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January 28, 2001 - February 1, 2001

News - February 1,2001

Quick Site Update (Unmetered Forum Changes)

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

As requested by the readers, we have removed and added the following forums to our main discussion board (login from main page).

Removed:
-FreeChariot
-IGClick
-LibertySurf
-Surfing Rabbit

Added:
-MadAsAFish
-Ecosse Vroom2!
-PlusNet
-BigBlueSky
-Demon Internet

New Article (Interview) @ ISP Review

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

To help keep everybody tied over until our Broadband and automated ISP listings go live in the next couple of weeks, we've today published a four page interview with none other than the mighty Telewest.

In it we discuss the state of unmetered access in the UK, broadband, the future and the industry itself:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/tw_interview

Quote:
6) How do you feel about people surfing on your ISP for 8-10hours or more a day? Is this a problem or just a natural factor you've accounted for?

This is a natural factor, and we are happy that some of our customers find so much enjoyment in our services that they choose to spend very significant amounts of time online. But regardless of whether you are a light internet user subscribing to blueyonder surfunlimited, or an early adopter subscribing to the hi-speed service, our goal is to consistently provide consumers with a high quality service.

In doing so, we communicate and enforce acceptable use policies amongst our subscribers, so that they are aware of common internet etiquette and so that no one user damages the online experience of other customers.

PlusNET Subscriber Kicking - Update

By:mark.j @ 11:12:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Having had a chance to go over the latest Plus.Net situation we've now managed to get a few more details and uncover some strange irregularities. Firstly and because Plus.Net is kicking from a BTSurftime product, it means they have a T&C clause that allows them to do it.

However all is not as it seems, one reader commented:

"Well, I was one of the people who had their account terminated and I wanted to know why, so I phoned up PlusNet and asked one of their people just exactly was their idea of reasonable usage. The answer is = 12hours a day.

Which is just great, but they aren't going to reinstate my account."

12 Hours per day is quite good and roughly the same as Freeserve, however it's worth pointing out that many Surftime based ISPs consider 100 hours per month to be reasonable. The strange thing is that none of the readers we've seen have actually used above that time (12hr), as one quotes:

[21/Jan/2001 11:56:44] connection time 04:18:01
[21/Jan/2001 13:46:36] connection time 00:14:40
[21/Jan/2001 18:13:49] connection time 00:28:31
[21/Jan/2001 20:15:35] connection time 00:33:28
[21/Jan/2001 21:52:44] connection time 01:19:00
[23/Jan/2001 00:03:43] connection time 04:11:30
[23/Jan/2001 23:06:03] connection time 02:51:07

Of course a trick many ISPs are now using, which highlights issues of data protection, is to kick users for commercial usage (business use). One such reader writes:

"I was one of the people kicked off PlusNet last night with just 3 hours notice. My crime apparently is alleged commercial usage of a residential account. The thing is that I never have used PlusNet commercially. They quote Clause 20 in their T&Cs. My usage pattern averages 3 to 4 hours a day and never anything like 12 hours.

The PlusNet management should be roundly condemned for their appalling attitude towards customers.

I note with interest that PlusNet have debited my credit card for the next three months service and I have paid BT for the next quarter's worth of 24/7 Surftime with which I am unable to access my PlusNet account."

As well as unfairly taking the money because they must have pre-planned the kicking (technically fraud - RHA style), how would an ISP actually know you're using the service for commercial reasons without braking data protection laws?

Another reader highlighted how the T&C termination agreement was a 'one rule for them, another for the subscriber' style:

"You may terminate your agreement with us at any time. Simply give us 30 days notice in writing, by recorded delivery, for the attention of the "Accounts Department". Termination of the service will only become effective on the 30th day following receipt of this notice."

Typically people are very angry with PlusNET and we will soon know exactly how many subscribers have been sent the 'death letter'. We had hoped a credible ISP such as PlusNET might at least give its customers an honest answer, instead they chose to follow the 'no real explanation rout'.

What exactly does commercial use constitute? What do they think abuse is? Why kick those for abuse if using under the 'reasonable usage' bar? We've cried to Oftel for a general ISP regulation body and they simply don't seem to care, we'll have to wait nearly two years for Ofcom, by which time it'll be too late.

