November 30, 2001 - December 6, 2001
News - December 6,2001
mmO2 Launch Public 3G Trial
By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Isle of Man has become the first UK zone to have its public trial of 3G (UTMS) broadband wireless mobile phone services switched on by BTs mmO2 (BTWireless/Cellnet [o2]).
The trials will be conducted by Manx Telecom, an off-shoot of mmO2, 85% of the population will be covered. Sadly there's a slight problem..:
First trials will be limited a small number of users, said Manx Telecom, with dates for a full roll-out depending on availability of handsets. This could be as late as 2003.
Mobile groups have sunk billions of euros on 3G licences, putting a spotlight on the small self-governing island better known for offshore finance and the TT motorcycle race.
In the next few months we'll be reviewing some of the next generation Colour & Multi-Media GPRS devices and will hopefully make a trip to the Isle of Man for a special report later next year. More @ ZDNet. |
No Porn = Slow Broadband Take-up?
By:mark.j @ 9:31:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Yes that's correct, telecoms executives have today stated their belief that a lack of adult content designed for broadband services is hindering the roll-out. Well that must be it then [Hits head against wall]..:
An audience of 300 UK telecoms chiefs heard that they should consider partnering with providers of adult entertainment to drive broadband adoption.
"Adult entertainment will be the most popular form of content for any new digital content platform," said Berth Milton, chief executive at Private Media Group, one of the world's oldest and largest providers of adult material.
Milton explained that broadband represented a major leap in quality for a business model already proven over dial-up access.
The VNUNet item does still have some merit because adult content is indeed a popular medium in the online world and always has been. However, whether it's quite so crucial a factor in the roll-out of broadband is more difficult to know. |
Don't Blame Broadband Woe On FRIACO
By:mark.j @ 9:24:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Market research conducted by AOL UK claims to disprove the apparent 'myth?' that unmetered dialup ISP access based on FRIACO is responsible for the slow roll-out of broadband across the UK:
BT's defence has been that it has offered broadband but there has been little demand, perhaps because many users find flat-rate access adequate and do not want to pay a premium on top. "Flat-rate is not available across Europe, and £14.99 is a good deal," said John Davies, chief operations officer for BT Wholesale. Both he and his colleague Bruce Stanford, BT Wholesale's director of broadband, had implied that the Friaco (Flat-rate Internet access call origination) flat-rate access service was partly to blame for the low penetration of broadband into Britain.
AOL spoke to more than 5,000 of its members -- "who are a good mix and reflect the make-up of the UK population," said Peacock, and found the vast majority wanted broadband. Far from satisfying their needs, Friaco seemed to intensify them as the figure was higher (85%) for flat-rate users than for dial-up users (67%).
The study also found that users understood the benefits of broadband, and would be prepared to pay substantially more for it. While it is notoriously hard to gauge acceptable pricing from market research studies, Peacock reckoned that 70% of those wanting broadband would be prepared to pay "substantially more" than they do now. He indicated that the cable companies' usual price of around £25 might be acceptable.
Ironically AOLs report, as per this ZDNet quote above, only enforces the belief that unmetered is at least partly responsible for a slower rollout of broadband xDSL services in the UK.
It quite clearly shows that people are interested, yet can't afford it and thus stick with unmetered, which is the reason we've all been familiar with for sometime now. God only knows why BT hasn’t come up with an intermediate xDSL (256KBps/128Kbps - £25 Per month?) package to tempt others away from dialup. |
NTL Introduce Unmetered ISP Charge
By:mark.j @ 9:15:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] From the beginning of next year (February 2002) NTLs unmetered dialup ISP, NTLWorld, will come with an additional charge of £5 per month for existing customers.
At present the ISP has stopped taking on new subscribers, when it reopens at the time of the price changes next year then anybody signing up who isn't already with the service must pay £10 per month:
1p-a-minute pay-as-you-go service will also be available.
Some NTL customers have already vented their frustration at the price rise.
However, NTL maintains that it is still competitively priced compared to FRIACO-based unmetered services, which typically retail at around £15 a month.
