November 26, 2001 - November 30, 2001
News - November 30,2001
Govs Broadband Target = Hopeless
By:mark.j @ 3:21:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's been obvious for quite some time, yet the government has yet to officially announce the possibility that they may indeed miss the 2005 deadline for their broadband strategy.
Today information intended for government ministers has been leaked, clearly showing the problems with broadband in the UK:
Figures in a report from advisory body the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) show projected domestic broadband penetration of a woeful six per cent by 2005, if the market is left to itself. That means the UK would stay in last place among the leading economically-developed nations.
If the government follows the BSG's advice, that figure will rise to 24 per cent. But even then, the UK would still lag behind key competitors such as the US and Germany.
"If we implement the recommendations of the BSG we will creep above France and Italy but we will still be behind," said a leading member of the BSG. "The government targets are unattainable and something radical is needed."
The VNUNet item states that the government will make an official announcement on the subject tomorrow, which should be interesting. This is what happens when the people running the country can’t find the on-switch for their computers. |
Gov Rules Out Online General Election
By:mark.j @ 3:12:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Perhaps worried that people might vote them out of office =), the governments Leader of the House of Commons, Robin Cook, has ruled out the possibility of online voting at the next general election:
Speaking yesterday to the lobby, Cook said: “Can I just stress… that I don't think it would be feasible for us to contemplate that [online voting] for the next general election; one's really looking beyond the next general election.” He added: “We will have to make sure that it is done in a way that is secure and preserves the integrity of the democratic process.”
More @ netimperative.com . |
ISPr's BTOpenworld Interview - Part 2
By:mark.j @ 10:51:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from last Friday when we published the first part of an Interview with BTOpenworld, one of the UKs better known broadband and unmetered dialup ISPs, today the second part has gone up:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/btp2/
Also note that we re-did the 'article' and 'review' index pages to save on loading times and be easier to read from the moment they load. |
PlusNet Question BTs R/ADSL Rollout
By:mark.j @ 10:22:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] PlusNET has issued yet another lengthy press release, this time the long-standing ISP opts to discuss the uptake of broadband R/ADSL technology in the UK SME marketplace and why it's going slower than expected.
Note that this is related to business xDSL products and NOT RESIDENTIAL ones; from our experience most businesses simply don’t even know it exists. Note that we’ve had to cut most of this PR due to much of it being the usual babble:
Whilst many businesses and individuals have indeed made the change from traditional modem dial-up to the many benefits of broadband access, it is by common consent agreed that overall uptake has been much slower than anticipated.
As a means of getting an office online, with perhaps an onsite company mail server, ADSL offers amazing value for money. Why then has British business been so slow to join 'Broadband Britain'?
In a study by NetValue in which Internet use in eight European countries was examined, it was found that Britain ranked seventh, with only 2.3% of households connected to broadband in August of 2001. The highest ranking EU countries were Sweden and Denmark, with 13.8 and 13.2 percent respectively. Most of Britain's broadband users connect via cable modems (1.7%) with just 0.5% connecting through ADSL.
Currently, ADSL is available to over 13 million households and businesses throughout the UK. With further expansion of RADSL technology expected in mid-December, this number will increase still further.
Mixed messages seem to be confusing the marketplace. Trying to strike a balance between communicating the many benefits brought about by this high-speed, always-on technology, whilst focusing on ease-of-use and cost, is not an easy task for any company; not least the Internet Service Providers supplying ADSL connectivity through BT.
Many UK ISPs have recently issued press releases in which they state their concern over the service levels of BT's Internet connections. Concern has grown recently that the 'Colossus' backbone which ferries Internet traffic around the UK is prone to occasional failure. Alistair Wyse, Product and Services Director for PlusNet Technologies states:
"Well, at the end of the day it's the ISP's product, not BT's. The reality is that Colossus is one of the biggest networks in the UK and, as all network designers know, there is a trade off between the degree of resilience of the network, the cost of implementation and therefore the resale of that network. For BT to make it 100% reliable would make your ADSL far too expensive. We feel most strongly that the balance between cost-effectiveness and service quality has been achieved. With a strong support team and rapid communication of any temporary service downtime, our customers effectively have the best of all worlds."