Where are our consumer rights? Why does nobody protect us? Why don't ISPs publicise their limits? All these are just some of the questions our readers are DEMANDING answers for, so will anybody give them?

Can LLU Succeed? - Yes It Can

By:mark.j @ 10:50:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Every action has an advantage and a disadvantage, which is no different when you come to consider the ever-moving progress of LLU (Local Loop Unbundling). ZDNet have put up a very interesting article that explains both the bad and the good >>:

Johnson predicts that no more than ten players will end up offering unbundled services. "The sensible picture is two or three rolling out a national service with perhaps half a dozen offering regionally specialised services," he says.

He claims that unbundling was never going to be easy and that the small print should have pointed out that it was going to be very difficult to make a profit. "It is hard to produce a business plan that looks profitable and inevitably it is going to be cheaper and easier for the incumbent to do it," he claims.

Originally, 28 players applied for space in BT's exchanges but eight have now gone by the wayside. Oftel claims to be "disappointed" by Thus's decision but is confident that enough operators are still involved in the process to make the broadband market competitive. "Those that don't want to go forward with unbundling can use BT's wholesale service. Unbundling is just one way of creating competition," says an Oftel spokeswoman.

This is exactly the same thing we predicted long ago when the first operators such as Redstone began to move away from LLU. The only Telco's left would be the strongest and most able to offer good services and support to customers around the UK - as it should be.

Of course there's one thing that doesn't quite fit, many of the remaining operators are actually smaller and in a few cases, less credible, than the ones who've left already. As usual it's all a question of time, we'll just have to wait and see what the summer brings.

Oftel To Maintain Residential Price Hold On BT

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

Telco regulator Oftel is still unhappy with BTs unfair market power over its competition and has today decided to maintain its controls over their residential call prices for at least one more year. BT had of course wanted to see all formal price controls to be removed.

In a statement an Oftel spokesperson said:
"Oftel will extend the existing price controls on BT's residential prices because BT continues to have market power in the provision of telephony services to residential customers, although the extent of competition is increasing".

The price controls, which will save consumers 270 million pounds during their one-year life, may be extended from August 2002, Oftel said. Oftel said it would also continue with price controls on BT's wholesale charges for operators that interconnect with BT's network.

It looks as if Oftel is choosing to wait until LLU is more complete before handing parts of the wheel back to BT.

NTLs Broadband London/3m BT Customer Target

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

NTL has finally realised that its broadband Cable Modem services in the London area aren't exactly up to scratch. Some of the money being saved through recent plan changes is now being directed to the problem areas:

ntl admitted that its network in London had suffered from low investment and pointed to low penetration, high churn and high fault rates as significant evidence of this. The 25% penetration rate compared unfavourably with a 25% annualised churn - and a worrying statistic that 20% of all installs are cancelled before the install date, was published. The cable giant promised a programme to overcome these poor standards, encompassing several of the problem areas; this included improving a "poor product mix" and bringing down the "high faults rates".

It's about time too, although according to CableNews, that's not all because NTL is also planning to launch a major marketing campaign aimed at up to 2 million BT customers:

Speculation is mounting that ntl is set to launch a major marketing campaign aimed at up to 2 million BT customers; all of whom are subscribers to the Internet service provider, Freeserve. Commenting on the speculation, CEO Barclay Knapp remarked, "Freeserve has two million BT telephone customers. They are fair game."

Ironically France Telecom, whom now hold a leading stake in Freeserve, also have one in NTL, so at least somebody will be happy. Although on the other hand this could be the start of the first real SUPER ISP war.

London’s Satellite Bandwidth Market

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

The corporate side of Satellite networking and Internet access has always managed to be an expensive and often troublesome process. However a new system know as 'The London Satellite Exchange' is likely to change all that, making bandwidth allocation easy:

The London Satellite Exchange, will employ 13 people, six of whom are traders in satellite bandwidth. The Exchange will sell capacity to service providers and big corporations looking for a market where they can get a better deal on buying bandwidth.

David Sandham, a representative of the Exchange, said the traders are also expert engineers and described the exchange as "a cross between a City trading floor and a satellite control room".