Indeed we're amazed NTL's service has lasted this long while costing so little. Undoubtedly going from £0 to £5 or £10 per month is an obvious problem; although realistically it's still one of the best unmetered ISP deals around for existing subscribers. More @ The Register. |
NTLs Broadband Trial Locations
By:mark.j @ 9:03:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] More updates from DigitalSpy this morning, today it's a list of the next set of areas in NTLs broadband cable modem trial(s) process:
The following areas are currently in the trial process:
Aylesbury
Chiltern
South Hertfordshire
Sussex
Watford
The following areas will enter the trial before December 14th:
Peterborough
South East Kent
Surrey (not to be confused with "original" ntl Surrey/North East Hants franchise) |
News - December 5,2001
Goner Worm Spreads FAST
By:mark.j @ 3:38:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Despite being unremarkable in design, the Goner Internet Worm (Virus) has already been touted as one of fastest spreading E-Mail/ICQ viruses this year:
MessageLabs added that it had stopped around 22,000 copies in the last few hours which, at over 100 copies a minute, makes it one of the fastest spreading viruses ever.
It is known that Goner spreads via email and ICQ but, according to Kaspersky Labs, the virus also uses an infected machine to perform an attack on the #pentagonx ICQ channel.
Raimond Genes, European president at Trend Micro, said that, although the virus was not complex and "could have been written by a teenager", the fact that it disables security devices such as firewalls "means that it needs a lot of research".
More @ VNUNet and we suggest you all update your virus checkers just to be safe. |
ASA Slaps BTO 'AnyTime' Advert
By:mark.j @ 3:33:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against ads from BTOpenworld that highlighted the unmetered 'AnyTime' offer as allowing you to: "have the Internet whenever you like, as often as you like for a mere £14.99 a month.".
The outcome was obvious because despite offering an always-on Internet access, there were restrictions on use and heavy users of the system were penalised. This should be seen as a final warning to other ISPs, you can't advertise in this manor and then introduce limits and continue doing the same adverts!!:
BT has now changed the advertising, and warns customers that excessive continuous internet usage would be restricted.
However, the ASA upheld the complaint – the latest in a series of charges of misleading advertising from BT – warning it to be more stringent with the wording of future adverts.
“The Authority considered that consumers could infer from the advertisements, particularly the claims "... no more clock watching..." and "... you don't have to worry about the time you go online anymore...", that they could access the internet for any length of time with no time limitations,” noted its findings.
The netimperative.com item reminds us that this is the SECOND complaint made against BT and follows a similar one made against Telewest and several other providers.
If any of YOU think your ISP is advertising its services in the similar way then please do E-Mail us or start a topic in our Website Discussion forum where we can chase them up. |
New LLU Entrant Touts xDSL
By:mark.j @ 3:18:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks like the only two major players left in the Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) process, EasyNet and Bulldog, are about to be joined by Rod Matthews new venture.
Mr.Matthews is known to many as the Former Scottish Telecom CEO and has been working with Graham Robertson, the former WorldCom CFO, and Peter Black, former NTL CTO, to bring their new company, accessUK, to life:
But if everything goes according to plan, Matthews' new venture will join the two survivors early next year, supplying a last mile access via DSL for major carriers and telcos, who will sell those services mostly to business customers nationwide.
He said: "Right now, venture capitalists are frightened of local loop unbundling, they're frightened of broadband and they're frightened of telecoms."
"But the first criteria of VCs is management, and we have a very strong team. There has been significant interest and a lead investor has already committed subject only to sufficient interest from the customer base."
Typically the focus on business level broadband means that most of you couldn't care less, yet competition can potentially drive BTs own prices down and thus the cost of consumer xDSL. Either way it's good to see a new company entering LLU when all else have avoided it.
