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October 4, 2001 - October 8, 2001

News - October 8,2001

Hutchison Expands Future 3G Coverage

By:mark.j @ 4:08:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In preparation for the next years launch of Hutchisons 3G broadband wireless mobile phone services, the operator has signed a deal with the National Grid subsidiary, Gridcom, to carry 3G radio antennas.:

Gridcom, the group formed by the National Grid in response to growing demand for its infrastructure from telecoms companies, will be responsible for site surveying and installation of Hutchison’s network equipment. The deal covers 1,000 pylons, running parallel with major roads and railways.

The agreement represents growing concerns over how the network expansion needed to accommodate 3G services will impact on rural areas. According to Hutchison 3G MD Colin Tucker, the deal will reduce the environmental impact of building the company’s network, as well as reducing the number of new sites needed. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

This latest move by Hutchinson should allow them to firm up their ‘coverage’ plans for the UK and next years launch, more @ netimperative.com.

BTO Attacked Over Peer-To-Peer Limits

By:mark.j @ 4:04:PM - Comments (12) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following last weeks official news that BTOpenworld had confirmed their Peer-To-Peer broadband R/ADSL file transfer restrictions, the ISP has swiftly begun to gather criticism from the industry.

Clearly their statement of defence for the restrictions hasn't appeased people enough.:

Alan Stevens, head of digital services at the Consumers' Association, told ZDNet News that his organisation has received "a significant number" of complaints about BTopenworld recently, and that consumers were fed up with this latest disappointment. "Companies must be clear with customers about what they will receive for their money. This looks like BT is changing the rules in the middle of the game," Stevens said.

One BTopenworld user told ZDNet that the traffic restrictions have been in force for months, but BT's staff have been consistently denying that any such policy was in place. Another BTopenworld user has often found that a simple task like opening an email can take a long time, and that Web-browsing can be problematic at peak times.

Paul Myers, chief executive of legal P2P music service Wippit, thinks BT might be trying to discourage broadband users from staying constantly connected to the Internet. "Anyone who is always connected to the Web is an expensive customer for BT, as they're likely to tie up the limited connections in the local exchanges," he said. "Talk of peer-to-peer downloading being the problem could well just be a cover," he suggested.

Typically ZDNet’s item is unlikely to dissuade BTOpenworld from their restrictive path and it certainly wouldn't surprise us if it were just a cover to 'control' heavy users. Hopefully the forthcoming Watchdog program on BBC1 should have a wider impact against the now perceived untrustworthy ISP.

Freeserves New Marketing Push

By:mark.j @ 3:54:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Where AOL UK goes, Freeserve is sure to follow. The French Wanadoo owned ISP has quickly jumped to follow its bitter rivals at AOL UK with the launch of a major new marketing campaign.:

The multi-million campaign marks the first major push of the Freeserve brand since it was bought by the French-based Wanadoo group, and brings with it the company’s new catchphrase: “Be Free to do whatever you want – Be Freeserve”.

The ads, created by M&C Saatchi for the company, will feature in press, radio and television ads, along with online marketing and cross-promotional pushes with Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link chain of high street stores. M&C Saatchi is also the Dixons group’s regular ad agency.

Freeserve marketing MD Keith Hawkins said: “The ISP market has become a much more orderly place for competitors and consumers alike than it was even 12 months ago. As such, it’s important to compete on brand as much as it is on price.”

The netimperative.com article is interesting because it shows just how strong and bitter the competition between the two ISPs is. Within hours of AOL announcing their strategy, Freeserve was hot on their heels with a similar plan.

It's only a pity Freeserve isn't spending the money on improving services for regions of the UK still troubled by poor services.

NTL Offers New Semi-Broadband Service

By:mark.j @ 3:48:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Both NTL and Telewest seem keen to introduce mid-way broadband services, which is in stark contrast to BT whom appear to have no such plans.

Today NTL stepped up the competitive edge by introducing a 128Kbps cable modem based service for just £14.99 per month. Roughly two and a half times faster than 56Kbps dialup, NTL hopes the service will create an acceptable bridge.

NTL, which last reported 2.9 million residential customers using at least one of its services, expects to beat its target of 100,000 high-speed Internet customers by the end of 2001.

The bundled "triple play" of services available through cable - Internet access, digital TV and a standard phone line, should now cost £29.98 pounds a month.

NTL said in late September it was on target to at least meet its third quarter target of £130Million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

The new package adds to NTLs existing high-speed broadband service, basic modem dialup and their special 64Kbps cable modem option.

AOL UKs New Marketing Push

By:mark.j @ 3:39:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just when you thought there were enough AOL CDs going around the UK to cover the houses of parliament, now a new marketing initiative looks set to increase that.