Sandham explained that the exchange, which is located in Leadenhall Street, was set up because big corporations and ISPs are increasingly interested in getting competitive quotes when buying satellite time, rather than taking whatever is offered by their main telecoms provider. The London Satellite Exchange, which claims to be the first marketplace for the satellite, has a deal with RateXchange, one of the firms that trade in fibre optic bandwidth, so that it can offers packages that fulfil fibre-optic and satellite bandwidth requirements at the same time.

Those of you waiting on the new consumer Satellite ISPs need not worry as The Register leaves out the fact that this system doesn't apply to all. Groups such as StarSpeeder will still begin to supply their 400Kbps (Est. £15 per month) service by March or April this year.

Telewest’s Operating Stats

By:mark.j @ 10:13:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

NTL had their chance to spew out operating statistics and now it's Telewest’s turn:

Residential customers - (Total) = 1,691,341 - (Additions in Q4-2000) = 37,557
CATV subscribers - 1,249,610 - 54,386
Residential telephony subscribers - 1,538,140 - 32,302
Blueyonder subscribers - 6,893 - 4,599
Dial-up subscribers - 280,370 - 52,102

Its Cable Modem and dial up service clearly has a fair way to go before it can match up to the likes of NTL, although that may not be their goal just yet.

Plusnet Kicking Users?

By:rich.p @ 7:57:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

During the night PlusNet have been sending out e-mails to some users to tell them that they are terminating their dialup access within 24 hours:

"* * Important notice regarding the deactivation of your PlusNet account * *

It has become clear to us through your pattern of Internet use that the PlusNet account to which you are subscribed is not suitable for your needs. Your use of our service is not treating fairly a product that was set up for reasonable unmetered access and was never intended to provide unlimited Internet access.

We regard your current use of the service provided as inappropriate and no longer wish to provide you with Internet access on this account. Your account will be deactivated shortly. Access via PlusNet to your account will be removed in 24 hours pending full account removal in 7 days time.

Although Internet access to our services will not be possible after account suspension at midnight tonight, your web and e-mail accounts will remain active for the next 7 days to allow you to make alternative arrangements through another provider.

If you wish to remain with PlusNet and continue using your account for Web, e-mail and domain services we have provided a facility to change to PlusNet Lite, an 0845 account with most of the functionality associated with your 24/7+ account, you will be
able to change to this account type from the 1st February by logging into the PlusNet portal. Full details will be available automatically on the portal when you log in.

If you do not wish to change to the PlusNet Lite account we will of course refund to you any monies that are in credit for your account balance in 7 days time.

Regards

PlusNet Customer Support"

What seems odd is that on the page PlusNet 24-7 they state:

WHAT IS IT?
Get unlimited Internet calls at any time every month for only £5.99 (inc VAT) per month.
You will also need to subscribe to BT SurfTime which Costs £19.99 (inc VAT) per month

So why are PlusNet kicking people off? Comments....

News - January 31,2001

Legal Action Over Expensive UK 3G Licenses

By:mark.j @ 4:44:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Lots of people, including us, have criticised the government and various related operators over charging so much for 3G (Third Generation) mobile phone technology licenses. According to an article from ZDNet, this might eventually lead to legal action:

A survey of industry figures released by Quotient Communication Monday found that 86 percent thought that the £22.5bn paid for UK 3G licences was too great. The vast majority -- 92 percent -- believe it will take at least five years for operators to make the money back, with 32 percent believing it will take ten years or more. There has been a great deal of criticism over the huge amount of money paid on UK spectrum and prices paid in subsequent European auctions were significantly lower.

Lars Goddell, telecoms analyst at Forrester Research, agrees that too much money was paid, and believes it could lead to legal action. "Shareholder activism is spreading," he says. "I think that a lot of angry shareholders could start suing the mobile companies, their corporate directors, the advisors who recommended spending so much on 3G, and even the government."

As yet there is a great deal of concern, mainly speculative, developed from the rather un-optimistic usage of WAP. 3G is seen as the gateway to future mobile technologies such as UTMS, although many feel the price tag is too high for something that is so uncertain.

RedHotAnt Site Vanishes

By:mark.j @ 4:35:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Readers have been reporting that RedHotAnt's website has vanished following a POP3 E-Mail server upgrade (about all you can still access). This casts further doubt over them ever returning with a FRIACO2 system in tow, much as they'd hoped.