When asked whether he felt that the UK's ADSL rollout was a success, Mr. Wyse commented,
"Broadband in the UK is a success, there's no doubting that. Our own PlusNet ADSL services prove that. Can it become a bigger success? Yes, most assuredly. I feel that the main stumbling block that is preventing a more rapid uptake is not a lack of marketing per se, but rather a focus on the technology rather than the benefits to the end user - creating a degree of 'technofear' if you like."
Plus.Net http://www.plus.net
We find it hard to agree that broadband in the UK is a success and that there’s “ no doubting that ”, since most don’t even know it exists yet and hardly anybody uses it. It’s best to treat this as the opinion of one rather than many. |
Small 0800OnlineServe Update
By:mark.j @ 10:02:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Some people have been wondering when the recently re-launched and new 0800OnlineServe package will finally take new customers, here's the answer:
We will start accepting new registrations as soon as possible.
For £14.99 a month you will have unmetered FRIACO access 24hours a day 7 days a week; unlimited AS IN UNLIMITED access. A full news feed, and also one of our most purchased hosting packages (WITH A FREE DOMAIN NAME) which indeed does make this offer thedotcompleteunmetered package. |
Cable Modem Helps Marry Couple
By:mark.j @ 9:59:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In something that could only be described as an excellent opportunity for a publicity stunt, NTLs Cable Modem service will today be claiming credit for the marriage of Robert and Christina.
Apparently NTLs broadband service was crucial for the couples ability to get together.. oh boy.. sick bags at the ready:
Fortunately true love was not limited by BT's dial-up charges because Robert was lucky enough to be covered by NTL cable access. Fast, always-on internet access was just a phone call away.
Robert Pawass said in a statement: "The romance really blossomed when I got the cable modem because it gave me a permanent and much faster connection so we could be constantly online with no interruptions."
Barrie Desmond, chief of a broadband campaign group, said: "Broadband connections mean they can talk in real-time. This guy's PC pings when his lover rings."
To be honest if they just got together over chat then why not use an even cheaper modem alternative? Lets just hope they don’t help make another film like ‘You’ve Got Mail’. More @ Silicon. |
NCS Retracts Demon Internet Statement
By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently the National Crime Squad (NCS), which recently claimed they had access to Demon Internet's download logs for an investigation, has today retracted its earlier statement.
Related to the recent arrests of suspected Internet paedophiles, clearly the NCS was worried about breaching 'still questioned' privacy acts:
NCS has now retracted these statements, and admits that the terminology used was misleading. "'Imaged' was a phrase that I was given, which was the wrong phrase," said an NCS press officer. "We had access to the servers, but we didn't access any logs."
When used in an accurate context, the "image" of a server refers to an entire copy of the content of a server, including all software and traffic logs that is held on it. "Spindler didn't mean what those of us in the industry would interpret that to mean -- he's not a technical expert, he's a policeman," added Ian Hood, director of corporate communications at Thus, the company that owns Demon.
More @ ZDNet. |
Gov Encourages Online Shopping
By:mark.j @ 9:43:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The British government has attempted to put aside fears that online shopping isn't safe by trying to promote the medium. With more people already expected to order their Christmas presents online than ever before this year, it doesn't look as if they have to worry.
"The campaign aims to raise awareness about e-shopping and demonstrate that it is safe as long as shoppers follow basic, common-sense guidelines," said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
It claims a survey they had commissioned showed more people shop online in Britain than in any other European country, with about 12Million having done so in the past year.
Yet 47% of the 2,000 people questioned were worried about credit card fraud, and a third said they were concerned about giving out personal information, according to the survey conducted by MORI.