Kingfisher will allow AOL sign-up CDs at all its B&Q and Comet stores in return for extensive promotion on AOL UK’s online services. Soon you'll be able to build houses out of AOL CDs.:

The deal will give AOL a boost into the offline distribution market, with the 260 Comet stores and 309 B&Q stores across the UK offering the AOL free trial CD-Rom, and in a position to challenge the arrangement Freeserve enjoys with Dixons and PC World, which was itself extended today through a new Freeserve marketing push.

In return, B&Q will become a commercial partner and content provider for AOL’s new house and home channel – and the lifestyle channel on Compuserve – while Comet content will be integrated into AOL’s technology channel, along with advertising on all the sites. The chains online stores will be promoted through the AOL portal.

The netimperative.com article makes no mention of whether AOL will ever stop littering the high street with unused CDs; at least homeless people can now build some strong shelter for themselves during the winter months.

BBCs Watchdog To Investigate BTO

By:mark.j @ 3:25:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The popular BBC1 TV consumer affairs program, Watchdog, is preparing to air an investigation into BT's treatment of broadband (R/ADSL) customers. This follows a mass of various complaints regarding different parts of the service over the last two weeks.

Earthlease & West LB Join Forces

By:mark.j @ 9:39:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if Earthlease, which bid for part of BTs fixed line local loop, are to join forces with WestLB whom recently attempted an £18Billion bid for the whole of BTs fixed line business.:

Meanwhile, the two companies vying for ownership of BT's 'crown jewels' are rumoured to be planning a meeting in an attempt to thrash out a joint plan of attack.

The Sunday Times reports that Earthlease - which is prepared to pay £8bn for BT's local loop - and West LB, the German investment bank which led an £18bn bid to buy all of BT's fixed line business - are to meet face to face to investigate ways of working together.

BT insists that these operations, which are the key assets of the company, are not for sale.

The Silicon item once again shows BT as refusing to be interested in any sale of its fixed line local loop business, which has been an unchanged position for years. It'll be interesting to see what happens after the de-merger.

Broadband Britain To Miss 2005 Target

By:mark.j @ 9:32:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Somewhat following on from several items last week, Government-backed research has found that their plans to be the most competitive and extensive broadband market in the G7 by 2005 will fail. So no change there then.:

The unpublished report, seen by The Register and compiled by Analysys on behalf of the Office of the e-Envoy, shows that Britain is one of the most expensive countries for broadband. It also scores badly on availability and choice of services on offer.

The research found that Britain is lagging in ninth place, ahead of Italy and Ireland in an international league table of countries.

But it predicts that even if all the recommendations of the BSG are carried out, including subsidies and tax incentives, then Britain will advance judst three positions to sixth place by 2005.

Nothing in The Register's item is new, we've known since the day it was announced that 2005 was wishful thinking. Both BT and Oftel MUST take some responsibility for failing to realise the key importance of issues such as LLU, whether there's demand or not.

News - October 7,2001

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 11:27:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's been yet another tough week with an almost relentless supply of daily ISP news, enough to take up most of my spare time. Thankfully some good has come out of it, we've devised several ways to save bandwidth on the site and also make things even faster to load, if that were possible.

Yet another plus point of the week has been the fact that we've begun final beta testing of the new 'Reader Top ISPs' system. It'll eventually replace our top 50 and dynamically managed the broadband top ISPs section.

In other words we're pretty busy and there will be several key changes to ISP Review before Christmas, after which we'll be less active on the 'improvements' front due to real-life issues etc.

On another note, we’ve added a CLI (Caller Line ID) column to our unmetered listings; this is because we’re often asked whether an ISP only supports dialup from one location (CLI = On) or whether you can dialup from different places (roaming / CLI = Off).

Typically you’ll know if an ISP uses CLI (on) if it asks you for the number you’ll be dialling from in the signup. At present we’ve defaulted all ISPs to ‘On’ in the list, although if you know of providers that don’t ask for a specific number then please drop us a mail.

Thanks for all the kind reader support we've been getting and enjoy what we're continually trying to improve for you.

ISP Reviews 08002Go Meeting / Visit

By:mark.j @ 10:27:AM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Last Friday one of our forum mods, Kitty (Florence), set about on a fact-finding mission into the very heart of 08002Go. While not designed to be a fully-fledged interview, she did manage to bring back some interesting tid bits of information.

In order to best format the details we'll place it in a 'kind' of interview form, only the replies come from Kitty as she saw them while speaking to the ISP. Please note that most of the info. reiterates what they've previously said, albeit with some extra clarity.:

1) Explain a little about whether 08002Go is really suspended or just plain closed?