Most of the leading RHA staff are currently expected to be sunning themselves on the beaches of Santa Monica and laughing with the Mafia over a smooth shot of Vodka. The question is, if they did return then would you be brave enough to trust them a second time?

People just don’t seem to care whether a cheap ISP dies or not, which is perhaps a bad sign of the times and problems with unmetered. Most of those using BigBlueSky are expecting it to fail after a few months, yet still stumped up a meagre £25 ‘lifetime’ fee for the heck of it.

Kingston Abandons LLU - Follows Thus

By:mark.j @ 4:29:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Kingston have chosen to follow Thus, a Telco that chose to put its LLU (local loop unbundling) plans on hold earlier in the week, by pulling out of LLU; at least for now:

Kingston Communications plc has joined the growing number of telcos abandoning the unbundling process, becoming the latest to claim that it is not currently viable owing to the poor allocation of exchanges. Chief Executive Steve Maine commented that it has been put off because rollout is “entirely contingent” on having enough capacity – something he believes will not be available until Spring 2002.

The announcement comes on the heels of Scottish telco Thus’ decision to also wait and see before committing to the expenditure of setting up in local exchanges. Like Kingston, Thus said the figures simply don’t add up, and so will become a wholesale customer of BT instead of building its own DSL network.

This is likely to be a further blow for Oftel, who had hoped their recent LLU reform might have improved the situation. Instead another important player has pulled out, putting the government’s e-commerce strategy in jeopardy and raising yet more concerns for BT and Oftel.

It's worth pointing out that a recent government investigation and meetings ended up crediting both Oftel and BT for their work on LLU, sighting how they expected things to improve, when in reality they are getting worse. More @ netimperative.com.

IC24 Extent 0800 - Yes Again

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

The only truly free 0800 ISP currently in existence, IC24, have chosen to extend their 0800 service yet again:

Offer closes February 14th 2001 - outside promotional hours calls will be charged at local rate.

To use the free time online you must switch your dial up number from the usual 0845 number to the free phone 0800. Calls made on the 0845 number during promotional hours (8pm to midnight every night) will be charged at local rate. Instructions of how to do this are in the get online now for FREE section.UK only. Offer subject to availability.

They haven't extended it very far and in fact it's only another two weeks, which isn't much. The original extension was due to end on the 31st January, today. Internal rumour suggests they will not extend the 0800 again, although do plan to re-introduce it later in the year, albeit with some changes.

Quick Update - General News

By:mark.j @ 10:47:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Don't forget that tomorrow is the day Oftel and BT are expected to have finalised the FRIACO (FRIACO2) product once and for all; it should also be made available to Telco's and ISPs from that day. We'll be watching with great interest to see what the final design is like, following that we'll try to get feedback from ISPs.

EC Gets Tough With CyberCrime - Update

By:mark.j @ 10:35:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Stealing of personal information, credit card fraud and piracy are seen by the European Commission and many others as no more than a reforming of different criminal activities into the modern Internet world.

Some months ago the EC (European Commission) started the development of a policy to combat Cybercrime; UK.Internet has an update:

A Communication has been presented today to the EC, outlining a harmonised policy to combat Internet and computer crime without damaging the development of ecommerce.

Erkki Liikanen, Member of the EC for Enterprise and the Information Society said, "The freedom of Internet, the source of its very success, has to be preserved. The fact also is: no security, no trust, no transactions. All the impressive forecasts we have seen regarding the growth of electronic commerce will remain a pie in the sky if people cannot have trust on electronic transactions."

Details are not yet known, although it'd be interesting to see just what preliminary measures they have planned to combat such crime. We are fairly confident it'll involve some sort of standard or criteria system for e-companies to meet.

IPv6 - An Easy Translation

By:mark.j @ 10:24:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

IPv6 is one of the many new Internet protocols that will go to help make up systems such as DataGrid (Internet2) and other modern networks for around 2005. However until now the current technology, IPv4 (Example: 255.255.255.255) has been unable to communicate properly with IPv6:

A Japanese firm has released what it claims is the first network protocol conversion device that can translate between current and next-generation Internet protocols.

