Welcome to our News Archives page

March 6, 2001 - March 10, 2001

News - March 10,2001

Madasafish Network Probs

By:Ross14 @ 2:03:PM - Comments (16) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As many of you who use Madasafish products and services, there is a huge network failure at present.

A statement on the Madasafish Support Line (01851 777727) says:

"We regret that due to matters that are outwith our own control, all services will be experiencing network problems today. This relates to a network issue that is external to our own network and we understand that those concerned are currently working on this to rectify the matter.

Unfortunately all services are affected including internet navigation, email and connections. We apologise for the inconvenience caused but we hope services will be restored as soon as possible."

It certainly looks like there is a big problem with the network at the moment because the madasafish website, internet numbers, adsl services and the Jings! ISP are all affected.

**UPDATE**

A statement on Madasafish' service status page now reports that all services are functioning normally:

Surf's back up again, dudes. Sorry about the disruption - it was a major internet outage outwith our control. Your fav ISP is back online, so let's hang seven.

News - March 9,2001

Tiny Online FRIACO Package Update

By:mark.j @ 6:35:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Another ISP, Tiny Online, has today secured its FRIACO services from the Virtual Internet Provider (VIP) division of Affinity Internet. This will enable its 650,000 subscribers to benefit from cheaper 24/7 unmetered Internet Access, or as the page states:

In April we shall be launching a fantastic new Tiny Online subscription plan: T:SURF PLUS.

For just £14.99 per month inclusive of subscription and telephone costs, you can access the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The deal, as sighted on Net4Nowt, is Affinity’s first resale of their BTSurfPort24 VISP offering. Details of the final package and any limits have yet to be revealed, although it won't be long before they are.

PlusNETs Crazy New Price & Packages

By:mark.j @ 6:24:PM - Comments (10) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

PlusNET have today announced the details of their new FRIACO based ISP services, but all may not be as many hoped. Les from http://www.BigBytes.co.uk forwarded us the following:

Dear Customer,

Very shortly, we will be launching PlusNet Connect, our new range of fixed-cost, FRIACO based, Internet access services. As we have mentioned previously, via e-mail and at our Website, we will be discontinuing our current SurfTime based products in favour of these great new services.

We are sure you will find that our new range of FRIACO based Connect services offers you the chance to significantly reduce the cost of your Internet access. We also anticipate that the simplified billing and customer service relationship will be of great benefit to all our subscribers.

To enable us to prepare for this change we need to know what you would like to do. To this end we have prepared a series of informative web pages at
http://www.plus.net/tools.html?action=friaco_survey that we hope will answer your questions and allow you to notify us of your intentions.

Please do be sure to complete the registration form available here. We would like to thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Regards
PlusNet Customer Services

It all sounds rather encouraging and lets not forget that systems like FRIACO, ST-FRIACO, BTSurfport24 and associated are designed to make things cheaper and more flexible for the consumers. Well at least that might hold true for any other ISP, but just take a look at what PlusNET have planned:

Home (Residential) Packages... [Per Month]
Connect 50 (50 hrs month) £16.99
Connect 100 (100 hrs month) £29.99
Connect 150 (150 hrs month) £39.99

Biz (Business) Packagers... [Per Month]
Connect Professional (150 hrs) £45.99
Connect Business (250 hrs) £59.99
Connect Business Advantage (24/7 permanent) £169.99

Extra 50 hours a month is £14.99 except for CBA

Commendations all round to PlusNET for being honest about their recommended usage, although 150 Hours per month @ £39.99 (one example) is a little ridiculous. That's roughly 4-5Hours per day depending on month, a good average, but when so many ISPs beat it on performance and price then it's hardly competitive or realistic.

Why PlusNET have chosen to offer such an expensive set of packages we can't be sure, it looks like another ISP could be about to shoot themselves in the foot.

Official ClaraNET 24/7 AnyTime Update

By:mark.j @ 3:15:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In their latest newsletter ClaraNET added an update for their unmetered AnyTime 24/7 package, sadly it's nothing we didn't already know:

1. FreeTime.AnyTime

We know that many of you have been waiting for news of our 24/7 unmetered product - FreeTime AnyTime. We are hoping to have more details by the end of March, but until then here is a copy of the latest update, posted on the website on February 21st. Further information will be posted on the website and in future issues of the newsletter.

Claranet is committed to providing a high quality, sustainable service
for its customers. Our FreeTime AnyTime product has been delayed because we have so far felt that the options we would have been able to offer our customers were either unsustainable or not of sufficient quality.

The recent Oftel direction, which includes price changes for FRIACO, may have the effect of making such a product possible. We are currently investigating a number of options and hope to be able to announce a decision by the end of March.

AOL & BT Fight On Primetime TV

By:mark.j @ 1:27:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If anybody was watching the BBC1 program 'Watchdog' last night then they can't have missed the bit where AOL and BT began to exchange blows. As many will remember AOL and Freeserve recently made a complaint that BT was able to install more ADSL connects for BTOpenworld than their ISPs, which they say isn't fair:

Andrews (BT) said that installing ADSL was a complex business like "putting a six-lane motorway up people's gardens" and that BT was being "absolutely fair" in the allocation of installations.

