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July 11, 2001 - July 17, 2001

News - July 17,2001

Half Of UK To Use DigitalTV By 2005

By:mark.j @ 3:34:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Internet research company, Jupiter MMXI, has today issued its own report claiming that half of the UK will be using DigitalTV by 2005, information that would seem to agree with other research:

Over seven million British households already have digital TV -- a figure that is rapidly approaching a third of all households. The Jupiter report predicts that by 2005, 15.5 million homes will have access to interactive TV services, but is less optimistic about families using their TV to surf the Web.

Daniel Stephenson, the Jupiter analyst who authored today's report, stressed the need to distinguish between the World Wide Web and interactive services when discussing the take-up of digital TV. "We're not suggesting that everyone will access the Web through their TV...the experience isn't great at the moment as very few sites have re-purposed their Web pages for the TV," Stephenson explained. "My prediction is that most people will prefer to use the PC for Internet access."

Sourced from ZDNet, we were surprised to see no mention of the obvious problem this presents. In fact no other site has highlighted how poor this is when you consider the government wants to turn analogue signals off by 2006!

What about the other half of the population, how does the government expect them to cope when they suddenly find un-stable digital terrestrial in-place of stable (if sometimes fuzzy) analogue? Digital may be good, but if you're not using a Satellite then the terrestrial equivalent still has a lot of problems (Trees, cars - users will know what we mean etc.).

WonkyPig Still 'Unavailable'

By:mark.j @ 10:27:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if the re-invented unmetered ISP, WonkyPig, is still offline after having taken their website down over the weekend. For the past four days a simple statement has read:

This Website is currently unavailable

> We are carrying out essential maintenance to the main server
- please try again later

Administration > admin@wonkypig.com

We're not sure why they'd need to take the whole website down, it only consisted of simple information/images and if they can show the above then they can show the rest etc.

We've also noticed many customers still awaiting a refund and it seems those that complain the most are less likely to get one. On a brighter note, the ISP has managed to refund some of its customers. We'd guess they plan to use the un-refunded cash to start their new service and continue refunds later.

LogicSurf Delay Unmetered Launch

By:mark.j @ 10:01:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Having been previously set to go live during the first part of July (this month), LogicSurf Internet have today issued us a small statement regarding a delay to their unmetered services launch:

We are holding our unmetered internet access for a few extra weeks due to a few errors with our admin and accounts systems. We apologise for this delay but we like to know that our services are 100% So we can provide the user, satisfaction with our services at all times.

Cheers

LogicSurf Internet
http://www.logicsurf.net

For those that don't remember, LogicSurf will cost £13 per month (24/7 unmetered) and have all the same features (bar 128Kbps ISDN) as their current 0845 local call rate offering.

Since there's just less than two weeks left in the month, we'd assume this means the ISP is more likely to go live during early August.

Search Engines Get Deceptive

By:mark.j @ 9:48:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Commercial Alert, an Oregon-based group founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader, has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate several search engines they suspect of showing commercial ad's in place of search results.

The consumer group claims search engine results frequently "look like information from an objective database selected by an objective algorithm. But really they are paid ads in disguise.". The group believes this to be highly misleading and deceptive on the part of search engines.

Apparently AltaVista, AOL Time Warner, Direct Hit Technologies, iWon, LookSmart, Microsoft and Terra Lycos have all been highlighted out of those reviewed. CA stats, "We're asking the FTC to make sure that no one is tricked by the search engines' descent into commercial deception."

Typically many of the engines have rejected CA's claims and intend to fight any such criticism of their services, although not having used any of the engines ourselves we can't say whether it's correct or not.

Nokia Finds 'SHOCK' xDSL Modem Bug

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

Nokia, long time mobile phone manufacturer and maker of xDSL Modem adaptors for some British and American companies, has found a serious fault in their latest line of adaptors:

The company aims to take back between 50,000 and 100,000 of its M/MW 11xx/51xx series xDSL modems. Less than one per cent of these are believed to be faulty.

"When the power cable is disconnected from the modem, one of the pins may break off a stay in the socket," Arja Suominen, head of communications at the company's Nokia Networks unit, told the AFX news service.

"If this happens, there is a small risk of electrocution if one were to touch that pin which has broken off."

The Register states that any such modems should be taken into a local service centre for repairs, or sent back to the ISP for replacement (if they'll take it). It brings a whole new meaning to surfing the Internet @ SHOCKING speed.

News - July 16,2001

OneTel.Net Unmetered

By:rich.p @ 7:08:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

OneTel have launched their unmetered package. It offers the basic FRIACO £14.99/month unmetered access. Other features include 3 e-mail addresses and 10MB of personal webspace. You can visit OneTel HERE

Quick Site Update

By:mark.j @ 4:24:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While making some general site updates and improvements today, we also took a moment to change the survey. The results for the last survey are as follows:

What's your closest connection speed to those listed?
14-28Kbps 3.7% 79
36-56Kbps 55.4% 1196
64Kbps 16.8% 363
128Kbps 3.2% 70
256Kbps 0.7% 15
384Kbps 0.9% 19
512Kbps 14.3% 309
1-2Mbits 4.9% 106
Total votes: 2157

As suspected we found modem users to take the field with an impressive 55% lead (1,196 votes), although were surprised to see 64Kbsp (ISDN) leading slightly ahead of ADSL/C-Modem style 512Kbps connections.