The TTB translator, which comes from the YDC subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric, converts between IPv6 and IPv4, the current version of the Internet protocol used in almost all networks today.

AsiaBiz Tech reports the device, whose price will start at around $8,140, will be marketed to telecommunications carriers and Internet Service Providers as a means to allow networks built on IPv6-based kit to connect to the Internet or other networks that still use IPv4. It uses a technology for conversion similar to that used to perform Network Address Translation (NAT) in IPv4.

This may not seem important if you don't understand it, although those that do will see the potential it has for an easier transition to newer technologies. More @ The Register.

GPRS Solution Ready

By:mark.j @ 10:18:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks like the first crop of new wireless broadband solutions for mobile phones, GPRS, will finally be making its way into some mobiles for Q2/Q3 this year thanks to TTP Communications plc:

TTP Communications plc has released its GPRS technology, combining both software and chipsets, to mobile device manufacturers. The company expects its customers will now be able to bring GPRS-enabled products to market “inside the next few months.”

Cambridge based TTP says it has been developing a GPRS solution for over a year, and has undertaken extensive network testing with carriers and infrastructure suppliers across Europe and the US, over the last 9 months. These have included Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens, Motorola, Nortel and Alcatel.

The netimperative.com article hasn't gone into full detail and doesn't mention that mobile networks may not be so keen to adopt a GPRS solution right away. Unless mobile manufacturers and networks can see a reasonable advantage over WAP, then it may be late 2001 before we see any GPRS based handsets.

FastNet Joins CloudNine Against BT

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

As predicted, another ISP (FastNet) has joined behind CloudNine in order to help push for a ruling from Oftel. They would like to stop BT from preventing smaller and medium sized ISPs from gaining access to newer unmetered products via restricted and unfair pricing:

FastNet International has written to Oftel in support of Cloud Nine, which last week accused BT of making the barrier to entry for its BtnetSurfport24 product too expensive for smaller ISPs. The move follows BT’s decision to raise the bar for minimum entry level to 1500 ports from 100 in its previous package, Surfport, citing capital costs.

The ISP, which has around 2000 business customers believes that the barrier to entry in the expanding flat-rate internet access has been set unreasonably high, requiring a minimum annual rental of over £1.5m.

In addition, FastNet has suggested that BT’s ISP BT Internet, which launched its unmetered product on Friday for £14.99 may have been subsidized by BT. In a letter to Oftel, Ian Robertson of FastNet said: “In my view the only way that BT can effectively offer this service at this price is if BT Internet is in large part subsidised by BT core business. This is in contravention of BT’s licence and I am formally requesting that OFTEL launch an immediate investigation into the financing of BT Internet/BT Openworld.”

The netimperative.com article and related CloudNine situation is in all our best interests to see resolved ASAP. After all, it would mean that similar ISPs could finally take advantage of Surfport24 and newer FRIACO2 products, thus meaning lower prices from small/medium sized unmetered ISPs.

ISP Review Site Update - On TV

By:mark.j @ 10:00:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick update to say that firstly I'm feeling much better, although still rather low on energy and have one of those annoying after-cold coughs.

More interestingly we were mentioned on SkyTVs Dot.TV last night ('Chips with Everything'), which was wonderful, of course they made the typical mistake of providing a link to ispreview.com and not co.uk =(. So right now lots of happy surfers will be finding the wrong site or one that's refusing to load, thanks Sky =).

Somebody please mention this to them as we don't know how to contact anybody related to the program.

It may also be worth a mention that those living on the west Dorset coast and covered by the IOW RowRidge transmitter will today finally see the OnDigital upgrade. This should mean we would finally be able to access all the available channels and services, which many previously couldn't.

News - January 30,2001

Europe Still Uncompetitive Over LLU

By:mark.j @ 4:14:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) has slammed the pace of telecoms reform (local loop unbundling, broadband etc.) in Europe. It warns that rival Telco's are finding it difficult to break into new markets and be competitive:

The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) has published a survey that it claims proves that incumbents and regulators aren't doing enough to promote competition.

In the UK, for example, it claims only two per cent of BT's exchanges are currently offering unbundled local loops*.