Interestingly only 3% said they had personal experience of card fraud on the Internet, compared with 5% whom had been defrauded elsewhere. Of course as more people go online we can't help wondering how the 'smaller stores' in the local high-street will be affected. Perhaps in years the come the government will start touting off-line shopping =). |
News - November 29,2001
Important Site Update
By:mark.j @ 3:44:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | It looks as if our E-Mail servers are offline, so any E-Mail sent within the past few hours will likely be returned with errors or never arrive. We suggest messages be re-sent tomorrow morning. |
Official Opera v6 Browser Launched
By:mark.j @ 3:41:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following the earlier beta version of the popular Microsoft Internet Explorer alternative, Opera, today the final version has now been launched for users of MS Windows.
Sadly it doesn't look as if they've improved the HTML rendering to help improve its visual output, although things have been sped up. Some of the most obvious changes are:
Speed boost
As always the Opera team has focused on making Opera faster. Significant portions of the code have been optimized for increased speed, including the image code and general display code, leading to faster displaying of Web documents.
Improved memory utilization
Opera 6.0 makes better use of the memory resources available on your machine, compared to earlier versions.
New look
Opera's user interface has received a major overhaul with a new start-up dialog, default main bar (that can be enlarged to a full main bar by right-clicking), skin and panels in a blue and white color scheme. Users can choose default, classic Opera look or their own design. |
Broadband Satellite Suppliers Fight
By:mark.j @ 3:34:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Two providers of broadband satellite services to ISPs such as BTOpenworld (Gilat) seem to have locked themselves in a heated dispute over market share. Both Gilat and Hughes Network Systems now seem roped into a competitive triangle:
Sampath Ramaswami, director of strategic marketing, has not been deterred by Gilat's head-start: "We have always had a 60 to 80 per cent lead on global market share over Gilat and those numbers also apply in Europe."
Gilat's VP of sales and marketing for Europe, Christian Stetter, slammed Ramaswami's comments: "This is complete nonsense. Talking about market shares of 60 to 80% is ridiculous. In terms of equipment and sales contracts in Europe we are outnumbering them at two to one"
There’s nothing like a bit of health competition to help drive the prices down for consumers, although that’s unlikely to happen so soon. More @ Silicon . |
EC Threatens LLU Legal Action
By:mark.j @ 3:24:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Could the UK be one of those countries in line for legal action over its poor handling of the Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) process?
Following on from the same report mentioned directly below, the European Commission (EC) has threatened legal action against some member states after describing LLU in Europe as "very disappointing":
It found that not enough is being done to open up local networks to competition and has called on national regulators to get tough with incumbent telcos found dragging their heels.
Erkki Liikanen, the commissioner for enterprise and technology, and competition commissioner, Mario Monti, said that they would start the process of legal action on December 20 - almost a year after LLU among member states became mandatory. The report didn't say which countries would face action.
A spokeswoman for telecoms regulator, Oftel, was confident that the UK would escape legal action insisting that Britain complied with all the necessary EC regulations.
To be honest we hope the UK doesn't escape legal action, at the very least it'd be a healthy dose of realism for Oftel. More @ The Register. |
EC Calls For Europe Wide Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 3:17:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The European Commission has called for the adoption of flat-rate (unmetered) Internet access across the European Union, which it hopes will increase the number of online users. Could the UK be about to loose its only leading crown in the ISP sector?
In its yearly report on the state of European telecoms, the commission highlighted a lack of unmetered Internet access as a major obstacle:
"The commission believes that flat-rate interconnection for Internet calls should be encouraged," the commission said in its report. "One deterrent to greater use of the Internet is the customer's awareness that, in the absence of flat-rate or unmetered usage charges, the bill is mounting with every minute spent online."
Internet penetration in Europe's households was around 36 percent in June, the report said. In the United States, where flat-rate access is common, the average Internet penetration is 41.5 percent.