08002go is only suspended - not closed. They knew that in the present form 08002go wouldn't work, it'd have lasted roughly 30 months going the way it was.

2) What can we expect to see if/when they come back?

When they come back the new 08002go will be with more packages and thus offering members what they want. They have looked and listened to customers and are now taking stock and investigating another route.

Apparently the ISP seemed confident of its new course and further expressed a belief that the old method was simply "unworkable".

3) What of the refund situation?

Every member that is due a refund will have the cheque before the next fourteen days are up, that's when the new 08002go is due to launch. Annual members will be refunded first and then the monthly members.

Quote Mr Cawley.:
"To all address members we will give you a free month. There will be a link that you can click on and if the system has your details then you get one month free. This is only for ppl that were members"

Anyone sending e?mails for refunds should put their user details in the subject box, they will then be moved to the top of the pile. A lot of people will get refunds, but anyone that used the Internet in that month isn’t likely to see one. Cheques were being prepared and signed while I was talking. Please use this e-mail address for refunds zone@08002go.net

4) What do you know of the 08002go.co.uk domain?

08002go.com has nothing to do with 08002go.co.uk, the person whom registered that tried to sell it to them, they refused.

5) If/When they reopen, how will they stop the billing issues that occurred before?

When they reopen people will only be allowed to join on two dates in the month, this is apparently the best way for the system that takes the money. You will not be able to start between those dates and that will stop the confusion and double payments.

6) How can I call 08002Go now that their contacts have all but died?

They’ve stopped the old number and all telephone calls have to go through 08704424334, calls charged at national rate.

7) Will the new system still allow cable using customers to join?

08002Go will still be able to offer Internet access for cable customers and hinted that they were also looking at 128K or above support.

8) Was that updated about 08002Go being seriously affected by the USA Terror attacks true?

The post about the plane crash was posted as information because they use Washington based servers for some things and connection had slowed down. It was taken out of context.

Florence went on to explain a little about the offices and how they seemed a fair size and with a number of people working on refunds. From the visit ISP Review was able to gather that 08002Go seem like an operation intent on resurfacing in the very near future, although the 14 days bit seemed in contradiction of 08002Gos public statement.

Whether or not 08002Go will return may ultimately be up to the unspoken elements, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens come late October / early November. Feel free to ask Kitty some more questions in our forum, although please keep them clean as she’s a busy lass.

AOL vs T-Online - Who's The Biggest?

By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It was only a matter of time before the growing number of super-ISPs, AOL, T-Online, Tiscali and Freeserve etc. started to close the gap and bump into each other. In this first case it's AOL vs the German based T-Online ISP group.

Thanks to AOL, T-Online will be prevented from advertising itself as 'Europe's largest Internet provider' following a court decision.

The decision, which is not yet legally binding - pending possible appeals, follows a suit filed by AOL Europe, which alleged that T-Online's claim to be Europe's largest Internet service provider was invalid because it was not present in most of Europe.

T-Online confirmed that the court in Hamburg had taken a decision, but declined further comment. T-Online, the online unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, said in July it had more than nine million customers across Europe, although 7.5 million were in Germany.

AOL Europe is controlled by AOL Time Warner unit America Online, which is the world's largest Internet provider with more than 30 million customers, but lags T-Online in Europe.

The final and official outcome and reasons provided with it should set a new precedent regarding what 'European Coverage' is.

Nutshell Confirm Yesterdays Statement

By:mark.j @ 9:22:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quickie to let everybody know that the kind Nutshell (Net In A Nutshell) press contact, Samantha, has confirmed yesterdays post from our forums was indeed 'official' and from the 'director'.

Hopefully by the end of Monday services should have improved, we do know there are more than a few difficulties with Cable&Wireless (Nuthsell's supplier) at present.

News - October 6,2001

Meeting With 08002Go

By:mark.j @ 10:16:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Due to the large pile of news I've had to cover and the fact that the 08002Go meeting details came in a little late yesterday evening, I'll cover it tomorrow.

I should point out that it was a fact-finding mission by one of our mods, not an in-depth interview because Florence wasn't equipped or trained for that.

Telco Consolidation & Broadband

By:mark.j @ 10:07:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It's believed that the near inevitable consolidation of the telecommunications industry could create 'super-carriers' and in turn further delay the rollout and take-up of broadband.:

Consolidation among the UK's telecoms carriers will initially hamper the expansion of broadband services to corporate branch offices and teleworkers. However, larger operators that are better able to deliver a mix of bandwidth and multimedia content are likely to survive and increase their competitiveness.

