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January 17, 2002 - January 22, 2002

News - January 22,2002

Freeserve –vs- AOL UK

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

Freeserve and AOL have once again continued their war of words today. Despite a relatively quite Christmas period, Freeserve has again gone on the offensive by complaining to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

However this time the provider does at least have a point because they're complaining about AOLs claim to being "the leading ISP" in Britain:

The move marks a dramatic increase in hostilities between the two companies, which has already seen Freeserve trying to enlist the customs and excise department in its battle to force AOL to pay VAT.

The complaint comes after AOL Time Warner’s financial press release earlier this month, which stated “in the UK, AOL is the leading ISP with more than 1.5million members”.

Freeserve said today it believes the statement, drawn from the company’s preliminary results for 2001, is misleading to investors and distorts AOL’s position in the UK.


The netimperative.com item highlights a good point on the part of Freeserve, which itself had 2.244 Million subscribers at the end of last year.

Of course Freeserve doesn't exactly have the best track record with service quality, so the number of subscribers shouldn't be a 'Quality' factor! It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

Cloud-Nine Officially Closes ISP!

By:mark.j @ 10:44:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Today looks set to be a sad and frustrating one for anybody who was ever a customer of the once popular unmetered dialup and broadband ISP Cloud-Nine.

At precisely 10:16am a few minutes ago Emeric Miszti (CEO) and John Parr (Operations Director) of the C9 ISP posted what's likely to be their final announcement on our forums. C9 is now the latest ISP to close, although it's the first we've ever seen to go from a hack attack!:

Cloud Nine regret to announce that at 7:45 this morning the decision was taken to shut down our Internet connections with immediate effect.

We tried overnight to bring our web servers back online but were seeing denial of service attacks against all our key servers, including email and DNS. These were of an extremely widespread nature.

We felt we had a moral duty not to expose our customers to possible attacks as well.

We must thank BT for all the help they provided us with in trying to bring these attacks to an end. We worked with them for the last few weeks to investigate this problems but ultimately we did not believe that we could survive these attacks and that it would be in the best interests of both ourselves and our customers to close our Internet service and seek a transfer of our services to another ISP.

We now wish to initiate a speedy transfer of servers, domain names, etc to interested Surftime ISP's and NT portfolio hosters since this would be the quickest way to get the affected customers online again. Please contact John Parr on 07740 423993 if interested.

We want to thank our customers for all the support over the last few days. Ultimately these attacks denied the service not to us but to many thousands of British businesses and ordinary people - this was an attack against everyone with no consideration for anyone!

The company is solvent but if a sale of assets cannot take place quickly then an administrator will be appointed. We have had to pay our excellent staff to the end of the month and we feel really sorry for them as well and would like to thank them for all their efforts over the years and the commitment shown over the last few difficult days.

All the directors are feeling absolutely gutted since we have all spent nearly 6 years building this company and its reputation to see it destroyed by a brazen act of cyber terrorism - well at this moment we can think of no words to express our true feelings.

Emeric Miszti
CEO

John Parr
Operations Director


We're extremely sorry to see them go, not least because they often provided a very important insight into the internal wrangling that goes on between ISP and operator, it often goes unmentioned.

However the fact that such a long standing ISP was forced out of business by hackers is also of great concern and will no doubt be picked up on by the media. We can only hope they catch the people involved.

BTs Unlimited Free UK Calls

By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Most should be able to remember BTs update to their BT Together package from late last year in which the off-peak unmetered local calls option was extended nationally. BT has now started publicising the offer, first by E-Mail / website and later by TV:

***********************
Unlimited free UK calls
***********************
We want to tell you about a fantastic new service developed for people like you in mind.

It's called BT Together with unlimited UK calls*. And for a monthly fee of just £18.50** (when you pay by Direct Debit or Monthly Payment Plan) it lets you make unlimited evening and weekend calls to anywhere in the UK.

That's unlimited local and national calls without worrying about the cost.


Note that if you don’t pay by DD then it’s £19.50 and the previous limit of 60minutes (1hour) for the unmetered coverage still exists, although you can easily re-dial.

3G Broadband Satellite Roaming?

