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January 18, 2001 - January 23, 2001

News - January 23,2001

C&W Sells NTL Shares

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

NTL never completely took over Cable & Wireless (C&W) and even today they hold a substantial share in NTL itself. Today C&W decided to sell 3% of that share in order to raise £183Million:

Cable & Wireless, the multinational IP data traffic giant, reported to the Regulatory News Service that it has sold 3% of ntl stock to the Goldman Sachs Group, raising £183 million. The sold stock was placed with several institutional investors by Goldman Sachs.

8 million shares were sold, leaving Cable and Wireless with 36.4m. The company said it will not sell any more ntl shares for the next thirty days, and it has previously agreed to hold at least 22.2 million shares until May 2001.


Cable & Wireless will likely use the extra cash to boost the development of their VoIP services as well as some other things. More @ CableNews.

News - January 22,2001

Quick Site Update

By:mark.j @ 4:45:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Broadband and Unmetered ISP listings have recieved an update and work is progressing on our new broadband specific section.

Thus Threatens To Leave UK Over R.I.P

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

Thus, the ISP who owns Demon Internet, are threatening to leave the UK because of the R.I.P Act's implementation. The act forces ISPs to retain all the email it has handled for 7 years after delivery (madness) and to make it available to police forces when needed for a criminal investigation:

The threat was made during a House of Commons meeting with MPs and the Home office. A Thus spokesperson said: "This is potentially a huge burden for ISPs, which could well lead to a migration of business away from the UK. I would be very surprised if other ISPs don’t share our opinion!"

The threat of ISPs moving offshore was identified to the government at the inception of the RIP Bill, but it was largely ignored. The spokesperson continued: "However, I hope that common sense will prevail, and that further negotiation with the government will find a solution."

The position with regard to legal responsibility for email would seem to be moving in the same direction as more general online content – governments across Europe are keen to assign the legal burden for content onto an intermediary – the ISP.


Nobody likes R.I.P, it's lack of regulation, ISP side burdens and intrusive nature make it a seriously unwanted system. While you can read more @ netimperative.com , we'd also ask that you visit THIS news item from over the weekend. It's part of our campaign to spread the word about R.I.P and find out what ISPs and MPs think of it.

Barrysworld Plans To Liquidate!

By:mark.j @ 4:03:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The following has just been posted by our friends from http://www.barrysworld.com , it's a very sad day and as a sign of respect we'll just post the notice:

The End of BarrysWorld by TedTheDog
The Fat Lady Just Sang...


Ok, lets cut to the chase. BarrysWorld has gone into voluntary liquidation as we’re running out of money and with the market in its current state we’ve not found anyone prepared to fund our 2nd round of investment.
We’ve spent our money wisely and according to plan, we didn’t raise the enormous sums that some others did, and we lasted longer than them.

We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, we’ve stuck to the plan, we and our investors always knew that we’d need further funding now, but the whole market is falling apart and everyone is frankly too scared to invest the amount of money BarrysWorld requires to run in its current form.

And Yes, we’ve spent months pursuing alternatives none of which have worked out despite all our efforts and how close we got. No cigar though.

The ramifications of this are extensive but can be summed up in the sentence:

Unless a last minute rescue offer is successful, anything to do with BarrysWorld will cease to exist on or about the 31st January 2001.

By everything we really do mean everything – all the game servers, public, bookable and clan servers, all the leagues, the hosted sites, the email accounts, the dialup, the irc servers, the news and reviews, game guides, the team/player/recruitment lists – damn we’re really proud of what we’ve built…

Certain issues need to be addressed promptly. Anyone with a BarrysWorld email address or hosted site needs to make alternative arrangements as soon as possible. We’ll be mass emailing everyone we can think of to try and drive this process along as best we can.

Clan servers will not be offered for renewal, those Clans that paid beyond our closure date will need to get refunds from their Credit Card providers for services that have not been provided and those that paid by cheque will need to contact our Liquidators.

We’re not happy about that either, sorry. BarrysWorld is no longer under our control and we are simply unable to offer refunds, as we don’t hold the purse strings anymore (that’s the way liquidation works apparently, bear with us here, we’re new to this).

Someday online gaming will be financially feasible, but that will entail the consumer paying directly for the services he or she receives. With the death of BW that day gets closer, so you should prepare for the day when GSP’s etc charge for Gaming Services. Ironically we’d just finished our pay-per-play engine, our soon to be announced BarryBank which allowed us to charge for services like Bookable Servers, or offer micropayments easily to our Hosted Sites, we’ll probably put a demo live on the front page for the hell of it.

Those that tried to survive on the funding from dialup call revenue and/or advertising are dead or in their death throws, this market has collapsed. Supported by our business to business deals we survived longer than most, but even we found that it is simply not feasible to run gaming services with a long term future on this model.

So what happens now? Well the English legal system takes its ponderous course, until some point when the lights are turned off on what’s been our lives for the last 4 years. We’re intensely proud of what we’ve built, both before and during the 9 months we’ve had funding. BarrysWorld today is a home for more gamers than we dreamed off in those early days, and provides a lot of cool stuff to a lot of people, we’ll certainly miss it.

We genuinely believe there is a viable, extractable business inside BarrysWorld, just waiting for someone with a bit of vision to recognise, we’re of course open to offers of a rescue deal, so if you want to talk to us, then get in touch quick ! Mail us at rescue@barrysworld.com or rescuebw@deathace.net or ring Ted on +44 (0)208 650 6804.

