'll be on vacation during the period it's issued, although it's important because we put forward reader suggestions as to how the market could be improved and ISPs more accountable. Things such as looking at why BTs residential ISDN is still so expensive and making sure ISPs are more transparent to customers about their offers.

We'll be interested to see whether they implement any of the suggestions we made in our official 5page report on the subject. We may publish our report publicly once Oftel have issued their final report.

Latest Connect25 News & Updates

By:mark.j @ 10:02:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In the aftermath of yesterdays shock decline and eventual death of once popular unmetered ISP, Connect25, more news is starting to surface.

According to Leicestershire Trading Standards the insolvency firm known as Elwell, Watchorn and Saxton, has been appointed to oversee C25s proceeding towards liquidation.

The company is known to have stated: "We're putting together a mailing that will be posted to Connect25 subscribers tomorrow". The creditors meeting is also set in stone for the 2nd May 2001 next month.

If you've recently signed up for the ISP, especially their latest £12.95 scheme, then we think you stand a very good chance of obtaining a refund due to having the FULL weight of the law on your side. However we'd suggest the most recent subscribers simply try to obtain a refund via their Credit Card Company or bank.

Full information on refunds is expected to be issued in the near future, although it'll probably be next week before we know who is eligible. Still no information on why Connect25 collapsed, although an unpaid network bill and being economically unviable is typically most suspected at this point.

We already predicted Connect25s collapse long ago and many subscribers knew it would eventually happen, although recent changes had looked more promising. Most importantly is that this casts further doubt of the sustainability of one of the last CHEAP unmetered ISPs, BigBlueSky. With barely any limits by comparison to C25 and costing a lot less, how can they possibly survive now when EVERY ISP before them has failed? Time will tell and we wish them luck.

BTOpenworld Target Business Over Residential

By:mark.j @ 9:48:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite recent rumours that BTOpenworld were to the residential ADSL service, which it claims are false, they do have other plans for the service. While they fully intend to keep the residential side alive, the broadband ISP claims it will re-focus more to the lucrative business market:

The slowdown in e-commerce and advertising revenues has forced the telco's Internet arm BTopenworld to rethink its broadband strategy in favour of business customers. Several reports in recent weeks have predicted a slowdown in the demand for broadband and BT's shift to business will be seen as another nail in the consumer broadband coffin, which is already suffering from lack of alternative operators and the failure of local loop unbundling.

"At the moment our focus and effort is the SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] market but in the longer term we believe there will be growth in the demand for a consumer service," said a BTopenworld spokesman. "But we are not turning our backs on consumers by any stretch of the imagination."

BTopenworld has come in for a great deal of criticism since its launch last summer, for delays and glitches in installing ADSL in homes. So far it has connected just 26,000 home users despite initial demand from 100,000. The whole consumer ADSL market is currently in crisis. The process designed to open up BT's network to other broadband players has been brought to its knees, and operators complain that the wholesale service is failing to deliver and that BT's network division is unfairly favouring BTopenworld.

The ZDNet item is also quick to point out how slow BT have been at installing ADSL over other countries, we're technically 30 years behind Germany on ADSL installations. With 50,000 to their 2.6Million, changes need to happen fast if the UK is to stand any realistic chance of keeping up.

The only reason the business market is more lucrative is because of the problems being suffered through lack of coverage and slow installations on BTs part for the residential sect.

Employers Upset With Internal SPAM

By:mark.j @ 9:39:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to a new report out today, roughly one third of E-Mails received in the work place are unnecessary, cutting such E-Mails (occupational spam) could help increase productivity:

Between managing online porn, chain letters, gambling tips, flirting, jokes, praise, criticism, and emailers making free use of the "Reply All" function, workers spend an average of 49 minutes per day managing email.

"Employees are emailing their co-workers in higher frequencies in an effort to be helpful and more communicative," says Gartner senior analyst Maurene Caplan Grey. "In reality, they are cluttering email inboxes, filling up servers and sapping productivity with the volume of these messages."

