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June 29, 2001 - July 5, 2001

News - July 5,2001

Elton John Shows Advantage Of Broadband

By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Rock legend (hmm) Elton John is set to host the biggest ever, broadband only, pay-per-view Internet broadcast during mid July. The concert, based in Turky, is due to start on 17th July and will be hosted through MSN.co.uk; you'll need a minimum 100Kbps connection to get in and see it:

"We could have made it available to people with dial-up connections, but we want people to see that broadband is a viable business opportunity and an important technology," said Chris Frampton, managing director of IP broadcasting company MediaWave which is broadcasting the event.

In order to subscribe to the event, Internet users with a 100kbit/s connection speed will be charged £7, and those with a faster 300kbit/s modem will pay the higher price of £10. "Until now, there has never been a network in place that could handle the quality and reliability of a global event on the Web, that people would be prepared to pay for," said Frampton.

ZDNets item is an interesting one because it also highlights how barely even 1,000,000 have ANY KIND of broadband connection in the UK. Not only that, but the generation most likely to make use of it may not be riveted by the thought of watching Elton John.

20,000 Ex-WOL Subscribers Still Uncertain

By:mark.j @ 9:24:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

When WorldOnline (WOL) recently announced their intention to close the Telco side of operations they had roughly 60,000 subscribers on the service.

While 40,000 have already heeded WOLs advice to move, 20,000 still remain undecided and decision-making time is almost up. Those still undecided by the 12th July 2001 could be left without a telephone line:

A spokeswoman for Servista.com - a discount telecoms provider recommended to customers by World Online - told El Reg that today was the final day punters could switch providers for the Servista.com service and guarantee uninterrupted service.

BT is currently holding discussions with World Online in an attempt to help ease the situation.

The Register shows that the primary problem seems to stem from the fact that WOL/Tiscali have given their Ex-Customers far too little time in order to act. While WOL maybe gone soon, it can take between two and three weeks to get back online with BT, bit of a problem then.

News - July 4,2001

Cable Modem speed tester

By:Daniel @ 6:02:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

If you have a cable modem with NTL or blueyonder and have tested the speed using the speed test sites available on the net, you will know that the speed is sometimes reported incorrectly. Dan Elwell a blueyonder customer had made his own Cable modem speed tester which will fill in a form which you can copy and paste to support if your ping time is high or your download's are too low. You can download the program by going to his website at http://www.vantage.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Dixons See Profit Following Freeserve Sale

By:mark.j @ 4:02:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Before French based Wanadoo took over Freeserve's UK ISP operations, Dixons Group were the owners, something the company has been keen to put behind them. The latest publicly issued company results now show Dixons to be making a 37% pre-tax profit, something they mostly put down to the sale of Freeserve.

Profits jumped from £472.1m last year to £647.1m. However, while the figures are near the top end of analysts' expectations, underlying profits - not including exceptional items and Freeserve - showed a growth of five per cent to £277.8m from £263.7m.

Report Shows ISPs Closing Down

By:mark.j @ 3:55:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The latest Half-Yearly (2001) report from Webmergers.com has shown that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are closing down at a faster rate than ever before, globally:

Shutdowns are migrating from business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce companies to new business-oriented sectors that include internet business-to-business infrastructure and access service providers, such as dialup or digital subscriber line specialists, the report said.

"We believe that the sustained high death rate over the past three months is, in part, a result of two overlapping waves of the internet shakeout," said Webmergers.com chief executive Tim Miller.

The VNUNet item doesn't look at the UK specifically, but rather the global market. Certainly in the UK and just as we've been saying since 1999, those providers unable to keep up and introduce broadband or unmetered services will loose customers and ultimately close.

Especially the ones still charging high fees for basic local call rate access, which is now free almost everywhere (Cough.. NetcomUK).

EcosseTel Vroom2 Unmetered Price Rises

By:mark.j @ 3:48:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Scottish based ISP and Telco, EcosseTel, looks set to raise the price of their FRIACO based Vroom2 unmetered service sometime within the next month, according to an item @ Net4Nowt.

Price rises aren't strange to subscribers of the service, who've seen the costs increase several times since its 24/7 offer was first announced at a steal of £49.99 PA. Since then the 24/7 package has risen to a more feasible £79.99 PA.

Things now look set to change once again after the next 1,000 subscribers have joined the service, with the 24/7 package going to £99.99 PA and the Off-Peak one seeing a £69.99 PA jump:

Spencer Pryor, Operations Director at EcosseTel said, "We are pleased with the way things are going - customers are getting good speeds and very few busy tones when they dial in. The only tweaking that we have needed to do to our IP backbone has been completed and apart from a slight DNS problem with one of our web servers everything is running nicely. We will be migrating more customers from our indirect access dial up to FRIACO ports over the next few months, and should be fully FRIACO by the Autumn. We will keep our other dial up systems operational as back up."

