October 27, 2001 - October 31, 2001
News - October 31,2001
Global Broadband Satellite - Inmarsat
By:mark.j @ 4:02:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While it's not likely to arrive for another year, Inmarsat has become the latest broadband Satellite provider to announce plans for spreading its ISP services into Europe:
As an interim step, Europe and the Middle East will be able to get data-only communications at 144Kbps by November next year.
The build out in capacity will involve the placement of an additional three satellites in space as well as upgrades to Earth stations and Inmarsat's support infrastructure.
Inmarsat is aligning the boost in bandwidth with the arrival of 3G and talking up the utility and convenience of its services, while playing down the perception of the technology as being expensive and niche (though the firm is a bit vague about what its pricing really is).
The Register shows how little information there currently is on the services, although it's nice to see an increasing amount of broadband Satellite ISPs surfacing in Europe. So far very few have succeeded due to the obvious limitations and costs of using such a technology. |
Bulldog Communications Axe 20 Staff
By:mark.j @ 3:57:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Bulldog, one of the few remaining unbundled (LLU) broadband operators, has today been forced to axe 20 staff due to delays with installing its equipment in BT's exchanges:
Bulldog COO Peter Hall said: "We've made a lot of progress with other parts of the business, but it's taken us longer than we had hoped to get our equipment into BT's exchanges."
Until the company starts to install equipment in its exchanges, he explained, there was nothing for these staff members to do. He expressed the hope of re-hiring all those staff members once installations had begun, which he hoped would be in the first quarter of 2002.
A spokesman for BT dismissed the claims. He said: "There is no delay. We are not dragging our feet. We're waiting for orders from Bulldog. There are hundreds of exchanges already open."
Well we'd guess Bulldog must be making everything up? Either that or there really is a delay, but who to believe =)? More @ Silicon. |
Save The 'Cookie' Campaign
By:mark.j @ 3:36:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While most won't be familiar with cookies, these days they form an essential part of the way Internet sites and interactivity can merge to make the clients (users/customers etc.) life that much easier.
In fact on ISP Review the same 'forum' technology that tells members when they have a new PM (private message) or stops you needing to login every new visit is that of a Cookie. It's a very simple identification tag used in a vast array of net services.
Sadly the infinite Genius of the European Commission (EC), the people who brought us the famous 'flashing lights on emergency vehicles ban', has plans to outlaw it under a proposed privacy directive.
The legislation has triggered concern in Europe's Internet advertising community. The Interactive Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) said British companies could lose £187Million if the directive is ratified.
"Cookies have been branded as spyware tools, or some kind of subversive software," Danny Meadows-Klue, chairman of the IAB United Kingdom, told Reuters. "But it's what we use everyday."
The IAB has marshalled support from its members across Europe to launch a lobbying effort it calls "Save our Cookies."
Meadows-Klue admitted the name sounds a bit childish, but said the ramifications of the EU's directive were serious. It could result in the loss of more jobs and more businesses failing in the already-beleaguered Internet sector, he said.
We'd have to agree, these days a cookie can be found somewhere in almost every system on the Internet. Removing them alone would cost millions and cause a mass of problems for the industry and general surfers. Advertising is one TINY use for the humble Cookie, it's a pity the EU is so DUMB it can't see that. |
More Alcatel Jobs To Go
By:mark.j @ 3:23:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The somewhat popular French manufacturer of xDSL USB Modem adaptors and telecoms equipment, Alcatel, has today announced the loss of yet more jobs.
For the third quarter running Alcatel has stuck fast in the RED and thus seen cause to axe a further 10,000 job in Europe. While the poor figures underscored the crisis in the sector, Alcatel shares bounced off early losses to gain 5% as investors welcomed aggressive cost-cutting plans, which have positioned the firm for an eventual upturn.
For now, however, that upturn appears distant. Alcatel said it was braced for continued weakness in its markets in the 1st half of 2002 and aimed to cut fixed costs by an additional 20% to bring down its average quarterly breakeven sales level to below 5Billion Euros.