It's perhaps ironic that this news comes on the eve that BT announce its exchange updates (8th December onwards) to introduce self-install / wires-only and BTIpstream S500 20:1 R/ADSL services. Not to mention the recent news item from this morning related to the Last Mile summit. |
AOL Helps Prep Safer Web Standards
By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AOL Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media & ISP groups, has opted to join the Liberty Alliance of companies hammering out standards to make the Internet (World Wide Web) a safer place and easier to use.
Liberty includes a slew of major traditional and online companies, from General Motors to Cisco Systems and Sony, and the alliance plans to release its first set of standards some time next year.
The intention is to build a system so that different companies could compete to store a user's data, ranging from lists of interests to credit card numbers, and provide it to participating Web and network sites in the expanding Web, including wireless phones, for instance.
For that to work well, there must be broad agreement on the standards, which makes AOL's joining significant, although critics have said the broad group founded in September may have trouble agreeing on common technological denominators.
"Because Liberty Alliance is not a centrally controlled system, AOL and other companies can continue to enhance their existing authentication and identity services and develop new services," AOL Chairman and Chief Executive, Barry Schuler, said in a statement. |
UK Escapes LLU Crisis?
By:mark.j @ 9:26:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] During talks at the 'Crisis Summit' for the 'Last Mile Europe Conference' in London yesterday, it was concluded by industry figures taking part that the UKs program of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) is NOT in a crisis state:
The straw poll came at the beginning of yesterday's meeting, described in the Last Mile Europe conference programme as a way to plot a "route out of the current crisis faced by carriers and service providers in the last mile".
Although a majority of those present felt there wasn't a full-blown crisis, many expressed concerns and frustrations about LLU. Some suggested that the UK could still be plunged into a perilous state unless some issues, such as the regulatory environment, were resolved.
Instead, there seemed to be a general agreement that broadband Britain - LLU included - was in its infancy. In time, broadband services would be made more widely available and more cheaply.
So it seems that The Register's item is suggesting the outcome shows the industry as taking a less active interest in the process, more or less hoping that time will sort out all the problems for them. |
BTs Official Cheaper Calls!
By:mark.j @ 9:20:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Some more details have surfaced from BT directly regarding their two new local and national call packages set to launch on 7th January 2002. Full BT press release follows:
BT unveils unlimited free calls package
BT has unveiled plans to give customers unlimited free UK calls at evenings and weekends from 7 January. The new package - BT Together with unlimited UK calls - is another option in the BT Together range.
It offers customers unlimited free evening and weekend calls to land line national and local numbers, discounted rates at other times and line rental for £18.50 a month.
For an extra £5 - £23.50 a month - customers can also enjoy unlimited off peak internet calls (to SurfTime numbers) and discounted rates at other times.
Around ten million people already use existing BT Together packages and BT says the new package will be a particular benefit to the 21 million full time workers in the UK who make the majority of their personal calls during their free time at evenings and weekends.
BT says the unlimited UK calls package offers more than 4,000 hours of free national calls for every BT customer – within the flat monthly fee.
Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail’s consumer division, said: "This move transforms the face of call charging in the UK for good. Unlimited free UK calls bring great value for households across the country and it’s another example of BT listening to its customers."
In short it's an extension of their existing unmetered Off-Peak voice calls offer to cover the whole country, which is likely to be seen as a big boost for the provider and some of its customers, which is most of US =).
The only real downside is that they haven't made it clear whether the local off-peak ONLY option will remain separate and they're still using the dated and under used BTSurftime method for Internet calls =(. |
Suppliers Refute 3G Delay Accusations
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In the wake of several popular operators recent decision to delay the launch of 3G broadband wireless mobile phone services from 2002 to 2003, two phone suppliers have refuted claims that they're responsible.
Apparently both Nokia and Sony Ericsson said that blaming shortages of ‘dual-mode’ handsets on the delay wasn't correct:
A spokesperson for mmO2 said: “We will not press the button… until we have applications and dual-mode handsets available.” He added that handset suppliers had indicated to mmO2 that the devices would be ready towards the end of next year, but “there always tends to be a bit of slippage.”