Typically the reluctance of other incumbent Telco's around Europe to adopt such a system is likely to mean the crown of 'best unmetered' (best being debateable when referring to quality) stays with the UK. More @ ZDNet. |
V21 & Free24-7 Issue Statement
By:mark.j @ 10:18:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Some customers were left angered yesterday after being told that their unmetered dialup accounts with V21 and or Free24-7 had been suspended for heavy usage. While we could understand this for Free24-7 (you shouldn't expect much for £7.99!), V21 itself drew more attention.
Typically V21s T&C's weren't clear on exactly what excessive use was supposed to constitute, today they issued the following statement on the matter:
V21/Free24-7 Statement on Excessive Use
As a result of individual users making excessive use of our Internet service we have been forced to implement our policy on excessive usage in an effort to preserve the high quality connections that our users have come to expect. This decision will have no impact on the majority of users and is targeted only at those individuals who are making excessive use of their connection or those whom we believe to be sharing account details and/or using a domestic service for business purposes.
The Terms and Conditions of use and our Acceptable Use Policy for V21 and Free24-7 can be viewed at http://www.v21.co.uk/t+c/ and http://www.free24-7.net respectively. The AUP does not mention a specific time limit on useage and we have no intention of making a firm limit on connection time, merely that useage will be monitored and deviations from normal personal useage will be dealt with on an individual basis. At this point in time daily useage in excess of ten hours is considered beyond reasonable use for a personal account and users who exceed this useage will have their accounts suspended and a warning issued on reconnection. Any user who has had their account suspended for excessive use and continues to abuse the service to the detriment of others is ultimately at risk of having their account with us terminated for improper use.
V21 regret having to enforce this policy but we must do everything in our power to preserve the quality of service for the large majority of our users.
Since between 8 and 14 hours per day (average use ISPs tolerate) appears to be the norm between 24/7 unmetered ISPs charging £12.99 - £15 per month, 10 hours doesn't surprise us.
However one of our own staff members was accused of using them for 18hours on single day, which we know to have been impossible because his PC was off while at work. No doubt we'll be hearing more on this as the week progresses. |
0800OnlineServe Launch New Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 10:05:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from the service updates we've seen over the last couple of days, today TheDogmaGroup backed unmetered ISP 0800OnlineServe has launched an updated FRIACO package:
thedotcomplete.net has invested heavily in a Dial-Up infrastructure based at an execution point in Telehouse London. It allows us to route all website requests though dedicated access and proxy servers based at our DataCentre in Manchester.
This means that the service provided is hosted at one of the UK's main network access points, guaranteeing first time connections every time, but every request is routed through our very own dedicated access servers at our Network Operation Centre though proxy technology.
What you get is simple but concise:
Unmetered FRIACO Access:
*0808 FRIACO Internet access
*Support for ISDN 64k , V90, K56Flex and 56K
*50Mb Webspace
*12:1 Contention ratio
*2 hour cut-off.
*Unlimited email addresses
*News Group access with over 90,000 + news groups.
*All website requests routed through dedicated access Servers
*0800 free phone technical Support
*500MB webspace hosted on Windows NT or 2000
*iHTML Support with CGI and PERL translator pre-installed.
*Unlimited Sub Directories
*Control Panel
*free .co.uk domain name
*Front Page Option
*Webstatistics
*email routing
*Personal FTP Server
We've no idea what happened to the Dual-Channel ISDN option, although overall the new package seems fairly standard. |
Self-Regulation To Cripple ISPs
By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Council of Europe is meeting today in order to discuss the issue of harmful and illegal cyber content, which is now seen in a more obvious light following the recent paedophile raids.
However fear is growing that ISPs will be made to accept more responsibility for monitoring the material they transmit, this extra cost could drive some providers out of business:
The Council of Europe is considering "different ways of regulating the internet, in particular self-regulation by the industry and co-regulation whereby public authorities and the private sector co-operate", which could seriously affect ISPs.