Dual Channel ISDN remains underused because so few unmetered providers support it, although slower technologies seem to be in obvious use. We'd guess some of this comes from mobile phones, do people really use 14,400Kbps connections =)?

The new poll asks the question many have posed over the last few months, What's the biggest problem with broadband?

08002Go Issue Virus Warning

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

According to several forum posts and E-Mails received this morning, somebody is sending a virus to 08002Go customers. The unmetered ISP has now issued the following update on the situation:

WARNING!!!
There is a bogus e-mail going round with the following Topic in the subject line: Important-DUN Settings. This is a virus and is to be terminated without opening the attachment. This is being sent from 08002go@hushmail.com we are doing everything we can to stop this from going around.

Regards,
http://www.08002go.com.

Please be aware of this and erase any such E-Mail the moment it arrives.

T-Mobile To Undercut Vodafone's 3G

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

It'll be awhile before we start seeing nationwide 3G broadband wireless (mobile phone) based services come to the market. However that won't stop operators making competitive moves for a service that hasn't even begun yet:

Deutsche Telekom is planning to attack Vodafone's market dominance with a strategy of aggressive price-cutting and acquisitions.

A senior executive within T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom's mobile arm, said that his company was planning to expand its European operations. He added that T-Mobile might try to undercut its rivals with cheaper third-generation (3G) handsets.

Vodafone, the UK's largest mobile network operator, refused to respond to this challenge on Monday. But company sources did tell ZDNet that it was more interested in getting the most profitable mobile users onto its 3G service, rather than signing up large swathes of the population.

As the ZDNet item points out, it's a little difficult to be competitive in such an area until you know what offers consumers will be getting and that's not for awhile yet.

Government To Fail - Ofcom Deadline

By:mark.j @ 3:25:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's beginning to look as if Oftels future replacement, the super-regulator - 'Ofcom', will not receive its regulatory powers by the 2003 deadline. Despite last Friday’s successful draft of the new 'Office of Communications Bill', the government is making no promises for when the new body will get its powers:

The paving legislation will allow the government to begin merging media and telecommunications regulation into a single watchdog, although Ofcom will not receive its regulatory powers until the Communications Bill is brought into force. It is hoped that Ofcom will be fully operational by 2003, but the government is refusing to confirm that Parliamentary time will be available for the publication of the Bill in the 2002-2003 session.

A draft Communications Bill, containing the Government's proposals for Ofcom's regulatory framework, is due to be published in this session of Parliament. "The nuts and bolts will be set out in this Bill -- it will define Ofcom's parameters of power," confirmed the DTI spokesman. But the government has stated that the Bill will not be enforced before 2003, and is making no promises that sufficient Parliamentary time will be available for discussing its proposals.

If you can find the energy to train your eyes over to ZDNet's item then it's quite interesting, yet predictable all the same. It's probably fair to expect this to go on for sometime to come, government officials aren't exactly the fastest workers in the world.

BTOpenwoe On Performance Issues

By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The BTOpenworld support/complaints site for disgruntled BTO users, BTOpenwoe, has made a small update regarding some performance problems that seem to be affecting the service.

Apparently 'pauses' in the connection (seen as ping spikes in multiplayer) have been causing problems for some users with streaming video/audio and multiplayer games:

Early ADSL adopters were suffering from the same problems for quite some time before BT Openworld sorted the problem for them - although to some degree it's almost inevitable with the contention ratios in place on the connections that as more and more people start getting ADSL, and those contention ratios start kicking in, that slower/more laggy connections will come with it.

We'd be interested to hear from people (particularly online gamers) in different areas of the country to see if it's a national issue, or just one that affects certain heavily populated (ADSL-wise) areas.

We'd also be interested to know whether anybody who uses the service for online gaming has seen a problem or not. To date contention ratios haven't been an issue as only a fraction of the country is covered and even less actually use the technology.

If it’s a contention issue then it mightn't be fixed until the ratios lower, which is unlikely to happen for some considerable time. On the other hand 'ping spikes' aren't generally associated with contention ratios, you'd be more likely to see a sustained drop in speed.

Interxion & Cidera Prep Broadband Satellite

By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Internet and networks infrastructure provider, Interxion, has teamed up with online content giant Cidera in order to bring yet another broadband Satellite experience to PC users:

Firms using the service will benefit from faster and more reliable Internet access, said Cidera. The service lets Internet service providers bypass the Internet's landline infrastructure, avoiding bottlenecks, and because transmission is faster it is easier to support bandwidth-hungry applications, such as video, the company argued.