By:mark.j @ 9:49:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While not quite sure whether to categorise this item as broadband Wireless or Satellite; several mobile network operators such as Vodafone have been in talks with Inmarsat, an international satellite operator, about using its network for a global 3G (roaming) service.

The news, which came from The Times newspaper, also gives mobile operators the potential to expand their network coverage around the UK as well as Europe without needing so many base stations.

It's not yet clear whether anything will come of the talks or if such a service could physically be active by the time the operators launch come late-2002 / mid-2003.

Alcatel Cuts 90 More UK Jobs

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

The French owned company Alcatel, better known for their broadband USB R/ADSL modems in the UK, has been forced to cut another 90 jobs from its UK workforce.

Thankfully the cuts came from a division not likely to affect the production of R/ADSL kit for UK home users and as part of an existing plan to remove 244 jobs.

Wave Goodbye to NTLs CEO

By:mark.j @ 9:33:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following on from recent news regarding NTLs serious financial situation, it now looks as if the current CEO Barclay Knapp will be forced to leave by the banks:

They are demanding that he sell his controlling 51 per cent equity stake if an interested buyer can be found that can inject new funds into the company, Patrick O'Brien writes

Liberty New Media, AOL Time-Warner, Microsoft, and Vivendi have all been linked to the New York listed company. So far NTL has kept very quiet about how it plans to stave off bankruptcy, but earlier this month it brought in Credit Suisse First Boston to advise on ways of restructuring its enormous $17m debt.

Storm clouds have also been gathering over the company as speculation grows that it is in danger of breaching some of its bank covenants and could be about to issue a profit warning.


The Register reminds us that all eyes will be on the troubled cable operator as expectations of a profit warning by the company continue to grow.

News - January 21,2002

More BTOpenworld Wires-Only Fears

By:mark.j @ 3:20:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Following on from recent posts regarding the concern surrounding BTOpenworld's forthcoming Wires-Only R/ADSL offer, today the situation has become more confusing.

When BTWholesale first dropped its monthly prices during mid-2001 BTOs offer remained at £39.99, which most people deemed fair because it was still one of the lowest. However the latest drop for Wires-Only services should have had an impact; not according to BTO!:

The word from the company's own customer support department is that it'll charge £39.99 (including VAT) per month -- the same as it currently charges its existing consumer ADSL customers.

If true the ZDNet item would highlight BTOpenworld as, for the first time, being undercut by at least one or two other packages from rival ISPs. It goes on..:

But one ZDNet UK reader has been told that BTopenworld may have different plans. He contacted the ISP to see if he could move from BTopenworld's Home 500 broadband service to a self-install product, and therefore enjoy a £5 per month saving, but he was disappointed with the response.

"We are under the impression that the Plug and Go (Self Install) will still be charged at the same monthly rate of £39.99, although we do not have the finalised details," wrote a member of BTopenworld's Broadband Team.


No doubt the difference would probably be in the exclusion of the setup fee and or a shorter contract; however we can't help but feel that it's a waste. What do you think? Perhaps it’s BTO trying not to look anti-competitive for one?

Mind you it's probably just us =), we happen to prefer discounted monthly fee's due to the long-term savings potential. There's not much point in getting broadband if it's not for a lengthy period anyway.

Third UK Cable Operator Deploys DSL

By:mark.j @ 3:04:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

To date the only two mass-market cable (fibre optic) based operators to launch broadband services have been NTL and Telewest.

Now Omne Communications, the third major operator after the others, has deployed a combined iTV and broadband access provisioning and service delivery system:

Omne has taken on JacobsRimell’s (London) APS technology, which supports the DSL and digital TV services through its modular architecture and web-based interfaces, as well as integrating with billing and CRM systems.

JacobsRimell CEO David Jacobs said that deployment of the system lasted from June to October last year.

Omne, formerly Eon Communications, is hoping that businesses and consumers in south-west Scotland and north-west England, largely uncovered by NTL and Telewest, will represent a profitable market.


Typically full details of the service aren't yet clear and it's hard to say whether DSL will be delivered by the cable itself or over a BT line (LLU / Wholesale?). More @ netimperative.com .

If anybody has more information, such as pricing and speed for the residential offer etc., then please drop us a message.