The market for telecoms carriers in the UK has taken a sharp turn for the worst, as the economy slows. But some industry figures believe that the demise of the smaller startup carriers will eliminate much of the confusion that is currently holding back the expansion of broadband se rvices, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).

"Previous governments in the UK and elsewhere have been confused by the competition and numbers of competitors," said Alcatel UK chairman Dr Peter Radley. "Competitiveness does not increase by having more and more players it decreases. When limited investment is applied to many players, the industry starts to slow down," he added.

As the ZDNet item points out, while the complexities involved are likely to slow broadband for a short period, it will eventually speed up again.

Nutshell Unmetered Update No.3

By:mark.j @ 10:01:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if another update has been posted in our forums regarding the status of Nutshell's unmetered service. Please note that unlike the last one we can't verify this, although it looks authentic.

We're always cautious of updates that claim to come from the 'Director' of a company unless it's officially stated to us.:

Update on Nutshell Service

A meeting has been held today between the Directors of Nutshell and C&W to rectify the current connectivity problems on the Nutshell platform.

The good news is that the service will resume its normal high level of connectivity by 4pm on Monday 8th October. This does mean, however, that the service levels over the weekend are going to be very variable. For this both Nutshell and C&W apologise unreservedly.

We do urge all our customers to stick with us as the problems of the last week have been totally unexpected and we have been working hard to deal with the problems which have arose.

I would like to reassure all customers that Nutshell are here to stay and the high connectivity standards will return next week. It is very unfortunate that this problem has occurred and Nutshell is grateful for the patience and understanding its customers have given over this difficult week.

Jonathan Watts-Lay
Director

BTOpenworlds Call Centre Incompetence

By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not content with being in the news most of the week, often for bad reasons, somehow the broadband and unmetered dialup ISP has done it yet again. This time it’s down to allegations that their help lines are misinformed and unhelpful, which is something we’ve been saying for a while now.:

Disgruntled BTopenworld Anytime customers who were kicked off the unmetered narrowband package a couple of weeks ago onto a significantly less reliable service, say they have been unable to get competent advice on how to resolve their connection problems.

"One person I spoke to didn't have a clue what I was talking about -- the staff are unbelievably misinformed," said Michael Grierson, a ZDNet UK News reader. "Another customer who phoned BT with a connection problem was told to change his graphics card -- I've never heard such nonsense before."

BTopenworld outsources its call centre work to Client Logic and Manpower. "It's a prerequisite that staff are active Internet users, we're not saying experts, but we do need them to use the Internet on a regular basis," said a spokesman at BTopenworld. BT representatives liaise with the call centres to brief them on the latest Internet service packages available, but admit that they too have received customer complaints about the level of experience possessed by helpline staff.

So there you have it, according to BTOpenworlds customer support lines the solution to all connection problems is to "change your graphics card". Oh dear.. oh dear... oh dear! NO.

...pauses to laugh for several minutes...

Typically BTO have..

...pauses to laugh again...

Typically BTO have done the usual thing and blamed their outsourcing company whom deals with the call centre staff for the problems. This has always been a problem for BT and not just with their Internet wing either. More @ ZDNet.

WonkyPigs Unmetered Project X

By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Normally reserved as the cryptic name that any spy or intelligence expert might glance at, WonkyPig have updated their page on 'Project X'. What is it you ask?

Project X
Project X is the latest development by Wonkypig here's what's heppening.

LAUNCH DATE: Monday 15th October 2001
AVAILABLE TO: ALL UK LANDLINES - bt, ntl, c&w, kingston, telewest

128k iSDN freephone access £25.00 per month
56k freephone access £15.00 per month
Contention Ratios of 10:1 for all users
5 x Pop3 and Webmail Addresses
Pc and Mac supported
0 Hour Cut Off *1
No Contract
Monthly Billing by Cheque, Credit and Debit Card
Account Activation within 10 Mins (9am to 5pm) 48 hours outside office hours.

*1 Although there will be no cut off period users who abuse the service will have accounts terminated.

Aside from the dual channel option there's not a whole lot of difference between this and some of the other offers we've seen from WP in recent weeks. As ever it's probably best to visit our WP forum for the latest reactions from their existing customer base.

Round 2: Broadband Wireless Auctions

By:mark.j @ 9:30:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Many may remember last years highly controversial auctioning off of 42 'fixed' broadband wireless licenses (not the 3G ones) to operators such as NTL and Tele2.

They proved so expensive that only a handful were sold, despite this the government has (as previously reported) decided to have another go.:

Legislation due to come into force next week will pave the way for the auction of the remaining broadband fixed wireless access licences, after last year's auction ended in failure.