The company said it will book a further 1.2Billion Euros in provisions this year linked to the ongoing restructuring and is now looking at a full-year loss of around five billion euros. Out of an existing 110,000 members of staff, the total jobs lost come 2002 will be roughly 33,000! |
Netscape Browser v6.2 Released
By:mark.j @ 10:03:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Often used by those outside of Microsofts influence, although still somewhat poor when it comes to modern HTML/CSS rendering, AOL owned Netscape has released v6.2 of its web browsing technology. Through some digging we were able to find the changes/additions list from v6.1 to v6.2:
* Better integration with Windows XP
* Full Support for Macintosh OS X
* More seamless integration between Netscape Mail and other applications. For example, on any Windows operating system you can easily send documents, such as Microsoft Word, Excel or Power Point without leaving that application. Simply choose File, Send To to invoke the Netscape Mail client to send the document.
* Performance and stability enhancements in Navigator and Mail to speed you through online tasks.
* Improved user interface for Navigator, Mail, and Instant Messenger, and a clean, updated Modern theme.
* More efficient Navigation through the new History tab and Bookmark * Management features.
* Auto complete in the URL bar initiates a search with one click.
* New interface helps you easily find downloaded files on your computer.
* Offline mail to read your Netscape WebMail and other IMAP email accounts even when you are not connected to the Internet.
* Launch an instant message by clicking on a link within a web page.
Download HERE. |
Iomart's Cybersnooper
By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Business end of Iomarts ISP services have managed to launch Cybersnooper, a security software product that enables companies to monitor the activities of employees surfing the net:
Iomart, which acquired the Netintelligence software with the recent takeover of Scottish company Actis Techologies, claims the product will help administrators log inappropriate use of workplace tools to surf porn sites or make unauthorised downloads, for example.
The software has previously raised concerns over possible abuse and infringement of employees’ privacy rights. A draft code of practice issued by the Data Protection Commission stated that monitoring should "be a proportionate response to the risk faced by the employer. Wherever possible it should be designed to prevent rather than detect misuse."
Such a system and course of action was to be expected, from our own experiences we're constantly seeing businesses monitoring their staffs online activities and E-Mails no matter what they do. |
Freeserve - 1 / AOL UK - 1
By:mark.j @ 9:32:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having already managed to escape Freeserve's constant harassment over its tax avoiding habits, AOL UK has finally lost a point to the angry French Wanadoo owed ISP.
Freeserve won its point when it managed to score a win through its complaint that an advert by AOL UK, which claimed the ISP was the only one to offer a free trial of its services, was false:
And today watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that AOL’s advert was indeed misleading, and ordered them to change it. The advert, which appeared in the national press, displayed a number of free services offered by AOL, then added: “And the best reason of all? It's still the only genuinely free trial around”.
So the Tit-For-Tat continues between two of the UKs largest operating ISPs, we can't help but wonder what'll happen next in the saga. More @ netimperative.com. |
Orange Third To Test 3G
By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from BT and Vodafone, Orange has made it into third place by successfully performing a test of their 3G/UTMS broadband wireless mobile phone service:
The call happened in France - Orange's biggest market and home of its owner France Telecom - and VP Didier Quillot called it "a key milestone". He continued: "The significance of this is that it was a live call using network and terminal equipment similar to that which customers will actually use when these services are launched."
There's just one thing that continues to interest us, how can Hutchinson 3G UK expect to be the first operator to publicly offer such services next year if they still haven't tested them? More @ The Register. |
BTs Chief Officially Leaves Early
By:mark.j @ 9:13:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following months of speculation, BTs chief executive, Sir Peter Bonfield, is to leave the company in January 2002:
BT said in a statement Bonfield would receive a pay-off of nearly £1.5m and would keep share awards due to be handed out over the next three years.