Cloud-Nine Update – Service Online

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

The serious situation with the troubled broadband and unmetered dialup ISP Cloud-Nine has received two updates since the early morning. The first came from C9's CEO (Emeric Miszti) and both can be seen in our forums:

Cloud Nine servers are now receiving incoming/outgoing POP3/SMTP mail.

The 0844 and 0845 dial-up is working as is 0808.

3 out of 4 DSN servers are operational. If you receive any name resolution errors then please report these. We expect to restore Web Servers by early tomorrow morning.

Once again we must apologise for the downtime caused by this unfortunate incident. Until our own website goes live again sometime tomorrow please send any support queries to cloudnine@basingstoke.net.


The above came just after midnight this morning and the following (second) update followed it only a few minutes ago:

All services except web sites are running which we live by 12pm.
Let me know by e-mailing cloudnine@mysurftime.com which will be available from 10am

People will not have received e-mail since Thursday and anyone sending mail to our customers would have had mail returned

All feeback is welcome

Please put the domain name in the subject line and state one of the following problems

1) Web Site Down
2) Can't Send E-mail
3) Can't Receive E-mail
4) Can't dial

Please state name, company (if any) and telephone contact no.


It sounds like much of the ISP should be back to normal bar some remaining problems and faults; hopefully we'll get a more complete update once everything is solved.

NTL Crisis - Imminent Profit Warning

By:mark.j @ 9:58:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yesterdays Mail On Sunday newspaper has reported that NTL could be about to announce a profit warning today, which would no doubt add to the already serious doubts surrounding the companies future.

Using Digital TV Services Properly?

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

Most Digital TV services come with Internet related features that allow for online ordering and similar services, however new research from Gartner has found that only 50% of DTV users actually know how to use that part of the service:

Of the total UK consumers who realised they had access to interactive services, more than 40% hadn’t worked out how to use them, while 35% said they were not interested in the services. The 6% who purchased using dTV made impulse buys of low-value items priced between £10 and £50 – such as pizzas.

Gartner recommends that retailers tighten the link between their services and programme content by sponsoring TV shows or partnering with programmes pitched at a similar market, target non-PC users, and draw viewers to shopping sites through interactive adverts.


The netimperative.com item is interesting because we can't seriously believe they'd pay up to £50 for a pizza =), must be made by the Queen herself.

News - January 20,2002

ISP Review Weekly Update

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

It's been another busy week, not least because we've replaced the system managing our mailing list (twice =]), installed a new stats monitor and continued to improve the overall HTML code of the site for faster loading and to save bandwidth.

We've also got the compression software used on our forums working with the 'Reader Top ISPs' system (didn’t I already say that last week?) and now introduced it into PART of the news service as well.

Anything coming directly from the CGI (click a 'Top News' headline for an example) will be compressed. This is especially good if you're searching for news, which can often return a lot of results; this will be compressed and load far faster - good for modem users.

Aside from that we've been busy getting ready to review some ISPs in conjunction with our ISP Of The Year 2001 rating, all of which seems to be taking up a lot of our spare time (we don’t have much). On top of that I've just had another birthday and so the distractions from ISP Review are often and many =).

Next week we'll be investigating ways of compressing the automated ISP listings system and perhaps adding a few extra features (ability to rate, search etc.) to it if there's time.

Note that we would have taken the forum offline for its bi-monthly maintenance today, however we figured disgruntled Cloud-Nine users would need it online until C9 re-surface - Maintenance now delayed until next Sunday.

NTLs Faster Cable Modems - Rumour

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

The latest rumour to reach our inbox, one we thought could hold some validity, is that of future improvements to NTLs broadband cable modem services.

Apparently a source close to the MD of NTLs group responsible for installing the cable connections sees faster business options in the mix.

The info., which is apparently leaked from several internal E-Mails (awaiting copies), suggests that in 3 Months time NTL will launch a 1 and 2Mb cable modem service. The 1Mb offer is 'predicted' to cost an impressive £40 per month.

Typically NTL isn't going to confirm this until it's ready to happen, if at all. One of the reasons for not announcing it until the last minute is because they still want people to signup for their 512Kbps option rather than wait for the faster choice.