"The Internet's point-to-point network means that when media is sent it can pass through as many as 15 different routers, during which time it loses packets of information, causing blocky and disappointing streamed broadcasts," said Bob Jones, Cidera's vice president of sales and marketing.

Jones said that Cidera's solution beams content directly to edge servers via satellite links hosted by Interxion, bypassing the Internet infrastructure, and reducing packet loss and latency. Interxion and Cidera have been testing the service for eight months, but have yet to sign up a customer with which to showcase the technology. However, the companies were able to demonstrate a high-quality streamed broadcast at 700kbit/s.

The ZDNet item follows in the wake of Aramiska, whom recently announced their ADSL competitive broadband Satellite solution. With so many new broadband Satellite ISPs coming online in the next year, it looks like traditional broadband will finally have some competition.

Not to mention it's easier to move modern dishes than a cable or ADSL installation, always nice to know if you plan on moving, nobody else gets the bill.

News - July 15,2001

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 10:33:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Things finally seem to be settling back into place after the drama surrounding BigBlueSky managed to subside last week. Although on an unrelated note, the weather still remains dull, wet and gloomy; where's the summer gone?

Sadly real life has been even worse, with the family member whom I previously mentioned as having bowel cancer now being in a terminal condition. That said and work has continued as normally as possible, with a couple of new reviews and the usual news.

Internally things are very different; any visitor to the 'Specific ISP Forums' will have noticed some strange categories on the front page. This is in preparation for the big forum merge, when 'General Discussion Forums' find their way into the 'Specific ISP Forum' and make navigation a lot easier.

On top of that we've also introduced new forums (not open yet) as requested by our readers over a month ago when we asked them what they'd like to see. We continue to introduce new forum features and expect to be completed with that side of things very soon (one week).

The code for the new 'Readers Top ISPs (50 etc.)' page is also 95% completed, we'll begin beta testing VERY soon and see how things go. This will allow us to automate lots of output, such as the Top 10 ISPs on the 'Broadband' page (by type) etc. and also give a near 100% un-cheatable system for credible ISP ratings.

In short, things seem to be progressing according to plan and both the new Readers Top 50 system and Forums should be fully operational within a matter of weeks. Right now we're just busy adding features and sorting out Moderators for the forums.

News - July 14,2001

Government Gives Green Light To Ofcom

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

Oftels future regulatory replacement, Ofcom, has finally been given the green light to proceed with their all-encompassing single regulator for media, Internet and telecom industries:

If the Bill passes smoothly through parliament Ofcom should be up and running in 2003.

A draft Communications Bill is to be published in this session of parliament.

The Bill includes details on the formal establishment of Ofcom, which will replace five existing regulators including Oftel, the Independent and the Broadcasting Standards Commission plus the regulatory powers it will hold.

The Register's item doesn't go into a lot of detail, although you can bet your bottom dollar (pound) we'll be watching this like a hawk to see what regulation will be imposed upon ISPs etc. Hopefully they'll implement some of our suggestions from last year.

News - July 13,2001

EU Backs Down Over Total SPAM Ban

By:mark.j @ 4:17:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Nothing could be more true than the old saying of, "One-step forward, one-step back". While this morning saw a promising report take the side of consumers over the issue of online privacy, this afternoon has seen a potential ban on SPAM be put aside:

The European Parliament said yesterday that a civil liberties committee assembled to investigate spam in Europe had decided on the more lenient "opt-in or opt-out" approach rather than the all-out ban that anti-spam advocates had hoped for.

The decision goes against the grain of proposals from European telecom ministers in June, who lobbied for an opt-in only legislation in which recipients are required to give permission before any automatic emails can be sent.

But the somewhat weak stance taken by the Citizens' Rights and Freedoms, Justice and Home Affairs Committee means that these proposals have been canned.

Ah well.. win some and loose the rest, more @ VNUNet.

CloudNines New Website & Price Cuts!

By:mark.j @ 4:05:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

CloudNine were kind enough to send us their latest beefy press release regarding price cuts to their older unmetered packages and a new website and services. As usual we've been sent this ahead of the general media, so enjoy:

Cloud Nine are pleased to announce the launch of our new web site (http://www2.cloud-nine.com). The old site was nearly 3 years old and was beginning to show its age as we had just added pages, links and subsidiary sites. Our rapid growth built on the success of our unmetered products had made the old site even more unwieldly. The new site pulls together all the Cloud Nine products into a single site with a much simplified new ordering system.

The ranges of products have also been simplified with:

* ClassicSurf for 0845 dial products, including a new ClassicNetwork with fixed IP and hosting.

* ClassicHosting incorporating our One Star range of business hosting products

* EconomySurf as our new FRIACO based unmetered packages, providing affordable access with many extras.

* PremiumSurf with our existing BT Surftime packages aimed at ultra-low, no cut-off contention business and home-worker type customers.