Typically there's currently no mention in ZDNet's item of a possible successor, although we should be hearing more on that during November/December sometime. Sir.Bonfield himself has also said the following:
"This is the right time to announce a change. We have almost completed the very radical transformation programme which we started last year. I would like to thank all the great BT people who have supported me so strongly through six action-packed years." |
Alcatel Sign £17.5m xDSL Deal
By:mark.j @ 9:07:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We missed this one from Monday, although Alcatel has managed to sign a £17.5Million deal with broadband cable company ‘Omne Communications’ in order to help expand their xDSL networks:
The French networking company will deploy its ATM network in West Scotland and Northern England, bringing cable services to 325,000 homes and 25,000 businesses that until now have not had access to DSL broadband.
More @ Silicon. |
News - October 30,2001
NTL Spouts Broadband Love
By:mark.j @ 3:33:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Yet another important industry figure, Mike Wagner (NTL Business MD), has been speaking at the TMA 2001 in Brighton today. Following on from earlier news, Mr.Wagner was also keen to stress the importance of broadband:
Lamenting the UK's failure to make any real headway in the broadband world he urged Government to intervene and give the sector a boost.
He said that Government should be "very interventionist" suggesting that it could provide positive tax breaks for businesses in the sector.
Wagner was also able to highlight the well known problem of people not being able to understand what broadband actually is and therefore not know of its significance. It's a good speech, but we doubt it'll do anything to make the Government 'think'. More @ The Register. |
Totalise ISP Shares Plummet
By:mark.j @ 3:25:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Semi-popular UK share dealing ISP, Totalise, has today seen the value of its shares plummet by nearly 50% following its poor year-end results:
The ISP reported an operating loss before taxation and interest for the year ended 30 April 2001 of £4.3m, on turnover of £4.3m, compared with an operating loss of £1.9m and turnover of £0.9m in the preceding financial period.
The company, which saw the public’s previous scramble for dotcom shares as an opportunity to rapidly expand its user base - by offering shares to its subscribers - has been badly hit by the bursting of the dotcom bubble.
Referring to this, company chairman David Bruce, said: “The results are disappointing and the setback in share prices of internet companies since Spring 2000 has severely impacted Totalise's ability to expand its user base. The growth rates experienced in its first ten months of operation, when the company's share price gave considerable value to prospective users of Totalise's services, have tailed off.”
More @ netimperative.com . |
New 3G Health Fears Surface
By:mark.j @ 3:22:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Before 3G broadband wireless technology has even managed to surface in the UK and some Oxford Industry Analysts have quickly begun to tout possible health risks:
Perceived health risks from mobile technology could become a fresh topic of conversation when the general public start to see 3G base stations sprouting up.
Kent County Council was the first council to ignore Tony Blair's decision to allow base stations to go up around schools.
A spokesman for Kent County Council said: "The county council view is very simple. Until health issues are resolved we won't allow masts on our property and that includes schools."
As ever there's a mixed reception to the issue of having your brain cooked by mobile phones, typically this issue doesn't seem to be one that's going away anytime soon. More @ Silicon. |
Broadband Satellite (IPviaSAT) Update
By:mark.j @ 10:03:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from yesterdays post regarding StarSpeeders broadband Satellite ISP replacement, IPviaSAT, the group has today sent us a quick clarification and an official press release:
The service is not backed by Xantic, we have bought off-peak download 'time' from them. It is a digital service, we were just pointing out that there is an analogue channel available on the satellite, which will make it easier for subscribers to align there dishes. The service is one way.
There is also a significant difference between our service and the service offered from Xantic. The speed of Xantic's service is 400kbps for the first 400MB of download, it will then drop to between 64-128kbps. Their price also excludes VAT, which would put the price of the service to around £30.00
The full press release follows..:
Trac Communications Ltd to launch new Internet via Satellite service.
Trac Communications are pleased to announce a replacement Internet via Satellite service for the previously available and now discontinued service from CBL in Luxembourg, marketed as Starspeeder.
The new service, IPviaSAT, will be available from November 1st, initially to existing Trac subscribers with outstanding credit, and then to new subscribers.