More ports will soon be going into the service once the next 1,000 have been subscribed, although we still see the odd complaint regarding their slow customer service and registrations.

iDesk plc Cuts 120 ISP Call Desk Jobs

By:mark.j @ 3:35:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ISPs such as LineOne and Virgin could find their customer support services greatly reduced thanks to iDesks effort to cut costs. The company, which acts as a call centre services operator for ISPs, are cutting the jobs directly linked to customer relations:

According to insiders, iDesk is axing staff to stem further losses at the company, which has been hit by the downturn in the telecoms industry and an increase in ISPs bringing their call centre operations in-house.

No one at iDesk was prepared to confirm the number of job losses at the company.

However, a spokesman for the company confirmed that iDesk would employ 150 people following the restructuring. The Register understands that as many as 300 people - including part-time staff - are employed by iDesk.

Thankfully The Register is quick to show that such losses will only last for the period of restructuring and that ultimately things should improve rather than deteriorate, we'll see.

Vispa's Unmetered Service Goes Live

By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Last week we reported on an unofficial statement sent to us by Vispa's MD, today they've sent the official Press Release that states their new unmetered service is finally online.

There's nothing too new here over the unofficial one, although if you're planning to signup then make sure you give it a read:

PRESS RELEASE : VISPA LAUNCHES UNMETERED ACCESS

July 4th 2001

After five heavy months of working with our telecommunications provider, Vispa Internet Limited is pleased to announce the launch of our Freecall Unmetered Access based services. After a successful beta test program with our long-standing Vispa customers, freecall unmetered access service will be switched on with immediate effect.

As we stated right from the start, Vispa's policy has always been to maintain a high quality freecall service, this will not change and as such signup numbers will be carefully managed to ensure that our FRIACO ports are not over subscribed. If at any point the situation is heading this way, our signup server will automatically change over to a notify waiting list system.

There is no denying that places are in high demand, with just 2,500 available at present, though more places will be enabled as quickly as possible. All packages are supplied with Unlimited Email Addresses, 15Mb Webspace, Vispa SiteChecker, Vispa WebMail, Vispa MyVispa Service, Usenet Newsfeed Access, Pre-Installed CGI Scripts, IRC, Napster, Streaming Supported, 8.00am - 10.00pm Technical Support, v34, v.90 and 64k ISDN Support.

Prices can be confirmed as follows and are based on our FRIACO powered Connect Anytime Lite package. Monthly £14.95, Quarterly £44.85 or Annually £179.40. A choice a payment options are also available which include Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Cheque, Postal Orders and Standing Orders.

Further technical details can be found online at web site http://www.vispa.com however we very confident we have brought an extremely balanced package to the market, backed by a customer friendly team of over 2 years in business who actually do care about your needs.

Vispa Internet - Connect with Confidence

In a couple of months we'll re-review their services, thus giving them time to settle.

Women To Surpass Men - Top Surfers

By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

There was a time when it was considered geekish or even somewhat hostile to be using the Internet. Thankfully things change and a good indication of the Internets acceptance comes from the fact that women are poised to nock men from the 'top surfers' spot.

Nielsen/NetRatings latest survey states that since January, the number of women Internet users across the Asia-Pacific region has grown by an average of 36%, May data from the audience measurement service shows.

"Globally we have found that women are a fussier breed of surfer than their male counterparts," Hoe Chin Fee, South Asia managing director of ACNielsen eRatings.com, said in a statement.

"Women are much more efficient in their Web usage -- they spend less time online as they generally know what they're looking for and leave once they achieve their goal."

Women in the United States and Canada account for slightly more than half of Internet users, but Asia is catching up.

In Australia, women make up 48% of people accessing the Internet at home, followed by New Zealand (46%), South Korea (45%), Hong Kong (44%), Singapore (42%) and Taiwan (41%). Surveys in the UK suggest a similar figure of around 45/46%.

Asian women spent an average of 12 hours online in May, compared with 14.5 hours for men. More than half of the region's female users were active online between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., while men's peak time was usually between 8 p.m and 10 p.m.

Operators 3G Sharing Won't Solve Problems

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

Over the last few weeks we've seen all the major mobile phone players in the UK market team up in an effort to cut the costs involved with 3G broadband wireless services. Today the analyst firm, Northstream, has issued a warning that operators will still need to do A LOT more before they're safe:

Research published by Northstream in May found that as many as 16 key variables will determine how difficult it will be for an operator to create a profitable 3G service. Site sharing will certainly bring down the amount of extra income needed by 3G operators -- which Northstream defined as the increase in "average revenue per user" (ARPU) -- but even with this cooperation some operators will struggle.