We have simplified our PremiumSurf range into 2 categories of BusinessSurf (dynamic IP/POP3 delivery) and Network Connect (static IP/SMTP delivery). They come with only two time band options - Premium Use (approx. 260 hours per month) and Unlimited Use 1:1 contention for the nearest thing in "always-on" in dial-up products.

The big price cuts have come in the PremiumSurf range with cuts of up to 30% AND additional features. For instance, the BusinessSurf Premium Use package has been cut in price from £45+vat to £40+vat per month and now includes ODBC database hosting too (previously BusinessSurf Platinum at £52+vat per month).

Also Network Connect Premium now includes web hosting and ODBC support in the £40+vat bracket, a cut from £50/£55 previously.

The Unlimited use 1:1 contention BusinessSurf and Network Connect products are now just £80+vat (down from £95+vat), which means that even after the £17.01+vat BT Surftime Anytime charge the cost becomes just £97+vat, making it the cheapest product of its kind on the market.

Yes, in effect for less than £100 a month a business can now have a 1:1 unlimited service with static IP, incoming SMTP support for mail servers, 100Mb of web space, ODBC database support, and much more. Many 0845 business ISP's are still charging this much for a metered solution with these kind of options! Great news for those who cannot get ADSL as yet.

Any customers on the old packages will continue to be supported as before and will have the option to change into the new product ranges or continue with their existing package.

Cloud Nine will now be concentrating on getting our ADSL service set-up during the summer for an early autumn launch to provide a full upgrade path. This will complete our very extensive offerings.

CloudNine have traditionally priced their various ISP offers slightly above the market average and while this often makes them more expensive, they also seem to prosper from it. Today’s latest round of price cuts would seem to strengthen them as an ISP for SME, Home Workers and those who need just that little bit more than average surfing. Perhaps not ideal for the casual surfer.

Nutshells Special Ex-BigBlueSky Offer

By:mark.j @ 3:53:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ISPs like nothing better than to cache in on the failure of a fellow competitor, in this case, BigBlueSky. That's why Net In A Nutshell have issued us a small press release aimed at disgruntled Ex-BigBlueSky customers looking for another ISP:

Beginning Monday, July 16th, net in a Nutshell will offer any customer who signed up for Big Blue Sky's 0800 service a £3 per month discount for one year off any current price Nutshell now offers, effectively returning the lost funds to the customer. This offer is only valid for Big Blue Sky customers and will end July 31st. sign up by e-mailing your name and phone number through your Big Blue Sky account to: sales@nutshell.net and our call centre operators will contact you.

This is the second 'special' offer we've seen come out of Nutshell since the one from GamesDomain, which appeared to go well. As always before signing up to any new provider, we always suggest viewing the 'Specific ISP Forum' for latest user comments and discussion.

BTOpenworld Launch ISDN To ADSL

By:mark.j @ 3:41:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ever since the later part of Q1-2001, several ISPs including BTOpenworld have been conducting trials of a basic ISDN to ADSL conversion package.

Today Net4Nowt have got word that the process is now to be made official, in short it's a simple uninstall of the ISDN hardware followed by the installation of ADSL.

Nothing seems to have changed since the details of the trial were announced several months back:

Commenting on the launch, Tony Harris, President of Business Internet Services at BTopenworld, said, "We are delighted to be able to offer conversion to BTopenworld Broadband for ISDN users. Many of these are small businesses looking to join the e-commerce revolution, and they will find the significantly faster speeds and flat-rate tariffs which our products offer a real benefit in terms of increased productivity and reduced costs."

Installation and rental charges are the same as BTopenworld Broadband's existing products. For the business products, the entry-level business500 product subscription starts at £39.99 per month (installation £150.00) and ranges up to £159.99 per month for the business 2000PLUS product (installation £260.00). In addition, a one off ISDN-to-PSTN conversion charge of £99.00 is payable. All business prices exclude VAT.

Why not do it manually through BT you ask? Quite simply because this way it saves time for the customer, there's really no other benefit as it won't help those ISDN customers outside xDSL covered areas.

0800OnlineServe Service Update

By:mark.j @ 10:38:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

0800OnlineServe have today sent us another update and reminder regarding their current services and offers. Remember that today is your last chance to sign up with the ISDN 128Kbps deal and save £60 off the usual price of £360 (=£300):

Update -
With so many subscriptions to the ISDN service now being processed, our unmetered development team would like to make a last communication with the Internet market.

The ISP, 0800.OnlineServe is built upon an exclusive license with both NTL and BT, which enables us to offer the UK's truly universal ISP. With support for many features, which are not widely available, we can provide access to the Internet through super fast connectivity and a well built and maintained Data Centre.

ISDN 128K
The £300 per annum ISDN 128K offer is only available until Friday. Customers who have entered their details via the website by that date will be included within the customer base.