However, spokespeople for Nokia and Sony Ericsson denied this and insisted that they would meet earlier targets. Nokia has said that its 3G devices will be available in Q3 next year while Sony Ericsson would only indicate that they would be ready at some point in the second half of 2002.
Sounds to us like businesses are just being careful not to set a date that turns out to be unobtainable, more @ netimperative.com . |
More NTL Broadband Upgrade Info.
By:mark.j @ 8:49:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Customers in areas with NTLs broadband cable modem service and experiencing problems or simply awaiting an upgrade to add broadband might like to check DigitalSpy's latest update on the situation.
There's some info. on the poor signal-to-noise ratio (causes poor speeds) on some upstream cables in the Luton and Ware areas and work has completed on upgrades in Fleet, Camberley and Farnborough. |
News - December 4,2001
BT Networks Briefly Stumble - Again
By:mark.j @ 3:44:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While surfing the Internet last night we noticed some strange slowdown and latency issues when using a BT supported unmetered ISP. According to ADSLGuide, at least some of this could have been because of a BTnet core peering problem.
Typically with BT playing such an important part in the stability of many UKs ISPs, regular occurrences of such problems don't reflect well on the quality of providers using their network. |
The Official UK Online Report
By:mark.j @ 3:36:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Those interested in the official annual UK Online report by the governments e-Minister (Patricia Hewitt) and e-Envoy (Andrew Pinder) might like to visit the document online HERE.
Since we've already covered most of the broadband related issues this morning and there's nothing else dramatically new, it's still worth updating the stats. During the last year 38% of UK households have connected to the Internet and 51% of adults access the Internet from home, work or a public access point. |
BT Job Cuts & Cheaper Local Calls
By:mark.j @ 3:28:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] As part of its continued efforts to reduce the debt mountain, BT is now set to slash a massive 5,000 employees from its work force and thus gain a total saving of £850Million over three years:
"We expect to achieve these without compulsory redundancy," BT Retail managing director Pierre Danon told reporters, adding that about 8,000 Retail jobs had already gone, with the rest to be shed by March 2003.
BT recently hived off its rapidly growing mobile arm, mmO2, leaving the remaining fixed-line business with cost cutting as one of its key drivers for earnings growth.
The group also outlined ways it hoped would boost revenue in the stagnant fixed-line voice call market, which accounts for around a quarter of BT revenue.
On the up side BT has also issued plans for the introduction of another off-peak calls package, although it's hard to see how they could top the existing unmetered one. More @ ZDNet. |
AOL Europe Buying Into Itself?
By:mark.j @ 3:18:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AOL Europe could be about to stump up a whopping £5Billion to buy back Bertelsmann's 49.5% stake in the European ISP and portal (AOL EU):
The US media conglomerate said it anticipates that Bertelsmann will exercise its right to sell its stake in AOL Europe back to AOL for between £4.75bn and £5.78bn between mid December and mid January.
AOL COO Bob Pittman last night denied the deal was too costly for AOL Time Warner, pointing out that as most of the financing for AOL Europe, which has about 5m internet access subscribers, came from Bertelsmann, AOL is really paying for 100% of the venture.
Originally struck at the height of the internet boom, the deal comes after AOL laid out £725m in March to buy a 55% stake in AOL France from Vivendi Universal.
More @ netimperative.com . |
ISPA Slaps Anti-Terrorism Bill
By:mark.j @ 10:04:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) has hit out at the governments planned Anti-Terrorism Crime & Security Bill, claiming it to be the biggest threat to competition since R.I.P.
Clearly this is a big U-Turn for the ISPA, whom had previously supported the bill, which is something we didn't agree with:
Having reviewed the legislation the ISPA feels it is "heavy handed" and "the biggest threat to international competition since the RIP Bill of 1999". It has several main concerns.
These are: details of the legal protection that CSPs (Communications Services Providers) will receive; inclusion of clauses relating to proportionality and equity with a consequent right to appeal; and details of the scheme by which CSPs will recover their costs for complying with the proposed code of practice.