Peacock (AOL) said that this wasn't happening in reality and said that BT's mission in life was to "maintain a monopoly".

In the end, a few short minutes in such contrived circumstances did little to further the debate on the something already described as a "national disgrace".

The Register doesn't cover all of the conversation, but did show the key elements and we continue to wait and see what Oftel have to say on the subject. This isn’t the simple case AOL and Freeserve make it out to be, there’s a lot more to it.

Site Update - Lost Complaints

By:mark.j @ 10:31:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

For some reason the ISP complaints folder got erased this morning due to a silly feature of the software. In short we've lost the complaints for the last two weeks, although it did tally the Freeserve ones.

So if you complained about an ISP through the appropriate page during the last couple of weeks then please re-submit that complaint if it still stands, thanks.

Government Try To Break Digital Divide

By:mark.j @ 10:21:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In yet another attempt by our government to break the digital divide between IT literates/professions and those who've never used the Internet, a new website has been set-up to help:

The UK Government has launched a national jobs and learning Web site to help bridge the "digital divide" between professionals who are IT literate, and the unemployed who have never accessed the Internet before.

The site was announced on Thursday by education and employment secretary David Blunkett, who said it will give "instant online access to 800,000 job and training opportunities across Britain". The government has described worktrain.gov.uk as the most advanced of its kind in the world.

The site promises to offer jobseekers information about jobs, careers and learning opportunities. "It is designed to be easy to use, even for those who haven't used the Internet before. It shows how joining up government services using ICT (information and communications technology) can deliver real value to the citizen," said Blunkett in a statement.

A nice idea even if it is nothing that hasn't been done before and fails in one distinct area. If they've never used the Internet then how do they know where the site is and what to use when trying to access it? Not to mention they mightn't have a computer in the first place, kind of a problem. More @ ZDNet.

BT Set To Register Your Domains

By:mark.j @ 10:03:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In a surprise move by the giant Telco, BT has chosen to adopt itself into the domain registering market:

British Telecom is planning a new business unit that will register domain names under the .com, .org and .net generic top level domains (gTLDs).

The latest list of successful applications issued by the Internet's governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), includes the telecom giant together with 17 other companies from around the world.

Registering domain names is big business: Network Solutions, which until recently had the monopoly on gTLD registrations, built up a multi-billion dollar company on the business. In its fourth quarter ending 31 December 2000, Network Solutions registered, renewed or extended 2.6 million domain names. The company charges prices ranging from $25 for .org to $35 for .com domains -- average for the industry.

We can't help but wonder whether they'll actually charge fare price for registering domains or do an unmetered ISP system job on them. More @ ZDNet.

NTL & Liberty Media Group To Combine

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

It looks like NTL are planning to ramp up their broadband services once again due to holding exploratory discussions with Liberty Media Group about combining broadband and content services in Europe, the Financial Times reported Today.

The paper said the talks could see NTL form joint ventures with cable pioneer John Malone's firm to share the costs of rolling out high-speed Internet services in Europe.

The move would offer content providers access to a pan-European subscriber network, combining Liberty's 20 million subscribers and NTL's 3.7 million customers in Scandinavia, Switzerland, France and Germany, the paper said.

BTOpenworld Offers SP24 To SME ISPs

By:mark.j @ 9:49:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In an unusual move by the largest broadband ADSL ISP in the UK, BTOpenworld have chosen to make BTs new SurfPort24 system available to smaller ISP:

But according to Catherine Hawley, senior VP for BT Openworld, he package is also aimed at smaller ISPs that cannot afford to buy SurfPort24, especially those that are in danger of going out of business in the shakeup that has been forecast for the ISP industry. She said, “There will be a shake-up in the marketplace. Many of the smaller ISPs with high cash-burn rates will struggle on their own. They will not be able to remain independent. That is why we are offering this product – we are breathing some oxygen into the marketplace.”

SurfPort24, takes traffic from the user, via BT’s local exchanges, onto its IP network Colossus and towards the ISP’s network. However BT Openworld’s as-yet-unnamed service will offer a range of other services. VISPs will be able to opt for BT to manage user traffic from Colossus to the internet, as well as network management and email services.

ISPs with their own networks will not have to pay for a minimum of 1500 ports that is a stipulation for buying SurfPort24 from BT Ignite, which is seen as too expensive for smaller ISPs. They will be able to opt for a smaller number of ports and therefore a more viable way of offering unmetered access.

This may be the answer ISPs like CloudNine have been looking for following the failure of their complaint to Oftel. However it still seems as though ISPs won't be able to control all of the services, which is likely to put many of them off altogether.

That said and this is a good step in the right direction, how good of a step we'll know when ISPs give us some feedback today or next week. More @ netimperative.com.

News - March 8,2001

BTOpenworld To Offer Music Downloads

By:mark.j @ 3:14:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Hot on the heels of the recently closed Napster, BTOpenworld have now decided to delve into the online 'music exchange' business for their growing portal. Full press release follows:

BTopenworld and PlayLouder announce exclusive content and commercial downloading relationship

London, 7 March 2001

Following highly successful music downloading trials, BTopenworld, BT’s international Internet business, today announced a strategic relationship with PlayLouder, which will provide content to the BTopenworld narrowband and broadband portals and form a commercial agreement for the distribution of music via digital downloads.