But analysts fear that ISPs will increasingly be asked to monitor their own content.
"ISPs should resist all efforts to be made accountable for the content they host," said Alan Lawson of analyst group Butler. "The extra financial burdens that this responsibility would create will drive some ISPs out of business altogether and, furthermore, the idea is patently unfair."
We'd like to hope that CoE won't rush into making a rash judgment based on clear lack of experience with the Internet and technology as a whole. Sadly this isn't something governments are famous for taking into account. We can’t help but wonder if any of the CoE members have talked with ISPs directly or not. More @ VNUNet. |
Demon Internet Customers Revolt
By:mark.j @ 9:48:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Customers of the long standing ISP, Demon Internet, have started ripping up their contracts with the provider, apparently because of its poor quality services.
The ISP, which has seen numerous service outages in recent months, saw its last outage on 20th November 2001, which was apparently one outage too many for the providers BUSINESS customers.
Bleddyn Williams, director of e-business firm Morpheous, said the connection was critical to its business. "This was the final straw, we're changing provider. In January we lost our leased line for about nine days. It's the anchor of our business, and we were just left sitting there," said Williams.
After the fifth major outage this year, Williams has now terminated Morpheous's contract with the ISP. Several other such customers that rely on the stability of an ISP to keep their business afloat have also left.
Sadly Demon could only give a response of the most USED excuse for ISPs in the book: "We have been in direct contact with these customers and regret any inconvenience that may have been caused.".
We've heard it all before, but what are you going to do to resolve it? |
Bush ISP Moves To ITV Digital
By:mark.j @ 9:39:AM - Comments (1) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Alba's 77.5% owned integrated Internet TV venture, Bush Internet, is to be pushed into ITV Digital after failing to attract enough customers to break even in a realistic timeframe. Readers may recognise Bush as offering an Internet (ISP) TV set-top box:
The company expects to announce a charge of £17.85m to reflect Bush Internet’s losses for the year to 30 September. Alba chairman John Harris said: “While we shall continue, through ITV Digital, to support and service users of the Bush Internet portal and will now sell-through our stock of internet TV’s, this now draws a line under the negative financial impact of Bush Internet.”
ITV Active’s numbers will be significantly boosted as a result of the deal. ITV Active MD Rob Fyfe said: “This is an excellent move for us. With well over 250,000 people using our services and those of our partners, ITV Active is in good shape.”
Hopefully Alba's ex-Bush Internet customers won't find themselves without an ISP if ITVDigital folds in the 'possible' future. More @ netimperative.com . |
News - November 28,2001
V21 Suspend 'Some' Unmetered Customers
By:mark.j @ 3:55:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The latest ISP to take the step of suspending unmetered dial-up accounts would appear to be 'child-friendly' V21. Their service status update for today reads..:
Due to the gradual build up in Internet traffic we have now had to enforce our acceptable use policy.
Users that find there account inactive must contact us immediately. This has been done to prevent normal users Not getting connected due to abnormal high usage accounts.
Typically and as we've seen so many times before, there's no mention of 'usage limits' under the acceptable use policy (bottom of T&Cs). In fact it mentions everything else apart from heavy usage. Perhaps V21 would like to clarify exactly what acceptable usage means when referring to online time? |
TheDogmaGroup Preps Re-Launch
By:mark.j @ 3:42:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] You may remember that yesterday we posted an important update from TheDogmaGroup backed unmetered ISP, 0800OnlineServe. In it they stated an intention to centralise their ISP offerings:
The site http://www.0800.onlineserve.co.uk will be scrapped and redirected to the new unmetered website that will host all the unmetered services including the news server and mail server.
Today the web development team has sent us a follow-up, which explains their progress:
A full network diagnostic has taken place; and revealed no real issues that will stop the launch of the new product range tommorow; including. A new service at £15 which includes a free .co.uk domain and 50Mb of commercial webspace.