It might help if we could tell potential buyers whether gamers would be prepared to pay for BarrysWorld or not – PLEASE fill in our form: http://www.barrysworld.com/membership/vote/voteform.asp to let us know. Its important, tell your mates to fill the form in, regardless of their stance on the matter, we really need feedback on this.

Once you’ve done that, you might like to sign our book of condolences ;-) in our BarrysWorld Forum. If you want to talk to any of the BarrysWorld team and have trouble contacting them, then email Ted at his backup address at ted@wibs.demon.co.uk and he’ll make sure you’re put in contact with the appropriate person. What we did we did bloody well.

Ted, DBs and the rest of the BW Team.


We love you guys.....! Sorry to see you go.

SniffOut Announces FRIACO Package

By:mark.j @ 2:04:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

SniffOut, the ISP that has offered BTSurftime based unmetered for some time now, has become the next ISP to offer a FRIACO package from 14th February. Not only that but their new 24/7 package only costs £13.99 per month!:

-Monthly subscription of £13.99
-No hidden charges, no lengthy contract
-24 hour unmetered Internet access
-Requires a BT telephone line.
-15 channels of fully featured, UK specific content, plus:

Includes:
Email - Unlimited POP3 mailboxes - plus Email browser interface (WWW).

Sniff Out Messenger - See when your friends are online and exchange instant messages.

Support - Email and Telephone (Calls at Local Rate)

Web Space - Unlimited web space

Microsoft FrontPage - extensions supported

Free online - web space design facility

Terrapin FTP - Free trial version of web space FTP program

Newsgroups

Access Speeds - 9600BPS to 56K BPS, 64 ISDN (128K ISDN soon)


Sadly the new offering won't be publicly available until March, only pre-registered members will be able to access this FRIACO offer. Also note that they haven't updated their T&C's with the FRIACO related information and as such must of it is only valid for BTSurftime based packages.

That said and they do emphasise the following in the F.A.Q:
None of our services are intended to support continuous or unattended Internet access. We continuously monitor our network and may take measures to control congestion, if there is evidence that this is occurring. If usage is such that it is significantly affecting service to other users of the our network then we may instigate congestion control measures. In this respect, we reserve the right to terminate a connection linked to an unmetered package if there has been no activity for twenty minutes. You will of course be able to dial into the Service again immediately after any such disconnection.

This is usually related to BTS ISPs, although it relates to all of SniffOuts services in the context of an FAQ. In other words, they can change the cut off time to whatever they want if so required, other ISPs have done this before (Plus.NET). We are not current sure what cut off time SniffOut impose.

Atlantic Telecom Moves Away From ADSL

By:mark.j @ 1:28:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Atlantic Telecom have today revealed more details about how they plan to distance themselves from the residential/ADSL market and jump strait into SDSL for SMEs:

The company plans to save £30m in the next year by reducing its residential sales and support staff and focus more resources on its business strategy.

In line with its business plans, Atlantic Telecom plans to roll out SDSL services in the UK rather than ADSL, which it sees as a consumer broadband option. SDSL, or synchronous DSL, means the data rate is the same in both directions. This is seen as a better option for businesses than asynchronous DSL (ADSL) which is devoted to the downstream direction, sending data to the user and only a small amount of bandwidth is available for upstream or user-interaction messages.

It plans to launch SDSL services from BT’s exchanges and has taken part in the bow-wave process in order to be allocated space within forthcoming exchanges. It is presently trialing SDSL in London, at one of BT’s four trial exchanges. A spokesperson for Atlantic Telecom said: “If we are targeting the market, SDSL is the business package.


ADSL is widely regarded as being too expensive, even under Local Loop Unbundling, and thus Telco's are moving away from it before its roots have had a chance to spread. Unfortunately the move away from ADSL is likely to be the key cause for a further 350 jobs being lost through UK departments. More @ netimperative.com.

Zen Comes To Ex-IGClick Customers Rescue

By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Zen Internet have contacted us with a proposal not unlike ADSLGuides below. The message goes as follows and I've been told they posted it in our forums as well:

At Zen Internet we are putting together a Rescue Package for ADSL customers left high and dry by IG Click -- the company who are quitting the broadband supply business.

Inevitably, BT Ignite co-operation will be needed to implement any transfer arrangements, and we are negotiating with BT so that the change to a reliable supplier will not add extra cost penalties to the heap of problems that stranded customers already have to deal with.

There will be strength in numbers. The more users who join in a group action, the better deal everyone will get.

We have already had very good feedback from contacts within BT Ignite and are pretty confident that we can move things forward quickly and smoothly once we get enough IG Click users together.

If you are one of IG Click's unfortunate ADSL customers, or if you know of someone who is...please contact us right away.

Jamie Mellalieu is managing the Rescue Package for Zen. (jamie@zen.co.uk , 01706 713714)

Our ADSL site address is: http://www.zenadsl.com

These are the details Jamie needs:

Your Name:
Daytime Contact Number:
ADSL Line No:
House Number:
Postcode:
Order date: (Accuracy helps a lot)
Install date:


It's good to see ISP banding together like this in order to grab some spare customers =), although it could save you some nasty transfer fees. We haven't tried Zen ourselves and so can't vouch for them yet, but they are an established group and we've never seen any complaints about them.