From April 2001, PlayLouder will provide music content to BTopenworld music channels, including news, reviews, interviews, videos, audio streaming, and webcasts, some of which will be exclusively available to BTopenworld subscribers.

PlayLouder will also partner with BT’s new e-wallet system (a pre-pay electronic ‘wallet’ which customers can top up at any time online or via high street PayPoints) to sell digital downloads to BTopenworld’s broadband and narrowband subscribers.

Digital downloads exclusively available in the UK through PlayLouder include albums by such platinum selling artists as Prodigy, The Charlatans, Basement Jaxx, The Cocteau Twins, Badly Drawn Boy, Cult, Pixies, and Ash.

BTopenworld’s Music Channel is available via it’s broadband and a narrowband portals. As well as PlayLouder, the music channel also contains content from a variety of partners, including [MTV, launch.com, dotmusic and Peoplesound].

Commenting on the PlayLouder agreement, Ben Drury, music channel manager, BTopenworld, said: “Our relationship with PlayLouder is part of our strategy to be the leading portal for music. This deal will allows our one million plus customers to legitimately purchase quality downloaded music – add this in with the e-wallet functionality which allows non-credit card holders to easily buy digital downloads and you have a very compelling offering. This is our first step into the commercial digital media world which will see us offering a variety of innovative straight purchase and subscription models over the coming months.”

Paul Hitchman, managing director of PlayLouder, added: “Our agreement with BTopenworld gives PlayLouder access to a platform which allows us to reach many more people with our exclusive content providing benefit to our record label partners as well as opening up exciting new commercial opportunities for the distribution of music”.

Whether a 'commercial' exchange will work or not remains to be seen, although BTOpenworld do claim success in their trials. We'll have to wait and see if this adapts to an unrestricted audience.

Demon Fail To Inform Customers Of Trouble

By:mark.j @ 11:26:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As many will remember, several days ago we posted a news item about Demons six-seven week upgrade plan and how it would affect the service. Demon claimed it had informed all customers, although it now turns out they only told a small portion, but why?:

So today, we asked Demon to clarify exactly how many punters weren't told.

The answer is most of them. A spokeswoman for the ISP now claims the notice didn't go to all customers - only to the small number of people Demon believed would be affected by the network upgrade.

If that's true, why tell us that all customers had been notified? After all, it's only an upgrade for pity's sake...or is it? Has Demon something to hide?

The Register didn't manage to ask whether Demon would now inform all its customers, however we expect they won't. It simply sounds like a case of miss-communication, something not uncommon in the modern world of ISPs.

Freeserve Deny Any Service Problems

By:mark.j @ 10:40:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We get roughly four new complaints about the AnyTime unmetered service from Freeserve everyday, of those four we find that three are usually original complaints. From this we can assume that some areas of the country are still having very serious issues with the ISP, some examples:

I have been user of Freeserve Unlimited Time since it's inception. Apart from early morning and late at night, access has steadily been getting worse and worse and the service is almost unusable now during the late afternoon and evening.
-------------------
The "Anytime" service is can take up to an hour to log on to, sometimes it is simply impossible. The whole point is that you should be able to use it anytime, isn't it?
-------------------
I have recently subscribed to the Freeserve "Anytime" package but find that the system is simply swamped during off-peak times making it completely inaccessible.

Those are three of the complaints we received yesterday evening, what's interesting is that each had a different reply from Freeserve.

The first received a reply from the ISP who stated that, "they are aware that some users experience problems and claim a longstanding and ongoing programme to increase capacity". We know this to be true, although why they continue to add new customers during this period is madness.

The next received a reply pointing to the part of their T&C's that states they.. "will use our reasonable endeavours to maintain the Freeserve Service in a satisfactory operating condition. As we cannot guarantee that this will always be the case we do not accept responsibility for any interruptions or failures in the Freeserve Service".

The final complaint of the evening did away with the more plausible excuses above and continued to flat-out deny any problems:

Hi *******,

Thank you for your email. We are sorry to read that you are experiencing difficulty with your account. Please be assured we have no known issues with our system that would cause the problem you describe below.

For further details on your account with Freeserve Anytime please
contact customer services on 0870 872 0099.

Regards

Freeserve

It seems clear that Freeserve don't know what they're talking about, while more than half the support staff give excuses for the current problems, the others claim no such issues exist. We've advised people not to sign up with this ISP for the past few months and yet they still do, attracted by price and glossy ad’s no doubt.

Our efforts to get a more honest and realistic assessment of the situation seem to have fallen on def ears.

Web Gadgets Infringe Consumer Privacy

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

As the World Wide Web spreads through homes, businesses and into smaller gadgets connected to the Internet a new threat to piracy is beginning to emerge. Apparently the makers of some gadgets that connect to the Internet could be doing more than their intended task.

Popular electronic gadgets with links to the Internet pose a mounting threat to consumer privacy, Richard Smith, a leading computer privacy expert, said in an interview on Wednesday.

Smith, chief technology officer for the Privacy Foundation, a Denver-based, non-profit advocacy group, said a variety of gadgets have come to market this past year that pump consumer data directly back to corporate marketing systems.