Trac have negotiated to purchase a dedicated space segment from Xantic to offer this service on the Sirius Satellite at 5 degrees east. The service will be available to residential users between 5pm and 8am weekdays and 24 hours Saturday and Sunday. Monthly subscription will be initially pitched at a flat rate of £17.00 plus VAT (£19.98) and will allow for downloading up to 1Gbyte of data within the month at speeds of up to 512K at all times. There will be no minimum contract period, with subscriptions renewable monthly.
Because the platform has been fully operational for some time, teething problems associated with service start-ups will not be an issue. Trac are simply utilising off peak capacity, which will give residential users the opportunity to experience a high-speed service at an affordable price.
Trac have rejected the concept of unlimited download capability, mainly because of their previous experience with the Starspeeder service (misuse by a small number of subscribers). Allowing a maximum of 1Gbyte over a month will make better use of available bandwidth. This will help maintain the speed of the service, which Trac believe is a key feature for many potential users.
More information is available online at http://www.IPviaSAT.net . |
Colt & C&W Refuse To Talk - Merger
By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The 'quite before the storm' could soon be a phrase well applied to Colt Telecom and Cable&Wireless's relationship. The two are rumoured to be in 'advanced talks' about a merger and could be just weeks away from a deal:
According to a report in De Financieel- Economische Tijd, a Belgian business newspaper, the two companies are in the due diligence stage over a deal that would cost Cable & Wireless more than £942m - Colt’s market valuation - of a £4bn war chest.
In a market rife with consolidation and trying to better provoke lasting stability, such a merger wouldn’t be surprising. More @ netimperative.com . |
3G - Still Three Years Away
By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While one or two operators in the UK are set to launch their 3G broadband wireless technologies next year, analysts predict that the same systems won't be fully available for three more years:
In Japan, a fledgling 3G network is now up and running around Tokyo. But European plans have been hit by the cost of acquiring licences, poor test results, and a growing lack of conviction that customers will be prepared to splash out on considerably more expensive handsets and services.
Loosemore, who recently became president of Motorola EMEA, said that 3G mobile phone networks will not see mass market deployment until 2004 and are unlikely to be built nationwide, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Jeremy Green, research director, wireless at analyst Ovum, told vnunet.com: "Thank God someone's starting to tell the truth."
Three years, four years, what's the difference? Either way some EU countries including the UK will still see SOME early public 3G services and subsequent adoption come summer 2002. |
BTOpenworld Preps Satellite ISP
By:mark.j @ 9:46:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworlds chief executive, Andy Green, has once again reminded people of their new broadband satellite service. While it's not due to be available nationwide until April, the latest extension to BTOs reach will launch next month:
The service is due to be made available in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Northern Ireland early next month before being rolled out to the rest of the country in spring next year.
Details of the offer are still being kept under wraps but it's understood that the monthly subscription for the service will be less than £100 but more than the current pricing of DSL, which stands at around £40 a month.
We should have full details on this service sometime within the next few days from one of BTOs vice presidents, here's hoping. More @ The Register. |
Nokia's Broadband Evangelists
By:mark.j @ 9:42:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Speaking at TMA 2001 the director of Nokia Networks, Grant Neville, has called for "broadband evangelists" to help the word of broadband and its benefits:
"There is not enough excitement about broadband in the UK compared to other countries," he continued. "There are not enough broadband evangelists to let others know how it transforms your online experience."
Perhaps it's simply because most people can think of more interesting things to do than shout about broadband, it's just a tool of technology, it's really not that 'exciting'. |
UK Gov Backs EU SPAM Stance
By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UK Government has given its back to last weeks EU plans to allow individual EU states to decide for themselves whether to protect consumers from spam email. Having said that the UK itself is still unsure whether to adopt the Opt-In or Opt-Out system:
A DTI spokesman said the government fully supported the proposal of the European Parliament’s Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs that opt-in or opt-out protection should be left up to individual member states, which will go before the European Parliament on 14 November.
And despite a public wait and see approach, the DTI is known to favour opt-out as its preferred policy choice.
