Welcome to our News Archives page

January 23, 2001 - January 28, 2001

News - January 28,2001

ISP Review Weekly Update

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

Another week passes and ends up being almost as entertaining as the last. RedHotAnt gets raided and CloudNine speaks out against BT, whose new system means that small and medium sized ISPs can't get newer products.

ISP Review has also been making steady progress, the broadband section is almost finished and we just need to fill in the 'Install' and 'Information' guides for it to be completed. There are also a few layout issues to sort, although nothing that's going to hold things up.

The automated ISP listings system is just as finished as it was last week, although we've now paid for it. It was due to arrive before this weekend, but once again promises have been broken, kind of frustrating to say the least. That said and we can now be 100% sure it'll be with us for next week and maybe online for Saturday (at least in preview form).

At the present state it looks like both will go online at roughly the same time and by Mid-February. Following that we can also get on to improve and update some of ISPrs other sections, such as the links and complaints pages. Overall we have some big changes planned for the next couple of months.

Back to the present day and next week should see a very nice Interview go live, but we won't reveal who with until then =). There may also be some other content, but generally work is concentrated on our new systems and sections.

I'd just like to apologise if we haven't been able to reply to all your E-Mails these last couple of weeks. We're in crunch mode to finish the new content and time is always short, as such we missed replying to a lot of important ones, very sorry.

C.U.T On The OFTEL IP Interconnection Group

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

The C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) have made an important and short update on the future of telecommunications.

On 29 January a brave new world is on us with the first meeting of the OFTEL IP Interconnection Group or 'how do we join together the telecommunications networks of the future?'. As mentioned before, IP interconnect is probably the most important telecommunications issue, in the United Kingdom, for this year and many to come: we will have two people there on Monday and will be taking part thereafter.

Building a new Jerusalem from the rubble of the Tower of Babel will be hard; we expect no solution for eighteen months to two years. As the meetings are in confidence we cannot report on them, which is unfortunate but unavoidable.

According to current predictions, by 2005/7 either BT, C&W or several other companies will have changed their current phone systems to IP Networking technology. It's not dissimilar to modern day VoIP (Voice over IP) that allows you to connect to any phone around the world from your PC, or even PC-to-PC.

News - January 27,2001

Freeserve Snub Mac Users

By:mark.j @ 10:34:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's not that hard to support MacOS on an ISP because the operating system is extremely simple, sadly most people are trained in IBM PC language only. Today MacWorld is reporting that Freeserve have chosen to be another ISP that Snubs the growing Mac population:

On its Web site, Freeserve – the UK’s first free Internet service provider – says support for Macs "is being updated". However, it doesn't reveal when the service will be available for Macs. Neither does it explain why the decision was taken not to support Macs.

A Freeserve insider said: "It was decided that we aren't taking the Mac platform on."

On the Netscape incompatibility issue, the source added: "We're using an ad display feature unique to Internet Explorer, making the use of Netscape impossible."

Now there are a few things about this news item, which we found somewhat misleading, and should be clarified. Firstly 'SUPPORT' doesn't mean you can't use the ISPs with a Mac, it simply means the help line won't assist in anyway if you run into troubles.

Secondly the Netscape issue makes it sound as thou Freeserve are using ad banners much like X-Stream do? We're not aware of any such usage. As such we can only assume they mean the Freeserve website banners, which may not work with Netscape, but most certainly don't make its usage IMPOSSIBLE.

It's also a rather arrogant thing to say because it proves Freeserve know nothing about the Mac platform (as they say themselves), which supports IE as well, albeit in an earlier stage. If any Mac users can clarify all of this further then please do so.

UK BTs xDSL Access = Most Expensive

By:mark.j @ 10:15:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's a pity there's rarely any good news to post about BT, although these days all we ever hear are bad things. Today’s latest item follows suit, with Oftel officially stating that BTs British broadband (ADSL) is among the most expensive in the world.

For a residential service in the UK you're likely to be charged at least £39.99 per month (USB), in France it's £37, USA is £32 and the lowest comes from Germany at £31.

Broadband services recently launched by cable operators NTL and Telewest undercut some of the international prices (Cable Modems), but BT's product is likely to be the most widely available this year.

"This is the first time it has been possible to compare retail prices for high bandwidth services in the UK with prices elsewhere," Oftel Director General David Edmonds said in a statement.

Of course you have to be realistic, broadband ADSL isn't available to most of the country yet and won't be for another year, not to mention that it's barely 5-6months old in public availability. There are barely 35,000 - 40,000 people actually using the service in the UK alone.

As such it's not really fare to expect BTs prices to be any lower so early on in development, of course Germany and France are in a similar position themselves, so why is it cheaper there? Overall it all comes down to differences in market and economics from the government, this is echoed by Oftel:

"While the survey shows that UK prices were somewhat less favourable compared to other countries surveyed, DSL and cable modem services in the UK are still at an early stage of rollout and takeup."

Perhaps we shouldn't be expecting so much so soon, a year ago people would have been killing each other for £39.99 per month high-speed unmetered.

ADSLGuide Re-launches

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

A popular place for broadband news, forums, lists and information - ADSLGuide, has today re-launched itself with a new look. Not much of a change to content, although the 'lighter' look is always nicer for news sites.

If you're an ADSL user then it might be worth a stop off, otherwise wait another two weeks or so for our broadband section =).

News - January 26,2001

Quick Freeserve Anytime Update

By:Ross14 @ 5:41:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In an update to our post a few days ago concerning the hideous problems we were having connecting to Freeserve Anytime, well, we are happy to report that congestion problems on the Energis Network (161642 over-ride) seem to be easing, and we are connecting to the Anytime service within 1-5 tries.

Overall, Speeds are good, with email and newsgroup access fast as well.