As with many recent bills regarding the Internet and digital technology, it is the detail - or rather the lack of detail - in the draft legislation which worries concerned parties.
Overall it's quite a complex issue to diagnose and The Register has the best individual run-down of each item and associated problems. In short, the lack of regulation and law enforcement related specifics seem to be the biggest issue and allow things to be far too broad – the government has far too much control etc. |
Aramiska’s Broadband Satellite Pricing
By:mark.j @ 9:55:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks like we can finally fill in those question marks on our details and pricing ISP list for the Aramiska broadband satellite service. Indeed it looks as if the Dutch-based company, which launched in the UK today, could be competition for BTOpenworld:
The company said its satellite-based broadband business packages for SMEs start at £99 per month. Up-front installation and set-up fees cost from around £500.
The outfit - backed by cash from venture capitalist Whitney & Co - has 20 users currently trialling the service.
It is also receiving 100 enquiries a week from businesses looking to embrace broadband and expects to attract 3,000 customers in its first year.
The service and cost appears comparable to BTOs own SME option, which has a more expensive installation fee. Another provider has also updated its pricing, Beam (OnStar) states that it'll now charge £109.99 per month - £249.99 for the connection and an installation fee of £150 (all ex VAT).
With Tiscali set to launch an even cheaper service (£49.99 at last prediction) during the early part of next year, soon people could truly have SEVERAL Two-Way broadband alternatives to xDSL that they can actually get! More @ The Register. |
Gov Responds: Broadband Report (BSG)
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if the government has accepted all but one of the recommendations made by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) last week (subsidise rollout).
In its official response to last weeks independent report, the government recognised that setting specific targets simply didn't work and that more needed to be done, with some limits (see above).
Approved recommendations from the advisory body Broadband Stakeholder Group include more access to local phone exchanges, measurements of service quality, investment in broadband by governmental bodies and stimulus to digital content providers.
One BSG recommendation, for grants to be provided to smaller firms to cover broadband transition costs, was turned down.
But the government said it would actively promote existing tax breaks for broadband take-up that could save smaller enterprises up to 20% off their fast Internet bill.
Britain goes online more than most countries in Europe, as it is one of the cheapest countries in the world for regular speed Net access. So the government wants to lay out the case for broadband in terms of the improved content it can deliver.
"It wasn't only a question of whether it was 'chicken or egg', but we needed more chickens and more eggs," Jim Norton, BSG Research Group chairman, told a news conference.
The question of price still lies in the hands of OFTEL and its handling of incumbent operator BT Group Plc. Yet the e-commerce minister, Douglas Alexander, said he expected competition from cable companies NTL and Telewest would help bring prices down.
"If you look at the price point of the cable companies, it's pretty clear that there's demand at that level," he said.
Cable clients pay £25 a month for broadband Internet access, but until more areas are connected, most users considering signing up would have to pay BT £40 for R/ADSL.
It's clear that some headway has been made and while we can't agree with what Mr.Alexander says regarding pricing (BT never seems to lower prices for competition), improvements have been made and we'll just have to wait and see if they work. |
More NTL UBR Upgrades
By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] There's a small item on DigitalSpy that gives a quick update on NTLs broadband cable modem upgrading process for their Universal Broadband Routers (UBRs). Note that the following is from NTL and can also be found @ ntl.announce (newsgroup):
Planned Maintenance is due to take place in the following areas from 1am Tuesday 4th December. The specific Universal Broadband Routers being worked on are:
Luton
Ware
Biggleswade
Northampton
Colchester
Ipswich
Stafford
Huddersfield
Oxford
We will be receiving confirmation tomorrow regarding the specific work carried out, and will therefore provide a further update tomorrow. |
Alcatel Issue Mac OS X ADSL Drivers
By:mark.j @ 9:25:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | Those with broadband R/ADSL USB modems from Alcatel and owning a Mac OS X (10.x) based computer may like to know that ADSLGuide has spotted some drivers for the system HERE. |
News - December 3,2001
Vodafone Launch GPRS
By:mark.j @ 3:46:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from BTCellnet (o2), Vodafone has become the latest provider to introduce GPRS (general packet radio service) data/Internet technology to their networks.