According to Northstream, the £22.5bn paid for licences will be a significant obstacle for the five operators who won a 3G licence in last year's auction. "The single most important factor in deciding how much revenue the 3G operators must bring in from each user is whether a licence fee was paid or not," explained Johan Ragnevad, strategic advisor at Northstream. "Site sharing will have a positive effect on the business case for 3G, but it will not solve all the problems," he added.

While Vodafone and Hutchinson aren't admitting whether a deal is imminent or not, Orange and One2One have already signed a site sharing agreement, while BT Cellnet has made a similar arrangement with Deutsche Telekom that will see the two telco giants collaborating on the rollout of 3G in their respective countries.

Don't let ZDNets item bother you, it'll still be several years before 3G finds its way into the UKs nationwide market. If you're really desperate to try it then you could either move to the Isle Of Man or go to live in Japan.

News - July 3,2001

BBC Considers Controversial Net Licence Fee

By:mark.j @ 3:47:PM - Comments (9) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Financial Times newspaper has today issued a worrying report that because of the costs involved with the BBC's Internet wing, they may have to increase the license fee. Yet it's the way in which they plan to do it that's the worrying part.

The heavy cost of distributing content on the Internet meant that future annual payments might not be enough to access all the BBC's services, the BBC's head of Internet and interactive TV Ashley Highfield told the newspaper.

"The licence fee could give viewers a certain amount of credit to use a certain amount of content and, once that credit has run out, they would have to top it up," the FT quoted Highfield as saying.

His comments signalled an acceptance within some parts of the BBC that its funding was unsustainable, the newspaper said. Highfield said the cost of "streaming" television pictures over the web could be as high as several billion pounds.

His idea would not be on the agenda when the BBC's charter next came up for renewal in 2006, but could be an option for 2011. At least the BBC seems to have some realistic expectations of when Broadband will be in all our homes =).

One.Tel UK Saved By Centrica

By:mark.j @ 3:42:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You'll have to excuse us if we start making any mistakes in the news items, it's very hard to type and concentrate in such heat. Thankfully staff and customers @ One.Tel UK have been having a better time of things today after Centrica purchased it for a cool £58 Million:

Centrica, which owns British Gas and Scottish Gas, the AA and the Goldfish credit card company, already runs a telecoms service through its British Gas Communications arm. The addition of One.Tel UK's 650,000 customers means Centrica now has over one million active telephone customers. One.Tel UK also provides an Internet service to around 100,000 homes.

In a statement Ian El-Mokadem, managing director of Centrica, said: "We are delighted to acquire a customer-focused telecoms business with a strong brand and a reputation for innovation and technological development." Chris Weston, managing director of One.Tel UK, said that the deal was very good news for his company.

The ZDNet item hasn't only sprung hope into One.Tel's staff, it also means customers can continue to use their cut price calling plans and maybe even see a future unmetered package. Man it's hot here (unrelated)..

IMPORTANT BigBlueSky Update

By:mark.j @ 3:28:PM - Comments (21) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BigBlueSky have issued a long and important update to their site this afternoon and it may help explain some of the problems, how it's perceived will be a matter of personal opinion:

News Update - 12:45 03/07/01
Much has happened of late to everyone's dismay. I have watched this past week as the rumors have flown like flocks of geese and I feel a full explanation is in order.

From its conception, we at Bigbluesky have believed that Internet access and call charges should be free to the public with business paying the majority of the cost. We have been plagued by difficulties along the way because many larger companies do not share our views. Currently there is a tremendous amount of gossip and finger pointing going on within the forums, you the users are entitled to know what is happening and why! You are entitled to know the facts.

The launch of BBS had to be delayed because of delays with the Infrastructure and delays on the part of BT in connecting the system.

From its launch we have fought with BT with regard to connectivity problems, constantly asking why BBS users were having so much trouble getting connected, naturally even though BT had provided the Authentification software, they insisted it was not their fault, yet all test with regard to the servers showed different.

Through April and May registrations seemed to take off and the company experienced a 40% growth rate, and connection problems continued.

BBS in their continued efforts to investigate the problem cam across and interesting discovery, it seemed that Software provided by BT to BBS was allowing multiple users to sign on to the system concurrently using the same user name and password.

Further investigation revealed that over 500 users had fraudulently shared their user information with over 15 people each allowing an additional burden to be placed on the already busy system, keeping legitimate users from accessing the system.