"In a slowing economy, where businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and increase productivity, simply cutting out unnecessary e-mail will have an immediate impact."

Much as The Register goes on to point out, it'll simply mean going back to the old coffee machine sessions, or Tea if you're not of the coffee persuasion.

Redstone Launch SDSL Service In Portsmouth

By:mark.j @ 9:32:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As spotted on Net4Nowt, Redstone has become the first to launch a commercial Business Broadband Service in Portsmouth. The following is a press release from their broadband page:

Redstone Telecom announces that its first metropolitan area fibre optic network located in Portsmouth is now fully operational and connected to the local BT exchanges, with customers for its commercial pilot currently being selected and connected.

This pilot follows BT’s agreement to allow Redstone to operate commercial services ahead of the industry schedule date of 1 July 2001 for local loop unbundling, providing Redstone with a competitive timing advantage. Redstone’s pilot customers in Portsmouth will be the first in the UK to benefit from SDSL services, which include making high speed internet access affordable for small and medium businesses.

In line with its distant location strategy, Redstone has installed street cabinets adjacent to Portsmouth’s four BT local exchanges. The street cabinets house Redstone’s SDSL equipment which will allow connections to customers to be made over BT’s copper wires which run from these exchanges.

Redstone’s distant location strategy means that it can roll out DSL services from any of BT’s exchanges , avoiding the restrictions its competitors, who have chosen to internally co-locate, face. It is also a more cost effective roll-out model.

Ian Stirrat, Head of Local Loop Unbundling for BT Wholesale

said: "BT Wholesale is pleased about the active role it is playing to enable Redstone to roll out its services in Portsmouth. These services are important for the success of business and the local economy."

Commenting, Graham Cove, CEO of Redstone , said:

“Redstone has created the first non-BT SDSL network within the UK, with equipment not previously deployed in this configuration, or in street cabinets, anywhere else in the world. This is an enormous achievement.”

Update on Cost-Cutting Programme

In line with its stated objective to cut costs to allow the business to become EBITDA positive on a day by day basis during the year to 31 March 2002, Redstone is making [99] employees redundant from its Borehamwood headquarters. The redundancies will occur broadly across the group functions and account for approximately [15%] of Group employees. This combined with other efficiency initiatives will reduce our 2001/2 operating expenses by £17m per annum effective immediately. Restructuring costs of approximately [£2.5m] will be accounted for in the 2001 accounts.

Commenting, Graham Cove, CEO of Redstone, said:

“Market conditions require that our core businesses are self sufficient so that we can be single minded in the development and delivery of Broadband services. I very much regret having to lose people but the cost savings we will achieve are an integral part of our strategy for our existing business to become EBITDA positive in the financial year ending 31 March 2002 and will provide a sound foundation upon which we can build for the future.”

The key point of all this is quite clearly that while SDSL is actually nothing new, SDSL through a non-BT configuration is and shows a lot of promise. Details of pricing aren't yet clear, although it's safe to assume that they'll be at business only levels; SDSL is traditionally expensive, although should be less than BTs own.

News - April 19,2001

Connect25 In Liquidation

By:Ross14 @ 5:28:PM - Comments (17) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It has sadly been confirmed by Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce (aka Leicester Trading Standards) that Connect25 have went into Liquidation.

I myself spoke with Leicester Trading Standards @ 16:50 today, and i was then called back @ 17:15 with the answer that yes they have decided to close. I was unable to get anymore information.

Luckily Net4Nowt have received more information:

Leicester Trading Standards said that creditors are to contact the following firm of receivers if they are owed any money. Although we feel its customers will be towards the bottom of the list:

Elwell Watchorn & Saxton
109 Swan Street
Leicester
LE12 7NN

This is another huge blow for the UK ISP Industry and we're sure many customers will be fuelling with anger over not being told anything.