We would also like to apologise to customers who have signed up, but have not yet received a phone call from our sales department, we will do so in the next week.

As always it’s probably best to check out our 0800Online area in the ‘Specific ISP Forums’ unmetered list before doing anything.

Report Challenges ECs Privacy Invasion Plans

By:mark.j @ 10:33:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's fair to say that ever since the various UK and EU governments started to come up with ways to further diminish our online privacy, nothing has really stood in their way.

Thankfully this is about to change after Marco Cappato (MEP) had his report into law enforcement authorities' access to personal data approved by the European Parliament (EP) Civil Liberties Committee:

The decision complicates continuing efforts by the European Council to give individual countries the power to force telecoms and other communications providers to keep records of all voice and data communications of their citizens for up to seven years. It responds to the alarming outcome of the EP's recent Echelon report, confirming the existence of a US-led communications spy network.

"Ministers of the European Parliament were quite disturbed that this sort of interception happens in Europe, and that law enforcement authorities are requiring more powers in intercepting traffic data," said Yaman Akdeniz, director of Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties. "There are human rights issues to be respected here."

The Cappato report was accepted with 22 votes in favour, 12 against and 5 abstentions, under the co-decision procedure. The decision will go to a plenary session for ratification by the EP in September, on the same day that the draft report on Echelon is discussed.

The ZDNet item shows the Cappato report as representing a serious blow to those wishing to further invade our daily privacy, whether online or otherwise. If completely approved, EU countries would have to restrict and regulate police powers more and reject the directive to retain traffic data for up to seven years.

Typically those opposed to the report have made quick work to point out some of the problems and whether it lasts the distance remains to be seen. Having said that it's very good to see someone fighting for our civil liberties, which in recent months have begun to deteriorate.

BT Ignite Updates R/ADSL Rollout

By:mark.j @ 10:17:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ADSLGuide is reporting that BT Ignite have issued ISPs with new files that contain details of the latest xDSL enabled exchanges, plus an updated set of postcode files for up to September 2001.

You can see the exchanged list on ADSLGuides Forum HERE. Don't expect any big changes, there's only a small amount of updated information previously issued files.

BBC Broadcasts First Online Only Show

By:mark.j @ 10:09:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In case you've missed the news from several weeks ago or even managed to avoid reading various newspapers or watching TV this morning, then you probably won't know about the BBC's special broadcast.

Dr Who is back and BBC Online will transmit a one-off Internet drama, "Death Comes to Time" today as a downloadable audio file with Sylvester McCoy reprising his role as the seventh Doctor.

Lasting 30 minutes, you'll be able to hear it over @ the BBCs Official Website. Originally intended as a radio program for the 90's, it will in essence be the first 'new' (but old?) Dr Who broadcast since 1996 since nobody has ever heard it.

If you're not familiar with Dr Who then poor you, it's very much a part of British history and no that rubbish American spin off was a big pile of [INSERT PROFANITY].

BT Finds In Favour Of Broadband

By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's probably about as predictable as the story lines in American Soaps. Research commissioned by BT has found broadband to lowers costs, improve efficiency, aid productivity, and enhance profitability in businesses:

In fact, half of those quizzed in the Fletcher Advisory survey felt that employees were "generally happier" since the company adopted broadband.

Broadband also gives companies that much-needed "competitive edge" in a business world where the slightest advantage can make the difference between profit and loss.

In short, the only thing broadband failed to deliver was a cure for AIDS and an end to world hunger.

Typically The Register makes the obvious point that any research conducted into BT by BT is almost certainly likely to come off glowing. In honesty the report does highlight some rather obvious advantages of broadband, yet sadly neglects to mention the reasons why so few have signed up.

Despite this it does mention the problems with coverage, although sadly neglects to make any suggestions about how that could be improved, we're not surprised.

News - July 12,2001

ONYX Internet Signs Telewest Deal

By:mark.j @ 4:22:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The lesser known ISP, ONYX Internet, have today issued us with a press release regarding a joint venture they've gone into with Telewest in order to help combat BTs monopoly:

NEW DEAL ‘TO CHANGE THE FACE OF BUSINESS INTERNET ACCESS IN EDINBURGH’

ONYX Internet is to offer permanent Internet access to Edinburgh and Newcastle businesses via telecoms giant Telewest Communications’ fibre networks for the first time, in a pioneering move designed to break BT’s widely-criticised monopoly of local telephone networks.

Under the deal, Onyx will use Telewest data circuits, initially in Edinburgh and in Newcastle, which will cut the cost of permanent connections requiring a dedicated circuit, or ‘leased lines,’ by as much as 50pc.

BT has recently come under heavy fire from industry experts, watchdogs and government for its reluctance to allow its competitors access to local exchanges, which would allow competition in the Internet market by giving consumers a choice of supplier.

Bob Bedford, regional sales manager (Scotland) for Onyx explains: "This deal will change the face of business Internet access in Edinburgh and Newcastle. Many companies today not only depend on the Internet for their business – the Internet is their business."