These fraudulent users not only succeeded in nearly bringing the system to a halt on several occasions but they also added to a very tight financial burden for the company.

BBS brought this to the attention of BT who have simply tried to put the blame back on BBS.

BT have also indicated that even though they may be equally to blame they are not prepared to allow BBS any opportunity or help in sorting out the problem.

As a Result BBS is being forced to stop providing 0800 access and will need to switch to an 0845 system for an undetermined period of time until certain issues can be brought to before the Office of Fair Trading and OFTEL for resolution.

I can only ask for your patience and understanding, and hope for your support in this trying time. This is not only a battle which we must fight as a company, but a battle the public should also take to heart, as it affects them and the future of 0800 access to the Internet.

MY PERSONAL OPINION

The following statement is simply my opinion, which I am entitled to. Since we live in a land where Freedom of speech is still allowed. I will voice my opinion!

Many of the larger Telco's perceive the smaller ISP's like BBS as a threat to there existence in the marketplace. They offer a service for which they charge twice, and they do their utmost to ensure the failure of an entrepreneurial system by squeezing out the smaller companies.

It seems odd to me that much of the events of late have come during a major shake-up at BT, maybe its only coincidence, but it gives one reason to wonder.

The fight is not over, we may yet be squeezed from the market-place, but it wont be without a fight.

The Directors

In other words BBS may not be back in just under two weeks as originally hoped, especially since these official complaint processes can take quite sometime to finalise. Some may regard these updates as almost comical because they're things BBS should have noticed long ago.

Such is the wisdom of testing a service first and then using experience to help fill in the gaps, something some ISPs don't seem to understand. Hopefully BigBlueSky will be back and successful against BT, only time can tell.

WonkyPig Joins With BTIgnite

By:mark.j @ 11:18:AM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if the new and already troubled ISP, WonkyPig, have finally announced who's going to help bring their revitalised unmetered service to life:

Welcome to Wonkypig, dispite the recent press about our unmetered package being underpriced, oversold and part of the BBS scheme we are proud to annouce that the service has been upgraded and new registrations will start on the 5th of July for the next 10,000 new users.

The cost for the service is £ TBA. The service will run using ignite from BT.

It'd probably be a wiser move to get the last lot of subscribers online before committing a whole new base onto the service, but we assume they know what they're doing.

Hopefully the ISP will be back in action for Thursday 5th July this week and then we'll finally be able to see how well their service stands up. They might also want to consider using a spell checker on any future updates.

Quick Site Update

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

Just to let you know that we're testing some 'reader poll/survey' code and other changes on the 'Specific ISP Forum'. If you've tried to use these then don't be surprised if they don't work for long, we're working in real-time with any breaks we get from normal working hours.

Financial Times Misrepresents Dr.Radley

By:mark.j @ 10:04:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yesterday we reported on an item that originally appeared in the Financial Times newspaper related to comments made by Alcatels chairman Dr Peter Radley.

In the item Dr.Radley seemed to be in favour of a broadband monopoly by BT, yet Alcatel now claims he has been misrepresented by the FT:

Radley is chairman of an advisory body set up by government to look at future broadband policy and is reported by the FT as saying that the provision of wholesale broadband in the UK will remain in the hands of a monopoly such as BT.

Alcatel claims this is "completely inaccurate". In a statement the firm says that Bradley has never urged any form of broadband monopoly. "Doctor Radley believes that it is only competition among a broad field of operators that will ensure real choice for all consumers and, just as importantly, the proper development of broadband Britain," the statement reads.

The Cabinet Office, to which the Broadband Stakeholder Group -- chaired by Radley -- reports, claims that his views will not necessarily form government policy. "He talks about various options and may be hinting at what he thinks is the best option. He is stirring up possibilities about monopolies and duopolies but that is not necessarily how it will be," said a spokeswoman.

The ZDNet item goes into a lot more detail of how Alcatel are trying to set a damaged record strait.

French Still Stuck With Expensive Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 9:56:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

France and Germany may be able to laugh at our pitiful excuse for broadband coverage and prices in the UK, but we can still laugh at their poor unmetered dial-up access - kind of.

France Telecom's (FT) new rates for wholesale unmetered Net access, AOL France has been forced to raise their monthly price from £18 to £30!:

AOL France also claims that the new offering from France Telecom fails to cap costs - something that is essential if ISPs are to pass on the benefits of unmetered Net access.

The ISP also points out that while France Telecom is reluctant to budge on this issue, it's happy for its UK subsidiary, Le Freeswerve, to take advantage of flat-fee wholesale access in Britain.