IGClick ADSL Customer Help

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

One of the sites on the same network as we, ADSL Guide, is asking for Ex-IGClick ADSL customers to E-Mail them in order to cost effectively have yourselves switched to another ISP:

Quick request: Could any IG Click ADSL customer who is not on the small mailing list we have, please email me. We need to get as many of you as possible in order to 'persuade' BT Ignite to work with us and get you connected to another ISP as quickly as possible at minimum cost to yourselves.

You can contact Carl HERE.

BT To Upgrade ADSL Availability Checker!

By:mark.j @ 10:07:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just over a week ago we reported on a situation with BTs ADSL service that meant most people couldn't have the technology install even if it was available to them. The online checking system used by almost all ADSL offering ISPs was months out of date and didn't cover hundreds of recent exchange updates.

As such you might have tried to signup for ADSL only to find that the system rejected you because the exchange hadn't been upgraded, even if it had. We passed this information over to BT and they said it'd be investigated and that was the last we heard, until today.

We can't be sure whether this is related, although the timing fits perfectly, but they have now announced that the system will be updated! Thanks to one of our readers (Taras) for informing us of the official document that we've now received.

The document states that BTs ADSL Availability checking will now be updated at the end of January/Early February. The system will be available here:
http://www.bt.com/broadband

The new system is also supposed to give you much more detail, such as the date the exchange will be updated if it hasn't already etc. We hope this is welcome news to all those planning to go the way of broadband in the near future.

Freeserve Preps Unmetered FRIACO Offer

By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long ago Freeserve announced their new unmetered package based on FRIACO technology, sometime early this week they plan to launch it. The package undercuts the opposition, although already the pricing structure is creating scepticism:

The Freeserve AnyTime package, based on the latest version of BT’s wholesale FRIACO scheme, will cost £12.99 a month for round-the-clock unmetered access, undercutting the £14.99 rate that BTInternet and AOL are expected to ask.

With the latest FRIACO system, BT charges ISPs a flat rate for local and national calls across its network, which means that ISPs will be in a better position to offer unmetered access deals to consumers.

Freeserve’s COO, Frank Keeling, said in December that the upgrade would improve the company’s service: “The move to FRIACO means that the economics have become much more attractive. This is a powerful offering – our package is £2 cheaper than the one offered by AOL. In addition, we will back it up with a faster network, and will offer customers, for the first time, a direct billing service.


There's no doubt about the fact that £12.99 per month is incredibly cheap and after further investigation, feasible. So long as you have a LARGE ISP then it would be possible to offer such a price, although network upgrades and maintaining support staff would become a difficulty.

Freeserves current problem is that their service is already diabolically bad and they are about to re-open before it's fixed. This is a mistake Freeserve have made time and time again, so be warned, just because it's cheap doesn't mean to say you'll have a good connection. Keep clear for a few months and see how things improve, if at all. More @ netimperative.com.

News - January 21,2001

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 11:58:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This week will go down in history as the one where several unmetered ISPs fell and great changes were bestowed upon the process of LLU and broadband. We certainly spent some late nights doing our best to cover the changes as and when they occurred.

That aside and a new week is about to begin, we doubt it'll be as interesting as the last, but then you never can tell. Due to last weeks dramatic news we ended up being delayed with much of our work, although some things have progressed.

The automated ISP listings system was finally finished and we're awaiting our payment to clear and the code to arrive sometime next week for implementation. We've also concluded 95% of the research into the broadband section and should start the first phase of work next week.

Some other section ideas have also been proposed; although we'd prefer to take things one step at a time rather than confuse the already heavy workload. On top of all that we have some very big forum features to introduce and have even coded our own mod for greater interactivity.

In short, next week will see the ISPreview team begin the list of enhancements set for 2001. The original expansion plan was set during early 2000 and we seem to be on time for all the new features, at least so far. From now on it's bare down and get working on the new features, until next week..

Telewest Look Into 2001

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

Telewest have sent out a letter to all its subscribers that takes a quick look back at 2000 and shows some of the things they'll be doing for early 2001. We'll quote the interesting bits:

During preparation for the launch of London South, network noise was identified in the Croydon area. To ensure that the service was not compromised, the launch of Croydon was deferred pending further investigation. Our engineers are currently working to address the issue by investigating the network devices in the region. This work is likely to take some months to complete. We will continue to keep you updated with progress on our service status page, and are working to launch the service as soon as we possibly can.

Good news for those in Croydon, even if you will be forced to wait several months before Cable Modems arrive. The letter also mentioned a bit about operating system compatibility and a new broadband only portal:

We are also pleased to announce that we have increased the range of Operating Systems our new client software supports to include not only Windows 95 & 98, but also Windows 2000, Windows Millennium, Windows NT4+ and Apple Mac [OS 8.1+].

blueyonder hi-speed customers can also look forward to the launch of a new, broadband version of the blueyonder website later in 2001. This broadband portal will include rich audio and video content so that hi-speed users can get the maximum possible experience out of their cable modem service.


With competition hotting up between NTL and Telewest and ADSL slowly beginning to penetrate the consumer market, 2001 looks to be a tense year for broadband.