The spokesman said that no decision has yet been reached about whether the UK would favour opt-in, however, the Government has given clear indications in the past that an opt-out method of email marketing protection would be the one implemented.
More @ netimperative.com, although UK Internet users would be happier with Opt-In, it looks as if the government controlling us would rather enforce Opt-Out. |
How To Undercut BT's Leased-Line Prices
By:mark.j @ 9:19:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One for all the business folk out there; Neosnetworks (Telecoms) have developed a plan to cut BT's Leased-Line prices in half using one of the first long-haul Ethernet networks in the UK:
Manchester-based ISP C2i is using long-haul 10Mbps Ethernet services based on neosnet, neosnetwork's backbone network, to extend its services cost-effectively to London, a distance of around 200 miles.
neosnet is based on Nortel Optera optical switches and Riverstone's RS 8600 and RS 3000 Layer 2 switch routers. On the back of the network neosnetworks is offering point to point LAN extensions targeted at corporates, and point to point Ethernet transport aimed at ISPs and ASPs.
Of course as experience has shown, BT doesn’t seem overly keen on cutting prices for a silly little thing such as competition. More @ The Register. |
BTOpenworld Slams R/ADSL Users
By:mark.j @ 9:13:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworlds CEO, Andy Green, has hit back at users and critics whom claim the slow adoption of broadband R/ADSL services is related to the limited coverage and rollout:
Green claimed that - taking into account roll-out of high-speed DSL Services through BTopenworld and cable modem-based services - through NTL and Telewest, around 70 to 75 per cent of the population now have access to broadband.
Green said many users are being "too British" and talking down the health of Broadband Britain. "The UK is the most advanced ebusiness nation of any of the major nation-states of Europe," he said.
He cited "fantastic value narrowband" access and a growing take-up of broadband.
Cough.. could he be referring to the fantastically complained about narrow band services from BTOpenworld we wonder? It's also worth noting that 70-75% of the population is related to people (most in the cities) and NOT geographical coverage, which is far less.
On a related note to Silicon's item, ADSLGuide has posted a brief update on BTOpenworld's position with their broadband R/ADSL services:
The official word is that Openworld is certain that there are not any problems in the network segment under their control. They pointed out that the service is sold as a maximum speed of 512kbps rather than a sustained speed of 512kbps and at some periods users will experience slower speeds - this is referring to the 50:1 contended nature. |
News - October 29,2001
Virgin.Net To Delay Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 4:15:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While we haven't been able to officially confirm it (it'll confirm itself in a day or two), two readers have E-Mailed us to say that Virgin.Net will delay the launch of its new 24/7 service.
The new package had been due to go live towards the end of this month (October), as per the website:
When will the service be available?
Our fully unmetered service Virgin.net 24seven will be launched in late October.
However according to correspondences with the ISPs customer support department, technical reasons (problems) look set to force a delay. Despite the bad news this shouldn't come as much of a surprise; Virgin.Net is well known for this kind of delay having seen similar things many times in the past. |
StarSpeeder v2? - Broadband Satellite
By:mark.j @ 4:01:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] From 1st November 2001 a new service will arise from the ashes of StarSpeeder (SkyStorm / CBL etc.), which was the first affordable 'unlimited' broadband satellite service until it fell.
Called 'IPviasat', the new service is backed by Xantic and uses an analogue system instead of Digital; it's not clear whether the service is Two-Way or One-Way:
Following the demise of CBL's Starspeeder service, we have spent considerable time and effort looking for alternatives. Within the very near future we will have available several possible choices, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
Our first priority has been to try to ensure that any service we recommend, will be sustainable, with quality and speed coming a close joint second. We believe that a fundamental requirement for any future service will be the ability to generate revenue from volume of data downloaded. It is unlikely that the concept of access to unlimited volume for a fixed price is ever going to work in the long term.
The first of our new services is IPviasat. Initial capacity is genuinely limited; consequently it will be available to ex UK Starspeeder subscribers from November 1st, then to new customers subject to availability.