The Wireless Telegraphy Regulations 2001 will allow companies to bid for the right to construct and operate high-speed wireless communications services in various parts of Britain. This could increase the currently disappointing take-up of broadband Internet services in the UK.

Only 16 of the 42 licences were awarded after the earlier bidding process, which ended in November 2000. E-commerce Minister Douglas Alexander has now announced that the remaining licences will be made available again. This process will begin later this month and run for up to a year, depending on how much interest the cash-strapped telecom industry shows.

The ZDNet item goes into a lot of detail and leaves us hoping the auction will be a success; after all it'd mean more competition and wider broadband coverage. As usual we'll just have to wait and see, until then only NTL and Tele2 have pushed the technology into the residential consumers domain.

BTO Admits Peer-To-Peer Problems

By:mark.j @ 9:21:AM - Comments (13) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In an unlikely turn of events the broadband and unmetered dialup provider, BTOpenworld, has today issued a statement admitting their peer-to-peer file transfer problems.:

We manage our network capacity on a daily basis to optimise the internet experience for our customers, in terms of performance and cost. The network is dimensioned for normal day-to-day internet use. However, our traffic analysis has shown that a small percentage of customers using P2P applications use up a very large percentage of the available bandwidth, to the detriment of the majority of customers who use the network for normal browsing, e-mail and gaming.

In response, in the short term we have had to impose traffic controls on particular applications & ports to ensure that our customers retain their great internet experience. We recognise your concerns on the usability of P2P applications, so are investigating the lifting of these restrictions at off-peak times (e.g. 1:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.), when the network is relatively under-used.

In addition, in the near future we will be launching a new service with a network configuration more suitable for particular bandwidth-hungry activities such as peer-to-peer communications, at a price that fairly reflects their usage of the network. Customers will then have a clearer choice of which package is more suitable to their needs.

Regards,

BTopenworld Product Line

It's certainly not everyday an ISP like BTOpenworld puts its hands up to admit that they've been 'restricting' ports without actually saying so officially.

What's interesting is that this is a broadband service and they now seem intent on introducing a new package for bandwidth hungry users?

Isn't it in broadband’s nature to be bandwidth hungry? No other ISP appears to have this restriction. Not that any of this surprises us following the way heavy dialup users have been treated on the same service.

News - October 5,2001

Nutshell Unmetered Update No.2

By:mark.j @ 4:05:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Having tried and failed ourselves to get an honest explanation from Nutshell regarding their unmetered service and the mass of engage tones, one of our forum members, Nicholas, seems to have had better luck.:

Dear Sir,

Thankyou for your concerns and you're right, it's not due to the Cable backbone specifically, currently Cable and Wireless are attempting to bring our ports back up fully and we're in negotiation with them to this end. Unfortunately when the 08002go servers (which were physically next to ours) and ports were decomissioned they accidentally took ours down as well hence the engaged tones. Unfortunately this problem was fairly major and we have been informed by Cable and Wireless that the service will be back up fully by this evening.

I hope this helps and can only apologise for the problems that have occurred.

Regards,

D***** P*****
Technical Line Manager
Net in a Nutshell
E-Mail: support@nutshell.net
Tel: 0870 3331616

Hopefully this will also help quash those rumours that like 08002Go, Nutshell was in debt to C&W for roughly £1,000,000. Something like this always seems to happen the minute an ISP sees the odd engage tone, of course it's been a bit more than 'the odd engage tone' for some.

All things being equal the services should be back to normal for Saturday, if not then concerns are likely to grow.

November - New Broadband Strategy

By:mark.j @ 3:50:PM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if a revised government strategy for 'Broadband Britain' could be announced as soon as November next month.

This follows a wide-ranging report from the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), which set out options for dealing with infrastructure and content issues.:

A strategy group of BSG members - drawn from the public and private sector - and staff from the e-envoy's office will now turn the report's recommendations into a clear strategy. E-minister Douglas Alexander welcomed the report, but said he felt the key issue is the role of BT.

He called on the company to set fair prices for retail and wholesale ADSL services, to lower charges for access to its local loop, and to introduce a lower-priced broadband product to stimulate domestic consumer demand.

Interestingly the VNUNet item highlights things that have been asked of BT many times before, it's really nothing new. Physically getting the debt-laden Telco to lift so much as a finger is proving more difficult, a revised plan isn't likely to make much difference.

Internet 2 Boosted By Quest

By:mark.j @ 3:43:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Internet 2 isn't quite what you'd think; it's the definition for a group of corporations, universities and non-profit organisations interested in advanced Internet related technology research.