Such everyday "spy" devices include fitness monitors that track heart rates and pump out exercise-related advertising, digital music players that track listening habits, low-cost wristwatch and wireless surveillance cameras, as well as location-tracking mobile phones and other monitoring devices.

"What concerns me is how much surveillance companies are building into everyday electronic devices," Smith said. "Most people don't understand how far this has already gone."

As examples of such potentially invasive electronic gadgets, Smith singled out SportBrain, an exercise monitoring device that can be worn on a person's belt, storing data that can later be transmitted back to the company's Web site.

The gadget monitors the wearer's movement and then can be coupled to a phone so data can be sent to the equipment maker's Web site. The site at (http://www.sportbrain.com) allows athletes to track exercise and caloric data in return for viewing advertisements based on exercise levels, Smith said.

Smith questioned why the product does not run locally on a consumer's PC instead of "calling home" to the company. The answer appears simply to be so the company can market products to the consumers, Smith said.

The privacy policy on SportBrain's Web site says it will never sell the information it collects to outside companies. "We take special precautions to maintain the privacy of our members while at the same time providing them with the detailed and valuable information they desire from us," it states.

A SportBrain official dismissed Smith's arguments, saying that he had failed to take account of the company's response to his position.

"There are no privacy concerns here," said Greg van den Dries, SportBrain's vice president of sales. "We don't sell data. We are not some crazy Internet company. We make money selling hardware."

Whatever the excuses or reason; potential for corrupt use and further commercialisation exists and that's the real worry. What if a hacker broke into the servers and collected data for a third party that'd pay very handsomely? It's things like this that we should be concerned about.

News - March 7,2001

Historic Internet Coffee Pot Says Farewell

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

Everything about the online world had to start somewhere and very few remember the first time a live video feed was set-up. An inexpensive coffee pot sitting in the corner of Cambridge University's computer laboratory gained cult status as what is believed to be the first live image shown on the fledgling World Wide Web in 1993.

Now the site, which shows nothing more than the pot slowly filling up, will be shut down and consigned to the history books as the computer lab moves to new premises.

"Only five years ago it was a novelty, now it is of historical interest. Only on the web could something make that transition so quickly," said Quentin Stafford-Fraser, one of the scientists behind the Trojan Room coffee pot project.

Stafford-Fraser said he originally hooked up a camera because he was sick of traipsing down several flights of stairs for coffee only to find the pot was often empty.

"The image was only updated about three times a minute, but that was fine because the pot filled rather slowly, and it was only greyscale, which was also fine because so was the coffee," Stafford-Fraser said.

Scientist Dan Gordon acknowledged the site was only marginally more exciting than watching paint dry but said it had attracted 2.4 million visitors since 1993.

So in short, the height of the British contribution to the mighty Internet was a coffee pot boiling? Well yes, that kinder says it all really. Visit http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/coffee.html if you dare, it beats taking sleeping pills.

91% Don't Believe What They Read Online

By:mark.j @ 4:10:PM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Oh dear, according to a new survey by eSubstance, 91% of Internet users don't believe what they read online! It seems a little shocking, but the statistics speak for themselves:

That's the shocking revelation that's emerged from an independent survey conducted by pollsters MORI on behalf of content outfit eSubstance.

The research found that only 9 per cent of 1973 people surveyed believed what they read online.

Newspapers did slightly better with 16 per cent of those quizzed believing what they read. While 56 per cent of people said they believed what they read in books.

Of course the problem with statistics, especially in this case, is that you can never get an honest or accurate output without doing a scaled survey. So for example, the Internet with its millions of users doesn't get any justice out of a measily 1973 person survey.

That said and 91% is still quite a lot, but then, can you believe the survey since supposedly 91% of you won't? We'd certainly like to know how they went about getting the stats; perhaps it was a group of politicians? More @ The Register.

Site Update - New Forum Topic

By:mark.j @ 12:36:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've added a new topic to our discussion forum today, Multiplayer & Technology, a topic for those interested in online gaming, computers, overclocking and anything tech related.

So if you fancy discussing the latest GeForce3 card, Doom3, new Nvidia Detonator Drivers or perhaps the merits of Tribes2 and CPU Overclocking - this is the place.

Login above (via main page) or just click the forums link in the nav bar for Guest access.

ClaraNET AnyTime 24/7 Update No.2

By:mark.j @ 11:42:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following yesterdays brief item on ClaraNET's 24/7 AnyTime unmetered product, we decided to contact their Marketing Manager to see how things are going. The following is their reply:

We have made some progress on it, we should be able to make an announcement within the next month or so. As soon as we have some news for you then I'll get in touch.

If they stick to this then come mid/end April 2001 we should know when the package is likely to go live and what it will be. We already know ClaraNET plan more than just the £14.99 option; dual ISDN was mentioned not long ago in one of our news items.

In other words a rough guess would be that ClaraNET might launch a 24/7 option come May/June.

Half-Price ADSL From Iomart

By:mark.j @ 11:34:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Iomart, backers of ISP Madasafish, have announced a special cut-price ADSL promotion for the first three months of any package. The full press release follows:

iomart’s Cut Price ADSL The Cheapest In The UK
Internet innovators, iomart Group plc are setting the pace in the UK’s Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and web market by offering small businesses a comprehensive package containing everything needed to get online.