It'll be interesting to see exactly what changes and additions they make, we'll keep you posted. |
Freeserve Advert Attacks Government
By:mark.j @ 3:34:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Freeserve has today taken out ads in a number of newspapers, yet the advert itself appears to attack the government over its lack of action against AOLs VAT (tax) loophole. The ad states..:
Every year at least £30 million is lost to the Treasury because AOL, a $36 billion turnover corporation, doesn't pay VAT on its ISP business in the UK. Every month that the Government shies away from action and does nothing to close this loophole, more money is lost that could be used for hospital beds, bobbies on the beat or teachers for Britain’s primary schools. You don't need to be the Chancellor to work out who's benefiting.
At Freeserve we're all for freedom, but freedom from paying VAT? Come on Mr Brown! Isn't it about time you made a decision? Be free to choose an ISP that supports the UK economy.
Whether or not this is a wise thing to do in the wake of their own legal threat towards the government is questionable, in fact some might say it makes them look petty. Either way their concern is real and valid, we only wish they wouldn’t keep dragging every man and his dog in. More @ The Register. |
The UKs Broadband Petition
By:mark.j @ 3:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] When BT opted to suspend the rollout of R/ADSL broadband technologies, only allowing further rollout based on demand and economics, most people were left angered.
One of the biggest problems was that people lacked a centralised way of registering their interest in the technology based on region/location. Today we've been informed about a new site called Broadband4Britain, which may be able to do just that:
The campaign spokesperson and founder is Barrie Desmond - an independent Marketing consultant and SME business owner fed up with the current state of the play of high speed xDSL and leased line services in the UK. As he says "Broadband Britain - more like broadbanned in Britain!"
The aim of the campaign is to generate an independent on-line petition to illustrate the depth of feeling of the British business and consumer publics - "We want a million signatures by Christmas!"
It seems like a clever enough idea and the fact you can also register your postcode means it could be used with BTs database to help expand the rollout. On the other hand that aspect isn't made completely clear, it’s mainly a place to gauge and log overall interest and opinions, visit the site for more. |
Hotlinks Support v.92 Modems?
By:mark.j @ 10:07:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Forum member Kalnet4u has informed us that the smaller 0845 (Local Call Rate) ISP Hotlinks might support the new V.92 modem standards features.
Typically there's a difference between SUPPORTING the v.92 standard and actually supporting its FEATURES, see our original article on the subject for more.
While it may only be an LCR based option, it's apparently quite fast and thus if it does support V.92 properly then multiplayer fans with the technology should be happy. We'll soon be installing our own V.92 modem and testing providers around the UK for FULL FEATURE SUPPORT.
If you can CONFIRM any other FULLY v.92 supportive ISPs then that’s always a help, we’re especially interested to hear of any unmetered ISPs that cover the technology. REMEMBER that an ISP needs to clearly state they support V.92’s new feature set and not just ‘SUPPORT’ it, since all ISPs are compatible by default. |
Mobile GPRS Networks Lose Data?
By:mark.j @ 9:53:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The faster than GSM, yet slower than broadband 3G, GPRS (2.5G) networks launched in the UK during the summer have today been brought into question - again.
According to some independent trials, a staggering 43% of data sent down the data based 2.5G standard is being lost, thus making it almost impossible to run conventional Internet applications:
Up to 43 per cent of data packets got lost on the way from the radio terminal to the mast, and the latency - or the delay between a request and a response - was up to five seconds.
Conventional applications based on the TCP protocol that underlies wireline internet can't cope with these tough wireless conditions. Most TCP connections will have timed out after five seconds.
Most wireless applications, such as those used by travelling salesmen and field service professionals, are built on TCP. The TCP applications we have seen, namely WAP over GPRS, have had serious reliability problems.
The Silicon item is extremely serious for those of us, myself included, who might need to use that part of the technology in order to work online from remote locations.