In a statement AOL France said: "AOL France is disappointed that France Telecom (FT) has offered a halfway measure for wholesale Internet access that does not appear to be based on FT's actual costs, stands at levels 75 per cent higher than those offered in the UK, and still requires ISPs to pay metered rates on part of the network."

The Register goes on to explain some of the problems in more depth, problems that look eerily familiar to those in the UK at the start of 2000 over a year ago. At least they're closer to good unmetered then we are to broadband.

News - July 2,2001

Cheaper Nutshell Unmetered Deal

By:mark.j @ 4:19:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's tough keeping a high level of service quality and also offering a competitively priced unmetered package. Nutshell are one of the providers who seem able to sustain this, although Keith has informed us that you can save a lot of money by signing up with GamesDomain.

Why? Well normally a single 24/7 Nutshell unmetered package would set you back £12.99 per month. However GamesDomain have a special offer that means exactly the same package will only end up costing you £9.99, just remember, it won't be around for very long and will be gone soon.

CloudNine's New Unmetered Launch Date

By:mark.j @ 4:11:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You may remember that not long ago we exclusively revealed CloudNine's new set of unmetered packages, well today they've sent us an update regarding the launch:

Cloud Nine are delighted to announce that our new low-price FRIACO range of EconomySurf products will launch on Monday, 9th July. There will be 3 packages:

HomeSurf Economy -including a .co.uk domain name registration for 2 years, 0808 99 FRIACO unmetered dial number, 10 x POP3 mailboxes with unlimited email addresses on your domain, 0845 backup dial-up number, low contention, 2 hour drop, email control panel, WebMail, free online support. This will cost £15.99 per month.

HomeSurf Professional Economy - including .co.uk domain name registration for 2 years, 0808 99 FRIACO unmetered dial number, 50Mb of web space, 10 x POP3 mailboxes with unlimited email addresses on your domain, 0845 backup dial-up number, low contention, 2 hour drop, email control panel, WebMail, free online support. This will cost £18.99 per month.

BusinessSurf Economy - including .co.uk domain name registration for 2 years, 0808 99 FRIACO unmetered dial number, 100Mb of web space, Frontpage 2000 and ASP support, form to email example scripts, 10 x POP3 mailboxes with unlimited email addresses on your domain, 0845 backup dial-up number, low contention, 2 hour drop, email control panel, WebMail, free online support. This will cost £24.68 per month.

Cloud Nine are also continuing our Surftime range of products under the PremiumSurf brand. The reason for this is that we can provide Surftime connections much more cheaply on lower contentions PLUS we can provide these without an automatic cut-off after so many hours.

Furthermore the Surftime packages are provided via Time Banding with
"notional" contention whilst the new FRIACO ports will have rigid contention. This means that users requiring a no drop-connection with a near first-time connect every time are still catered for via our Surftime range whilst the EconomySurf range will appeal to those on a tight budget.

While the actual unmetered offers look to be a little less than some - connectivity wise, they make up for the lower cut off with a good selection of web hosting services.

Zen NOT The First With RADSL

By:mark.j @ 4:03:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

According to the World-Of-ADSL, this mornings claims by Zen Internet that they were the first to take orders for RADSL broadband services is incorrect.

The Chief Editor @ World-Of-ADSL, Andrew Quinn, stated to us that Timewarp internet were the first and have been taking orders since March this year. Perhaps it's a good example of how ISPs don't always keep track of their competition when there's so much of it?

BBC Examine Broadband

By:mark.j @ 3:58:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to Mr.Khan for informing us that the BBC has done an interesting article on the current state of British broadband, titled, 'Whatever happened to broadband?':

The frustration of those who do not have a high speed connection but want one is evident. And the anger of those who sign up to no avail is obvious.

The majority of those with broadband connections are no happier. Some lost access after just a few hours. Others rail against the patchiness of the service.

Websites named Openwoe and NT Hellworld provide an outlet for those frustrated about the sometimes poor service of BT Openworld and NTL World. But the bad news is that it doesn't look like it is going to get significantly better any time soon.

It's a very clear item; although probably nothing you haven't heard before and does little except to further highlight the ever-present problems of price and coverage.

Gov Says Broadband Monopolies are Good

By:mark.j @ 3:53:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Peter Radley, a leading member of the government's broadband advisory group, has gone on record to state that he believes fewer players in the broadband market would be better.

He claims the UK economy is too small to allow for more than a few broadband infrastructure companies:

He told the Financial Times that the important factor is not competing infrastructure providers for a single technology, like ADSL, but rather that consumers have access to several different technologies, including cable-modem access and satellite. "What matters is competition at the retail level," Radley told the FT.