Quick BigBlueSky Update

By:mark.j @ 10:48:AM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The new and economically insane unmetered ISP, BigBlueSky, is now telling customers that the service is finally live after an extra days delay on top of the last delay predicted earlier on Monday.

Customer details should have started to get sent out last night and some might already be online. If you have managed to get your details and make a connection then do let us know of your experiences.

**UPDATE**

The following has now been posted on the BigBlueSky website:

LATEST NEWS
We are presently prepared to launch the bigbluesky, the current holdup is due to heavy user testing being carried out by BT. The purpose of this testing is to ensure that you will not experience any difficulties in getting online and staying online. Please be patient as we have been told that this testing will be finished soon. You will be sent your username and password in the very near future.

There is no telling what 'in the very near future' actually means, so there might be a few weeks wait yet!

3G Bids Collapse in France

By:mark.j @ 10:39:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

France has been another country trying to sell off 3G mobile phone licenses, not unlike the British auction attempt that collapsed in April 2000 because of high prices. Yet despite being half the price, problems have not escaped the French either:

Telefonica and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux claim that the 4.95bn euros (£3.1bn) price tag was too great but this figure is just over half the amount committed in the UK's 3G auction in April 2000. Experts then questioned how firms would be able to afford to roll out services given the £22bn price tag paid for licences.

Matthew Nordan, research director at Forrester Research, believes that the price was far too high and could harm the UK economy, if 3G was to fail -- as some experts think possible.

It could even have political implications, he says. "The money committed is equal to two percent of the UK's GDP. If 3G bombs, it would have a big effect and would harm the bond market, and possibly the wider financial sector. We believe this could lead to a rift between the UK and continental Europe, if less British money was available to those countries," he said, referring to the UK's financial commitments to the European Union.

Of course all these new BlueTooth, GPRS, EDGE, UTMS and 3G mobile technologies probably have you all confused anyway. More @ ZDNet.

CloudNine Respond To NetImperative.com Article

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

While we were the first to post about the official CloudNine complaint to Oftel yesterday, some other sites were also sent the same message a little later.

The netimperative.com news and media portal was one such site, although it seems as though C9 didn't like what they said and have responded. The following is another press release sent to us this morning:

FAO: TATUM ANDERSON (NetImperative.com)

We really must take issue with the following statement from BT printed by
NetImperative.com in response to our Oftel complaint:
"Danny Sullivan, VP service providers and channels at BT Ignite said that BT had previously offered smaller ISPs a lower bar to entry of 100 ports, presuming that later they would increase their orders as they grew in size. BT would then be able to adequately recoup its cost and make a margin on the infrastructure on which their services are based”. He said: "We had a commercial strategy previously that expected [the ISPs] to grow. But it hasn't happened that way. With BTnetSurfport24 the minimum bar is 1500 because of the capital cost. We are into supporting SMEs and we do buy at regulated prices."

In addition, Sullivan says that payment for services has changed because to buy BTnetSurfport24, BT Ignite must buy the FRIACO portion of the product from BT Wholesale at an annual rate, after a directive from Oftel. As a result, it must now charge its ISP customers a quarterly rate rather than on a monthly basis.

CLOUD NINE RESPONSE

This is absolutely ridiculous. The Surfport service was delivered to most ISP's only late Oct/Nov (a delay of 3 months!!). Surely most providers ordered an adequate quantity at that time to ensure that they had some space capacity. Cloud Nine for instance are just now after 3 month reaching the numbers required to support the ports we ordered but our usage is increasing at a rate of 3 ports per day as BT will be able to verify. On this basis once we hit our limit we will be adding approx. 90 ports per month or about 1,000 over the course of a year. Cloud Nine think it is much too early for BT to be making any reasonable judgements of this nature - just 3 months!!

Furthermore, other Surftime ISP's will verify that it was the sheer incompetence of BT installation that led to mushrooming costs associated with delivery of the Surfport platform. Every delivery Cloud Nine have ever had from BT has been delayed and messed up in one way or another by failure to employ any sensible project management standards!!! This extends to delivery, support, billing and all associated administration. We have documented evidence with our solicitors to that effect adding up to some 1000+ emails but that is the subject of separate pending legal action. The sheer evidence of basic mismanagement within BT Ignite is staggering. Basically smaller ISP's should not be penalised because BT failed to deliver on cost when it was their own management to blame. The victims become the scapegoats under this "Alice in Wonderland" or should it be "Alice in a BT Hell" mentality!

It is a fairly major miscalculation on BT's part from £12,000 per quarter as a minimum entry point to £720,000 per quarter!! Cloud Nine find this reasoning impossible to believe and would ask that BT substantiate the reason for why they require a 400% increase in the price of a port as well as a 15 fold increase in the minimum number of ports. This is quite frankly crazy economics since the additional cost of buying in the FRIACO portion is only about £424 per port per annum and the Colossus infrastructure is in place.

Furthermore, Cloud Nine's local Surfport infrastructure is already in place so where is the extra infrastructure spend? BT are now really grasping at straws with what are becoming very spurious arguments for blatant profiteering and anti-competitive practices. Who has resigned from BT over such an astronomical miscalculation with the original Surfports? Are they really suggesting that they have lost the equivalent of about £500,000 per quarter (taking out the Friaco part on a rather generous £220,000 per quarter basis) on existing small Surfport installations? This is stretching credibility somewhat far. If that were really the case then I suspect Mr Danny Sullivan would not be in his job any longer!!

NO, we stick to the assertion that this is all a smokescreen for the anti-competitive behaviour of a monopoly provider that is trying to stifle competition. They are pursuing a step-by-step strategy designed to frustrate the progress of unmetered Internet access in the UK beyond anything other than bland "one size fits all" offerings. Just as Surftime was supposed to frustrate FRIACO, Surfport 24 is an attempt to pervert and restrict FRIACO and subvert FRIACO2.