We'd just like to remind you that this is a RUMOUR item, so take it with a BIG pinch of salt. It's always best to consider them false until an announcement is made. On the other hand it could be true and yet it still may never arrive, NTLs financial situation could well be chaotic come April/May 2002 (note - end of tax year period).

Cloud-Nine Customer Patience Fades

By:mark.j @ 10:22:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It seems as if the patience of Cloud-Nine's many customers, especially their business users (obviously), is starting to fade and fade FAST!

One of our readers was reportedly able to get through to somebody at C9's customer support department, whom apparently had this to say: 'working desperately to get things back online, but we're not online yet. We've not been given any timeframe for restoring the service'.

The last official statement came during Friday afternoon and since then the service has remained near totally offline and without a single word as to the progress of a recovery. Indeed this seems to be the most serious criticism levelled against the ISP, a serious lack of customer communication.

Sadly this is an all too common factor with other ISPs (not just C9) and we've seen it happen many times before. So while C9 make a lot of cash from their premium rate support number, business customers loose far more and residential users prep to leave.

It may not be their fault, yet it's how they deal with it when it happens that matters and most people don't seem to be happy - not good.

ISPs Stall Wires-Only xDSL Introduction

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

Ever wonder why it's only ever half (roughly) of the UKs 60+ broadband R/ADSL offering ISPs that seem to take advantage of new price cuts, systems and offers? So do we.

Perhaps somewhat ironically this can also be applied to BTOpenworld and Freeserve, two of the biggest players in the broadband market. So while others such as Freedom2Surf and PlusNET take advantage, why not the others?:

BTopenworld is planning to launch the service, but couldn't tell us when or how it will be priced.

A Freeserve spokeswoman said that the group's experiences in France, where self-install DSL is "flying off the shelves", made them optimistic for the same product in the UK, but that it is still too expensive.

She said: "We were very disappointed with the wholesale price of £25. We've always seen £30 as the target DSL price, and a wholesale price of £25 doesn't give us any margin. We will take a view on marketing DIY broadband based on how the wholesale market moves. We won't be marketing it heavily if the wholesale price stays where it is."


The Silicon item shows AOL UK and Tiscali as echoing what Freeserve states above. So while the smaller ISPs seem to be rushing in, the major players are simply waiting to see which way the wind blows, it’s the best of both worlds for some.

French R/ADSL Comparison

By:mark.j @ 9:53:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ADSLGuide spotted a very interesting item HERE on the BBC website which looks at the massive growth of broadband technology in France over the period of a few short years. What's interesting about this item is the parallel we can draw with the UK:

Its first ADSL lines went on sale just over two years ago. By the end of 2000 it had 60,000 subscribers.

At the end of last year, it was selling 15,000 lines a week. A 30% drop in price since last summer is the main reason for the rush.


The BBC item also mentions that the total number of broadband (all mediums - not just xDSL!) subscribers is now at 700,000, which is a massive increase with the numbers and timescale being comparable to the UK through past months.

It's now easy to see where the government gets its optimism for the coming months/years. However they should probably bare in mind the economic, coverage and dialup unmetered differences before getting too hopeful. One way or another 2002 is a make or break year for UK broadband.

News - January 19,2002

Female WWW Surfers On The Rise

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

It's now common knowledge that the number of women on the Internet is rising, however the latest report released by Nielsen/NetRatings suggest that this could be much faster than anticipated. In fact women now outnumber men in this North American survey!

The Internet research firm claims that the number of women who surf the Web at home rose 9% to 55Million in December 2001 from a year earlier, while the total Internet population increased 6% to 104.8Million. The number of male Web surfers rose just 3% to 49.8Million.

Women accounted for 52% of Internet users at home in December 2001, while April 2000 marked the first time more women were on the Web than men.

However, Nielsen said male Web surfers at home spent 24% more time on the Internet and accessed more content than their female counterparts, averaging 11 hours a month. Women spent about 9 hours online a month.

The Next-Gen Peering ISP

By:mark.j @ 9:54:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Unless you're interested in a new network that enables service providers in different locations to peer directly with one another, then skip to the next news item.