And with half price ADSL rental for three months giving customers the cheapest ADSL connections in the UK, iomart’s ‘One Stop Shop’ internet bundle adds up to a very attractive solution for small businesses or organisations wishing a complete solution for high speed internet access and web presence.

In addition to the latest in superfast internet connectivity via ADSL and unlimited email addresses, iomart’s new ADSL bundle price includes:

· the choice of an Easy Build website, or 30Mb of web space
· firewall security software
· anti-virus scanning
· A free co.uk domain name

Phil Worms, iomart Director of Broadband Services, said: “The ‘One Stop Shop’ deal - together with half price rental across the CopperBurst ADSL range - amounts to the UK’s most attractive ADSL package to date.

We feel the ‘One Stop Shop’ deal will be particularly popular – it’s the e-business solution in a box, and works out substantially cheaper than sourcing all these elements separately. We believe this solution is ideal for the small business or organisation that wants integrated email and web site capability.”

He added: “From now until the end of April, each new ADSL customer will receive an introductory three month half-price rental on their ADSL connection. For these three months iomart customers will be enjoying the cheapest ADSL service in the UK. We have even extended this offer to our ‘One Stop Shop’ product, meaning a complete ADSL/e-business package for just £30 per month!”

iomart, the integrated telecommunications and internet services company, are among the top five ADSL providers in the UK. ADSL is the new technology that transforms your ordinary copper phone line into a high speed digital line, bringing greater data speeds, an ‘always on’ internet connection at a fixed monthly fee and the ability to make phone calls and send faxes while connected to the net.

This certainly sounds like a worthy deal from an ISP that not long ago made 1,000 ADSL subscribers. You can find more with our broadband page and through the ADSL listings HERE.

Oftels Alternate Broadband Ruling Update

By:mark.j @ 11:22:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following yesterdays preview item, 'BT Forced To Offer Alternative Broadband', today Oftel have published the full press release - as follows:

Oftel has set deadlines for BT to conclude negotiations with Thus and Energis on connection to BT’s network for the provision of high-speed information services.

Oftel’s direction published today sets timeframes for BT to conclude negotiations with the two companies in relation to DSL interconnection products.

The proposed interconnection arrangements will enable Energis and Thus to take their DSL services off BT's network at specified points and onto their own networks. BT’s current wholesale DSL service is an end-to-end product which does not enable network operators to use their own network infrastructure.

BT has six weeks to negotiate interconnection with Energis and Thus and three months to negotiate a product for connection at the DSLAM level.

If negotiations on either product are not concluded, the parties can request Oftel to determine their dispute.

David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said:

"Consumers will benefit from operators having a range of options for providing high-speed services. The choices include BT’s wholesale products, unbundled local loops or using their own networks."

"Oftel’s order will require BT to negotiate DSL interconnection and will give operators another way to offer high-speed services to their customers."

These deadlines were initially set out in a draft determination published on 5 December 2000.

Quite what effect the ruling will have on xDSL service prices is not yet clear, although many believe the difference will still remain quite small. Time will tell.

Online Credit Card Fraud Remains Low

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

According to a new report from APACS, while overall credit card fraud has risen, the online world has still managed to keep a tap on things:

Although ‘card-not-present’ fraud – covering telephone, mail order and internet transactions – cost banks and retailers almost £57m in 2000, nearly double the figure recorded in 1999, losses associated with the internet and telemarketing cost only an estimated £7m.

Overall UK card fraud cost £292m in 2000, up by 55% from £188m in 1999, with counterfeit cards accounting for losses of £102m, compared with £50m in 1999. Counterfeit cards are typically produced by organised criminal gangs, who copy data from the magnetic strips on credit cards onto counterfeit cards without the knowledge of the cardholder, in a process known as skimming or cloning.

The introduction of chip cards is the main way of tackling the problem of counterfeit fraud, said APACS, but upgrading the infrastructure in the UK – including cards, terminals and ATMs – will take until the end of 2002.

Good news or bad news? Neither is the answer because while figures may be low, on a scale they're still higher than they could be. Hopefully tougher EU initiatives and improved fraud prevention and security checks should quell the current rise. More @ netimperative.com.

Vodafones Q2-2001 GPRS Launch

By:mark.j @ 11:06:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long ago Vodafone announced its intentions to launch broadband wireless/GPRS based services for April; today that prediction remains strong. Vodafone Group says it is on course to launch a full commercial service using GPRS fast mobile telephony by the second quarter although it does not have enough handsets yet.

It claims GPRS (general packet radio service) technology would be fully introduced this year, bringing data speeds as fast as today's desktop computers and an "always on" Internet connection.

"Vodafone has GPRS systems already in operation in Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Portugal and Austria. By the second quarter this year, a commercial service will be in operation in all Vodafone's other controlled subsidiaries," it added.

"The network is ready, we just need the handsets to be available," a spokeswoman said. ISPreview will be covering broadband wireless mobile Internet technologies in more detail for the future. Handsets for networks such as Vodafone are set to follow in May.