US Broadband Not As Popular Afterall

By:Ross14 @ 4:36:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Many people believe that most households in the US have access to broadband, but it's certainly not true. Even if it was, research published yesterday by the Cahners In-Stat Group shows that by 2005, most US households will still be using dial-up access to connect to the internet. The Register has more:

What's more, consumer demand for Net access in the US is flattening out. Cahners In-Stat claims that 30 per cent of US households simply have no interest in any form of Net access at all.

If analysts are right, then the US has almost hit saturation point. In February Nielsen/NetRatings reported that Net penetration for home users in the US had reached 58 per cent - just 12 points off Cahners In-Stat prediction.

Cahners In-Stat also reports that some 30 per cent of US households will have broadband access by 2005.

Despite this news, the uptake of Broadband in the US will double that of Europe, leaving us lagging behind as usual. So, don't throw away your old modems just yet, as it seems that dial-up access will just be as popular as broadband in the near future.

Connect25 Enter Receivership - Goes Bust?

By:mark.j @ 4:17:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've been quite literally inundated with E-Mails and if our forums, e-mail inbox's and the UKs various ISP newsgroups are anything to go by then customer satisfaction is at an all time low.

Through this we've continually remained hopeful that it was to be just a temporary glitch. After all they did only recently increase the price and update to a new web page, although typically Connect25 don't keep anybody informed about anything.

What we know for a fact is that their billing system, via the popular WorldPay, is no longer trading with the company. We also know that customers of the ISP, whatever the outcome, are steaming with anger and fury that once again C25 hasn't told them a THING!

Despite this in the last few hours we've been seeing a growing number of posts from individuals who claim Connect25 has now entered receivership and that liquidators have been appointed. Although we find this hard to believe, it wouldn't be the first ISP to go EXACTLY the same way (RedHotAnt, EzeSurf etc.).

According to 'unconfirmed' sources, details can be found through the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce. If anybody could 'officially' confirm this then that'd help since we can't find contact details. Escalating rumours and concern will continue as long as Connect25 carry on with their arrogant attitude towards subscribers.

We'll keep everybody updated and hope that the latest changes turn out to be simple rumours, although history tends to state that rumours on this magnitude are often proved true. Connect25 have a lot of explaining to do and not to us, but the customers.

UPDATE: Unrestricted discussion on this matter can be done in our specific Connect25 Forum.

40% Of ISPs To Vanish By 2002

By:mark.j @ 3:55:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to a recent survey conducted of 42 ISPs, it was predicted that roughly 40% of ISPs would likely go out of business by 2002. A further 17% is expected to find themselves acquired by more resilient rivals:

The report, commissioned by managed messaging company Outrade.com, surveyed directors at 45 ISPs drawn from the membership of the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), although ISPA was not involved.

It predicted that ISPs will be looking to added-value services, such as VoIP and unified messaging, to shore up revenue streams and protect them from the coming consolidation.

Clive Longbottom, service director at Strategy Partners, said it was further evidence of poor business planning in IT markets. "So many ISPs started up on a whim of fancy, and the business plans were never realistic. They thought they could go back for more and more venture capital funding, but those guys aren't stupid," he said.

Despite VNUNet's shocking summary of the report, it's actually nothing that new and has been happening ever since unmetered and broadband became more established last year. SME ISPs have few options to compete in such a market and either die or find themselves consolidated into another.

We predicted something like this would happen long ago during 1999, although seriously doubt that another 40% will kick the bucket between now and the new year, 20 - 30% perhaps.

BTCellnet To Launch GPRS On 18th May

By:mark.j @ 3:38:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BTCellnet looks set to be one of the first mainstream providers to offer newer GPRS phones and services to the mass consumer market when they go live on the 18th May. If you want one then you'd better start saving now as they're going to be expensive with a capital 'E':

The lack of mass-market GPRS rollout to date has been ascribed to several factors, the main one being the lack of handsets. BT claims that the Motorola Timeport 260 GPRS phone is now available in sufficient numbers, but this is currently the only product. The handset is due to cost £199.

The service will offer the same bandwidth as the corporate service but will be less tailored, according to a BTCellnet spokesperson. Apparently the corporate version is intended for use with a PDA, while the consumer service is intended for phone-based use only, through the Genie portal, therefore only providing WAP over GPRS and email connectivity.