In other words it's better described as a general expression of technologies that have yet to fully integrate into the Internet itself. Quest is currently in charge of the group and has today announce its intention to extend that role for another five years.:

Internet2 started in 1996 as a group of corporations, universities and nonprofits interested in advanced research. The project acts as a laboratory for companies and researchers developing new technologies and also serves as a blueprint of what the Internet could look like in the future.

Most people associate video streaming over the Internet with chunky sound and halted pictures, for example, but the technology has made great strides within Internet2 to broadcast quality.

"You are hearing the real sound and seeing the real image. You're not looking at some grainy image on a computer screen," said Professor Brian Shepard, the coordinator of the music technology program at the University of Oklahoma School of Music.

According to ZDNet Quest also plans to expand the 'test' networking structure to a speed of 10 gigabits per second by October 2003.

Energis Withdraws From LLU

By:mark.j @ 3:30:PM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

In what's likely to be a big shock to Oftel and cast further doubt over BTs ability to unbundle the local loop, Energis (major LLU player) has pulled out of the process.:

Energis today told Computing that it could no longer see a business case for LLU.'Energis welcomes recent activity from Oftel in reducing the costs of LLU and has reluctantly decided to withdraw from the process,' said a spokeswoman.

The combination of the fixed costs of DSL provision and BT's first mover advantage in the market mean future investment by third parties will only be viable in areas of high demand and the rest of country will be serviced only by BT, according to Energis.

And the company calls on the government and watchdog Oftel to force competition by compelling BT to provide DSL interconnect services at cost price.

To be honest we're surprised there's anybody left in the process since it doesn't seem to have made any real progress since last year. Whether there's demand or not, BT must still unbundle and clearly this isn't happening.

Obviously any company that pulls out of LLU is a benefit to BT by limiting potential competition; as such BTs response is that they're ‘not surprised’. We'd expect some interesting press from Oftel during the next few days, more @ VNUNet.

Important ISP Review Site News

By:mark.j @ 10:23:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

We've finally found a way to physically cut the bandwidth consumption of our forums by up to 75-80% through server side compression. It's an extremely tedious method and will be tested for the next week or so before going public.

The method we'll use isn't the standard one, yet it can make 80K forum pages go down to 15K, allowing for faster loading (client - YOU) and saving us bandwidth.

Typically this means we'll have to upgrade and then re-add all of our custom features since it's based on a newer software revision and most of our features aren't official. It should be possible to add this to our existing forum, however we've gotten compilation errors and the system is too big to know where they stem from.

Ultimately we'll begin re-adding features to the test code in private in order to make the transition as seamless as possible when it happens. We're also looking to change the front ISP Review page as it can get cramped with news, although the forums are our focus for now.

NatWest Cuts Off Netscape Users

By:mark.j @ 9:41:AM - Comments (4) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The popular UK Bank, NatWest, has taken the controversial step of cutting off anybody using a Netscape browser from its online banking services because they could pose a security risk.:

Visit with the latest version of Navigator and you'll get an alert stating: "We are currently our Web site with the Netscape 6 browser. At this stage, we cannot guarantee that you willbe able to experience the full benefits of the Web site." Attempting to log on to the online service results in a blank page.

IT consultants have told the bank they could not guarantee the security of customers' data through the browsers and so they have all been switched off. We also tried to log on with Opera but couldn't get passed the log in page. And if you are foolish enough to use a Mac, don't even think about using the service, as NatWest won't let you access it using Internet Explorer.

The Register points out that the only option left open for users of the service is a PC based Internet Explorer platform, why aren't we surprised? Lack of good security should never be 'just' a browser related problem, that's a very poor excuse for not doing the job properly.

Rich Old Men Run Better ISPs?

By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Question, what type of person is best designed to run an Internet Service Provider (ISP)? Why.. a rich old man of course!, or didn't you know that? No we didn't either, but apparently that's what 'Which?' magazine’s latest report seems to think.

Apparently providers run by such people, MSN, Clara.net and One.Tel etc. all seem to top the charts and do much better than their rivals. Sounds more like good management than rich old men alone, of course some engage tone suffering clara.net users might say otherwise.

News - October 4,2001

BT Home Highway Update

By:ross @ 8:02:PM - Comments (2) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Just a quick update about BT Home Highway:

The Website has had a total redesign, and can be found @ http://www.bt.com/homehighway/. The new website includes complete information on the service, which has also been broadened from the last site which was pretty basic.

The installation fee has been increased from £49.50 to £74.99 on the BT Together Packages'. Other installation options, along with prices are available HERE

Unmetered @ £35.88 Per Year

By:mark.j @ 4:13:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Totalise have joined with iLearn.To in order to offer a very special education + unmetered dialup ISP package for just £35.88 per year!.