The remarks fly in the face of long-standing efforts to open up local telephone exchanges to competing telcos, the so-called unbundling of the local loop. The original deadline for unbundling passed on Saturday, but not many exchanges have been opened up, and interest among competitive operators has dwindled.

The ZDNet item helps present a very different and slightly worrying perspective on the situation. Such a lack of competition would simply give BT the freedom to set their own complete market coverage prices and do as they have done with everything, keep them high.

Having said that Mr.Radley still has a point in that even under LLU (Local Loop Unbundly), xDSL prices aren't likely to be much lower than by going through BT directly, so does it really matter?

Vodafone To Join With Hutchinson Over 3G

By:mark.j @ 3:41:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

With BTWireless linking up with Deutsche Telekom and One2One joining Orange in a battle to rule the 3G broadband wireless waves, now it's Vodafone's turn. Vodafone plans to join with the only company left that has a 3G licence in the UK - Hutchinson 3G:

The mobile giant previously ruled out any sharing agreement on building 3G networks, saying that it had the cash to do it itself and reap the benefits. It even threatened to take the other companies to court over their agreements.

However, common-sense has prevailed and the company will hope to save millions of pounds by going half with Hutchinson on the cost of putting in the extra equipment and extra transmitters that the next-generation phones require.

The deal also paves the way for an interesting 3G market set-up, with three pairings of two companies competing on different infrastructures. The obvious advancement to this would be if pairings started sharing or developing services together. Then we'd effectively end up with a three-horse race.

The Register goes into a lot of detail, although none of this really matters since we won't see nationwide 3G services for sometime to come. Hopefully all this merging of infrastructure won't make one provider exactly like another.

BigBlueSky Unmetered Still Online

By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Although this may not last, a large group of readers on our forum noticed that after the last service update the ISPs users stopped trying to connect because they assumed the ISP would be offline.

The freecall access number was supposed to be disengaged on 29th July 2001, however some have tried connecting to the service and found they were still able to get online. We'd guess this is because the weekend got in the way, although it's hard to say.

In short, you may still be able to connect for a brief period before the lines finally go offline, which we'd expect to be sometime today. Worth doing since there's not a huge amount trying to connect and so it's fairly un-congested.

R/ADSL Hardware & System Updates

By:mark.j @ 9:17:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The good people @ ADSLGuide have been busy this weekend, not only did they make mention of a new site (DSL Source) where you can purchase xDSL hardware from in the UK, but they've also got some important news on the networks:

BTignite are saying that some ADSL enabled exchanges are very under used, with some having less that 10 users, apparently pressure has been exerted on ISP's to push take up in these areas. Ignite say ISP's are to blame - but how can they expect ISP's to offer ADSL at a reasonable price and afford to advertise is difficult to understand.

Apparently there have been improvements in the times taken for Ignite to fix faults, it's down from a 4.5day (37 hour) to a 3.5 day (28 hour) - not great but an improvement none the less.

There's a lot more there to read if you're interested in keeping up to speed.

Zen Internet Claims 1st Place With RADSL

By:mark.j @ 9:13:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In Zen Internets latest E-Mail to subscribers they've made a claim of being the first consumer ISP to bring RADSL services into the public domain. As far as we can remember this is correct:

ZEN FIRST WITH REACH-FURTHER ADSL
Zen Internet is claiming to be the first ISP in the UK taking orders for RADSL, the latest 'extended reach' development in broadband DSL technology. Zen are extending the availability of ADSL to reach an average 90% of subscribers in every 'broadband enabled' locality. Orders placed now with Zen will ensure that customers are the first to get their installations when the new service becomes available on 18th July.
http://www.zenadsl.com

News - July 1,2001

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 10:14:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's been one of our busiest weeks of the year with a great interest being placed on the happenings at BigBlueSky, WonkyPig and related ItsGoodToGive ISPs. Not only that but there's been a lot of interesting news regarding various broadband systems and services, all in all a very full week of news.

Sadly this has also meant delays in a lot of the other things we'd planned to do, although they should now be done next week instead. We do apologize if we've said something would be done and it wasn't, such things can't be helped.

Work privately continues on the new Readers Top 50 system (Math side ATM) and we've also finalised the 'Reader ISP Reviews' system, which will be coded after the summer now.

The forums were once again centre of attention for us, we've changed some of the image icons to make it more obvious what things do and also made some internal changes/improvements. Next week we're hoping to introduce 'Reader Made Polls' for members, so you'll be able to start topics with the option of having a survey attached to them!

That's about where work ended for the week, instead Saturday was spent at the Cinema with friends trying to survive the AWFUL dialogue in Pearl Harbour for three hours. Not surprisingly any intelligent reviewers slated it, although as a basic film it's fun and has stunning action in the middle. If you plan on seeing it then bed down and sleep for the first 45minutes, you'll know why if you don't.