A spokesperson said: “The Genie portal will be unchanged for this service initially, with GPRS focused services being migrated in over Q2-3 this year. Other phones will also be offered during a similar timeframe, but the Motorola is the only phone available in production volumes currently.”

The netimperative.com also goes on to mention the prices involved with the data connection itself, which we dare not mention due to being shockingly high. As with any new mass-market technology the prices are likely to remain high for another 6 months, eventually becoming more realistic.

ISP Review Site Updates

By:mark.j @ 1:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick update to say that we've made some additions and changes to the unmetered ISP list and updated the specific ISP forum accordingly. We've also taken the registration requirement off the new forums since it isn't needed.

On top of that the links page has been re-done and we've also updated the complaints page, which now adds Connect25 due to an influx of recent complaints. BTInternet and Freeserve continue to see a slow, yet regular flow of complaints.

Barrysworld Add New 0845 Dialup

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

Users of the popular 0845 (Local Call Rate) based multiplayer gaming service from Barrysworld will be happy to know that they've added a new TEST dialup rack:

Well he’s always looked as though he was gonna own the world someday but today Data has brought his dream one step closer to reality... he`s finally got the new BarrysWorld DialUp Test Rack Up.

So for all of you out there on DialUp sign on using any of the following numbers... 0845 620 9147 / 0845 620 9148 / 0845 620 9149 / 0845 620 9150 and your normal BarryDial username and Password and you should be up and running.

P.S. - compression works

New Virus Alert - Not Directly Harmful

By:mark.j @ 10:01:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As usual we always post news about any Viruses that seem to be spreading faster than the normal, today is another one of those days:

Matcher is a Windows worm constructed in Visual Basic. It arrives as an email with the subject line 'Matcher', and the body text reads: "Want to find your love mates!!! Try this its cool ... Looks and Attitude Maching [sic] to opposite sex." The mail also carries an attached executable file, matcher.exe.

UK-based antivirus company Sophos warned that should the file be opened, it will copy itself to the Windows System and Temp directories, then it will mail itself to every name in the user's Outlook address book.

The VNUNet item points out that the virus isn't especially harmful, but that doesn't mean to say you should even give it the first chance to propagate. If this manages to get on to your computer then clearly you'll need strong protection for those that can damage systems. It’s also known to add the following ‘print info’ style commands to people’s autoexec.bat files:

@echo off
echo from: Bugger
pause

Zen To Go RADSL In June (+5KM Coverage)

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

Zen Internet, one of the UKs most popular service providers, has recently announced their intention to be one of several ISPs to introduce the new RADSL technology in June. As explained in previous news items and on our broadband page, this allows for a coverage distance of roughly 5KM from the exchange, rather than 3.5:

At present, potential consumers need to be within 3.5 kilometres of an enabled exchange to get ADSL service. From June, it's planned to expand the 'broadband zone' around all BT exchanges to more than 5 kilometres. It means that almost everyone will be included. On average, 90% of addresses are within 5.5 kilometres of their telephone exchange.

There will be no extra charge for the new service.

There will be some differences:
The new service will be restricted to the 512Kbps USB single-user version. Customers living closer to the exchange will still be able to order Zen's multi-user 512Kbps, 1Mbps and 2Mbps versions.

New terminology: The new ADSL service that breaks the 3.5 kilometre barrier is referred to as RADSL - Rate Adaptive Digital Line. It 'adapts' according to line conditions. Most of the time, this should make no difference, and service will be identical to that being enjoyed by neighbours living nearer the exchange. Sometimes, data leaving the computer might be slower, but viewing Web pages and sending e-mail will not be 'rate adapted'.

Technical detail: On the current service, the maximum upstream (outgoing) ADSL 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. The majority of traffic on ADSL services travels downstream (downloading Internet pages etc) and so most users will notice little impact.

To register interest in the new RADSL service and get the latest information, check "YES" and complete our request form here. You can register an interest in SDSL too. More about that later!