Regards

Emeric Miszti
MANAGING DIRECTOR
CLOUD NINE

A fair amount of that won’t mean much of anything to most of you; it’s something that only the ISPs can really understand. Although we think the moral of the story is this, don’t try to set a specific number to something, which is different for everybody in size and scale.

BT Internet Launch AnyTime 24/7 Package

By:mark.j @ 10:15:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've know this was coming for some time and today BT has sent out the official press release for their new BTSurfPort24 unmetered option. Surprise... BT are the first to offer a Surfport24 option, now isn't that a first? No:

BTINTERNET OFFERS ANYTIME TO EVERYONE

* A new multi-million pound campaign to promote BTinternet Anytime across the UK
* BT Shops and BTinternet retail partners, including HMV and Iceland, roll-out millions of disks promoting BTinternet Anytime in more than 2,000 outlets across the country

From today Internet users across the UK will be able to enjoy all day, everyday unmetered access using one of the UK's most reliable Internet service providers, BTinternet.

With the launch of BTinternet Anytime, BTinternet is offering both new and existing customers access to the Internet 24 hours per day and seven days per week for £14.99 per month (including VAT) with no additional Internet call charges. Customers will need a BT Line to take advantage of this new package.

BTinternet, already the UK leader in unmetered access, is expecting high demand for the new package. Since the portal first announced details of BTinternet Anytime in mid December, more than 150,000 people have visited the Web site to register their interest.

A multi-million pound advertising campaign, which kick starts with press and online advertising on 27 January, will also generate high consumer awareness. The adverts, which humorously depict BTinternet Anytime surfers forgetting how to perform 'real world' tasks like driving a car or using an escalator, will run on TV, in addition to on radio, in print and online. The heavy-weight campaign will reach the majority of consumers in the UK. Ben Andradi, president and chief operating officer of BTopenworld, said:
"Offering BTinternet Anytime to everyone from day one shows just how confident we are in the quality of our networks and support systems."

BTinternet's use of BT Ignite's Internet-protocol (IP) network infrastructure - the largest in the UK - will ensure the portal maintains its five star quality rating during the roll-out of BTinternet Anytime. The BT Ignite network was recently awarded the highest A+ rating by Visual Networks.

In addition to an above-the-line advertising campaign, BTinternet will promote all BTinternet Anytime with targeted below-the-line marketing activity. All BT shops and BTinternet's main retail distribution partners - including HMV, Rymans, Nationwide, Northern Electric and Iceland - will also, from tomorrow, start distributing millions of fliers and BTinternet disks, promoting BTinternet Anytime, in their combined 2,000 retail outlets around the country.

Added Andradi: "No campaign stone will be left unturned in our drive to maintain our leadership in the unmetered access stakes, which really is the future of Internet access in this country."

For more information or to register for BTinternet Anytime visit:
www.btinternet.com/anytime or call 0800 085 2820.

We still get almost daily complaints about BTInternet, although opinion does vary and a lot of it seems to be down to location, as is so often the case these days. So if you're thinking of signing up then it might be worth a visit to our forums to see what people are saying about them.

EXCLUSIVE-C9s New OffPeak Unmetered

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

Following on from yesterday, CloudNine have now sent us the exclusive details on two new Off-Peak packages:

CLOUD NINE LAUNCH LOW PRICE EVENINGS AND WEEKENDS SURFTIME PACKAGE!
Cloud Nine have launched a limited number off-peak only no-drop Surftime package. Because we are business provider we are finding that port usage during the day is 3 times that during evenings and twice usage at weekends. Consequently we have anywhere between 50% and 66% "dead" capacity during evenings and weekends (extra). I guess that makes us the opposite of most other providers.

We are going to provide these at £6.99 per month which together with BT Surftime or Surf Together comes to just £12.98 inc. VAT for those who only need off-peak fixed price high quality unmetered access. These packages are going to be limited in number to ensure that we maintain our reputation for not having engaged lines. They will allow access between 6:00pm and 08:00am and from 6:00pm Friday until 12:00am Sunday.

The services are called HomeSurf Offpeak and BusinessSurf Offpeak.

CloudNine are one of the ISPs we use, having had enough of less expensive ones failing, and so far their service has been top rate. While this new Off-Peak update/option might be a couple of pounds more expensive, you do get some advantages over others.

Firstly they actually know the official 'Off-Peak' timescale of 6:00pm to 08:00am, something most ISPs cheat you on by going to 2am or 3am the next day. Secondly they also offer a no cut-off system and have plenty of bandwidth, easily worth the extra cash.

News - January 25,2001

Watchdog

By:Daniel @ 6:29:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick note to say watchdog are featuring redhotant, IGclick and 24-7 freecall on their show tonight at 7pm

Linux ADSL USB Users Find Alternative

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

The USB Alcatel modems shipped with most supporting ADSL providers have been cause for a fair few problems both this year and last. One such problem happens to be for the ever-growing population of Linux users, which Alcatel simply doesn't cater for.

Although a small snippet of info from The Register might help such users spread a smile or two:

US DSL specialist LinkSys is working on a USB-to-RJ45 adaptor, allowing Linux users to connect USB modems to their Ethernet cards, thus negating the need for drivers.

Of course this could also have application on Microsoft and MacOS systems as well, although we fear there may still be problems ahead.

The Official Totalise Statement

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

We've said all we need to say, although here is the Official Totalise Press Release/Statement regarding the recent cull of subscribers:

Official Statement from Totalise plc – January 25, 2001

Totalise plc today announces that it has terminated its 'unmetered' Internet service for a number of its users due to the ongoing costs of the service. The Ultimate Surf, which offered users a 100 hour per month limit (peak and off-peak) was launched in August last year as an access service for domestic customers only.