IPviasat is intended for residential, leisure time users requiring a high-speed, quality connection to the net. Whilst it appears to operate in a similar way to Starspeeder, there are some significant differences:
We have negotiated to directly purchase off peak Bandwidth from Dutch company Xantic who operate a very high quality service to corporate customers. Their well-established DVB platform, routing and uplink facility is based in Hilversum with a prime connection to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange.
Because we are using off peak bandwidth, the service will be available from 5pm to 8am weekdays and 24 hours Saturday / 24 hours Sunday. The Satellite used is Sirius 2 at 5 degrees east. Power is similar to Europe*Star so dish size remains at 60cm, but dishes will need to be re-aligned.
Download speed will be capped at 512kbs at all times. Because user numbers are limited it should rarely be slower than 256kbs even at times of high congestion. The maximum amount of data available for download within the monthly subscription period is 1000Mbytes. This makes the service ideal for fast browsing but is obviously limited if you want to stream video for long periods.
Monthly subscription is £19.98 (£17.00 plus VAT) and is strictly limited to one per MAC address. Minimum subscription period is one month. (No quarterly or annual advance charges). If however, a subscription is cancelled and re-started with the same MAC address at a later time, a £15.00 account set up charge will be incurred.
The IPviasat website will be on line, with subscriptions available, from Thursday November 1st. ( http://www.ipviasat.net )
Service Details
Satellite- Sirius 2
Location- 5 degrees east
Frequency- 11.727 Ghz
Polarisation- Horizontal
FEC- 3/4
Symbol Rate- 27500
Unicast PID- 340 (Decimal)
Dish Size- 60cm UK / 80cm Ireland
It may be useful to note that on Sirius 2, an analogue transmission showing either a Test Card with "Sirius 5 east" logo, or a program with "Cyprus Sat" ID in the top corner is available on 12.265 Mhz Horizontal.
A small number of Starspeeder customers still have accounts in credit from the previous CBL service. Account balances will be automatically adjusted if you request a subscription to IPviasat.
IPviasat is one of a number of services available from Internet Via Satellite Ltd which is a company jointly owned by Trac Communications and LRN.
Typically the bandwidth limit means that's it's not ideal for heavy usage (downloads / streaming), although should be good for those after basic and fast web browsing out of R/ADSLs reach.
Those after a stronger and less restrictive, if somewhat more expensive, Two-Way Digital Satellite broadband solution would do well to wait for BTOpenworld and Tiscali's solutions next year. In the mean time it's also worth noting you can get the same thing from Xantic for £25 per month and have 2,000Mbs instead of 1,000 for downloads. |
BT & KPN Plan 3G BBW Co-Operation
By:mark.j @ 3:39:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not contention with their existing German alliance (Deutsche Telekom) for 3G broadband wireless mobile phone services, BT is also looking to strike a cord with Dutch operator KPN:
The talks, which could see KPN and Telfort - the Dutch arm of BT’s demerged wireless division mmO2 - split the costs of building and managing their networks; saving mmO2 up to £400m. Reports at the weekend suggest that the discussions will be completed by the end of the year.
Telfort, which was set up in September 1996 as a joint venture between BT and Dutch railways company Nederlandse Spoorwegen, was awarded one of the five Dutch UMTS licences in July last year. BT has since bought out the Dutch company to acquire a 100% stake.
More @ netimperative.com . |
More NTL & Ex-C&W User Problems
By:mark.j @ 3:36:PM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having first reported on NTLs intention to chop thousands of Cable & Wireless (C&W) Internet users from the service in June/July, apparently only now are most of these individuals being informed!:
"We have been a client of Cable & Wireless since the late 1980s, have always paid our bills early and feel that we have been treated unfairly by NTL," one angry user told silicon.com. "We didn't know they were pulling the plug until last Friday [19 October]."
With NTL's alternative cable service, NTLWorld, unavailable in many places, users are angry that the company failed to arrange other options.