Labours Latest E-Commerce Security Mess

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

In a new update to Labours website that was intended to attack the Tories 'eggstream' right-wing policies, they ended up shooting themselves in the foot:

An item on New Labour's site called "Tory egg cups expose the Tories' hard-boiled policies" invited supporters to order a range of micky-taking merchandise that depicted Michael Portillo as "uneggonomic" and Anne Widdecombe as "eggscruciating".

But the invitation to buy goods in the article contained seriously cracked security advice. Anybody wanting the tacky trinkets (who wants an eggcup with William Hague is "eggstreme" on it anyway?) was invited to "send an email with all your credit card details to shop@new.labour.org.uk"

This (from a party in government that wants to make Britain the safest place in the world to do ecommerce) is just about the silliest advice we're heard in months.

The Register's article shows just how entertaining things can get in the pre-election period as parties fight for seats and ultimately, power. Labour has often been slated for being unable to implement security measures on their own site that they've recently mandated in government.

Tories Plan To Boost Broadband Britain

By:mark.j @ 9:26:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Tories (government party/opposition) have today hit out against the existing Labour Government over its much criticised digital policies and pledge to do a better job of things:

In its document, Common Sense for E-Commerce, the Conservative party warns that Britain is "losing the lead" in the new economy as a result of "ill-judged" government policies. The Tories, it claims, will "keep government interference to a minimum".

High on its agenda will be the knotty problem of how to improve broadband coverage in the UK. The Conservatives claim the government's approach has failed and promises to review the structure of the telecoms market.

"The next Conservative government will initiate a review... to ensure a pro-market structure and fair and equal access to the network and look for other ways of reducing costs to industry and the consumer of accessing the Internet," the manifesto reads.

The ZDNet item also highlights some of the other things they'd like to do with e-technology, such as a closer look at BT's domination of the telephone network. They'd like to see fair and equal access to its lines, scrap the IR35 tax and most importantly - review the R.I.P law.

Of course that'd have to be a Re-Review of the R.I.P law since entertainingly the Conservatives already had their chance at doing any good by it and didn't. It's no wonder 51% of people don't plan on voting in the next election; they're all as bad as each other. That said and this is a promising thing for any potential future government to say, acting on them is very different.

Connect25 Rumours Flourish - Service Still Down

By:mark.j @ 9:16:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We're starting to hear the usual, yet very worrying, rumours about the status of Connect25, which still seems to be down having not heard anything to the contrary yet. Although it's most likely a fault with BT, we haven't seen this much scepticism about an ISPs status since RedHotAnt.

Some claim the company has gone bust, others claim they haven't paid their bills, while a few seem to have been in contact with BT whom state that the freecall numbers no longer exist. Of course none of this can be confirmed and is all rumour mongering until C25 let us know what's happening.

One thing we do know (thanks Keith) is that those who recently tried to signup with Connect25 have received the following when using a credit card:

Sorry, the merchant doesn't have any suitable accounts for this purchase!

Description Connect25's FreeFone, Unmetered, 24/7 Internet Access

Not only that, but if you try to signup with a cheque:

Unfortunately, Connect25 Limited is not in a position to accept new subscribers.

If you are interested in receiving further information regarding freefone internet access please enter your email details below.

Apparently some can connect to the local call rate number, although others are having trouble. Whatever the reason, such a long service outage without any explanation and this close to a recent price increase is worrying.

Customers of the ISP can only sit around twiddling their thumbs in the hope C25 may surface again in the next few hours. We can't imagine they'd increase their prices and then go bust a few days later, although on the other hand we've seen it before. C25 clearly need to work on their customer communication skills.

News - April 18,2001

Connect25 Goes Offline

By:mark.j @ 8:50:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to a multitude of posts by readers in our special Connect25 forum, the ISP is suffering yet another serious outage. The current service outage seems to affect both of the primary freecall numbers, but not the local rate one - typical.