Users paid £235 for the service for a two year period. Around 900 users will be affected, although the majority of The Ultimate Surf users will be able to carry on using the service as before.

Affected users, whose service will be terminated on January 27, will be offered a refund on the subscription they paid. Customers using the service for domestic purposes only, will receive a pro rata refund (minus £9.79 for each month) from the activation month. For example, users who registered in August 2000 will receive a refund of £176.26. All affected users have been notified by post with information about the termination and details on how to apply for a refund.

Peter Gregory, CEO of Totalise, explained, “Because of the state of the ISP industry it is not financially viable to carry on offering this service to some of the users and as a business, we have had to make the unfortunate decision to cancel the service to them. The majority of our users will still be able to carry on using The Ultimate Surf as they have been and we apologise to those affected users that we cannot continue to offer this service.”

Totalise currently has over 154,000 registered users for its ISP – of which The Ultimate Surf is one access option. For further details, see www.totalise.net

At the very least they have set out a refund scheme, which is more than some.

Totalise Kicking Users (900!) - UPDATE

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

As the day moves on some news sites have started to hunt down and find out more information on the Totalise situation, following our exclusive earlier this morning. The Register in particular has learned that Totalises latest cull (its third so far) kicks off 900 from the service!:

In a statement, Peter Gregory, CEO of Totalise, said: "Because of the state of the ISP industry it is not financially viable to carry on offering this service to some of the users and as a business, we have had to make the unfortunate decision to cancel the service to them."

"The majority of our users will still be able to carry on using The Ultimate Surf as they have been and we apologise to those affected users that we cannot continue to offer this service."

This will come as small comfort to those who paid £235 for two years' access. The tariff has only been available since August last year.

Interestingly, despite the ISPs official stance that subscribers were kicked for being business users, they let slip to The Register that it was a 'usage' issue. All this and the fact that many who found themselves kicked had yet to use even close to their allotted 100Hours.

Can we really afford to wait nearly two more years before Ofcom arrives and we finally get a General ISP Regulation body!?

EXCLUSIVE - CloudNines Official Complaint To Oftel Against BT

By:mark.j @ 2:01:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

CloudNine have been very kind in keeping us and some other sites in the loop about the not so friendly activities of BT towards ISPs. They're still investigating the 128KBps ISDN Access cut we brought to light some time ago, although things have just gone from bad to worse.

The following is the text from an official complaint made to Oftel regarding the unfairness from BT over its new Surfport24 product:

OFTEL

23 January 2000

BT OPERATING FRIACO RESTRICTIVE PRACTICE – COMPETITION COMPLAINT

Dear Sir,

I wish to make a formal complaint against BT and ask you to rule on the matter urgently

It is our opinion that BT have introduced a restrictive practice through a product call SurfPort24 in the UK to prevent small to medium size ISPs competing in the Unmetered Internet Access market using FRIACO wholly for the benefit of very large ISPs including BT branded ones. This in turn ultimately restricts choice to the consumer and small business of the unmetered products and services they can choose. They have introduced this practice by raising the entry barrier to unaffordable economic levels for SurfPort24.

Furthermore they allowed small to medium ISPs to enter into their SurfPort (Surftime) product and deliberately provided no economic upgrade path for those providers. BT have maintained there own ISPs are not on Surftime and may have been privy to the anti-competitive SurfPort structure

Taking today’s published prices and identical port quantities of SurfPort and SurfPort24 it can be proven that 24x7 unmetered customers can be served much cheaper by a SurfPort24 wholesale ISP than by a Surftime ISP even if both ISPs were charging identical prices and being charged by BT Ignite identical prices. This is owing to the high subscription level the end user has to pay to BT on the blue bill with Surftime (SurfPort) ISP which now is payable direct to the ISP under wholesale SurfPort24. In fact BT Internet have inbtroduced BT Internet Anytime at £14.99 which is below the end user subscription of £19.99 that a end user has to pay BT direct on the blue bill when wanting Anytime unmetered Internet access through a Surftime ISP using SurfPorts.

With BT dragging it’s feet on local loop unbundling and no other FRIACO wholesale providers in the market the only solution is to buy from BT IGNITE. This must be anti-competitive as there is no competition to purchase at much lower prices and create anti-competitive cost distortions for smaller ISPS.

There are over 92 unmetered ISPs in the country using 0800 services and there are a number of smaller Surftime ISPS of which Cloud Nine is one. So there is a demand for competition in this area.

Furthermore BT can hardly argue that an order a 50 port Surfport24 order is small £120/month/per port = £77,000 per year on a two year contract would be small – in fact that is still more than SurfPort entry level. We maintain even a 100 ports is very large for must small unmetered ISPs and would prevent newcomers to the market. Cloud Nine would welcome a ruling of 50 ports.

Cloud Nine are an existing Surftime provider already providing unmetered internet access through BT IGNITE SurfPort product. Oftel have already said they encourage links from DLE to the customer data center which is how this product is delivered. We have this infrastructure already in place and can see no uneconomical technical reasons why BT would prevent the migration to SurfPort24 from SurfPort (Surftime) and deliver this service over this infrastructure. The only changes in the product are phone no and billing method

We also wish to add the SurfPort24 migration process is anti-competitive by not allowing a call off for migraters although allowed for new subscribers of Surfport24.

We can only conclude this is anti-competitive practice and restricting choice to the consumer and small business.

To conclude small successful unmetered ISP being supplied a unmetered product (Surftime) by BT Ignite can no longer compete because of the introduction of a replacement product (Surfport24) which is economically structured to prevent entry and competition by small ISPs in the unmetered market and benefit very large ISPs.