RHA Statement

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

The latest statement to be posted on the RedHotAnt website:

LATEST NEWS
On Friday 19th January 2001 Kent County Council Trading Standards Officers came to our offices and removed various paperwork and computer systems. This was an attempt to ascertain if RedHotAnt had committed any offences since March 2000 in providing our recently suspended un-metered access products.

We currently have a small team of people out in the US working on various projects in an attempt to reinstate the un-metered service and/or to provide refunds for as many users as possible. As you can see we have already started to accept refund applications for subscribers who joined in December 2000 and we are working to increase this time frame even further back into last year.

Unfortunately, due to the authorities "rash" handling and lack of communication with us we have had to keep them informed every step of the way. There has been essential equipment removed and in turn some minor interruption with our support services via the VSA system. We are working to re-provide these services as soon as possible.

We feel confident that the authorities will find that we have acted and will continue to act in a moral fashion towards our subscribers in either un-suspending the un-metered service or providing a refund package.

It is most unfortunate that the primary reason behind our decision to suspend the service was due to our primary source of funding withdrawing their support. They did this as they strongly believed that BT would continue to delay the opening up of all of their switch locations and thus stopping the UK wide role-out of the FRIACO service, even though Oftel have been instructing BT to do so for some 12-18 months now...

We are all deeply saddened by this recent turn of events but will not be beaten by the establishment trying to crush a small player in the market trying to take on the "Big Boys". We are very grateful for all those messages of thanks and compliments we have received over the last few days since the suspension of the un-metered service.

We also recognise, and apologise to all those users who have sent in dissatisfaction, abusive and negative messages, we will do our utmost to resolve this unpleasant situation as soon as possible, please bear with us.

Kevin Wall
Managing Director


Well it seems that the main blame RHA has placed is that the rollout of FRIACO has taken too long which has caused their main backer to pull out. The "small team" in the US explains why there is a US Mail address on the Free4All site. It seems unlikely that RHA will return unless heavily backed by Level3.

News - January 20,2001

Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP)

By:Daniel @ 11:42:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Heres a little information about the RIP bill incase you were not sure of what it was:

"The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill currently going through Parliament will introduce powers to allow a number of UK authorities to intercept Internet communications and to seize encryption keys used for the protection of such traffic and for the protection of stored computer data. Such powers are not limited in their application to those involved in criminal activities and this means that law abiding individuals and businesses may be subject to interception activities as well as demands to hand over their encryption keys. Although abuse of these powers may well be limited, there can be no doubt that this will sometimes occur and this means that honest computer and Internet users will bear increased risks to their privacy, safety and security once this legislation is enacted."

For more info on the RIP bill check out http://www.stand.org.uk and for information to get round the RIP bill check out http://www.fipr.org/rip/RIPcountermeasures.htm

What ISPr would like to do is create a page with responses from diffrent ISP's about the RIP bill so i have started off from my ISP, blueyonder, unfortunately they have passed it onto a manager and i am awaiting for them to get back to me.

If you could all send this to your ISP's support email/newsgroup and then email me the response:

Hello,

Following the recent passing of the RIP bill, I wish to know your intentions with respect to my email account(s).

Do you intend to build in, or have you already implemented, an email monitoring system that allows monitoring of all emails from and to particular email addresses? Would you automatically agree to the full and indefinite monitoring of my personal email exchanges, without notifying me, if a suitable order was presented to you?

You will understand that I do not expect such an order to ever be issued; rather I am concerned that my civil liberties are under threat. A public statement to all your subscribers would be particularly appropriate in my opinion.

Yours sincerely
XXXXXXXXXXX

Replace XXXXXXX with your name

When you receive a reply email it to me at d.bayliss@blueyonder.co.uk

Hopefully we can compile a page with responses from well know ISP's

POLICE Raid RedHotAnt!

By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We already knew Trading Standards were talking to the police about obtaining access into RedHotAnts offices, but following the decision to offer refunds, we never expected this =):

The offices of RedHotAnt have been raided this afternoon by police and trading standards officials from Kent.

Police obtained a warrant to search the premises as part of a joint operation and have taken away equipment and documents for further examination.

As of 6.00pm Friday evening officials were still sifting through material at the offices in Hythe.


The Register has very little else to say on the subject, although it'll be fun to see if Kent Trading Standards detail out anything they found of interest.

More ISPs Prep For FRIACO2 (SurfPort24?)

By:mark.j @ 9:44:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Although it went unnoticed, BT launched their new SurfPort24 service yesterday, which is an offshoot of the FRIACO system. Although Oftel have yet to publicly and properly finalise the next FRIACO itself, BTs new Surfport24 does seem to be attracting a lot of attention:

The availability may pave the way for many more unmetered packages – ClaraNet, for instance, plans to offer a 24-7 package in the next six weeks. It is currently looking at all options, including using cable companies to siphon off traffic at the local exchange and on to its network, as it has done with its existing off-peak package. Nick Wells, marketing manager at ClaraNet said: “We are investigating all the options – but know that SurfTime is dead in the water.

In a statement, Thus said: “We have no plans to switch to SP24 at the moment but are having a look at it and evaluating it.” IC24.com is also in discussions about whether to move to SP24.


The netimperative.com Plus.NET article pointed that extra bit out, although it now means that the following ISPs appear to be following the Surfport24/FRIACO rout:

Plus.NET, Freeserve, BTInternet, AOL, ClaraNET, IC24?, FreeChariot, CloudNine & more....