To date GPRS take-up has been poor due to high costs and limited applications, that's why Vodafone has aimed its service at corporate customers that'll link laptop and handheld computers with the Internet using a GPRS phone (that's me then).
Typically packages aimed at the general/home consumer will arrive after Christmas. Most experts expect GPRS to take off properly from about the middle of 2002, when a new colour-screen mobile phone from Nokia will appear on shelves and Ericsson's recently launched T68 joy stick-equipped model hits the streets in numbers.
Not to mention that Nokia's new 7650 phone, fitted with a built-in camera, is due for launch in the second quarter of next year. |
Gas Girl To Fix Broadband / Oftel Slapped?
By:mark.j @ 3:40:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Clare Spottiswoode, the woman responsible for transforming the UK's energy market (Gas), has been asked by the government to advise how the take-up of broadband services in the UK can be increased:
The move has been reported as a vote of no confidence in David Edmonds -- head of telecoms regulator Oftel -- who in the past has been criticised for not pushing BT hard enough to open its network up to other operators.
According to The Sunday Times, Spottiswoode has already spoken to the Prime Minister's officials about broadband, amid concerns that Britain is falling behind other nations in the availability and take-up of affordable high-speed Internet connections.
She told the paper that one reason that Britain is falling behind in broadband is a lack of effective regulation. "You could see back in 1993 that if you applied exactly the same thought process as in gas, BT wouldn't be in the situation it is now. We'd have much more broadband and we'd be ahead of the world in our telecoms industry -- and we're not," Spottiswoode said. "To me that's to do with the regulator not getting to grips with what needs to be done to change the structure of the industry to make it work more effectively," she added.
Typically the government has denied that it lacks confidence in the Telecom regulator, Oftel, although from what we've seen during the year it looks nothing less than exactly that, a lack of confidence.
On the other hand Spottiswoode hasn't really said anything that Oftel didn't already suggest, so whether she'll make a difference remains to be seen. We should start seeing the government’s official response to the recent Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) report tonight, which might clear things up, more @ ZDNet. |
60% Say Broadband Too Expensive
By:mark.j @ 3:30:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Research commissioned by software vendor Support.com has found that out of the 500 UK home Internet users surveyed, 60% think broadband is too expensive:
The supplier of support automation software claims that service providers need to be more aggressive on price to attract new and convert old customers.
"Many customers still feel that UK broadband providers are pricing their services too high," said Terry Lawlor, director of marketing at Support.com.
"Gartner predicts that more than 20 per cent of the remote access market in Europe will be via DSL or cable by 2003. The winners in this market will be those broadband providers and telcos that can offer a compelling proposition at an affordable price."
Strangely we're forced to disagree with Support.com's interpretation of their survey data, well.. some of it. From what we can tell more than half of all broadband R/ADSL offering ISPs price correctly (£40-£45 per month - residential) because BTs wholesale prices mean they can't go lower.
On the other hand we've noticed that a fare few providers have opted to ignore recent monthly and setup price reductions and stay priced at the same level. So long as some providers move with the times then there's still hope, but BT has to move first. More @ VNUNet. |
BT To Allow R/ADSL ISP Swapping
By:mark.j @ 3:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that BTWholesale will be making it easier for people to swap from one broadband xDSL provider to another from 1st Quarter 2002:
The new plan is designed to work by you contacting who you want your new ISP to be, they will send a form to the old ISP, fill it in and the new ISP will then submit this to BTwholesale.
There will be a cost involved from BTwholesale but this will be lower than the installation fee, the aim is to reflect the cost of transfer, the other bonus is that if your are keeping the same service e.g. 50:1 BTipstream500 service then no engineer visit will be needed.