To any multiplayer gaming fanatics out there, especially those into CounterStrike, then you’ll be glad to know Operation Flashpoint is now in the shops. It’s the only game I’ve seen with multiplayer as fun and enthralling as that of CounterStrikes.

Freeserve Raise ADSL Costs

By:mark.j @ 9:48:AM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As some forum users were quick to remind us, Freeserve have now carried out the price rises on their broadband ADSL services; in short:

Installation Charge - £150 Now = £175

Monthly Charge - £39.99 Now = £49.99

The irony seems to be that when BTIgnite introduce their newer R/ADSL networks shortly after the summer then internal rumour claims prices might fall slightly. At the very least BTOpenworld would stick with its current price instead of raising it.

All we know for sure is that the new networks should make it cheaper for ISPs to offer ADSL and that pressure from Oftel and the EU means prices are being asked to come down, we’ll see.

BTs Wires-Only R/ADSL Update

By:mark.j @ 9:40:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It wasn't long ago that we reported on BTs new Wires-Only xDSL installation plans, where all they do is install the line and the rest is your job. The idea being that this could reduce BTs overall cost to consumers and save them time on the rollout; today we've seen a little more info.:

Currently ADSL services are available only with modems from Alcatel and Fujitsu, according to Saville; but 20 modem suppliers, including cheaper Far East suppliers, have had their kit certified by the telco, and there's no good reason why their technology can't be used.

Wires-only ADSL is to be introduced by BT Wholesale in December and will be widely available through retailers at that time, Saville says.

The introduction of wires-only ADSL is part of moves by BT to accelerate the sluggish introduction of broadband in the UK by reducing its price and lowering the complexity of rolling-out the service.

The Register also goes on to look at current installation figures and the recently announced RADSL services; due to go live on July 18th.

News - June 30,2001

World Online Withdraw Telco Service

By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Tiscali (Itialian Provider) owned World Online has made a shock withdrawal of their fixed line telephone service from customers.

Roughly 63,000 customers will have to choose by the 12th July 2001 whether they revert back to BT or be changed to another Telco called Servista.com:

The decision follows World Online's recent take-over by Italian ISP Tiscali. "In the process of integrating LineOne, World Online and LibertySurf, there will be an inevitable impact on the service that can be provided to customers," said a Tiscali spokeswoman. "It is regretful to have to migrate customers from one brand to another."

The pricing structure for the Tiscali Internet service is yet to be announced, but the Tiscali spokesperson claimed that prices would be competitive. But telephone calls through the alternative telco Servista.com will be more expensive.

A significant proportion of World Online's customers have already agreed to return to BT, but the British telco is still in negotiation with Tiscali and the telecom regulator Oftel over the terms of the agreement.

The ZDNet item is a shocking move for WOL customers, although not a completely unexpected one given the way Tiscali have been changing things.

News - June 29,2001

clara.net's New Unmetered Offer LIVE!

By:mark.j @ 4:14:PM - Comments (11) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

After over a year of waiting, clara.net have today finally launched their new 24/7 unmetered package at the common price of £14.99 per month. The site now reads:

Claranet can now offer you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week unmetered Internet access for a flat rate of £14.99 per month. As the service is charged at a fixed rate, you’ll have no nasty surprises at the end of each month when your phone bill arrives.

To qualify for this account you must have a BT phone line.

Freetime Anytime is currently not available nationwide but we are hoping to offer national coverage very soon. Please clara.net/homeaccess/options/anyclidcheck.phtml">check here whether you are eligible for the service.

As well as unlimited Internet access, with each account you’ll get unrestricted newsgroup access, unlimited email addresses and unlimited access to our games servers amongst many other features.

With Freetime Anytime you receive:

-Unlimited Internet access
-Unlimited e-mail addresses
-50Mb webspace
-Comprehensive newsgroup coverage
-Dedicated - 24 hour technical support charged at local call rates
-No restrictions to online services such as IRC, ICQ and Napster
-Access to online gaming servers

How much does it cost?

£14.99 inc VAT per month

After looking through the FAQ's it does indeed seem as if there's no cut off on this package, much as our inside sources with the ISP claimed would be the case. We'll be re-reviewing clara.net once their latest offer has had a chance to sink in, hopefully service won't degrade like it has with so many other ISPs.

Despite all this it would seem the new system isn't using FRIACO yet. Steve, clara.net's resident tech guru has said the following:

2001-06-29 13.50:
FTAT is now in full flow and the signup rate is encouraging.