That's exactly what the UKs latest ISP resident, PacketExchange, is doing:

The network (dubbed ProXimity) links traffic exchange points in London, New York, Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam, and reduces the cost of transporting data over the Internet by at least 50 per cent compared to alternatives using older less exotic technologies.

ProXimity is among the first networks to use Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology, which labels traffic flows and makes it easier to manage the flow of traffic over a complex network, with a refinement called draft Martini.

draft Martini, developed by firms such as Cisco and Foundry Networks, has been described as a "21st century Frame Relay" which allows Layer 2 (switching) over Layer 3 networks, such as the Internet.


The technology could well have applications for making true global roaming easier and giving ISPs more flexibility in general. It's not surprising that the new technology has been founded by the recognised LINX and Level3 groups. More @ The Register.

Tripling Cable Modem Speeds

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

It shouldn't come as any surprise to those with a bare technical knowledge that broadband Cable Modem speeds are expected to be tripled.

Apparently the latest specification, the one which allows cable operators to deliver high-speed web access over cable modems in the first place, should push speeds even higher:

CableLabs, the cable industry's research and development arm, said that plans are now being finalised for interoperability testing in the first quarter this year, and that certification testing is expected to take place by the third quarter.

Docsis 2.0 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) significantly increases cable bandwidth by establishing a network that has 30Mbps capacity in two directions.

Today's cable networks generally deliver data with download speeds of between 500Kbps and 2Mbps. Analysts said that cable modem customers are usually limited to only a fraction of those speeds, about 128Kbps, when sending data.


It's worth noting that the stats above most likely come from North America (USA), which is generally where most of the cable based improvements come from. We're sure a lot of NTL and Telewest users would be interested in the improved cable speeds, more @ VNUNet.

News - January 18,2002

Cloud-Nine ISP Completely Vanishes!?

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

The semi-popular (not for much longer) broadband and unmetered dialup ISP Cloud-Nine appears to have suffered nothing less than a major (total?) network failure!

Their website, E-Mail, dialup, networking and seemingly everything according to readers, all appear to have vanished. Some users have been able to get onto our forum and discuss the matter, which is good because C9's announcement line (0207 9002364) keeps cutting us off after stating that there's a problem - very helpful - NOT.

One such reader claims to have contacted a C9 rep, whom had the following to say: "A major incident, and all staff have been called in to resolve the problem". Not much comfort to the uncountable number of people unable to use their service.

Another such user and reader of ISP Review was able to get through on the second announcement line (01256 9002364) and report the following: It tells me that there have been problems with dial-up and static IP, which is a 'major incident'.

It's hard to say exactly how long the service has been offline; some were apparently still able to connect early this morning, while others have been unable to connect for 3 days! Clearly the situation is serious and already has subscribers very worried.

We're presently unable to reach our usual contacts within the ISP and so until an announcement is posted then there's not much more to say. We can only hope things will be resolved before tomorrow, although that's beginning to seem unlikely given the increasingly late hour.

We'll keep you all posted as we get more information, expect an update tomorrow or earlier if possible..

NOTE: If anybody learns anything then please post it in our Cloud-Nine ISP Forum as well.

**Update**
The Cloud-Nine Directors have posted a message in our forums @ http://www.ispreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/ubb2/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=25&t=000046.

Oftel Pushes For BT LLU Price Cuts

By:mark.j @ 3:16:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The UK telecoms regulator, Oftel, has once again focused itself on the Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) process, this time with the intention of ordering BT Group to cut charges for some of the facilities needed by LLU operators:

BT must cut its charge for providing line information from £5.30 to £2.60 per line.

It must halve the premium it charges for access to exchanges, where this is necessary and visits have not been arranged in advance.

Oftel also believes BT should cut its connection and rental charges for cables which link operators' equipment with BT's local exchanges.


Apparently Oftels reason for this latest set of changes is to help speed up the roll-out of broadband services to customers, which probably means ISPs and businesses given that it’s LLU - not retail.

The Ananova item is short, although the more technically minded can bore themselves silly by reading Oftels full publication HERE. Typically LLU only seems to end up benefiting businesses and thus it's unlikely to cause a stir with residential broadband R/ADSL services.

Business Unable To Get Broadband

By:mark.j @ 3:05:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

While there doesn't appear to be a shortage of demand for newer broadband services, a new survey by Computing shows that only 1 in 5 can actually get it:

The problem is that the remaining 18 per cent of readers don't have access to cable or DSL services.