As usual Connect25 have issued no explanation as to the reason for this latest outage, although you can join the growing speculation in our forums above. With the recent and close set of price increases and a number of other service outages, fears are growing among subscribers that the ISP may be in some trouble.

Hopefully this is not the case, although any ‘unplanned’ outage as serious as this is cause for concern.

CyberCrime No More - Thanks Mr.Straw

By:mark.j @ 3:51:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It doesn't take a genius to understand that throwing a large bunch of new laws and restrictions into a place that's traditionally free of such things is going to cause problems. Having said that the Home Secretary Jack Straw, in his infinite wisdom, sees no such problems.

Today the ever intelligent Mr.Straw, never one to jump on a media favoured bandwagon - no never - honest, has launched a national high-tech crime unit to tackle cyber-criminals; from hackers to online stalkers.

Straw, who last year allocated £25,000,000 to the force, said 80 specialists would be deployed across the country to help police detect and investigate information technology crimes.

"New technologies bring enormous benefits to the legitimate user, but also offer opportunities for criminals, from those involved in financial fraud to paedophiles," Straw said at the launch of the crime unit at London's Science Museum.

The unit has been set up to support traditional police forces who have struggled to keep up with the increasingly complex nature of computer crime.

The crimes range from hacking and denial of computer services to fraud, identity theft, stalking and harassment -- all using information technology (IT).

"One of the issues law enforcement faces is that the true extent of IT-based criminality is as yet uncertain because no statistics have been collated," said Roger Gaspar, deputy director general of Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Officials said the new high-tech crime unit would investigate serious and organised crime using IT; advise local police forces and liase with ministers and other governments.

Now as much as we respect what he's trying to do, we also understand that it's not a simple task and will cause more problems than people realise. For example, clever hacker could easily frame somebody for a prank E-Mail if they really wanted and the worry is that such a thing could never be detected.

Unless the whole world introduces some kind of R.I.P monitoring system and regulates the Internet more, such new laws will never work, as the government would like to think they could. Of course perhaps that's the problem because this seems to be increasingly exactly what they have planned.

The Internet could end up being one of the most censored and restricted places on the planet.

BT Launch Wholesale SME ISP Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 3:18:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Nearly a month after BT first rumoured its alternative to the more mainstream unmetered ISP system Surfport24, Webport24 has today been officially announced. Despite this the original gripes against Webport24 remain:

The new WebPort24 wholesale service, which is being offered through BT’s Ignite internet arm, offers ISPs ordering as little as 10 access ports a service for £99 per port for one year. The service is aimed to allow small ISPs to provide unmetered access to consumers under new FRIACO offerings, which have so far been off limits due to restrictions on the minimum number of ports ISPs can order.

However, the new product has so far met a lukewarm reception since it fails to address small ISPs’ main concerns over BT’s wholesale products. Run through the BT network, ISPs will have no control over the bandwidth of the port access and can therefore not control the quality of access given to consumers.

ISPs, particularly small niche players, rely on quality of service as their most significant differentiator from mainstream ISP giants such as Freeserve, AOL, and BT itself.

For a more detailed response from ISPs then you should search our news archives for the original announcement, since this one is technically the same as the earlier news.

The netimperative.com article also fails to see another potential pitfall of all this, while the cheaper technologies role out, what happens to BTs own Surf & Talk Telco package using Surftime as a basis? As ISPs using Surftime continue to vanish will there be any left for BTs Telco deal?

Supanet Publishes Strong Quarterly Results

By:mark.j @ 3:06:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In a market that's struggling on through the economic downturn, Supanet, a popular British ISP, have today issued a press release showing how they've managed to achieve strong quarterly results:

PRESS INFORMATION.........
18 April 2001

Supanet defies struggling ISP sector with strong quarterly results

UK Internet Service Provider, Supanet, announced today that its results for the quarter to March 2001 are EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization) positive, some 12 months ahead of its own schedule.

With turnover of £887,000 and earnings of £158,000 the results come at a time when many ISPs are facing growing losses and in some cases closure as profit targets are missed.