AOL and FreeChariot are already using the older methods, although it shouldn't be too difficult to upgrade.

NTLs Preliminary 2000 Statistics

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

NTL has released the preliminary version of its full year 2000 operating statistics to the public:

During the fourth quarter we continued the rapid expansion of our Internet business ending the year with over 2,000,000 Internet subscribers. In the fourth quarter we grew ntlworld’s customer base by 150,100 subscribers to 531,300. Now over 70% of NTL customers that use the Internet at home select ntlworld. Our growing base of Internet subscribers provides a natural base for migration to high-speed access. Further, ntlworld and our Swiss dial-up business remain strong tools to acquire and retain higher demographic customers. The fourth quarter also witnessed an accelerated roll-out of high-speed cable modems in the UK and Switzerland. As of the end of the year, these franchises served over 40,000 high-speed customers. The demand for this product is substantial. Accordingly, the roll-out of cable modems will be a major emphasis of NTL in 2001 and beyond.

Further statistics and a full outlook for 2001 are expected to arrive on the 25th January 2000. You can read the current release here:
http://www.ntl.com/press/display.asp?id=312

The Totalise Meeting UPDATE

By:mark.j @ 9:31:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to all those Totalise customers whom sent us the E-Mail regarding an important meeting Totalise have chosen o have regarding the recent share price problems:

Dear Shareholder

NOTICE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

A situation has arisen that requires the Company to hold an extraordinary general meeting under section 142 of the Companies Act 1985. You will find set out below a notice convening an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held at Princes Exchange, Princes Square, Leeds LS1 4BY on Tuesday 13 February 2001 at 9.00am ("EGM").

Dr Peter Gregory has financed a significant proportion of the Company's trading to date by loans and guarantees. As a result of funds being available to the Company through his support rather than share capital, the net assets of the Company are now less than half of its called up share capital. Under section 142 of the Companies Act 1985, where the net assets of a public company are half or less of its called up share capital, the Directors are required to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Company for the purpose of considering whether any, and if so what, steps should be taken to deal with the situation. Accordingly, by means of the notice set out overleaf and in order to comply with the provisions of the Companies Act, the Directors have decided to convene the EGM.

This situation was anticipated during the recent AIM flotation as the funds raised were toward the minimum of the range the Company had hoped to raise. The Company is continuing to operate within its borrowing facilities and Dr Peter Gregory continues to support the Company with committed loans and guarantees. In the last few weeks your board has taken steps to reduce the overheads of the Company and to focus the Company and its subsidiaries on the pursuit of profit making activities. The Company intends to continue with its current strategy subject to any matters that may be raised at the EGM. This document will be available to the public from Totalise plc, Meridian House, Artist Street, Leeds LS12 2EW until 5 February 2001.

Please note that, if you hold your shares through the Totalise Company Nominee Service, you will need to obtain a letter of representation to appoint you as a proxy of the nominee should you wish to attend the EGM. You can obtain a letter of representation by sending a written request to: Computershare Services PLC, PO
Box 1075, The Pavilions, Bridgwater Road, Bristol BS99 3FA. If you hold your shares through the nominee, you will not be permitted to attend the EGM if you cannot provide a letter of representation on your arrival at the EGM. Requests for letters of representation must be received by Computershare Services PLC by midday on 11 February 2001.

Yours faithfully

D I R BRUCE
Chairman


Looks like we'll have to wait just a little longer before we find out full details and any potential changes that might occur. Some subscribers are notably nervous because despite having brought shares through the ISP side, they still haven't received the details for them and thus can’t even sell if they had to.

News - January 19,2001

Totalise Shares Collapse - Meeting Called

By:mark.j @ 4:31:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We're not sure whether this is really an exclusive or not, but six readers have contacted us regarding the UK ISP Totalise. Every time you join one of their accounts you gain shares in the company, however recently the shares have all but collapsed!

Apparently a meeting has now been called to discuss the situation and is due to go ahead on the 13th February 2001. Does anybody else know more about this?

Redstone Brings xDSL Launch Forward

By:mark.j @ 4:25:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following yesterdays Oftel meeting and now another today with BT, it looks like Redstone are the first Telco to PUSH FORWARD their LLU broadband offerings (SDSL and possibly ADSL based)!:

The deal with BT means Redstone can offer unbundled broadband services ahead of the 1 July deadline.

The move also means that Redstone should begin to make cash sooner - rather than later - and reduce the level of funding it needs to keep the operation ticking over.

In a statement, Graham Cove, CEO of Redstone, said: "We are... bringing forward the launch of broadband services in selected areas with a high business density [and] this current plan also advances our move towards profitability."


Initially it might seem like a slightly anti-competitive thing for BT to do, although you have to remember that this is SDSL (Business and SME networking) and not the lighter ADSL like so many others use. This may also server as the first REAL practical demonstration of a LLU implemented provider. We'll be watching the prices and services closely, more @ The Register.

NTL Planning To Give Ex-C&W Customers Fibre?

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

NTL is toying with an idea that could see Ex-Cable&Wireless (now NTL owned) subscribers skipping the dial-up unmetered access through NTLWorld and moving straight to cable modems:

The telco, which acquired CWC in May last year, has been unable to offer its unmetered ntlworld service to ex-CWC customers because their local networks could not handle the anticipated jump in call traffic.