"However, BT has a stranglehold over the ‘local loop’ – the last few yards of connectivity from your business to the local junction box at the end of the street. This gives BT a monopoly that has kept the cost of Internet access artificially high for far too long, and despite regulatory attempts to open the local loop up, it is still dragging its heels."

"This deal will mean fast, reliable Internet access for businesses at an affordable price, which should mean that more companies can take advantage of the business opportunities provided by the Internet. This allows us to offer an extremely competitive price for leased line services that not only consists of Internet access at speeds of up to 2Mb per second but also a managed router, a Firewall for security and message labs anti-virus software for all E-Mail."

"If successful, this could represent a long-term solution to a problem that is limiting the development of the UK’s knowledge economy, and it clearly demonstrates our understanding of the corporate community’s Internet needs."

BT is widely seen as the main culprit for the lack of effective competition in the ISP market because of its reluctance to concede the advantage provided by its monopoly. The recent sale of Yell still leaves it with over £25bn of debt.

IRC Servers Forced Offline

By:mark.j @ 4:12:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) has long since been the haven for online communication and discussion related to literally any topic under the sun. The non-profit and non-commercial system has recently been under scrutiny with many believing the technology will soon be gone for good.

Sadly the networks biggest community, EFNet (Eris Free Network), has recently come under attack from a different kind of problem. Namely that of DoS (Denial of Service) attacks done in an effort to de-link the servers from the central community.

Many of the primary connection servers have now seen serious problems, with three or four potentially staying offline for good. EFNet's website reads:

irc.emory.edu has officially de-linked from EFNet as of today due to excessive Denial of Service Attacks for unknown (but most likely IRC-Related) reasons. It's a great loss for the EFNet community as Emory University's IRC server has for 5 years been a very stable, reliable, and open one. We would like to thank the irc.emory.edu staff for their time and dedication to EFNet, you will be missed.

Overall the sites news page seems to be awash with similar reports to the one above, many of them looking bleak. It looks like one of the worlds largest IRC chat networks could soon be forced out of existence, although that might be taking it to the extreme.

Net Users Complain About Privacy

By:mark.j @ 4:00:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A report from the Information Commissioner has found that 8,875 members of the public have complained about alleged breaches of data protection rules, specifically related to online activity. That's quite an increase over 1991, when just 1,747 people complained:

The increase has been blamed on the rise of the Internet, electronic services and computerised storage of information turning data protection and privacy into a hot topic.

According to research, 96 per cent of people rate their rights to personal privacy as "important" or "very important".

And the Information Commissioner reports that big companies are beginning to take stock of public opinion. She continued: "Furthermore extensive media interest shows that the [Data Protection] Act provides a set of rights which are of increasing value in modern society," she said.

The Register points in the direction of a very interesting contrast to the way our online privacy is slowly, but surely, being eroded by governments and politicians whom seem to have no idea what REAL PEOPLE think of such matters.

Sadly such items are unlikely to make any difference in the grander scheme of things, perhaps it’s just time to accept our E-Mails and web usage will eventually be tapped and monitored 24/7?

ItsGoodToGive Angry Over WonkyPig Failure

By:mark.j @ 3:49:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The now suspended unmetered ISP, BigBlueSky, was also known to supply WonkyPig (doesn't anymore) and consequently their closure saw WonkyPigs service vanish. In the middle was ItsGoodToGive (charity ISP), whom in adding to the confusion, purchased their accounts from WonkyPig.

Despite the original unmetered services no longer being on offer under BBS and thus WonkyPig, ItsGoodToGive continued to take on new registrations for a service that shouldn't even exist. Today Net4Nowt has spotted a revealing item @ Web-User, which shows ItsGoodToGive as seeking legal advice over the matter:

John Ager, executive chairman at ItsGoodToGive, told Web User: "The recently introduced 0800 £9.99 per month service has experienced some teething troubles."

"It emerged that the ISP provider we were using [WonkyPig] was actually only a reseller and legal advice is being taken as to further action."

ItsGoodToGive said that all customers that paid under the original system will have their subscriptions refunded in full.

It's good to see at least one ISP in the chain of previous failings can clearly state EVERYBODY will get a refund. ItsGoodToGive now plans to do as WonkyPig have and purchase their services directly from BT Ignite.

Having said that the charity ISP does seem to be very unhappy with WonkyPig and is going so far as to investigate legal action. In being a charity ISP, any such action wouldn’t bode well for WonkyPig, although we're unclear on what can be done in situations like this (reseller reselling a service).

Tele2 Re-Do Pricing Structure For All Services

By:mark.j @ 12:00:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As spotted by a number of readers, the UKs only true provider of fixed broadband wireless (ADSL/C-Modem alternative) services, Tele2, has completely overhauled their package and pricing structures. In their own words:

Tele2's broadband Internet connections have always offered exceptional value; they can now boast an unrivaled level of simplicity and flexibility as well. Gone are the days of purchasing a standard 'off-the shelf' Internet connection, instead welcome to a solution that matches the requirements of the individual.