And just 0.07 per cent of the UK's 28.5 million telephone lines are currently DSL enabled.

This is also another interesting contrast to Telewest cable modem figures below, coverage may be different, but total coverage is fairly similar. More @ The Register.

Quick Telewest Stats

By:mark.j @ 4:09:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Telewest today released some more details and statistics on its BlueYonder and Surfunlimited services:

Telewest claims it has 280,370 dial-up Net access customers - up 52,102 during the last quarter, according to details published today.

It also boasts some 6,893 Blueyonder subscribers (its broadband cable service) - up 4599 during the same period.

Telewest CE Adam Singer said that the figures showed that the company was delivering on target.

This is an interesting contrast to ADSL, which at present is being used in nearly 30,000 homes. Of course ADSL coverage is different, more @ The Register.

One2Ones WAP Stat Numbers

By:mark.j @ 4:04:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The mobile phone company One2One have today released statistics for the number of WAP (Mobile Internet) phones currently being used for net access:

One2One has reported that its WAP user base has surpassed 135,000. A spokesperson has confirmed that this figure means subscribers actually using WAP services, although the company is declining to reveal the total number of WAP handsets sold.

This contrasts with BT Cellnet, for example, which has said it has more than 1m WAP handsets on the market, as at end of last year. This represents around 10% of its total subscribers, but does not indicate if they are actually using the mobile internet.

One2One’s WAP figures represent only around 1.6% of its total users, which stood at 8.32m at the end of last year.

It looks as though mobile companies aren't too keen on giving anybody a true perspective on WAP usage, although it's widely regarded to be quite low. Until people can actually type something without getting RSI or loosing a few hours, mobile net access will remain slow and wasteful. More @ netimperative.com.

Thus Pulls Out Of LLU xDSL Race

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

In yet another serious blow to Oftel & BTs Hi-Speed Local Loop Unbundling based plans, Thus Telecom have pulled out of 'exchange' race.

Chief Executive Bill Allan claims that he couldn't justify the economics of installing broadband DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) Internet equipment in the exchanges, which are being opened up to BT rivals under so-called unbundling of the local loop.

Thus joins a stream of other companies that have abandoned plans to participate in unbundling, threatening the government's promise of a widespread DSL network. It had originally applied for space in 300 BT exchanges in a lottery organised by telecoms regulator Oftel and had earmarked 40 million pounds for investment.

But Allan said Thus had always been cautious about the business case for "co-locating" DSL equipment in the exchanges, and had now decided not to proceed.

"The economics for DSL don't make sense for us," he said.

The news emerged as Thus reported better than expected third quarter figures that sent its bludgeoned shares soaring. It will instead offer DSL by reselling a BT wholesale service. All this comes following Oftels recent meeting that was supposed to help prevent more operators from pulling out.

Bond Your xDSL & 'T' Connections!

By:mark.j @ 11:28:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Everybody knows you can bond two modems to two phone lines and ISDN is specifically designed to do a similar thing based on one digital channel. So what if you could do what 'Stallion ePipe' has done and come up with a system to bond xDSL lines and or corporate T lines!?:

Most ISPs are familiar with multi-link PPP (MPPP), the standard-but-flawed method of combining PPP links. To bond efficiently with MPPP, calls must terminate at the same chassis, known as "the multi-link hunt group splitting problem". Windows 98 supports analog MPPP, but significant issues at the POP cause most ISPs to limit MPPP to 2-channel ISDN. Last summer, Netopia started shipping its R-series IDSL and SDSL routers with DSLAM-independent MPPP. Several other manufacturers offer proprietary multi-link alternatives, including Ramp Networks COLT, Shotgun by Diamond Multimedia, and Stallion's Intelligent Internet Bonding.

Stallion's Intelligent Internet Bonding (I2B) balances standard Internet traffic across multiple connections, be they analog, ISDN, or DSL. Today, I2B can bond DSL using PPPoE and DSL modems. According to Tony Merenda, Stallion chief technology office, the planned enhancements will soon allow I2B bonding across multiple T-1 links or DSL routers.