Typically it's not quite what it appears to be on the surface, although Totalise plan to publicly launch their £14 per month offer soon.:

Subsidised online training and unmetered Internet access for a year for £35.88 inc VAT (£2.99 per month)

Bringing you learning on the Net combined with low cost Internet access for a year…Totalise and iLearn.To are a winning combination. We can offer you subsidised online training teamed with unmetered Internet access for a year for only £35.88 inc VAT, equivalent to £2.99 per month*.

There are a range of 800 courses to choose from, including enhancing your ability to use a computer and allowing you to obtain professional certification's. Take some time to have a look through the courses available and see how they could enhance your career or portfolio of qualifications.

Typically this is NOT just an ISP package and there are other things/costs involved (complete the education) and so sadly you don't just pay £35.88 PA, which wasn't anywhere near realistic in the first place. Having said that the package itself is a standard 24/7 affair with a 2 hour cut off.

http://www.totalise.net/learnsurfsave

Free24-7's 08002Go Offer & Expansion

By:mark.j @ 4:00:PM - Comments (8) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The V21 backed and recently renamed unmetered dialup ISP, FREE24-7, has sent us their latest service update regarding a special offer to Ex-08002Go subscribers. The update also contains news of some service improvements.:

Free24-7.net is pleased to announce a huge expansion to their network. This is due to the continued massive numbers that have taken up the £7.99 a month unmetered internet access option.

Free24-7 have now opened their doors to an addittional 5000 users. This means that again we shall only take on a maximum of 15,000 users in order to keep the platform at a low contention ratio.

Paul Williams of Free24-7.net said 'We are dissapointed to hear of the problems that 08002go users are encountering and beleive that this is giving ISP's like ourselves a bad name.’

We have had an enormous take up in our service and have opened additonal port and server capacity to deal with the influx. We shall not be raising the price and invite all ex 08002go users to our service.

To prove a genuine dissapointed with the news we are offering a 24 trial of our service to anyone !

If any user signs up over the next 48 hours they will recieve a full 24 hours FREE TRIAL. !!!

All sounds like very good news from an ISP trying to justify its extremely cheap £7.99 per month model. On the other hand we truly wish providers would swing their updates through a spell checker before sending them off =).

BTOpenworld Complaints Come Home

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

It’s bad enough having to spend several minutes writing an E-Mail of complaint; however having the message sent back with errors is even more frustrating. At least that seems to be the case with some BTOpenworld customers whom found their E-Mails being returned (bounced).:

Punters trying to contact customer support have had their emails bounced back with the message "mailbox is full".

The email address in question - customerservice@btopenworld.com - relates to complaints about BTopenworld's AnyTime unmetered narrowband service.

The problem first happened on Monday and was supposed to have been fixed yesterday. However, the problem still exists today. It's not known when the email address will be up and running again.

The Register highlights something that we ourselves have seen twice today, it’s being blamed on a recent influx of 40,000 new subscribers, many of them unhappy with the services and complaining, thus the mailbox gets overloaded.

BTOs First Virtual ISP Customer - MSN

By:mark.j @ 3:49:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yes that's correct, The Microsoft Network is to become the first customer for BTOpenworld's recently introduced VISP (Virtual ISP) service. Note that we’ve cut two ‘chit-chat’ paragraphs from the release and left in the editors note at the bottom.:

MSN selects BTopenworld to launch new Flat-fee Internet packages

BTopenworld, BT's mass market Internet business, today announces its new wholesale virtual ISP (VISP) offering to be launched with MSN.co.uk as the launch customer. Under this arrangement, MSN's 13 million UK users will be able to sign up to flat-fee Internet access services direct from MSN.co.uk for the first time.

Based on FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination), BTopenworld's extended virtual ISP solution will enable companies such as MSN to provide their customers with flat-fee Internet access without the risk or cost of investing directly in technology. As the technology 'partner', Btopenworld manages the Internet services, freeing 'partner' companies to concentrate on their core business and customer needs.

Through its working relationship with BTopenworld, MSN plans to launch two flexible and competitive payment options for flat-fee Internet access packages later this year. For light Internet users, MSN will offer 24/7 availability for a maximum of 10 hours per month for £4.99 (inc. VAT)*.

This lighter tariff is aimed at the 'daily email checker', new users and those users who mainly use the Internet at work, but want to budget for a quality Internet service at home for a set amount of hours a week.

MSN will also introduce an £8.99 (inc. VAT)* tariff for more frequent users, who will be given the option of 24/7 availability for a maximum of 25 hours per month. Combined with its existing Pay-as-you-go service, also provided by BTopenworld, these Internet access packages will be a cost-effective way for MSN users to get online.