Tele2 now has only one base tariff starting at just £39.99 for an unlimited 512k connection. Whilst this aggressively priced service will meet the needs of many users, we fully understand that everyone is unique. Therefore, the Wireless-DSL Unlimited base tariff can be tailored to meet your exact requirements, using Tele2's range of options and upgrades - many of which are not available with rival services due to the technological limitations of their network infrastructure.

The base package is essentially an exact mirror for those provided under USB ADSL connections, although speeds are more likely to fluctuate with Tele2 and the price is slightly lower than average. In short the new format allows you to modulate your very own package from modem speeds up to 1Mbit connections, all vary in price (as below):

Service Level Price/pm
Download Speed of 32Kbps £10.00
Download Speed of 64Kbps £15.00
Download Speed of 128Kbps £50.00
Download Speed of 256Kbps £100.00
Download Speed of 512Kbps £200.00
Download Speed of 768Kbps £500.00
Download Speed of 1Mps £900.00

Upload Speed of 64Kbps £10.00
Upload Speed of 128Kbps £25.00
Upload Speed of 256Kbps £50.00
Upload Speed of 512Kbps £100.00
Upload Speed of 768Kbps £300.00
Upload Speed of 1Mps £500.00

Ultimately you can add and remove just about anything from the base package and tailor it to your exact needs and funding. Having said that it's not completely clear how changing various things would alter the price, since the initial value for each 'base package' service isn't defined properly.

Whether this is a step forward or a step back remains to be seen, although certainly Tele2's biggest problem remains coverage, or lack of.

WonkyPig Makes MORE Changes

By:mark.j @ 9:53:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yet again the new unmetered ISP, WonkyPig, have changed their prices and updated service details. In short they've reduced the price from £13.99 to £12.99 per month and also posted a realistic contention ratio of 15:1 instead of their mad 1:1.

Overall this seems to bring the provider in line with other ISPs, although doesn't really make them stand out against the bigger competition. Apparently they're now due to go live in 5 or 6 days time. Hopefully they won't keep confusing potential customers by changing their prices/services again; it's given them quite a reputation (good or bad?).

Business Internet Use Jumps 23%

By:mark.j @ 9:43:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In what's likely to give any employer a headache, the latest report from Nielsen/NetRatings suggest that workers are spending 23% more time online. Apparently June saw an impressive 42 Million people accessing the Internet from work.

Internet users at work logged on an average 43 times, up 10% from 39 sessions a year ago, and surfed an average 35 Web sites, a 25% increase from the 28 sites visited in June 2000.

Additionally, time spent online by workers grew to an average 22 hours, 38 minutes last month, a 10% rise from 20 hours, 30 minutes in June of last year. Thankfully most of this extra online time could be traced back to work related research, although whether it actually improved output remains to be seen.

Oftels Local Loop Unbundling Report

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

Yesterday saw another report from Oftel regarding its investigation into the state of Local Loop Unbundling, relating to complaints originally made during September 2000. The document also expands to cover unmetered and broadband aspects in more depth.

Overall this document more or less acts like a summary of previous reports and findings, with many of the results being information we've known for some time. Despite this we can highlight some 'conclusion' areas that might be of interest:

The Competition Act 1998

3.22 For Oftel to conclude that BT has infringed the Chapter II prohibitions set out in the Competition Act 1998, it would be necessary to demonstrate that:

(a) BT has a dominant position in the relevant market; and

(b) BT has abused that dominant position.

3.23 To ascertain whether BT holds a dominant position requires a definition of the relevant markets and then an assessment of the market position occupied in that market by BT, as discussed above. Using formal powers, Oftel made a number of requests for information from BT to establish whether evidence existed to demonstrate BT’s holding of a position of dominance in the relevant markets(s).
However, despite considerable amounts of information being obtained by Oftel, and taking full account of information provided by operators, there is insufficient evidence for Oftel to demonstrate that BT is dominant in one or more of the relevant geographic markets for the provision of space equipped for the location of DSL modems (and associated equipment) to be used in conjunction with local loops. However, this does not preclude the possibility that BT might be found to be dominant, if relevant evidence on the characteristics of particular areas were brought forward.

3.24 Where there is evidence that BT holds and has abused a dominant position in that local market, Oftel would consider appropriate action against BT.

In short, Oftel does seem to recognise BTs 'residential' position as being the dominant local market provider and that to some degree they have abused that position. There's also another snippet from Chapter 4 where they discuss the rollout of DSL:

4.3 The conditions for BT’s rollout are different to other operators. However, with the implementation of Condition 83 in August 2000 Oftel placed a requirement on BT not to unduly discriminate against other operators. The test is whether BT has breached the conditions of its licence or the requirements of the Competition Act. As outlined above, Oftel has investigated on this basis and concluded that at present, there is insufficient evidence to take action under its statutory powers.