Nigel Horsey was signed up to CWC's free email service, but wrote to silicon.com: "If they had offered me a paying service I would have switched just like that to avoid the hassle. Customers like us need an ISP/email address, but have no time to research the plethora out there."
Well it looks as if "that's another fine mess NTL has gotten people into". Certainly those whom had expected a lifetime local call rate ISP service for a single payment of £10 are beginning to wonder just whose lifetime that's for?
Either way the outcome remains the same as it was when we first revealed the situation during the summer, a total loss of service, which is something ISP Review appears to be seeing a lot of with other ISPs. |
Government Admit Data Retention Plans
By:mark.j @ 10:40:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Until now the governments Home Office has been somewhat vague, especially when it came to explaining the situation with anti-terrorism data retention plans. In fact only last week such regulation saw a delay following concerns over how a struggling ISP market could burden the extra costs involved.
Today the government has finally admitted it plans to reserve extra powers to force ISPs to retain data about customers if its current legislation proves inadequate:
"There is almost certainly nothing sinister in the intentions of the Home Office," said a consultant who advises the Government on IT matters. "However, the Home Office is advised by a great many people, and not all of them are primarily concerned with public privacy matters, and they have their own agenda."
The concern is that the Home Secretary may obtain powers, under the proposed November anti-terrorism bill, which will enable him to simply put forward a resolution at a later date which might extend the current voluntary proposals.
The extension could be literally anything, said an expert on legislation. "It could call for data to be held longer than the 12 months which the Home Office is currently thinking of. It could call for different types of data. And it could call for the voluntary code to be made compulsory."
Right back when acts such as R.I.P had barely even begun to see daylight we’d always envisaged this very scenario as being the ultimate outcome.
Despite such assumptions being refuted, it now looks as if we were right all along; once again the snowball affect of our government’s anti-privacy policy rears its ugly head. |
The Other Side Of The Fence - Nutshell
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Before Nutshell's demise the unmetered dialup service was indeed strong and fast, not to mention well priced. While most new ISPs start this way, it's often how they end that tells the story.
From what little information we've been given to go on it appears as if someone opted out of paying a hefty bill. The fact the service disappeared at all when the ISP was stating the opposite in its updates points toward some level of management incompetence.
Today one of Nutshell's heads (management) decided to send along a brief message that 'hints' at the real reasons behind their vanishing act:
I have been reading ISP review since Nutshell first started, and have always tried to do what was best for the customer based on comments in the forum. Although we can never please everyone, Nutshell has strived to give a little more.
I personally spent the last 2 years and many millions of pounds to build an infrastructure to support our growing customer base, and because of Cable and Wireless' actions stand to lose it all. Nutshell was gaining momentum rapidly and had contracts in place that would have brought over 1,000,000 customers online with us over the next few months.
I know customers are upset, and so am I, but to blame Nutshell staff and management is extremely unfair. Please let customers know we are just as upset as they are! Things were just about to take off. We had no control over the situation and were given less than 2 hours notice of the suspension on the 19th. Legally I cannot say what or why it happened.
I just heard this wonderful story, and thought I would pass it along;
A guy goes into the Local Auto dealer to buy a brand new Mercedes S500 and pays over £100,000 for it. Everything is fine when he picks it up, drives real nice on the back roads at low speeds. One day he decides to take it on the highway...he pushes the accelerator down and nothing happens!
He pulls off the road, opens the hood only to find a Fiat engine under there! He's furious and goes back the Dealer to demand a refund. But the dealer says that's what he bought...a Mercedes! It says it right on the car. But he says he bought a Mercedes with all the parts that should be Mercedes, including the engine. They say where in his contract does it say that the engine has to be Mercedes? He pulls out all the documentation, which shows the detail specs of the car, brochures, sales peoples remarks, etcetera... But they tell him to bad, that's not what the contract says! What should he do?
Before we say another word it's worth noting that anything we derive from the last two paragraphs is our own guess work and shouldn't be taken as gold. In fact you could read several things into it, although only one appears to fit the angle correctly.