Full details aren't yet known and some questions surrounding how this will affect contractual issues have also cropped up. Typically this is for people who aren't physically moving location, just provider. |
Important ISPr Site Update - Top ISPs
By:mark.j @ 2:30:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The old Reader Top 50 ISPs section is now technically off-line as we've today re-placed it with a full public beta of the new Reader Top ISPs system:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/topisps.shtml
You can now rate ISPs based on type (unmetered dialup, xDSL broadband etc.) and the lists will be updated once or twice per day.
As we've stated above, this is a beta and so we're using it to see what happens with the database and to test integration etc. Don't be surprised if the list is reset now and then or things change, that's the whole point of the process.
If you happen to come across any BUGs (software errors) then do inform us, however we're mainly doing this to see the effects on the server since most client side issues have already been resolved. |
Regulator Holds Up Broadband Wireless
By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Operators and ISPs are becoming increasingly concerned by the slow pace at which the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) is taking to sort out spectrum allocation issues for several broadband wireless standards:
Industry observers have expressed concern over the current UK ban on using the 2.4GHz frequency band for commercial services. This band is currently ‘licence-exempt’, meaning that companies cannot sell public services over that spectrum until the RA concludes a review into how to open it up.
MD of Analysys Research Ross Pow predicts that this review will be completed in February 2002 and a decision on the future of the frequency band will be taken later next year. However “till that’s resolved, you can’t say exactly where the market is going… inevitably we’re going to be a year to eighteen months behind Sweden,” he said.
Sweden, and other European countries, are already rolling out such services, and Pow believes that the question of spectrum allocation is the major challenge facing potential wireless LAN operators in the UK.
More @ netimperative.com . |
News - December 2,2001
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 11:30:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's been a busy week so far, putting up the second and final part of our BTOpenworld interview, working on the new 'Reader Top ISPs' system and generally planning some other things for the future and reporting the news as usual.
Perhaps one thing we've missed along the way is that it's now December and thus the official lead-in for Christmas has started. While it holds no religious significance for me personally, I do use it to take a break and be with the family.
Next week we're hoping to launch a full scale public beta of the Reader Top ISPs system, so you'll be able to vote for your favourite unmetered, xDSL or wireless etc. ISP. The final layout for this should be done before X-Mas, but we'll need the full test to make sure the system works properly in all aspects.
We'll also be adding some extra forum features (member list, topic views etc.) and investigating a re-design of ISP Review for the more distant future (takes time). Finally we hope to re-do the reviews layout as pre-determined a month ago and join it with the new top ISPs system (reader input).
In short, we've got lots of work to do before Christmas =(. |
BTs R/ADSL Cancellation Charges
By:mark.j @ 10:47:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] According to ADSLGuide, the soon to be introduced service level agreements mean that BTWholesale will finally start enforcing their policy of broadband cancellation charges.
These will be valid from the last day of December 2001 (31st) and mean that R/ADSL will become as strict to contractual agreements as ISDN before it:
The question is how much will it cost, well if Wholesale receive a cancellation 3-5 days before the install date the fee is £45, 2 days or less it is £75 and if on the day of install an additional abortive visit charge of £125 is made (all prices exclude VAT). The abortive visit charge is also levied if the BT engineer cant gain access for the actual install. It is also likely that BT may start charging more often fro the relocation of the master socket at £60+VAT (£71.08 inc VAT).
Hopefully people will make just as strong a use of their service level agreements when they finally arrive on the same date. |
24-7FreeCall Clarify Situation
By:mark.j @ 10:39:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] 24-7FreeCall's head honcho, Sal Abdin, has shot off a quick update to us explaining the situation with his ISP:
Just to bring you up to date.
24-7Freecall is in a dispute with our corporate website hosts in the US.
This has not affected the service in any way which is fully operational and will continue to be so. A separate email has been sent to all our subscribers and we aim to have a new website up shortly. Please pass on my apologies to any visitors to the site who have been inconvenienced. |
News - December 1,2001
Governments Broadband Statement
By:mark.j @ 10:00:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Just a quick update, the government will announce on MONDAY, not today, their formal response to recent controversial (leaked) findings of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG). This is expected to outline a new strategy for pushing such technologies in the UK.