Movies Over The Internet

By:mark.j @ 10:53:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As broadband technology grows and streaming audio/video becomes increasingly common, it was only a matter of time before full movies found their way onto the net. Of course it's not quite what you expect and as ever a pay-per-view charge has been attached.

Several of Hollywood's major film studios will start using the Internet to send movies directly into homes within four to six months to tap new markets, a top movie industry official said Tuesday.

Jack Valenti, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America which represents Hollywood's major studios, said at least three studios or more will begin offering movies that can be downloaded in a form of video-on-demand or pay-per- view type of service.

Valenti did not name specific companies, but in recent months published reports have surfaced over Sony Pictures Entertainment's tentative plans for downloading movies.

At a recent meeting of financial industry analysts Walt Disney, which owns the Disney studio among its assets, also touted new wireless technology it was testing concerning downloadable movies.

"Within four to six months, several of our companies will be on line dispatching movies," Valenti told reporters at the annual ShoWest gathering of movie exhibitors here.

He said computer users will be able to download the films, then "burn" them onto a CD for playback on their PC. But the movies will be encrypted in a way that they can be played back only on the PC to which they were downloaded.

This has raised a lot of issues with those experienced in movie codecs and also sounds a little unfair. People do change computers and hardware on a regular basis, so what then? Of course the technology would likely end up being cracked, it always does.

The other issue is with storage, even under the best video codec for quality/storage, DivX:-), one CD isn't usually enough for high quality output. How they plan to solve all these issues remains to be seen, it all sounds a little like a plan set to backfire.

New Virus Alter - 'Naked Wife'

By:mark.j @ 10:44:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The latest virus to hit the Internet and make a storm seems to be that of one proclaiming to contain a picture of somebody’s naked wife. This destructive worm appears as a forwarded e-mail with "Naked Wife" in the Subject line.

Readers who click on the attached file, called "Naked Wife.exe", will not get a nude picture, but will instead see a short cartoon followed by a vulgar message, signed by "BGK (Bill Gates Killer)."

All the while, the virus is deleting key Windows and system files on the user's PC, rendering the computer unable to start up properly. Similar to earlier worm-type viruses like Love Letter and Melissa, NakedWife can spread quickly by e-mailing itself to everyone in a user's Microsoft Outlook e-mail address book.

At least 25 corporations have been infected so far, according to McAfee, a division of security software maker, Network Associates Inc. So be on the look out and remember to avoid opening messages that look even remotely suspicious - even from those you know.

AOL Moves Closer To Netscape

By:mark.j @ 10:37:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Traditionally AOL has always used a specially modified version of Microsoft's IE (Internet Explorer) to integrate into their client. While that's not likely to change, they have chosen to add further Netscape technologies to its websites to allow visitors access to instant messaging, email and search systems:

The move to add Netscape technologies to Time Warner and AOL sites signals the beginning of the overall strategy that Netscape and the Sun/Netscape alliance iPlanet will provide some of the important internet technologies behind AOL Time Warner. But this strategy has largely been hampered by the previous ties that corporates of this size have had with other technology providers – for instance, Netscape’s arch-rival Microsoft.

The browser issue still appears to be unresolved despite reports that the contract between AOL and Microsoft for licensing the IE browser lapsed in January. But since AOL acquired Netscape in 1998 it has been widely anticipated that AOL would soon use Netscape for what it is famous for – the Navigator browser. AOL remains unavailable to comment on this subject.

Could AOL be moving to scrap IE from their client or will Netscape remain an external factor from the primary software? One answer could come from users, who prefer IE's HTML rendering over Netscape’s.

Whatever happens, AOL may not want to make an unpopular move towards removing a well-established factor in their software client, especially given their current market conditions. More @ netimperative.com.

News - March 6,2001

Freechariot Suspend Unmetered Service

By:Ross14 @ 8:34:PM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Goose, a regular forum goer has posted a copy of an email from the internet and telecom company Freechariot. Basically it says that FC are suspending their unmetered internet and telephone calls offer because of costs.

Here is the email:

It is with great regret that we have to inform you of the suspension of the Freechariot telephone and free internet access services, with effect from March 12th (the free internet services end March 31st).

This is largely due to the sudden increase of up to 57% in some of the component costs of voice calls from our suppliers, which clearly leaves us with very little margins for the free internet service currently provided.

Freechariot will however continue to strive to provide unmetered internet services at a reasonable cost, as well as other internet services and e-commerce online payment systems.

We apologise for the lateness in this communication, but this was due to a sudden breakdown in negotiations with our current suppliers.

We are presently in negotiations with other telephony companies to secure new unmetered internet time, and will keep you informed of developments.

To ensure that your telephone service is not interrupted, please inform BT immediately, so that your service can be reconnected to them. There will be no additional charge to you for this.

Your internet connection will be transferred to our 0800 169 4639 number, which will allow you to access the internet until the end of March free of charge (no minimum call charges). The March line rental, payable with your February bill is being sent in the next few days.

A ‘paid for’ internet access service will still be available, and those customers wishing to transfer to this service should inform us by e-mail immediately so their account is held open. Details of costs are available on request.

We don't quite know what to make of this, since FC publicised hugely in the last year and made their views of BT and the state of the telephone and internet charges in this country strongly. The signup system on their website seems to be down already.