While not the only game in town, Stallion's approach is somewhat unique. I2B allows a variety of interface types to be combined into a virtual interface or connection bundle. And I2B is not limited to load-balancing HTTP. It acts as a transparent proxy server, intercepting outgoing TCP connections and routing them to the least-busy link in the bundle. Finally, I2B requires no channel aggregation at the POP—bonded links can terminate on any chassis, at any POP, at any ISP.

For a full low-down on the system you can also check out ISP Planet, although we doubt anybody would really need to bond such fast connections, at least not yet.

CloudNine Gets Apology From BT

By:mark.j @ 11:16:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Although I was far too ill yesterday to post it, CloudNine started sending out a notice to the press about how they believed BT was deliberately sabotaging parts of their service following the complaint to Oftel. Today BT has apologised to CloudNine for the problems:

Date: 30th January Time: 9:00

BT Apology "Intermittent Static IP problems continue"

BT have now apologised to Cloud Nine customer to Cloud Nine for poor service level

John Parr, Operations Director of Cloud Nine Communications Ltd said

"What good is that to our customers that are experiencing intermittent service disrupting business?".

We continue work with BT to resolve our problems

Cloud Nine is considering a good will gesture to it's dial-up customers that make a complaint and will contact you individually once normal service has returned

All complaints will be forwarded to BT

If you have a complaint about the service you have received as a Cloud Nine subscriber please e-mail ComplaintsWeb@cloud-nine.com

Unmetered Surftime is only available to BT Surftime Participating ISPs and as such Cloud Nine have no input in the technical design, management or service level - we are at BT mercy in this case. IT is a complete end to end managed service terminating in our data centre using SDH and resilient routing!

Of course CloudNines original Oftel complaint stands and more ISPs look set to join behind them in order to further push for a fair ruling.

BigBlueSky Finally LIVE!

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

According to THIS post on our forums, the new and unrealistically priced unmetered ISP BigBlueSky has finally gone live:

I have been using BBS since last night at 8pm, and have yet to receive my first engaged tone! so far so good.

AND i have been connecting at 48k and upwards, pretty good on a 56k modem, with other isp's i've been stuck with 44k and below sometimes.

Sorry if this is perhaps a day-ish old, but I am present quite unwell and the other staff seem to have gone into stasis.

Ex-C&W Customers Get NTL World

By:mark.j @ 11:00:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As was rumoured nearly a two months ago, Ex-C&W (Cable & Wireless) customers fill finally be getting access to the unmetered NTLWorld in April. http://www.getdirections.co.uk simply states:

NTLWorld will be available to all of ntl's ConsumerCo phone customers from Tuesday 3rd April 2001

Some may still have a delay in getting the CD, but good news none the less.

News - January 29,2001

The Unjustified Totalise PLC

By:mark.j @ 4:40:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Further controversy over last weeks Totalise user kicking for abuse/business use emerged today when one of our readers, Paul, proved just how 'not even near' the 100hours limit you had to be in order to get the chop:

Just to give you an idea of what usage warrants being denied service, being one of the 900 thrown off last week, I ploughed through my itemised telephone bills (provided by Totalise's Telecom arm) and came up with the following usage statistics

September: 35 hours total on-line, 18 hours between 0800-1800 weekdays
October: 33 hours total on-line, 13 hours between 0800-1800 weekdays
November: 27 hours total, 13 hours between 0800-1800 weekdays

Figures for December/January are not yet available, but those for December will be considerably lower, whilst those for January will be similar to October's.

These don't seem like excessive use or abuse to me ...

Paul isn't alone as further E-Mails of a similar nature have been fairly frequent to our inboxes. Where's a general ISP regulation body when you need one?

BTOpenworld Outsources & Cuts Jobs

By:mark.j @ 4:33:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In somewhat of a cost cutting move, BTOpenworld have chosen to outsource their call centre staff to a USA company, something that will kill 110 jobs:

The new contract with customer relationship outfit, ClientLogic, comes into force in June. The details of the deal are not yet known but it is possible even more staff - mostly agency or contract workers - could face the chop as a result of the cost-cutting measures.

Some 110 agency staff from BTOpenworld's helpdesk facility in Colindale, north London, have already been told they will lose their jobs when the centre closes at the end of April.

It's not known what will happen to staff at call centres in Manchester and Coventry although it's understood the facilities will remain open.