In fact we still dont have a FRIACO deal in effect. We were badly let down by one supplier and there is another deal struck but waiting for delivery from another. In the meantime we have decided to use IDA (the same type of service as we use for FT) until we get FRIACO in.

On another subject, we have somebody now working full time on fixing the bugs in the news software so we can roll out all the new hardware which we believe will bring the news service back up to full service levels.

Jim Ellis (Usenet Creator) Dies

By:mark.j @ 4:01:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Jim Ellis is one of two men credited with the creation of Usenets; otherwise know as Newsgroups. Sadly Mr.Ellis lost his battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and yesterday died in his home at the age of 45:

Jim, together with fellow Duke University graduate Tom Truscott, came up with concept of Usenet - basically linking two computers together to share information - in 1979, predating the Web by 10 years. Steve Bellovin then wrote the first program, with Steve Daniel contributing to the first widely used version.

In 1980, it consisted of just two sites - one at Duke University and another in the University of North Carolina. However it became extremely popular very quickly as a means of sharing information across the globe and before the arrival of the Web was the largest decentralised store of information ever known.

In 1993, it had 1,200 newsgroups covering every imaginable topic from in-depth techie articles to home-spun philosophy. It also created the culture of flames - abusive emails. By 1999, the number of groups had grown to 37,000.

There's more @ The Register, although since so many people use newsgroups then do take a moment to think about who created it.

Telewests Broadband Promotional Site

By:mark.j @ 3:55:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Telewests broadband Cable Modem service provider, blueyonder, has today launched a brand new promotional site for their hi-speed Internet services.

The new site is much more detailed and follows on from the start of Telewests recent advertising push to get more customers onto the service.

Tiny Unveils New Gaming Channel

By:mark.j @ 3:50:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Tiny Online have today launched a very specialised online gaming channel for Internet users. Those more into titles such as Quake3, UT and Tribes2 among others may not find this so interesting since it focuses on more traditional games:

JOYSTICKS AT THE READY AS TINY ONLINE UNVEILS ITS NEW GAMING CHANNEL

Fans of online games and regular gamers will all benefit from the recently launched Tiny Online Games Arena which has been set up to provide an online games area that links up with users over the world to play games on a quick and responsive network.

Visitors to the Games Arena which is part of the Tiny Online portal (http://www.tinyonline.net), will have the ability to play a vast range of games, including chess, backgammon, bowling and children’s games. Additionally users will also be able to become part of the gaming community where they can chat with fellow gamers. It also has a web-cam facility, which enables gamers to be seen and see other users.

Tiny Online currently has around 700,000 subscribers. The company is constantly looking at pioneering new and innovative ways to enhance its Internet service and, as the new scheme grows, a wider selection of products will be added to the online portfolio.

Tiny Online's Managing Director, Colin Greene, said: “The new Games Arena will add to the content and services available on the portal. We are constantly working on new portal developments, which we hope will further enhance the over all service Tiny Online offers."

The Tiny Online Games Arena has been set up in conjunction with online gaming community providers - Hi2 Ltd.

Freeserve Bugs Cause Huge Bills

By:mark.j @ 3:46:PM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Freeserve seem like a provider who refuses to fix obvious problems and then fails to claim responsibility when their own mistakes cause customers serious financial grief. The latest problem to hit the much complained about provider follows in the wake of the one where a man received a £500 bill for his unmetered account.

Freeserve customers who fail to relaunch Internet Explorer and Outlook Express after installing their "Freeserve Anytime" disc, could be lumbered with a massive telephone bill. Yet the ISP has stated that it will not accept responsibility for customers who incur additional telephone charges, if they have failed to reboot their PC at the end of the installation process.

"We treat each customer complaint on a case by case basis... but we are warning customers that will be fully liable for not using the correct dial-up settings," said a Freeserve spokeswoman.

The problem surfaced last week when one distraught reader received a £500 telephone bill for Internet access, three months after subscribing to the "Freeserve Anytime" package. The £12.99 monthly subscription charges that Freeserve was debiting from his bank account should have covered all charges for his Internet access.

The Freeserve technical support team initially told the customer that he should have inserted a six-digit prefix in front of the number downloaded from the installation disk, in order to avoid incurring extra charges. But the ISP told ZDNet that this prefix should come up automatically as part of the installation process, and that the customer's mistake was his failure to relaunch Internet Explorer and Outlook Express after installing the software.

"I strongly feel that there must be very many people like myself, that although not quite the idiot I feel like now, are not clever enough or technically minded enough to register with these companies and understand exactly the dangers," said the customer.

So is Freeserve to blame for this or the customer? Perhaps if Freeserve had sent the details via E-Mail and post as well as provided a secure method on the website to find the information then that might have helped?