On a slightly separate note, I'd like to hear from anybody owning a GPRS phone and using it with their laptop or PocketPC to get online. |
BT Blame Cisco For Network Outage
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT has opted to blame last week’s three major R/ADSL broadband network outages on a Cisco software bug:
According to a BT spokeswoman, the telco followed Cisco's advice in upgrading the software on the network cards on Tuesday afternoon, only for the process to cause more outages.
"Working with our supplier, which as you know is Cisco, we upgraded the software. But the upgrade caused route reflection, so it was removed," she said.
BT reverted back to the previous version of the software late on Tuesday, temporarily solving the problem, but the network fell over again for 50 minutes on Friday afternoon. The telco says it is now "confident" that a workaround put in place on Friday will prevent further crashes.
The VNUNet item also reminds us that BT has yet to introduce a permanent fix for the problem, although upgrades to resolve this should take place soon. |
NTL Launch Bromley Broadband
By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - Comments (5) - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | Despite the recently reported problems, DigitalSpy has news that users in Bromley should today find NTLs broadband cable modem services are finally available to them. Not bad considering it was supposed to be next week before the network finally went live. |
Solwise Offer Cheap xDSL Splitters
By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] If you caught a glance of the recent post showing Wires-Only prices from some broadband R/ADSL offering ISPs then you'll have also seen the cost of a splitter being set at between £12.50 and £15.
Thankfully ADSLGuide has highlighted a cheaper solution from Solwise HERE; it's a snip at £6.99 inc. VAT. |
News - November 27,2001
Freeserve Owners Suffer Setback
By:mark.j @ 3:28:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | In a strange twist the very group that sold UK unmetered dialup ISP Freeserve to the French owned Wanadoo, Dixons, is to sell 40Million shares in France's popular ISP. Typically this has forced Wanadoo to suspend trading and pushed the value down by 8%. |
Online X-Mas Sales To Boom
By:mark.j @ 3:24:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's probably not surprising considering the strong online uptake, yet Forrester Research has predicted that this year’s online UK X-Mas sales will take a 34% share from the whole of the EU:
The view is supported by further figures from Forrester, which show the UK is seven per cent above the European average penetration rate for internet access, which stands at 31 per cent. Germany isn't far behind the UK with 35 per cent, but France lags way below with 23 per cent.
The UK's figures are partially explained by the relatively competitive market for unlimited net access.
But the UK will not maintain this lead. Jaap Favier, an analyst with Forrester, said: "Germany will eventually overtake because it is a bigger country with a bigger GDP."
The Silicon item reminds us that while broadband is still going at a snails pace, this side of the channel, unmetered dialup access remains strong. |
Quick ISP Review Site Update
By:mark.j @ 11:00:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The forums are now back online after we opted to run a general 30-40mins rebuild of its database and clear out the cache. We also removed three forums for ex-unmetered ISPs and updated the ISP list accordingly.
Also note broadband Cable Modem ISP users can still vote for either NTL or Telewest in our 'Reader Top ISPs' public beta test HERE (We're aware of the java error). We hope to expand this to ALL other types of ISP once the new log file database method is completed. |
0800OnlineServe xDSL & Unmetered Update
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] TheDogmaGroup backed unmetered dialup ISP 0800OnlineServe, which had quite a lot of trouble during the summer, has today issued an important update regarding the upgrades to their unmetered service:
TheDogmaGroup.com have finally completed all neccesary upgrades related to the network and will begin excepting new registrations for unmetered access and hosting plans within the next week.
The site http://www.0800.onlineserve.co.uk will be scrapped and redirected to the new unmetered website that will host all the unmetered services including the news server and mail server.
But, we regret to inform the cabled public that TheDogmaGroup have investigated all possible methods of delivering an unmetered service to the NTL and other cable operated networks to no avail, and we see no such support coming in the future.