Mar*** R****, ************@bt.com of BT Ignite has clarified the position in an e-mail which I am forwarding to you under a separate cover

Please open a case for us and give a ruling

John ****

The implications are quite obvious, BT is restricting who can and can't make use of their Surfport24 technology. This is especially bad because it means only the largest of providers could ever truly get into the system, regardless of whether they already offer a BTSurftime system or not.

We'll be keeping a close eye on this and ConnectFREE is also expected to follow suit and lodge a similar complaint. If this can’t be resolved then it could effectively lead to the death of CloudNines unmetered packages and them as a competitive ISP, all thanks to BT. However we fully expect Oftel to rule in favour of C9.

EXCLUSIVE - Totalise Kicking Users

By:mark.j @ 11:31:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Oh dear, it looks as if Totalise have started to boot users from their 'Unlimited' (cough ...100 hours... cough) unmetered ISP service. We didn't realise this was such a large problem until George pointed us to THIS general forum.

The Letters and E-Mails being sent out from Totalise accuse users of not over using the service (all we've seen claim to be under 100hours anyway), but of using it for business purposes. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Totalise shares have recently taken a huge slump and an emergency meeting called for mid February.

Customer replies to these accusations about their service use are nothing short of strong:

"A letter through the post 'regrets to inform me' that my usage patterns suggest that I am using it for business purposes although it doesn't actually accuse me in so many words. What they really mean is that I am using it too much for their liking. Incidentally, this is way under the 100 hours allowance we were previously on but still too much for Tot it seems. They will refund my money less an amount they deem suitable for business use IF they decide that I have been using it for business. I expect that there will be a few more moaners before the day is out."

Another writes...

"Apparently trading stox all day and chatting to friends across the world and occasionally ministering to my bank account makes me ''appear'' to be a business user thus I too am cordially invited to piss off. What a bl***y joke this company is becoming, from being a shining star full of promise it turns out to be the same lacklustre c**p as all the others. Shame, I almost believed them too."

It seems as if some ISPs regard online banking and share dealing to be business related, although in the modern online world such things are standard practice. Share dealing is no long a corporate tool; it's a consumer one as well.

Totalises customers are quite right to be frustrated and angry, having not overused the service and now finding themselves the unfortunate victims of modern miss-representation. Ironic that an ISP based on shares can kick you without even a solid shred of proof, we wonder if this is the way TheFreeInternet did it?

EasyNet - First To Take Advantage Of LLU

By:mark.j @ 10:56:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following yesterdays post in which a first trial piece of LLU was given out to an operator in Battersea, the Telco responsible has today revealed themselves as EasyNet, a name many will recognise:

El Reg chatted to the management team at EasyNet this afternoon and they were positively giddy with excitement. And quite right too. We'd all like to celebrate in EasyNet's success.

A little bit of bunting, some cake and pop wouldn't go amiss either to help celebrate this event.

Of course, BT's putting on a brave face pretending that this is terrific news. But deep down - deep, deep down - you know they're hurting. Ooooooohhhh, they're hurting bad.

Oh, and you can bet Oftel is wetting itself with excitement that someone, at last, has finally done it.

There's not much information available at present and The Register makes that clear, although it'll take the Networking giant some time before they can physically test things out. Good luck to them!

NTLs Future Finance & Customer Targets

By:mark.j @ 10:49:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

NTL have today set out more details on their targets for cost cutting and subscriber numbers for the end of 2001. They plan to start squeezing money from their networks by ramping up digital TV and broadband subscriber numbers. They also plan to cut the costs involved with providing these services, as detailed more previously.

The unprofitable company forecast big increases in top-line earnings over the next two years on the back of steadily rising revenues, falling capital expenditure and expanding margins. It predicted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £385,000,000 in 2001 and £825,000,000 in 2002.

It aims to have 1.25Million digital subscribers by the end of 2001, more than double its end-2000 number of 530,700. Users of its high-speed cable Internet modems would exceed !100,000 - up from 12,800. The company forecast revenues of 2.6 billion pounds in 2001 and 3.4 billion in 2002.

We're still stuck on them hoping to get 100,000 Cable Modem users from a measly 12,800 =). It'll certainly be interesting to see how things progress and what the end results are.

Ecossetel Finally Get FRIACO Vroom2 Online

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

We haven't really been covering Ecossetels FRIACO based Vroom2 ISP package, although it has been the subject of some conversation within our forums for a while now. Originally offering a 24/7 package for £49.99 Per year, they have continually delayed the launch month on month and just recently chose to increase the charge to £79.99 per year.

Despite the service being so late, most people had already seen money vanish from their accounts months before. This was in direct contradiction to a statement on the site, which claimed payment would only be taken once the service was available (we reporting this before).

To cut a long story short, some pre-subscribers have today FINALLY got what appears to be partial unmetered access (thanks Chris):

Dear Vroom2 registrant,

We are pleased to announce that the following numbers are available for off peak unmetered dial in use:

0800 *** ****

This number will be available from 18:00 - 06:00 Mon - Friday and all day Sat/Sunday until the FRIACO 24/7 system is operational. Outside of these times access can be obtained via 0845 638 9891 or 0845 333 1891. The 0845 numbers are charged at your local call rate or if you have signed up for the EcosseTel NiteLite service then this would be charged at 1p peak or 0.5p a minute off peak.

Your login name must include the @ecossetel.net suffix and your password is as advised.

Newsgroup server is news2.randori.com and you can login into your email at www.ecossetel.co.uk and use the login button on the left menu. Please note that for the residential package we only offer an IMAP (web based) email system, although you can configure Outlook Express to pick up your POP3 email, by making a collection point on our IMAP system.