CEO, Norman Wellington, states: "The current market place for medium sized ISP's is maturing fast. Many of our competitors are now paying for high spend strategies, used initially to attract customers, which have resulted in the supply of products that they simply cannot afford. Supanet has taken a different approach. We have focused on low cost routes to market, growing a little slower, not over hyping our proposition, and providing an excellent service to our customers. Our current position is testament to the fact that we have a strategy that will sustain our business for the long term."

The company attributes its success to three key factors. Firstly, its focus on low cost to market partnerships such as the pre-installed deals that the ISP has with Time Computers. Secondly, the company has also refrained from spending vast amounts of money on marketing, focusing instead on delivering a carefully tailored, reliable service for its family user base.

Thirdly, supanet has continually focused on delivering content that is designed to drive interaction between its subscriber base. The result is the growth of a number of supanet communities and strong customer loyalty.

Wellington explains: "This market is no longer about expediential growth and a race for connections. It is about customer loyalty and interaction. Users want more than a point of connection. It is our ability to satisfy this need which sets supanet apart."

Intending to remain EBITDA positive, Supanet is currently reviewing additional low cost routes to market and focusing its attention on customer retention rather than on rapid recruitment.

About Supanet

Since its launch in 1999, Supanet has grown to become the sixth largest UK ISP, with more than 830,000 subscribers. The company utilises its own network, ensuring that Supanet users benefit from an easy to access, robust and secure Internet service when they want it at the least possible cost. The Supanet portal offers 20 channels of quality content and services, presented in an easy to use, friendly style. Supanet is based in Burnley and currently employs over 115 staff. It is a subsidiary of Supaworld Holdings Limited, a Jersey based privately owned investment company.

For more information please visit http://www.supanet.com

In a very recent review of the ISP we found them to be an extremely worthy service, if a little expensive. The ISP is also known to be planning an unmetered service for the future, no doubt in a similar mould to the current spate of new providers.

KeMe Update - KeConnect Unmetered

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

An unnamed reader was kind enough to point out that KeMe have recently updated their site with more details on the new unmetered ISP, which we exclusively revealed last week:

FOR A FLAT RATE OF £14.95 A MONTH...
-Surf the web 24 hours a day - 7 days a week
-Forget about Internet call charges
-Pay nothing extra

There are no hidden charges, no unwieldy contracts and no need to change your telephone provider.

Just one monthly charge of £14.95 to explore the Internet
- and no more Internet charges on your telephone bill.

PLUS...

-The sustainability of a FRIACO based service
-Unlimited e-mail addresses
-50mb of personal Web space
-Full access to Newsgroups
-Low user to modem ratio

The cut-off time is two hours. Users who have no activity in terms of upload or download for a period of thirty minutes will be disconnected. This cut-off is to ensure a good performance for those using the service. We have no capacity problems, so access on redial will be fine.

Our service is based on the FRIACO agreement, which we generally regard as a more robust and financially sustainable way to provide an unmetered service. Our subscribers will benefit because it is run on an IP network dedicated to Internet traffic and, as always, we are committed to providing our customers with the best service available at the best possible price.

Please Note:
This service is set to be launched during May 2001 for residential users only. Subscribers will be limited and advance applications will be given priority.

The good quality of web space and a 30min inactivity cut off is something other ISPs don't have, although it doesn't stand out as much as it could.

GUS To Sell Breathe - Official

By:mark.j @ 10:02:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Last week it was rumoured in some newspapers that Great Universal Stores (GUS) was planning to sell urban ISP, Breathe. While the ISP itself denied it, GUS simply dodged the question.

Today a spokesperson for GUS is known to have said, "We are in talks with a number of parties to sell breathe.".

The spokesperson declined to comment on those involved and continued to reiterate what they've been saying all along, they only brought the ISP for its technology.

The Register didn't go into much detail, although Breathe will no doubt be annoyed at being the ping-pong ISP in the middle; wanted for technology and nothing more.