As we all know, suspensions of unmetered services usually mean the company cannot sustain the services any longer, resulting in the company never making a comeback. But, it all comes down to yet another blow to U.K consumers.

Madasafish Apologise....'Comically'

By:Ross14 @ 5:00:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In the Feb 2001 issue of the Madasafish Newsletter, Madasafish have apologised for the recent problems that have been haunting their TimeZone packages:

Many thanks for remaining loyal to The Dude during what was a very frustrating period for us all recently. Thankfully, the source of our very uncharacteristic engaged tones has been traced. The interruption to the high standards we strive to maintain was due to circumstances outwith our immediate control. We apologise for this temporary
disruption to the top quality internet experience offered by Madasafish.

At the same time as untangling this Gordian knot, we were hit with an
equally enigmatic email episode (enough alliteration, already - Ed.) After turning everything inside out - and then back again - the root of the email whodunit was found to have a rather obscure answer.

Again, apologies for failing the high standards we are otherwise renowned for. This unplanned work has, however, gone a long way to ensuring future integrity of our systems. Please be assured, too, having the UK's top internet experience remains, as ever, our mission in life.

We love you, yes we do!!

It's good to see an unmetered ISP nowadays get to grips with problems and apologise in a comical way to users. Madasafish now look as if they are back to the 'good old' ISP they were at the start.

ISPreview Competition Winner

By:Ross14 @ 4:53:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We thought we would just do a quick news post about this to prove that someone has actually won the WebPlus6 Home Page Editor / Web Design Package.

Congratulations to the winner who is Mr G Justice, London.

A big thankyou to everyone who entered and sorry if you didn't win this time.

CE @ BTOpenworld Insults Users

By:mark.j @ 3:34:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It'd have to be the dumbest move any executive could ever make, but during a debate organised by the Parliamentary IT Committee (PITCOM) the Chief Executive of BTOpenworld (Green) thought it clever to insult its own customers. Firstly with:

"Only 30 per cent of the population is on the Net, of which only a tiny proportion are using it for anything other than a passive and sometimes rather weird kind of entertainment."

Weird kind of entertainment? This seemingly a general insult to the customers of an ISP that has just as many business customers as direct consumers. We're sure they like being branded weird, yet The Register's item goes on:

A spokesman for BT said that Green is famous for his sense of humour and that this was said in jest. And although we have obtained a transcript of what he said, we have no way of gauging how this was delivered.

So, let's not be distracted by this. However insulting/amusing, it is his assertion that the evolution of broadband should be driven by the applications available - and not the availability of a high-powered network - that is truly worrying .

Said Green: "...we must have universal access, but we must not worry about technology. I was frankly depressed when I went to see the Select Committee, because they spent the whole time worrying about getting DSL up to a remote Scottish glen. They were obsessed by the idea that this was the whole answer to Universal Access. There are many different technologies and solutions will come when markets exist. What is driving the digital divide is not whether Broadband is linked into people's homes. It is the lack of applications for people to do on the Net."

For a moment we actually thought he was going to make a valid point about coverage and some peoples unrealistic expectations and views - but no. Instead poor old Mr Green chose to make light of how there's a serious, "lack of applications for people to do on the Net".

Lack of applications? Perhaps Mr Green doesn't realise what the Internet is and how it can be used yet, otherwise he might have chosen his words differently. The message seems to be that if we buy expensive computers and invest millions in non-weird Internet applications, then maybe BT will give us broadband, maybe.

BT Forced To Offer Alternative Broadband

By:mark.j @ 3:18:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In a move very few people were expecting, Oftel is set to force BT into offering a more flexible alternative to the wholesale xDSL options it current assigns to ISPs and Telco's alike:

The move follows complaints to the watchdog from rival telcos Energis and Thus over the paucity of wholesale broadband services available. In response to these complaints, Oftel will tomorrow tell BT that it must negotiate an alternative wholesale product for telcos which will give them more control of the network, create more broadband services and ultimately, it is hoped, offer more choice of high-speed products to consumers and businesses.

Oftel's decision will be yet another blow to a beleagured BT and something of a victory for its rivals. Currently, operators have two options -- they can either get involved in local loop unbundling or take BT's broadband wholesale option. Local loop unbundling has been beset with problems and the wholesale product, Energis argues, is more suitable for service providers. Telcos need something that gives them more control over the network says Energis.

In its ruling, which is due to be published tomorrow, Oftel agrees. "In Oftel's final determination BT must negotiate an extra inter-connect product with Energis and Thus and have until 17 April to conclude these negotiations," Energis' regulatory manager Andrea Dworak told ZDNet News. "They have until 17 June to provide a product and it should be available to consumers not too long after that."

This will no doubt come as a welcome relief to some, especially considering last weeks bad news concerning the much questioned CloudNine verdict. Quite what effect the new ruling will have has yet to be determined and the official report is due out tomorrow. More @ ZDNet.

Cable&Wireless Abandon ST-FRIACO Plan

By:mark.j @ 3:07:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The NTL owned cable Telco and Network group, Cable & Wireless (C&W), have today announced their choice to abandon plans of adopting the new unmetered ST-FRIACO system into their ISP:

The problem is that Cable & Wireless must buy ports or connection points into BT’s network, at the local or regional exchange layer, in advance. This means that it must be able to predict how many users it will be servicing in six months’ time. Overflow would solve this problem, allowing excess traffic to flow onto the regional exchanges if there are too few ports at the local exchange layer.