The only two companies that currently provide cable access are AOL; who subsidise access so that cable customers are welcome; and NTL:home which has now stopped taking on subscriptions are both now well over-subscribed, and even if an 0800 option was available we would be reluctant to support cable because of the demand it would place on the network. Until a FRIACO alternative is developed for the cable platform; TheDogmaGroup will not be supporting such access.
ADSL Access.
A new revised pricing scheme has been proposed for ADSL access from the home. We would appreaciate any feedback; which can be mailed to technical@thedogmagroup.co.uk.
Service Type -Speed (downstream/upstream) -Setup£ -Monthly£
Single User ADSL -500kbps/250kbps -none -£55
It's worth noting that 0800OnlineServe has left out mention of WonkyPig, which still has non-BT access. In short, it's one less ISP option for those with a cable line.
0800OnlineServe's new broadband R/ADSL pricing is also starting to look very expensive, given that most ISPs will now be making use of Wires-Only and other decreases to charge between £40 and £45 PM. On the other hand they don't say whether it's inc. or ex V.A.T. |
AOL Tops 32Million Subscribers
By:mark.j @ 9:32:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It seems that every time AOL achieves an extra 1,000,000 they suddenly start shouting it to the sky, having already broken 30 and then 31, they've now topped 32Million subscribers around the globe.
Ironically some of the USAs Wall Street estimates claim that they're actually going SLOWER than predicted. In a research note, analyst Scott Reamer had this to say:
"To achieve our estimates, AOL will have to add 30,000 subscribers a day for the rest of the quarter, a feat not accomplished last year during the fourth quarter, when AOL added 2.1 million members during the quarter, or 20,000 a day,"
AOL continues to grow.. |
Blueyonder Plugs E-Mail Server Holes
By:mark.j @ 9:24:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Telewest's broadband Cable Modem and unmetered dialup giant, blueyonder, has started scanning to find computers with open mail relays that could be used for abuse. Telewest had this to say on the subject:
Due to some of our users running unsecured mail servers, the blueyonder SMTP servers have recently been listed in spam blocking lists. Hence, we are running a monitoring server that will scan the blueyonder network looking for mail servers that are open to mail relaying.
These scans will happen on a regular basis at random times, and those found to be running unsecured mail servers will be dealt with under the Acceptable Use Policy. |
News - November 26,2001
Free24-7 Expands Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 3:46:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Free24-7 seems to be confident with their success so far and hopefully into the future since the cheap unmetered ISP has now expanded capacity to 20,000 for extra users:
Free24-7 has now been extended to a maximum user capacity of 20,000, this is due to the overwhelming take up of new accounts.
We have successfully expanded our network to cope with this influx and will continue to offer the cheapest unmetered net access at £7.99 a month.
http://www.free24-7.net
It's worth remembering that Free24-7's option is specifically designed to be bare, cutting out the often essential elements offered by other ISPs and staying with just the dialup, hence the price. |
New Internet Worm (Virus) Warning
By:mark.j @ 3:43:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if the same E-Mail Virus that hit BTOpenworlds customer services department last week has already become one of the fastest spreading worms so far.
Similar to the famous 'SirCam', it's apparently confirmed as being called a "B" variant of the W32/Badtrans@MM virus:
The "B" variant, which is though to have originated from Britain, combines a mass-mailing mechanism with a Remote-Access Trojan (RAT). RATs allow remote control over a machine, with the user having no idea that they have been infected. In this case, the RAT is dropped into the Windows directory, which attempts to email the victim's IP address to the virus' author and allows to author to access the PC and steal passwords and other sensitive information. The trojan also contains a keylogger program makes a record of the keystrokes, potentially capturing other vital information such as credit card and bank account numbers.
The worm arrives as an email attachment with a bogus extension that is 13,312 bytes in length. It spreads through Microsoft Outlook by replying to any unread emails in an infected user's inbox.
The ZDNet item doesn't say much more, although from what we can tell most anti-virus software should now have updates to protect against it. |
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