Exactly what action Oftel intends to take is unclear and seems to get lost in the literature. In fact the only thing Oftel ever actually asks of BT is to have more information, something they spent all their time trying to gather for the report itself.

It looks like any direct action, especially related to BTs local market powers, won't be forthcoming for sometime. You can read the full and lengthy report HERE.

News - July 11,2001

Thus (Demon Internet) Reports Revenue Rise

By:mark.j @ 4:06:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thus, backers of Demon Internet, have today been very pleased after having reported a 32% rise in revenues to £67 million in the first quarter to the end of June 2001. Losses have also been cut back from £8.4 million to £2.4 million.

The firm, which offers a variety of call centre, Internet and associated services, claims it has benefited from a telco sector now undergoing serious retrenchment, because it can deliver goods and services now, rather than make promises. A switch in focus towards corporate customers has evidently worked too, given its stronger order book.

So strong are the numbers that the firm reckons it'll be earnings-positive in the second half (Q3/Q4). Some very good results given the current economic climate.

PIPEX Founder, Peter Dawe Receives OBE

By:mark.j @ 3:59:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Pipex Internet have today sent us their latest press release regarding Peter Dawe's (Founder of Pipex) induction into the realm of OBE land thanks to his work on the IWF (Internet Watch Foundation):

PIPEX Founder, Peter Dawe Receives OBE

11 July 2001 – Peter Dawe, Internet visionary and founder of PIPEX, the UK's first commercial ISP, has been honoured by the Queen with an OBE for his outstanding work in creating "The Internet Watch Foundation".

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), an independent non-profit making organisation, was established in late September 1996 by PIPEX founder Peter Dawe to address the problem of illegal material on the Internet, with particular reference to child pornography.

To date, the IWF has been very successfully working closely with ISP's and government bodies to implement its 'safe surfing' policies.

Peter was delighted to have been honoured by the Queen and commented "Internet Watch has been successful beyond my expectations. Not only has it been the model of best practice in self-regulation in the western world, it has also been instrumental in getting laws changed in other countries so that the internet can be policed in certain areas".

He said the Internet Watch Foundation had an important role to play in ensuring justice. And he credited the organisation's staff "who have taken the vision and implemented it".

Tom Kermeen, PIPEX Sales Director and close friend of Peter Dawe, said "Everyone at PIPEX is very excited and proud of Peter for his outstanding efforts in making the Internet a safer place for our society to learn, play, communicate and do business. We will keep a close eye on Peter's future activities, as we are sure that he will continue to innovate and set the standards for further improvement to the safety of our Internet".

PIPEX subscribe to and abide by advice given by the independent industry body, The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), in relation to content of the Internet.

For further information regarding IWF and its policies, please refer to http://www.internetwatch.org.uk.

MPs Debate Ofcom Delays & Problems

By:mark.j @ 3:54:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ofcom, the future replacement for Oftel and several other regulation groups, has today been the subject of lengthy debate by Ministers. It would appear the government is so saturated with other bills it has to process that Ofcom may need more time:

The Communications Bill, which was expected to have been published last month, has been held up by the Government's logjam of proposed bills, due to be heard in Parliament.

The problem has been exacerbated by the failure of the Department of Trade and Industry and the Culture Department to agree a strategy for the Bill, even though both departments are in broad agreement over what it should achieve.

The new regulator will have both the emerging digital TV and broadband markets to oversee, and faces tough decisions on the role of public service broadcasting.

The VNUNet item states that a final timetable for the bill should be agreed and expected for Friday.

Proof: The Internet is EVIL

By:mark.j @ 3:47:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Well no not quite, but if you want to read one of the most 'HIT THE DANG NAIL ON THE HEAD' articles around today then the following piece from The Register comes in handy.

It takes a deep look at how the media seems to be obsessed with painting the worst picture of the Internet possible, thus distorting the real issues:

But far stronger than this, the Irish Independent did a piece on how a PC is destroying a family. "My husband's Net addiction is killing our marriage," it weeps. It's so bad they can't even use their real names! You see, John is spending more and more time on his computer. He would be sat watching the TV with Caroline and the kids and then would "suddenly get up, say he wanted to check something and leave us". Of course, no one noticed the irony of leaving the "social" TV set for the "anti-social" computer.

But that's not all. She once found a pornographic image on the computer! And he has email conversations with people! It's ruining our marriage! Don't be ridiculous, woman. The fact is that marriages have suffered these problems from time immemorial. Jealousy of outside relationships, paranoia etc etc etc. The computer is simply a different medium - like the phone. But to blame a phone for a marriage breakdown would be ludicrous. So why are computers any different?

The article is lengthy and very detailed, although we found it to be one of the best written and most honest pieces of work seen in some time. It gives a plentiful number of examples and clearly shows how allowing such information to be merged into the human mind only gives governments cause to further erode our online privacy.