If you require our primary DNS server is 212.67.203.238 and the secondary 212.67.203.239

We expect the off peak system to be operational this week, probably on the 24th, but we have had a few delays in RADIUS server authentication.

Please phone customer services on 0800 164 0800 during office hours if you have any problems logging in.

Regards

Steve Delahaye

Still no 24/7, the thing Vroom2s customers actually paid £79.99 for, but at least there's some Off-Peak. ISP Review would always advise that you never pay up front for an unmetered ISP, always choose a monthly option (security/safety) and if not then just don't sign up. At present Vroom2s service seems to be stable, although they have yet to introduce the much-delayed 24/7, it could all change.

News - January 24,2001

Freeserve Anytime Status

By:Ross14 @ 8:57:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We have ourselves just opened a trial account with Freeserve Anytime and we are sorry to say that first impressions are terrible.

We have been dialing in via an Eicon Diva ISDN card, and as most of you will know ISDN cards dial within seconds. Well, we have still, as yet, not been able to connect the the Anytime Package, even though we have dialled in 425+ times.

It's not really a great first impression Freeserve, is it? If anyone out there has any hope stories, or if you've been able to connect then please reply. It may very well be a regional problem, but having to dial in 425 times and with no connection is disgusting.

The thing that surprises us the most is that the Freeserve connection number starts with the over-ride code 161642 which probably connects to a Friaco system. Well, once you dial this code on any telephone, you will see that you get the "This is a BT announcement - Network Busy" message. So, in all respect, it might be a BT network congestion problem, and not a Freeserve one. But this situation should have been sorted before launch.

**Update**

We have still not been able to connect, but Freeserve Tech Support have told us that there is a BT Capacity problem and that 40% of calls are not getting through. They also said that they are having regional variations, with some people being able to log in first time and some people, like us, not being able to get on at all.

Net Games UK 0800 = LIVE!

By:mark.j @ 5:29:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Along with the announcement of Freeserves new unmetered offering, Net Games UK (NGUK) have today officially launched theirs as well:

OUR 0800 SIGNUP IS NOW LIVE!

We are happy to announce that our 0800 is live after a long beta-period and delays for last minute changes. We will be placing a limit of 2500 users on our first batch of signups to ensure service quality does not get degraded... so get in quick!

It comes with a monthly charge of £25 and a 3hour cut off, you can signup here:
http://www.nguk.net/0800_signup.shtml

So far all comments about this gaming ISP have been very favourable, we'll keep a tab on them to see how things go.

xDSL & Cable Modem Alternatives

By:mark.j @ 2:35:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This is something we'll cover in depth with the launch of our broadband section (very soon..), although until then ZDNet have taken a look at the alternatives to xDSL & Cable Modems:

"Fixed wireless" beams data from masts to an antenna sitting on the top of a building. It must have a clear line of sight.

Its limited range and the high cost of equipment look set to restrict its appeal for now to out of town business parks.

British company Tele 2 offers fixed wireless in a few cities, but analysts do not expect a mass market for the technology.

Whilst auctions for new mobile phone networks raised the British government billions of pounds, the fixed wireless auction flopped, with many of the regional permits left unclaimed.

UUNet vs SPAM vs R.I.P

By:mark.j @ 2:31:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's beginning to look as though tough new laws to prevent SPAM in the UK will end up in deep and direct contravention of the Data Protection Act and R.I.P. In order to identify SPAM you have to bend the rules, a problem UUNet have just found out after last weeks SPAM attack:

Engineers clearing more than two million emails called up all the messages and examined the headers to delete the spam. Examining the subject line of the header, however, contravenes the data interception rules specified by the RIP Act which were designed to give users a guarantee of privacy.

The crucial part of the law states that it is an offence to "intentionally and without lawful authority" intercept any communication in the course of its transmission.

Richard Woods, UUNet's public affairs advisor, said the company was unaware that looking at this information without a warrant might be in breach of RIP interception rules, claiming that it constituted a grey area.

Grey indeed, positively black as it would seem our poor old government keep throwing out new laws without looking for potential contradictions and contraventions in the existing ones. VNUNet has the full beef.

Freeserves New Unmetered Offer Goes Live

By:mark.j @ 2:21:PM - Comments (7) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The much-troubled unmetered dial-up ISP, Freeserve, has finally launched its £12.99 inc. V.A.T package today. The system has been around/online for the last two days, although today Freeserve have chosen to make the news public.

We'd personally advise people give them a little more time, they're clearly going to end up swamped again and before the previous problems have been fixed. In the last week things have improved, but not enough to warrant the onslaught this new offering will bring - you've been warned.

In doing this Freeserve becomes the second 'cheap' FRIACO/BTSurfport24 based ISP to offer unmetered, following AOLs example. BTInternet are also expected to launch their AnyTime 24/7 offer this week or next, while other ISPs will simply upgrade to Surfport24 or FRIACO(2) and adjust accordingly. ClaraNET are expected to follow suit after hearing what FRIACO2 has to offer on the 1st February 2001.

*UPDATE*
ITN have an interview with the head of Freeserve. You can find it HERE

Another ISP Bites The Dust - KZN Media

By:mark.j @ 10:19:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

KZN Media, previously a children’s ISP, has revised its business strategy with plans to move away from the UK ISP sector. It will instead start to focus on syndicating its content. KZN Media are not the first ISP to fall out from the UK market, although their reasons are familiar:

KZN adjusted its strategy owing to ‘flat rate’ internet access offers which it cannot match, the highly competitive UK ISP market and was unable to generate sufficient levels of income from either telephone or advertising.

Medi@invest, which has a majority shareholding in KZN and invested £3.4m into it last year, director Robin Jones said: “We will keep the ISP ticking over but we have no aggressive plans for it as yet. There is no money to be made in ISP’s, it is hugely competitive and only telecom companies will win”.