NTL said upgrading these exchanges is just one of a number of options being considered. It is also considering offering ntlworld via cable modem using either standalone modems or using the modem contained within digital set-top boxes.

An NTL spokesman said the company would announce its decision within a few weeks. "We said last year that we would address the situation by the Spring, and that is still our intention. We are still considering a number of options and customers can expect an announcement in a few weeks or so."


While it's an interesting idea, there are several reasons why it could also end up being a logistical nightmare (maybe that's what they want? More delays anyone?). Most importantly, many of C&W's customers only have a converted BT line and might not be too pleased seeing their gardens ripped up for fibre optics.

It's clear that NTL are going to have to think about this one very carefully and not make any flash judgements. More @ VNUNet.

NTL Remove £5/PM TV Web Access Charge

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

We spotted this while on a visit to CableNews, some people may find it interesting to know (posted: news//:uk.media.tv.cable):

ntl have removed the £5 charge for full tv web access on ntl digitalplus, current subscribers will no longer be charged £5. You must still phone them on the number given on Interactive to enable the option of full tv web access.

CallNet Back From The Dead - Kind Of

By:mark.j @ 1:18:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Remember CallNet0800, the first 'truly free - kind of' provider to discover that such an economic model was as close to commercial suicide as one could possibly get. If you do then you might be interested to know that the brothers behind the original (Paul and Aaron Goodman-Simpson) are staging a come back:

One source claims the new ISP will offer a "range of subscription-free and access packages with some innovative features such as a family-oriented videoconferencing service".

In August shareholder pressure forced CallNet - which had offered unmetered Net access - to restructure the board. The Goodman-Simpsons plus CTO Keith Goodyer were ejected and replaced.

In September, CallNet was put up for sale and bought by E-Tel Ventures a month later.


The little detail we have proves quite interesting, although whether the service pans out as they hope we'll just have to wait and see. More @ The Register.

Netscalibur acquires Direct Connection (UK ISP)

By:mark.j @ 10:31:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Netscalibur, a large business ISP, is planning to promote its new business ISP services to the UK, Italy and Germany. Its UK operations will also need to acquire the popular British ISP, Direct Connection, in order to do so:

The venture, which is backed by a $235m (£160m) investment, will centre its operations in the UK after acquiring ISP Direct Connection, whose clients include Countrywide Assured Group, Orange and Sony UK.

In the last year, Netscalibur has also acquired Italian web hosting company Unisource Italia and the German ISPs, Evolution Systems International Backbone and Sireco. The four businesses have now been rebranded as Netscalibur.

Vialla said: “Our business has shifted from offering lower-end connectivity products to a full range of web-hosting services. We are a new name on the market and we need to get our brand across. The marketing campaign will begin in March and will reflect our brand identity.


Exact details of the services and prices Netscalibur have planned for the UK are not yet known, although it's probably nothing that special. More @ netimperative.com.

AOL & Nokia To Develop Own WAP Browser

By:mark.j @ 10:25:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

AOL, now known as AOL Time Warner, has entered into an agreement with Nokia to produce a Netscape branded WAP browser for mobile technologies:

Under the multiyear agreement, the America Online unit of AOL Time Warner will develop and market a Netscape-branded version of the Finnish telecommunications equipment maker's existing browser, known as WAP, for use across a variety of mobile communications devices.

"WAP is the most widely adopted wireless standard in the world among carriers and handset manufacturers and it makes sense for us to work to support that standard," Dennis Patrick, president of AOL Wireless, said in a statement.


It'll be interesting to see what they come up with since AOL aren't exactly known for having the best browsing technology built into their own ISP. More @ ZDNet.

US Boffins Triple Mobile Bandwidth

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

More news that could be related to the UK in the near future, US boffins have found a way of tripling mobile phone bandwidth, especially in built up areas:

In a scattering environment, an extra factor of three in channel capacity can be obtained, relative to the conventional limit using dual-polarised radio signals, because there are six distinguishable electric and magnetic states of polarisation at a given point, rather than two as is usually assumed.

Practical application of the polarisation phenomenon means having three antenna at right angles to each other, each aligned to a separate part of the polarisation field, on a reception device and incorporating additional signal processing technology into receivers. However the drive for mobile operators to deliver the higher speed internet access is so strong that the technique may be applied commercially.


The technique is a comparatively simple system to introduce and would save commercial companies a lot of money if introduced in a city. The same technology is likely to find its way into the UK, all depending on its American application. More @ The Register.

USA xDSL Problems Could Happen In The UK

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

If there's anywhere in the world you can look to by way of glimpsing the future of broadband, then it's the USA. It’s a country that’s had broadband for far longer than we and is aware of its faults as well as the advantages. Today a Telco known as Verizon (DC) found itself in court over charges of providing a poor service, could this happen in the UK?:

Verizon "intentionally induced tens of thousands of individuals" to order DSL service with promises that super high-speed access would be "generally available daily, seven days a week, except for regularly scheduled maintenance," the plaintiffs note.

"At all times relevant to this complaint, Verizon was aware that it would be unable to provide the service it promised in its advertising and that its subscribers would experience significant problems."

The 'problems' referenced include lengthy, repeated down times; protracted periods when surfing and download performance remains below that offered by a 56K modem; waiting months for promised service to commence; waiting up to three days for e-mail to snake its way through Verizon's sclerotic pipes; buggy modem and PPPoE (point to point protocol over ethernet) software; and catatonic customer service representatives who, in the words of one plaintiff, "don't know a computer from a microwave oven," and who routinely urge customers to uninstall and reinstall their software in a superstitious hope that doing so might offer relief.