The growth of home working - one of the main reasons why the UK needs a national infrastructure - is already facing obstacles.

Insurance giant Prudential has axed its teleworking pilot because of a lack of availability. Its experiment involving nine staff failed when one couldn't get broadband because he lived too far from the exchange - and that was in Reading!


Now that price is less of a barrier for broadband technologies the remaining problem of coverage still exists and BT doesn't look likely to push another general rollout for sometime to come. More @ VNUNet.

eCommerce Minister On Broadband

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

While speaking at the Europe21 conference in London yesterday the governments eCommerce Minister, Douglas Alexander, was quick to re-outline (again) the governments stance on broadband funding:

Access to broadband would be "delivered primarily by market players, and not necessarily by governments".

He added: "(The) enduring challenge is now making widespread broadband use a reality. This is both a common challenge being faced by governments and businesses throughout Europe, and a common opportunity."

There is a real need to "interconnect European citizens, industries and governments by rolling out broadband networks" but that "this is primarily a matter for the private sector".


The Register's item is related to yesterdays in which we had more detail about how they specifically planned to push broadband technologies.

Media & ISP Groups To Boost NTL?

By:mark.j @ 9:53:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Financial Times is reporting that media groups such as AOL TimeWarner, France Telecom, Liberty Media and Microsoft are talking about how best to bring in new investment to NTL and improve its serious debt situation.

The newspaper said in today's (Friday) edition that NTL and France Telecom, one of NTL's largest investors, have also talked to Vivendi Universal, but the French media company was believed to be the least interested.

The FT said the parallel talks began late last month and were at an early stage. A decision about whether to bring in one of the media firms was understood to be two to three months away, the paper said, quoting someone close to the talks.

This is the latest in a series of last ditch attempts to save the company; hopefully something will turn a positive enough result for the operator to be happy about.

Lesson Learned – Telewest blueyonder

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

DigitalSpy did a small item yesterday afternoon that managed to get some feedback from Telewest's Head of IP and Internet Strategy, Fergal Butler (blueyonder), and the lessons learned from recent Virus/Trojan/Worm attacks:

Since the original outbreaks of Code Red, we have learnt a lot. Our decisive stance on the Nimda virus - where we quickly isolated the handful of infected computers from the rest of the network - proved a huge success, both in helping to protect the vast majority of our customers and in helping to decrease the spread of the virus throughout the wider Internet.

It is this kind of innovative and responsible approach which we believe will maintain our leadership in the handling of these types of issues in the future.


Of course some of the customers affected might disagree given that it's unrealistic to expect everybody to know how to operate a firewall or use special settings to help secure their computer.

While on the other hand there's only a limited amount of things you can do without forcing people to educate themselves, which is the kind of thing that might put new customers off. What do you think?

News - January 17,2002

Eclipse Launch Wires-Only R/ADSL

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

If you thought Freedom2Surf had one of the best broadband residential Wires-Only R/ADSL price and packages on the market, then here comes another to 'Eclipse' it (yes it's a bad pun.. =]).

ADSLGuide is reporting that Eclipse's new Wires-Only offer is especially impressive:

ADSL 500 Lite £50+VAT activation fee, £33+VAT per month and a one month minimum contract. Includes as standard: single dynamic, single static or 5 static IP address/es, single POP3 mailbox with unlimited addresses (anything@something.eclipse.co.uk).

Did you spot it? They are allowing Home service users to request upto 5 static IP address's - previously the only other ISP to offer this service was Andrews & Arnold at £60/month. They will also supply a Fujitsu FDX310 modem with two micro-filters for £85 or just micro-filters at £12 each.


The offer is extremely good because you gain the benefits of having a cheaper monthly R/ADSL cost combined with static IPs and perhaps most amazingly of all - just a one month minimum contract period!

It looks as if one of the previously lesser known broadband xDSL providers has come up with a very good offer.

Oftel's New Director of Operations

By:mark.j @ 3:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Director General of Telecommunications / regulator Oftel, David Edmonds, has appointed Peter Waller as Oftel's new Director of Operations:

He succeeds Anne Lambert who is returning to the DTI after three years at Oftel.