We doubt that only the Telco's will win, as they themselves need ISPs to survive, at least to a point. Although even under the newer market evolving from BTs Surfport24 and FRIACO2, those that can't keep up will eventually fall. Just as we predicted over a year ago; more @ netimperative.com.

BT Hands Over First LLU Exchanges

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

BT has quietly handed over the first unbundled local loops for a trial exchange in London - Battersea. It's certainly a talking point although despite that the change over has been rather quite.

As for the Telco who can claim to be the first to gain competitive access to BTs network? They'll have to reveal themselves to us in due course; BT is staying tight lipped. Cause for celebration? Perhaps it's better to wait until the rest gets unbundled first.

Deregulation Puts Operators Out Of Business

By:mark.j @ 10:04:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It was only a matter of time before Europe wide Telco deregulation eventually turned from good to bad. At some point the offerings of xDSL and unmetered access among cheaper costs and LLU turned on the industry and started to strip profits.

A series of restructurings in recent weeks show that many new telecom companies find it hard to make money in the liberalised world. "We have to learn to cooperate. We're not all going to survive," Tim Samples, the chief executive of European Telco - FirstMark Comms Europe, said at a conference last month.

Britain's Atlantic Telecom said this week it was cutting its work force by a third to see positive cash flow earlier than the expected year of 2004. Atlantic follows other European operators such as FirstMark, which has announced similar cutbacks, and Samples has meanwhile announced he will resign.

U.S. telecoms company Viatel and Britain's Redstone Telecom are also following suit, ready to begin scaling back their expansion plans.

The reason for the turmoil is not only the drying up of investment from capital markets, which have turned their back to the telecom industry. It is also the challenge of making a profit in a market where the former state operators are dragging their feet over giving up their monopolies (Local Loop Unbundling, xDSL etc.).

As such new operators are finding it difficult to gain free access to the old incumbent operators telephone exchanges, to give them direct connection over the so-called "last mile" of existing copper wire to their customers.

Unfair or not, JP Morgan forecasts that the former monopolies will retain some 40% - 60% of their local access market, and only two new operators will win significant market share in each European country, capturing between 10% - 15% shares.

Global Crossing sights this as the reason they pulled out of the race to UK local exchanges last summer:
"We would have dearly liked to use DSL unbundled, but decided not to be in the local exchanges with British Telecommunications. The economics don't work. It is too crowded, and BT is given the first entrant opportunity".

It is not alone. MCI Worldcom has also opted out, and KPNQwest and Telewest have also cancelled or postponed plans. This situation is all too similar to the United States where deregulation has started earlier and where DSL operators struggle for profits.

Of course there is always the flip side to every coin and that is that Telco's are expecting too much too fast from the state covering operators (BT etc.). To ask a country leading Telco to give up even a small percentage in the market is to insight colossal losses, be the exchanges originally owned by the Telco or not.

It's perhaps arrogant of us to expect BT to just fold over a give in, they are a commercial company trying to make a commercial income. We can't just expect these Telco's to give us what we demand, ironically if you did it too fast then in some cases it might destabilise the whole economy.

With all of this said it still doesn't denounce the fact that the Telco's who survive will be the ones biggest to take on the market and perhaps that's how it should be.

GWN Mourns & Disagrees With Barrysworld

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

Games-World.Net have also sent us a second press release in which they mourn the passing of Barrysworld, but also discredit some of their beliefs:

Official Press Release – 23/01/01

The management and staff of Games-World Net Ltd (GWN) would like to express their sadness at the demise of Barrysworld (BW).

BW was one of the leaders in the online games industry in fact GWN originally based their strategy on a model similar to the BW one but this has now changed substantially.

We would like to point out some errors in the BW press release dated 23/01/01

Games ISP’s are not all in their death throes as BW are implying. GWN is profitable and will be in business for the foreseeable future. GWN is able to make money on dial and server rental and we have more services in the pipeline to further the company.

Games-world will be continuing to trade as per normal for the foreseeable future. At GWN we provide many top services like bookable servers systems (Reserv-A-Match), 0845 and Tariff free (Surftime) Internet access and many more services to boot. We were also the first in the GSP sector to bring services like paid clan servers to the gamers of the UK, where for a fixed monthly fee we can provide clans with a dedicated games server to run any game they want.

We are also expanding our website and repertoire of games to include all the great news titles and also to increase the amount of existing games servers currently running. Keep your eyes peeled for great new titles like Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance, Tribes 2 and Quake 3: Team arena.

Games-World.Net will be around for a while.

Yours Sincerely,
Games-World.Net LTD

We'd have to agree, without a solid commercial foundation like GWN has, Barrysworld simply wasn't going to stand the test of time. Yet gamers will always respect them for staying free at a very real and proven risk to themselves.

GWN are also correct in saying that multiplayer ISPs such as Madasafish, Games-World.Net and NGUK are now starting to spring up and become popular.

Games-World.Net Celebrates Two Years

By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Games-World.Net, similar to Barrysworld, has just sent us the following celebration press release. They have been in existence for two years and wish to spread a few prizes out to the world because of it:

Official Press Release – 23/01/01

To celebrate the fact that we have been in business for nearly two years we are starting the Games-World.Net Prize Draw.

Games-World Net has decided to give away a state of the art computer at the end of November 2001. This Computer will be to the value of £2,000 It will be specified by the winner of our prize draw.

· To win the draw you must have your name drawn from the list of qualifying entrants.

· To qualify you need to sign up at http://www.games-world.net/prizedraw and generate 500 minutes through the Games-World Net 0845 dial system.

· Users who generate further full amounts of 200 minutes will have an extra entry in to the draw per 200 minutes generated.