If at first you don't succeed.. oh heaven help us! =) |
24-7FreeCall = Offline - Suspended?
By:mark.j @ 9:54:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The NeonHippo backed unmetered dialup ISP, 24-7FreeCall, seems to have given a few of its customers a scare with the message that's displayed on their website:
We regret to inform you that 24-7freecall has been taken offline.
The service will not be available until further notice.
One of our own people chased this up and found that the dialup number still works, he also said..:
I called 24-7 and they answered the phone and were not aware of any issues and the dialup is working fine.
Maybe it’s just a website update, although the message on their site does not inspire much confidence. Even then tech guy said he could not see that message and that the normal page was there.... yea right mate !
Of course it could be that 24-7FC doesn’t have a unique support crew, instead working directly for the supplier, which would explain the reason the dialup still works and support answer the phone. Either way nobody seems to be saying much, clarification please? |
NTL Broadband Hits Dartford & Swanley
By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | The ntl:home STB broadband team has contacted DigitalSpy to inform them that both Dartford & Swanley will find cable modem services enabled in their area this morning. Well at least somebody is continuing the rollout. |
News - November 30,2001
BTOs New Music & Gaming Services
By:mark.j @ 3:32:PM - Comments (6) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld have sent us two new press releases, the first covers the launch of their new classical music subscription service, while the second relates to the trial of their online games subscription service.
Since there's quite a lot to cover we'll post a semi-cut of the important parts from each release. Firstly the Music subscription service:
BTopenworld to Launch Europe's First Online Classical Music Subscription Service
BTopenworld today announces it is to launch a unique classical music subscription service on both narrowband and broadband platforms. Highlighting BTopenworld's commitment to delivering cutting edge solutions for online entertainment, the service
( http://music.btopenworld.com/classical ) will be the first dedicated classical music subscription service in Europe. Trials will occur during December involving selected BTopenworld customers and a full consumer launch is planned for January 2002.
The service is provided by a joint commercial and strategic association with leading online classical music service provider Classical.com. Subscription to the new service will cost £7.99 a month and subscribers will enjoy a fully searchable catalogue of 5,000 classical tracks available for unlimited streaming, plus downloads of 10 tracks per month (equivalent to an album of music). Downloaded tracks can also be burnt onto a CD or transferred to a portable device.
The service also provides the facility for users to create and purchase custom made CDs compiled from tracks in the catalogue. These can then be styled with custom artwork and mailed by the user to a person of their choice.
..and now the games subscription service..
BTopenworld Launches Trial of Online Games Subscription Service
BTopenworld today announces the launch of trials of its online games subscription service on the Games Domain website (http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk) on both broadband and narrowband platforms. The service highlights BTopenworld's commitment to creating a seamless consumer Internet experience that brings together dial-up and broadband services. Games, along with music, forms a key part of BTopenworld's commitment to delivering the best possible online entertainment experience.
Subscription to the Games Domain games service will cost £9.99 per calendar month for which the subscriber will receive an array of games services including comprehensive content, a multiplay service supported by one of Europe's largest games server farms and a dynamic peer to peer games service. Exclusive games content will also be added to the package early next year.
The Games Domain games service will supply the greatest variety of games of any UK based games site, with 200 instances of games ranging from FPS (First Person Shooter) titles such as Quake 3, Unreal Tournament or Half Life to peer-to-peer RPGs (Role Playing Games) such as Age of Empires and Commandos 2 to casual games such as chess. The games titles also include a host of mods (games modifications), many exclusive to the site, which are being created by Europe's leading mod and map builders "Splashdamage" the team behind the phenomenal Quake 3 Team Fortress.
While we like the idea of a specific peer-to-peer games service, we can't help but feel that customers paying £7.99 for such a thing is a stop-gap for BTOpenworld to avoid fixing the problems with their network.
Since you can get just about everything they've listed for free anyway, wouldn't it be better if BTO just improved their networks? No, that’s a ridiculous idea =). |
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