Peter Waller joins Oftel from the Department of Trade and Industry where he is currently the Deputy Chief Executive of the Small Business Service.

He has extensive knowledge of the current issues facing UK businesses, having previously been the Director of Business Links, the national network of advice centres for small and medium sized businesses.


According to the press release the new man will take his place on 21st January 2002 next week.

Jolt Introduce AnyTime Unmetered

By:mark.j @ 3:12:PM - Comments (10) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thanks to Richard for letting us know that Jolt, UK gaming ISP, has today introduced a new dialup AnyTime unmetered ISP package:

Jolt are pleased to announce the launch of their own ANYTIME service for UK users. Now you can have unlimited access to the net for only £11.75 per month inc. VAT - cheaper than Freeserve!!!

Suitable for 56k Modems - 64k ISDN and flexible contracts from 1 month to 12 months Jolt ANYTIME is the cheapest way to enjoy your time online. For more inf. and to sign-up now click the following link:

https://secure.jolt.co.uk/index.php?page=anytime_order.php


The offer seems quite well priced and certainly more affordable than their last attempt, it's also worth knowing the following requirements:

*This Service Is Available In The United Kingdom Only!
*You must have a BT line
*5 Minute Inactivity Cutoff
*2 hour Cutoff


The only odd one out is the low 5 minute inactivity cut-off, which is used by some other providers, just not that many.

Virgin.Net Drop Unmetered Service

By:mark.j @ 10:59:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Virgin.net has controversially dropped its 'Stop the Clock' unmetered ISP service, which was being provided by NTL, who also have part ownership of Virgin.net itself!

Thankfully the service was only in a trial state, although 5,500 subscribers will still be hit and angered by the move:

Virgin.net wants all Stop the Clock customers to switch to its alternative unmetered internet access service using BT's Friaco product.

For Virgin.net customers who have BT as a telephone provider, the switch to Friaco is not much of a disruption, just a new telephone number for their modem to dial.

But customers who used to use Virgin for the internet and NTL for their telephone calls can't use Friaco - they either have to move to a pay-as-you-go service or install a BT phone line.


Just so the Silicon item doesn't confuse, the Stop the Clock package is NOT the same as the new offer that was announced late last year and is based on BTs Surf/WebPort24 technology (FRIACO derivative).

Managers Won't Upgrade - ISDN To xDSL

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

BTs R/ADSL fee scheme, limited marketing and poor reputation for service are today being highlighted as possible reasons for businesses choosing to stick with their ISDN lines:

ADSL is superior to ISDN in terms of speed while offering firms an always-on ser-vice. However, BT has persuaded few companies to make the move, conceded Tony Harris, senior vice president for business customers at BTopenworld.

"The numbers are relatively few --­ only around a thousand or so ­-- even though there's a compelling cost reason to switch," Harris said. "Even moderate ISDN users can save £1,000 to £2,000 a year per line. You would expect it to have created a stampede from ISDN to ADSL, but it hasn't."

Customers wanting to switch have to pay BT £100 to terminate their ISDN contract, then pay BTopenworld an ADSL installation fee of at least £150. Many analysts believe BT should waive fees to convert from ISDN if it is serious about promoting broadband and encouraging more firms to use ADSL. Others say it should do more to raise awareness about broadband services.


Interestingly this seems to be yet another ZDNet item done from a perspective that only seems to recognise BTOpenworld alone as a broadband R/ADSL providing ISP.

Perhaps this says something about the market and generalised understanding; hopefully the new advertising deal will improve this area as well.

BT Not Nominated - Internet Villain 2002

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

Most people laughed when BT's ex-CEO, Sir Peter Bonfield, won last years Internet Service Provider's Association (ISPA) ‘Internet Villain of the Year’ award, but this time it's down to somebody else.

Apparently the telecoms regulator Oftel, the Home Office and the Radiocommnications Agency are short listed for 2002:

Choking back the disappointment, a spokesman for BT told The Register: "Far from being an Internet villain BT is working very hard to bring broadband to Britain."

So that'd be why the rollout process for broadband R/ADSL technology has been paused for several months?