· Entries are open to anyone who uses the Games-World Net dial except for Games-World Net and Intensive Networks Staff and family.

The signup starts 1st February 2001 and ends 30th November 2001. All minutes generated during this time by entrants will be included in the draw that will take place and be announced on 3rd December 2001.

Prizes

· 1st - A computer system to the value of and not exceeding £2,000. Specified by the Winner.

· 2nd - A Computer peripheral to the value of and not exceeding £300. To be specified by the 2nd prize winner.

· 3rd - A Computer peripheral to the value of and not exceeding £150. To be specified by the 3rd prize winner.

Yours Sincerely,
Games-World.Net LTD

For every failure, Barrysworld, there is a success.

News - January 23,2001

New BT Talk Package

By:Ross14 @ 6:58:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We're not exactly sure if this is brilliant news but BT have announced a new package to be built upon their BT Talk Together Package called BT Working - Talk - Together.

The new package will be available from February 1st and will give you unlimited free local calls during the evening and weekend - plus an inclusive call allowance of £3.60 per month, in addition to other extra benefits.

The Inclusive Monthly Fee will be £19.99 and if you want to sign-up to the package then please call 0800 800 150.

We are not quite sure what the 'extra' benefits are yet, but we are awaiting an offical press release from BT or for one to be posted on the bt.com website.

BigBlueSky Goes Live TODAY!

By:mark.j @ 10:49:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to a snip from Net4Nowt, the ISP BigBlueSky is set to go live sometime today, although the much delayed ISP won't actually allow you to connect just yet.

Apparently this delay is due to a cock up by BT, something quite common these days, and it should come 'online' in the next 24 hours. The ISP asks for a one-of (lifetime) payment of £25 for daily 24/7 unmetered access; something most people believe to be un-sustainable, we'd agree.

However it's worth noting that the ISP has not yet made its proper Terms & Conditions available and nobody actually knows much about the ISP package itself. As such you never know what kind of limits might be involved.

BTs Surfport24 Stealing FRIACO2s Thunder

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

Chances are many of you will have become somewhat confused in the ever-progressing design of unmetered packages and systems. Sadly it's only going to get more confusing as BTs own FRIACO based Surfport24 is already stealing FRIACO2s thunder (not finalised). So a FRIACO based system is stealing a FRIACO2 systems thunder? Confusion reins:

Next week, Oftel is to release the final directive on FRIACO2, the latest iteration of the package that will allow operators to finally offer unmetered access packages to their ISP customers. Despite this, many ISPs are not waiting for wholesale FRIACO and are opting for a new BT retail offering instead. FRIACO2 (otherwise known as FRIACO Single Tandem), has been greeted more positively by much of the industry than its predecessors, FRIACO1 and the hybrid FRIACO packages.

The final directive (Friaco2) will list details of Oftel’s proposal to make unmetered access really unmetered. It follows a consultation document released by Oftel in November, which called for BT to install a layer of switches throughout its trunk networks, to enable it to cope with an increase in the volume of traffic to its regional networks. However, this will be limited in order to gauge how much BT’s network can take. It also proposed that by April this year, wherever possible, operators should siphon IP traffic from the local exchanges onto their own networks.

But despite Oftel’s announcement, a number of ISPs have opted for an alternative package offered by BT, which went live last week. ISPs including BT Internet and AOL will be using this FRIACO alternative, BTnetSurfPort24, which will be nationally available from April. The service siphons traffic off at the local exchange and onto BT’s own IP network Colossus, which then links to the operator’s network – bypassing regional exchanges and removing the need to build out to local exchanges.

Oftel has slammed BTnetSurfPort24, saying it is not strictly a FRIACO product because BT will charge customers for conveying traffic onto Colossus. A spokesperson for Oftel said: “It ends up as a retail product – it is not purely wholesale because operators will not put calls directly onto their own network.”

Every inch of netimperative.com's article is worth reading and provides for some very entertaining insights and information. Naturally ISPs like Plus.NET have already chosen to jump ship because swapping from a BTSurftime system to a BTSurfport one is so much simpler.

However those ISPs not yet with Surftime or FRIACO are biding their time and waiting to see how the finalised FRIACO2 offering looks before leaping on board. 1st February 2001 isn't too far off now and once again competition is likely to take a jump. We're likely to see several new ISPs come online and this looks set to be a very exciting time.

Out of all this the most important thing is that we're finally seeing realistically priced systems come online.

No More Adopting Babies Online - ISPA

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

Following the recent media coverage from the headline-grabbing case of the British couple who adopted twins over the Internet, the Department of Health has now set out stronger guidelines and sent them to the ISPA:

The Minister’s letter said: “If a UK-based ISP has actual knowledge that they are storing material which breaches [the Adoption Act], they must remove it. If they do not do so they are committing an offence and may face prosecution.”

Under the UK Adoption Act, it is illegal to publish advertisements that put a child up for adoption, seek a child for adoption, or even offer services to arrange an adoption.

However, a spokesperson for the Department of Health denied that the Government was placing too much of the onus on ISPs, pointing out these responsibilities already exist: “This is nothing new. We’re just reminding them of their obligation under current law.”

At least they've recognised that it's only a punishable offence if the ISP itself is aware of the material, otherwise it'd be somewhat unfair since you can't block web data (specifically websites) dynamically without causing problems. More @ netimperative.com.

Visit BTOpenwoe.Org

By:mark.j @ 10:08:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

With an ISP, had problems with the ISP or a lot of questions, if so then the chances are one of the ISPs customers has already made a consumer site with all the answers. This morning Vincent reminded us of the following site:

http://www.btopenwoe.org.uk/

It's one specifically for all you BTOpenworld subscribing ADSL monkeys looking for BTO specific information, help and details. Well worth a visit.