Government Considers Free Digital TV & Net

By:mark.j @ 9:53:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The government is considering a controversial new plan that could see them giving free Digital TV and Internet access to those that don't have it yet:

Free conversions to digital TV will be seen by many as an admittance from the government that it is losing faith in its planned 2006 analogue switch off. Nevertheless, seven million homes already have access to digital TV and the government is confident that half the nation will have switched by the end of 2002.

The programme is designed to give government an insight into the issues involved in switching the public to a digital signal. The "digital neighbourhoods" that will participate in the scheme are yet to be identified but the project is expected to be up and running in the next six months. The government is likely to target deprived areas and those that are excluded from the digital revolution, since Internet via digital TV is seen as the best way of reaching its target for universal Internet access by 2005.

People in the trial will be able to watch all existing free terrestrial channels, as well as digital TV channels including ITV2, BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge. They will also be able to access interactive Internet services and send/receive email. About twenty broadcasters, manufacturers and retailers of digital technology -- including Sky, ONdigital and the BBC -- have expressed interest in the scheme and the government hopes some of these will be willing to plough money into the project. There are no plans for government to subsidise set-top boxes to the general public despite news that ONdigital's set-top box giveaway could soon come to an end.

Typically the ZDNet item doesn't actually explain how they plan to do this and that's no mistake because even the government doesn't know it yet. One of the reasons it's a controversial plan is because some of the current suggestions revolve around free DTVs in return for monitoring rights over what they use them for.

The current analogue system had originally been planned for a switch off during 2010, however the government recently chose to bring this forward to 2006.

Trinity Mirror Still Trying To Sell IC24

By:mark.j @ 9:42:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if the media giants (Trinity Mirror) behind the semi-unmetered ISP (IC24) are still working hard to find a buyer for the service. Following yet more job losses and the cut of two more portals, the search is hoped to bring good news soon:

In regards to the sale of ic24, Fullagar said the company is currently “talking to interested parties”, but is unable to reveal anything further at this time.

As reported in netimperative.com last in February, Trinity Mirror Digital revealed that it would be changing its focus away from its ISP in order to concentrate on developing and marketing its content across its consumer portals.

Trinity Mirror claims that its ISP had more than 790,000 subscribers at the end of December. During the same month, the total number of page impressions across its portfolio exceeded 57m.

Sadly the netimperative.com article doesn't bring much news in the way of who's interested in IC24 and what, if any, sale would be made and when. It's likely that IC24 would continue its 0800 offer up until the service is purchased, from there it'd be up to the new owners.

News - April 17,2001

08002Go Update Launch Information

By:mark.j @ 4:21:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The new unmetered ISP 08002Go have made yet another update:

LIVE DATE - 24th April 2001

*Good news - extra 50,000 places just issued due to the amazing response from you all. After these last remaining places have gone we will be fully subscribed for this year.*

So while the release date remains firmly set in stone for 24th April, there's now an extra 50,000 open registration slots for people to subscribe to before launch.

Royals Not Happy With E-Mail

By:mark.j @ 4:13:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It would seem as if the Royal palace isn't taking too well to the thought of having to accept certain updates through E-Mail:

One of Mr Allen's jobs is to inform HRH Liz II what's going on every day in Parliament. Traditionally, this daily briefing is written in a letter and delivered by horse (well, a bloke on a horse).

Mr Allen - ever the New Labour third-way kind of guy - has managed to get rid of some the daft ways of doing things. The horse has been swapped for a bike, and he no longer walks backwards having delivered a message from the Queen. He has also stopped wearing full morning dress while sending/receiving such letters.

However, when Mr Allen suggested that the palace was brought forward a little and the letter was instead delivered by email, he was immediately rebuked. Seems that the Queen (or, more correctly, the uppity palace staff) don't like this sort of thing. Mind you, it's not a very long way from the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace, so bearing in mind the government's recent attempts at Internet technology, it may be wiser (and faster) to get the news by letter.

They should thank themselves lucky they don't have to deal with the troubles of broadband or unmetered, if they can't understand E-Mails then there's really not much hope, more @ The Register. Back to the bike Mr Allen - enjoy.