Verizon are not the only xDSL operator in the USA to suffer problems, a failure to lighted contention ratios since the begging of service means the systems eventually took on more than they could handle. Although not a huge problem, many Telco's and ISPs do suffer from it around the USA, with downloads dropping to 56Kbps modem speeds at peak time.

This begs the question, could ISPs and Telco's find themselves in the same situation this side of the ocean further down the line (2004/2005)? More @ The Register.

UK Internet Usage On 3Million Rise

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

One moment you're bombarded with reports that people are moving away from the Internet, then that e-commerce isn't working and suddenly it all turns to say exactly the opposite. The latest report out from NetValue sticks true to this trend by showing an increased number online - 3Million:

There are now more than 11m people in the UK using the internet at home, up from 8m in December 1999, according to the internet monitoring company, NetValue.

The number of women online has risen from around 1.3m to 4.7m, with women accounting for 40% of the home internet audience. ‘Silver surfers’, those aged 50-plus, now number 2.2m, while 600,000 children aged 14 and under are using the internet from home. The rate of internet use has also increased, with users going online for 4.2 more sessions in December 2000 than in the same period a year earlier.

Traditional retailers have had significant success on the web, NetValue said, with six out of ten of the most-visited general retail sites in December belonging to high-street retailers. The argos.co.uk website was the most popular with 695,000 visitors, 6% of the internet population, followed by comet.co.uk with a reach of 5.4% and Tesco.com with 4.8%. Next.co.uk got into the NetValue rankings for the first time with more than 150,000 users.


The growth is most likely spurned on by more e-commerce companies advertising the best deals online, unmetered ISPs, broadband and a general feeling of it being something you must have. More @ netimperative.com.

RedHotAnt CONFIRM Refunds! - Update

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

Follow our exclusive yesterday, some readers have pointed out that RedHotAnt made a small addition to their websites statement relating to refunds:

We appreciate that customers who have subscribed most recently may not have fully utilised our service. For this reason we are considering applications for refunds from these particular customers.

Applications for refunds can be sent to enquiries@redhotant.com, and we are working with the assistance of Trading Standards to process these applications as soon as possible.

Finally, we would like to apologise to those users who have not had the opportunity to make profitable use of the service.


Well it looks like consumer power has won out again and at least some of the more recent subscribers should get their money back.

News - January 18,2001

Telco's Agree To Put LLU Back On Track

By:mark.j @ 6:53:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

An emergency meeting was held earlier today in which Oftel chose to reside over a room packed full of Telco chiefs from around the UK. Unhappy with the way initial LLU trials and overall take up of unbundling was going, Oftel decided to call the meeting in an attempt to rectify the problem.

It seems to have been a success as UK telecoms companies have agreed steps to get plans for launching high-speed Internet services back on track as well as to speed up LLU itself.

Regulator Oftel said the meeting agreed to scrap the original timetable for so-called local loop unbundling (LLU), which will allow companies to install broadband Internet equipment in British Telecom exchanges, and bring forward the opening up of the most popular exchanges.

Oftel called the meeting after BT's rivals placed fewer than expected orders for the first 25 exchanges opened up for competition, in part because they were not in locations expected to see the strongest demand for broadband connections.

The exchanges were part of a group of 360 that were on offer under the first wave of unbundling. That group has now been put to one side in favour of 360 in higher population areas that were meant to form the second wave, an Oftel spokesman said.

The deal means BT will start taking firm orders for the popular exchanges next month. This is exceptional news from the industry, although with the UK up to two years behind some European countries, many will argue that it could have been done a lot earlier.

Plus.NET Cuts Surftime & Goes FRIACO

By:mark.j @ 6:44:PM - Comments (10) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Try to take a few hours off work and what happens? More top quality ISP news arrives. In a rather shock announcement, Plus.NET have turned their backs on BTsurftime and its future replacement, choosing to adopt FRIACO instead:

Dear Customer,

As part of PlusNet's continued product and service development we will shortly be introducing a new unmetered Internet access product based on FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination).

This service will significantly reduce the cost of your unmetered Internet access. Additionally, since BT will no longer be involved in the same way that they are with the SurfTime product, the billing and customer service relationship with you will be much simplified and improved.

We fully anticipate that due to the reduced costs, all of our existing
SurfTime customers will want to move to the new service. In consequence of this, we are expecting to discontinue the SurfTime service once the changeover has been fully completed.

The service is due to be launched in the UK this month and we plan to make FRIACO based access available to all our customers by April. You can find out more and register for FRIACO access at our Web site
http://www.plus.net/tools.html?action=friaco

What will this mean for me?

The main difference you will notice will be that this really is unmetered access. A payment is made to PlusNet for your Internet access. That's it! No further payment is required for your Internet calls, to BT or to anyone else! Your existing PlusNet username, e-mail address, Web site URL etc. will remain identical if you were to change to FRIACO from our SurfTime service. No additional configuration will be required.

There is a selection of cost-effective account types, both for residential and for business users. These are detailed at our FRIACO information page http://www.plus.net/tools.html?action=friaco

Check it out NOW to see how you could save up to 5 pounds per month by moving to FRIACO access!