The problem is that BT does not offer ‘overflow,’ according to Harding. This means that the company has to predict how much capacity it needs – and pay for it if it is wrong. This means that if it orders too few, it may lose customers and if it orders too many it will have to pay for ports it does not use. Harding explained: “If we do have overflow, the chances of getting capacity right are improved.”

As a result Cable & Wireless has asked Oftel to make sure that overflow is offered on BT’s network or at very least that BT changes the way in which operators are expected to carry out predictive ordering. Harding says it may also be helpful to sell ports at the regional exchange layer in smaller chunks – 64K rather than 2Mb – in order to cut costs of ports that may only ever be partially used.

In short the netimperative.com article highlights the overall economics of doing it as well as flexibility to be the key problems. However the good news is that they do plan to use BTSurfPort24 instead, which in other words means FRIACO has been passed over once again in favour of a direct BT solution.

BT blames the existing network capacity for not being able to allow overflow, an aspect that seems to be limiting the competitive nature of FRIACO systems. In turn third party Telco's and thus ISPs are at a disadvantage if they want to stay competitive. It may well appear anti-competitive, although it's hard to see an alternative.

The Didcot Broadband Petition

By:mark.j @ 12:11:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The latest petition to reach our Inbox is that of a 'broadband' one for an area we've never heard of in the UK. Apparently they can't get ADSL, Cable Modems or Wireless broadband just yet and have started a petition. Due to being such a small area we doubt this news post will help, never the less:

Steve D'Arcy Ryan (stevedarcy@xray-specs.com) and Carl Lidzy (x-factor78@excite.co.uk) started this group on 5th March 2001. The purpose of the group is to enable information sharing amongst residents of Didcot, Oxfordshire who are interested in securing a broadband internet service at a reasonable cost. For the purpose of this forum 'broadband' is defined as an always on (i.e. no dial-up) internet connection, with a minimum bandwidth of 150kbps. Reasonable cost is defined as no more than £40 per month (this is the approximate cost of BT ADSL, always on at 512K).

This forum has been established in direct response to a thread posted in the newsgroups news:uk.local.thames-valley and news:uk.telecoms.broadband. In this conversation, James McCall (james.mccall@ntlworld.com), a regular poster employed by tele2 (http://www.tele2.co.uk), indicated that his company needed only to secure 300 customers in any one area to make their provision of service viable. The aim of the forum is to publicise the lack of affordable broadband internet services in the Didcot area, and to secure sufficient support to approach tele2 (or any other provider deemed suitable - e.g. NTL) proposing an accelerated roll-out plan for the area.

https://www.anytimenow.com/group/BroadbandDidcot

This is hardly an isolated incident, the majority of the UK still remains uncovered by broadband and that's going to change very slowly. The best way to campaign is by pre-signing up for your chosen service, so ISPs and networks can see you're there.

Chat With Vladimir Putin @ 3:00pm Today!

By:mark.j @ 10:53:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If you don't yet know who Vladimir Putin is then you're either very young or have recently come out of a nasty coma. The Russian President will be holding his first hour-long webcast/interview with people from the UK and Russia via the Internet.

The questions have been gathered on two Russian websites, strana.ru and gazeta.ru, as well as the BBC's online service (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news). The interview will discuss business, his private life and how he feels about the modern Russia.

Since questions are pre-censored and picked then we doubt any of the more 'difficult' items from the thousands submitted will be asked. Either way it'll be interesting to see what the president says, especially considering the rising tension between the states and Russia.

Site Update - Server Problems

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

The network seems to be rather unstable this morning following a month without any real problems or downtime. Things should be back to normal after midday, although some ISPs using a different Internet link may not experience any problems in loading ISPreview. This is affecting several thousand sites in the UK like ours.

So please excuse us if we can’t update properly until the situation is fully resolved.

XACCT Technologies Preps FULL 3G Network

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

XACCT have been working on their new 3G networks and are preparing to roll them out through the BT owned Manx Telecom’s network. Scheduled to launch in may, if the new broadband wireless network is able to make the date then it’d officially be proclaimed the first FULL system of its kind:

XACCT's platform will capture network and application usage data from Manx’s networks – both GSM and 3G – which should help the telecom bill users for next generation services, such as streaming video and other business critical applications. This is an important issue, as telecoms grapple with new ‘always on’ services that require new billing models and technologies to deal with effectively.

Mark Briers, BT 3G project manager, said: “We are dealing with an unusual number of IP inputs for this project – everything from games to office applications like spreadsheets - most will also be billed for differently, according to their importance.”

According to Briers, the Manx 3G project is currently on course for launch at the end of May, and will be the world’s first full 3G network if it succeeds. “The integration of the radio and handset with the core network is where the real complexity is at the moment,” he said, “but it looks currently like we will be able to deliver come May.”

The network may be ready by May, but the mobile phone manufacturers and other mobile operators may not (no pun intended). Either way it would give them potential for a superior market lead, more @ netimperative.com.