This comes in the same time frame as BT also chose to cut down on the use of payphones now mobile phones are so easily available and widespread. More @ The Register.

Fibernet First To Offer UK SDSL Services

By:mark.j @ 4:26:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Fibernet is set to become the first to publicly offer an SDSL based leased line service in the UK when they supply 'PNC TELE.COM' with just that:

The IP services provider is to offer a wholesale SDSL service to PNC TELE.com from a Leeds local exchange, which was connected to its backbone network yesterday.

According to Nigel Pitcher, marketing director at Fibernet, the company will provide 2.3Mbps for just over two kilometers of pipe and decrease that to 1Mbps for between about three and nine kilometres. He said: “We are competing with leased lines and will sell at 50-60% less than the most competitive packages from companies like Telewest and Colt.”

Tim Johnson, principal analyst at research firm Ovum said: “It is the beginning of a price war. The industry has been waiting for a technology at low cost that could really undermine the cost of leased lines. It is the beginning of the DSL dividend.”

If you consider that a standard 2Mbps leased line could set you back as much as £15,000 - £25,000 per annum, then the new SDSL style would indeed be much cheaper. Price wars will almost certainly break out and this can only be a good thing for the clients.

Perhaps what's most interesting of all is that it proves both residential and corporate bandwidth has seen a dramatic drop in price these last 6 months or so. Something that’s unknowingly seeping down into the consumer market through FRIACO style systems. We also spotted this in the netimperative.com article:

BT is trialing GSHDSL, a new standard that has only recently been ratified by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute).

Yet another xDSL standard, of which there are many (RSDL for one, FSDSL for another etc.).

Netscalibur Acquires FDD

By:mark.j @ 4:16:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following their acquisition of the British born Direct Connection ISP last week, this week sees the business ISP Netscalibur adding FDD (business-focused web hosting company) to the list:

Backed by $235m (£160m), Netscalibur has acquired five companies in the past six months and will continue with its aggressive expansion plans across the UK, Italy and Germany. In addition to FDD, Netscalibur has acquired UK ISP Direct Connection, Italian web hosting company Unisource Italia and the German ISPs Evolution System International Backbone and Sireco.

Netscalibur offers businesses a range of internet-based services, including secure web hosting, virus-free messaging and high-speed connectivity.

Proof that ISPs need to partner up or buy out other business in order to survive? Perhaps, check netimperative.com for more.

Business Telco's & ISPs Must Partner Up

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

In order to better satisfy the needs of their clients, it looks as though business Telco's and ISPs may have to become increasingly more reliant on third parties:

The results, based on interviews with Global 2,500 firms, showed that 82% of those engaged in e-business projects outsource their design and technology architecture needs, and 71% expect their dependence on outside help to increase over the next two years. According to Forrester, respondents identified communication glitches, lack of co-ordination, and poor integration as major complaints.

Forrester recommends that firms with these headaches should invest more in project managers and less in old-style techies, choose a provider with a built-in variety of partner options, and pressure them to provide collaborative working tools.

Forrester advocates that long-established generalist carriers like AT&T and WorldCom focus on what they do best, citing Akamai and iBEAM’s 80-90% hold on the caching market, compared with the low visibility of UUNET’S competing UUcast service as an example.

More @ netimperative.com.

ISP Review Update - Out of action

By:mark.j @ 10:24:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Quick note to say that thanks to the cold weather I've ended up with a COLD virus again, so please excuse the fact that updates might be a little light these next couple of days.

News - January 28,2001

NTHellWorld

By:rich.p @ 10:09:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If you think you have experienced bad NTL customer services you might want to visit NTHellWorld. This is a description of the site from the webmaster:

"http://www.nthellworld.com is a site dedicated to ntl customers. We particularly focus on improving ntl's pathetic customer service by exposing it."

Minor Staff News

By:Ross14 @ 9:41:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

I, Ross "Ross14" will be taking a leave of absense from the ISPr site for the next few weeks or so, although I will still be writing the newsletter and visiting the forums each weekend.

Could i just please ask that if you need to get in touch with me for whatever reason that you email me, instead of posting in the forums. This will be the only way that i will be able to contact you promptly.

Thanks =)