How you can help.

Successful migration from BT SurfTime to the new FRIACO service will require a clear commitment from all of our customers since we cannot offer both the new service and SurfTime beyond April.

To this end we have provided a registration form at http://www.plus.net/tools.html?action=friaco&q=show in order that we can continue to provide the most beneficial services. This form will also allow you to give us feedback about our range of services. Please do complete this as soon as possible - your views are very important to us.

Regards

PlusNet Customer Services

--
http://www.plus.net/
PlusNet - The Smarter Way to Internet


Perhaps it shouldn't be such a shock since BT's own BTInternet has already done exactly the same and other top ISPs (CloudNine) seem to be following a similar path. One thing seems clear; ISPs making us of the old BTSurftime model are beginning to turn their backs on it. This also raises the question of how BT's 'Surf & Talk' packages can expand into the future if no ISPs will be there to support it?

One of our readers (Les) pointed out that the new packages would look as follows:

Offpeak £9.99 a month with 22:1 user/modem ratio
24/7 residential £19.99 a month with 12:1 user/modem ratio
24/7 business £39.99 a month with 5:1 user/modem ratio


It's probably worth mentioning that those are some of the highest ratios we've ever seen on an unmetered ISP, although despite that http://www.Plus.NET seems to have managed quite well.

BT - The Incomprehensible Telco

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

Today the Plain English Campaign hit out at BT for making its systems and information almost incomprehensible to read and understand. Specifically highlighting billing and the various discount schemes, the ZDNet article starts:

British Telecommunications (quote: BT) finds itself in more trouble Thursday -- this time with the Plain English Campaign, which accuses the telco of being incomprehensible.

The Plain English Campaign has been inundated with complaints about BT, its baffling billing system and hard-to-understand discount schemes. It is not the first time customers have questioned BT's complex set of prices. At a select committee grilling in December, MPs pleaded with managing director Sir Peter Bonfield to simplify bills.

Spokesman for the Plain English Campaign John Lister believes BT is one of the worst offenders. "We were sent a straightforward letter with the most baffling set of footnotes we have ever seen," he says. "Particularly bills seem to be causing a lot of confusion. It is often a case of take away the number you first thought and add your grannies age. It is completely baffling and BT seems to get confused with the structure themselves," he says.


Even the most enthusiastic people towards BT would have to agree that their systems can be extremely confusing. If you wanted to keep information truly top secret then all you'd need to do is add their usual footnotes and itemisation, that way nobody would ever be able to figure it out =).

Supposedly BT is working towards a clearer billing system, although spare a thought for those of us who remember how bad it was before itemisation.

Orange Internet Goes LIVE

By:mark.j @ 3:22:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Orange, a popular mobile phone operator not unlike BTCellnet, have launched their own alternative to BTCellnets Genie Internet services for WAP phones:

"By taking the content of the Web and delivering it to the phone, Orange aims to provide everyone with the information they need whenever, wherever, and however they choose," said Brennan.

To obtain the new Internet services, Orange customers will need to register at www.orange.co.uk. After this they can use a Wap enabled mobile device to send and receive e-mail at the fixed Wap rate of 5 pence for contract customers or 10 pence for non-contract.

Orange is also offering 30 free text messages a month from a PC to any UK digital phone - not an overly generous offer as other sites such as SMSboy.com have been offering free PC-to-phone text messages to allcomers for several weeks.


This should at least provide an interesting alternative to the few WAP based ISPs that do exist. However it's worth pointing out that Orange has the slowest to load website out of all the mobile operators, lets hope this doesn't follow the same pattern for WAP. More @ UK.Internet.

Virtual Police - Now Virtual Courts

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

Only a day or so ago we reported on how the police were planning to go online in order to give people greater information and flexibility in contacting them. Now it looks like British courts are about to do the same with what is almost a leap from the 19th Century into the 21st:

David Lock, Minister at the Lord Chancellor's Department, highlighted the thinking behind the moves: "Developments in technology have given people more direct access to services from their own homes, the library, workplace and even the supermarket. E-mail has become the communication medium of choice for much of business. People are able to see the benefits of technology in other areas of their lives and, rightly, expect better services and modern facilities from the courts. These proposals show how the civil courts can, with the help of technology and partnerships with other agencies, provide easier and cheaper access to justice."

The first step will be taken in February at Preston County Court when parties to cases will be able to e-mail their interim applications to the judge. This will be followed by a Web-based claims service that is expected to go online during the next year.


Despite this being quite an interesting development, we can't help but worry about issues of security. If high protection banks and even nuclear missile plants can be hacked, what's stopping the police and courts having the same done to them? More @ UK.Internet.

C.U.T - FRIACO Gets Euro Cloned

By:mark.j @ 3:08:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The C.U.T (Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications) have made their first update for 2001, one which looks at how Europe is starting to follow the UK in unmetered access - domino effect:

In the current quiet period - which will, doubtless, last until FRIACO Single Tandem is finalised later this month - one event stands out: France announcing the development of an unmetered wholesale Internet access product.

Once one country breaks the mould others have to follow, and France joins the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland in working towards such products.


The update is extremely short although as they have said, things will really heat up on the 1st February 2001 when FRIACO (FRIACO2 to most of us) is finalised. ISPs using the updated system are expect to roll services out soon after as many have already been planning them since the initial FRIACO release. Soon being one to three months.

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