The Register also reports on nominations for the best national consumer and business ISP:

AOL, BTopenworld, Freeserve, Plus Net and Telewest are all up for Best National Consumer ISP.

Best National Business ISP will be decided from among BT Ignite, Cable & Wireless, Claranet, Pipex and Thus.


It's worth pointing out that many of those above were also voted into the early stages of our own 'generalised ISP of the year' award by the readers this year.

Tiscali FINALLY Prep Satellite ISP!

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

Some good news today, the much delayed launch of Tiscali's Two-Way digital broadband satellite ISP service has finally come to an end with the confirmation of a launch date for 1st March 2002, until then there’s a trial being run.

Sadly the price has increased slightly from the proposed £49.99 to £59.99 (BTO = £69.99), although this still makes it one of the better valued providers without any apparent download limits – something so many others have suffered from.

The Register claims that an E-Mail explaining more about this was sent out to 1,500 early registrants, which we've yet to see despite being on the list. Typically you can find out more HERE and the following was cut from the trial page:

For you to take part in the TiscaliSat trial, you will be asked to pay a non-refundable installation fee of £200. A £30 management fee is also payable upon installation.

At the end of the trial, you will have 2 options:

1. Return the equipment with no further cost or obligation.

2. Continue using TiscaliSat and pay £650 for the equipment (this can be made either with 1 payment or 12 monthly payments of £55).

If you would like to continue using TiscaliSat after your trial period has finished you will need to pay for the equipment and a monthly subscription fee. The equipment can be paid for either in a single payment of £650 or in 12 monthly instalments of £55. The monthly subscription fee is £59.99 per month.

UK Leads With DigitalTV (DTV)

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

DigitalTV, which is increasingly being linked with ISP/Internet services, has put the UK ahead of Europe in something else today.

The UK had 37% of households connected to some sort of DTV service by the end of 2001, Scandinavia saw 20% and Germany faced a poor 8%:

According to the research, the high take-up in the UK has been driven by competition between the four delivery platforms: satellite, cable, terrestrial and DSL. In contrast, the German market has been mired in arguments between the incumbent free-to-air broadcasters, new entrant cable companies, and the regulators.

Strategy Analytics expects the majority of European homes to have dTV by 2006, but predicts that analogue switch-off will not happen until ‘well into the next decade’.


Hopefully the UK government takes note of that last paragraph because existing 'no committal' DigitalTV standards in the UK only seem to exist for computers and in special DTV integrated sets.

We've yet to see a mass-market and cost effective FTA (Free To Air) digital TV set-top box go on sale here that can be used by all. More @ netimperative.com.

blueyonder's SMTP Mail IP Support

By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Many may remember the virus problems that hit Telewest's broadband and unmetered ISP wing, blueyonder, last year.

Today DigitalSpy is reporting that one of the measures to help prevent damage to the ISP, an IP based SMTP E-Mail restriction, has now been removed thanks to some new software:

Telewest Broadband's blueyonder ISP has patched its SMTP servers to allow through the sender's Internet Protocol (IP) address, after virus problems necessitated their removal late last year.

Baltimore finally released a new version of MailSweeper to Blueyonder on the 14th of this month, and following extensive tests this was put into active service on Wednesday 16. The new version does not remove the sender's IP from the mail header - and as such Blueyonder's servers will be removed from the mail blacklists.


No doubt a number of our readers using blueyonder's service will be very pleased to hear this - no more blacklisting, we can only hope.

NTLs Broadband Installation Process

By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

There's life in the old dog yet, which NTL proves today by announcing the use some new applications software from BroadJump (US company). Apparently it'll help improve the broadband installation process for new cable modem customers:

The new software, to be made available to both standalone and set-top-box broadband customers, is a package of three applications that handle issues with consumers' PCs:

BroadJump Virtual Truck Qualifier: Checks the prospective customer's PC to ensure their computer meets the minimum requirements for broadband service.

BroadJump Virtual Truck Installer: Configures the customer's PC to receive broadband service from ntl.

BroadJump CorrectConnect: This application remains resident on the system after the Virtual Truck programs have completed their tasks. It monitors the connection and provides diagnostics in the case of a broadband service failure.


More @ DigitalSpy .

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