Catherine Hawley, senior vice president of BTopenworld, said: "UK consumers are maturing in their use of the Internet and the introduction of FRIACO enables us to offer greater flexibility to those customers who are demanding packages that exactly suit their level of usage."

Notes for editors
*After the users' maximum hours are reached the usage will revert to a Pay-as-you-go rate of 2p per minute. This tariff applies regardless of the time of day.

24-7FreeCalls AOL CDs - Go For The Record

By:mark.j @ 3:44:PM - Comments (3) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The recent re-launched unmetered dialup ISP, 24-7FreeCall, is strangely trying to collect 1,000,000 AOL (ISP) CDs in a bid to reach the Guinness Book of World Records. Could this be another publicity stunt?:

"If there's one thing more certain in life than a Man United fan living in Portsmouth, it's that every person in the UK will, at some point, receive an AOL sign-up CD," said Sal Abdin.

"As there's a limit to how many coffee mug coasters and portable vanity mirrors a person can realistically own, we are asking the community at large to send us their AOL CDs for our world record bid," he chirped.

Unfortunately for Sal, he's up against a couple of guys in the US who have already started collecting one million AOL CDs - so they can dump them at Internet giant's US HQ in protest at what they call "needless pollution".

Credit to 24-7FreeCall for thinking up what could be the cleverest way of drumming up publicity in sometime. Sadly with just under 3,000 collected there's still someway to go and YOU can help out by sending any such CDs HERE: 24-7Freecall Limited, PO Box 9166, Birmingham, B11 2BZ.

We ourselves have a small pile of four AOL discs from the last month alone (that's what you get for doing ISP Review), sadly this little lot will be burnt in a ritual sacrifice rather than sent to 24-7FC. We figure that if you burn enough then GOD will eventually notice and use his/her powers to stop the flow. More @ The Register.

OFT Questions ISP Regulation

By:mark.j @ 3:34:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

..and it's about time too. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to begin investigating British Internet service providers and explore whether the needs of customers are being properly served.:

The OFT's new Markets and Policy Initiatives Unit announced the initiative on Wednesday, following indications that the practices and regulation of the home PC and Internet Service Provider (ISP) market are creating a huge amount of public concern.

"This new division will be taking a more proactive look at the market as a whole, to see how the markets are working for consumers -- no one is in the dock at the moment," said a spokeswoman at the OFT.

The ZDNet item represents bad news for ISPs and good news for their customers, many of whom have had to suffer poor ISP quality and services due to the lack of industry wide regulation and standards.

We’d hope to be in contact with the OFT sometime in the near future where we'll help to highlight some issues that concern subscribers.

BTOpenworlds Consumer Research

By:mark.j @ 3:28:PM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The unmetered dialup and broadband provider, BTOpenworld, has today sent us the full results of their 'Fletcher Advisory' commissioned research into the use of Broadband Internet by residential customers.

Please note that the full report is vast and so we'll just publish the breakdown. Note that you may have seen leaks of this mentioned on ISP Review a week or two ago.:

The Top 10 Findings of the report...

1) 61% of broadband users would choose their computer over their TV if they were asked to choose between the two.

2) 87% of broadband users would not go back to standard internet access (narrowband) even if it were free.

3) Broadband users watch on average 5 hours less TV per week since getting broadband.

4) Broadband users spend on average 4 hours less on other activities per week since getting broadband.

5) 30% of broadband users now spend more time working from home - a further 15% expect to.

6) 74% of broadband users have recommended the service to friends and family - a further 24% expect to recommend it.

7) Broadband users spend 2.5 times more money online than narrowband users - on average £676 per year.

8) Forecast that by 2005 - 32% of UK households with an internet connection will have broadband.

9) Forecast that by 2005 - 45% of e-commerce conducted by UK users will be via broadband.

10) 53% of broadband users have now started to use email to replace phone calls.

...and some of the latest news from BTopenworld...

BTopenworld currently has over 45,000 broadband subscribers

Very little in the report is unexpected, apparent from No.6 where nearly 3/4's of the 200 people surveyed said they'd recommended the technology to others.

Clearly those who can actually get broadband would appear to be happy with it, although it'd take a much wider survey to know for sure.

Alcatel Cut 650 UK Jobs

By:mark.j @ 10:24:AM - Comments (0) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The French group responsible for 95% of the USB R/ADSL broadband modems in the UK marketplace, Alcatel, are to cut a further 650 jobs in the UK.:

In the UK, 434 full-time and 218 part-time staff will go from the company's London plant, according to The Times. The news follows 300 further UK job cuts in July.