Since they don't appear to be correct from a customer’s point of view, it looks more as if Nutshell could be highlighting their relationship with C&W. We'd guess it means that they purchased C&W services (ports?) and were later told that they weren't quite what they ordered; typically you can surmise that this forced them into a difficult legal situation and so on.
Whether the group will ever resurface is open to debate, although we can’t help but wonder how this will affect those on the special PC+Unmetered deals. We’d just assume they intend to adjust the price accordingly. |
News - October 28,2001
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 9:51:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Given the events of the past few weeks we can't help but wonder whether any more unmetered / broadband ISPs could vanish before Christmas. Hopefully none, both 08002Go and Nutshell were destined to fail due to reliance on a partially metered system (always failed).
Typically the last few months have been littered with the service problems of various ISPs, although to be fair some of it has come directly from BT and groups such as LINX and UUNet etc. Perhaps next week 08002Go will resurface as promised, here's hoping for some good news.
Now pushing away from the problems of ISPs and back onto ISP Review, as many will know we upgraded our forums last week and have been busy re-adding features.
Some features such as the integrated chat and poll/survey system will come back online next week, although overall the response has been good. Most seem to find our changes have improved the speed considerably, which is always good to hear.
I'm also glad to say that our brand new 'Readers Top ISPs' system is almost ready to come online and replace the aging pile of poo we currently use. Based on a combination of verification methods it'll be more accurate and easier to manage.
Once all of the above is complete we'll set about re-reviewing some ISPs and posting a few more articles before Christmas. Not to mention that we'll be changing colour theme to give a fresh look for the New Year. |
BTs Variable Speed Broadband
By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While it's not the cut speed & price R/ADSL consumer broadband we've been pushing for, some business customers should be happy with BTIgnite's latest broadband leased line option.
The group has expanded their asymmetric BTnet WebStream Platinum service to offer a range of upstream (upload) and downstream (download) transmission rates designed to save money:
Firms can now choose a connection that offers 30Mbit/s upload and 5Mbit/s download speeds for £170,000 a year, or a line offering 100Mbit/s and 25Mbit/s speeds for £390,000. Both prices include the cost of the Cisco 7200 series router needed at the customer end of the connection. BT Ignite added that it can scale that bandwidth up or down according to the customer's needs, although provisioning takes a minimum of two days to implement.
According to Steve Brady, vice president of data and IP at BT Ignite, customers signing up to the service can be 100 percent certain that their link into BT's optical backbone will not go down.
Despite missing the fact that there's no such thing as being able to guarantee (note: they said 'certain') 100% stability, it's also starting to look expensive given the new business wireless options starting to surface. More @ ZDNet. |
Waltham Forest Gets NTL Broadband
By:mark.j @ 9:01:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | DigitalSpy has a very brief item regarding how NTLs broadband cable modem service will be available in the Waltham Forest area from Monday. |
News - October 27,2001
NeonHippo Circles Nutshell Carcass
By:mark.j @ 10:09:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While the likes of CloudNine and V21 may have already taken their pickings, there could still be some left over for ISPs supported by the NeonHippo group:
Have seen today the sad demise of Nutshell, unfortunately its pretty clear that unless an ISP has a true flat-rate vehicle they are unable to build a sustainable flat rate access proposition to their user-base. The costs associated with providing provision of flat-rate need to be known, where there are variables, in the Nutshell case a part-metered service from C&W, the cost of the user is unkown, whilst revenue per user remains static. Unfortunately the more users taken on the higher the potential exposure with almost inevitable results.
The only true flat-rate access method for dial services today is based on FRIACO. We have invested time and money in developing our service. We have contracts for access supply with NTL (ex Viatel UK) and Energis, we have first-class technical support and internet connectivity second-to-none. Most importantly we have access to massive amounts of capacity NOW.
I am so convinced that any ex-Nutshell user, or anyone else for that matter, will find our service of such a high-quality, that I will ensure that if they sign-up and are not happy with what they receive, I will refund their subscription money immediately via our secure Worldpay card solution.
This offer can be taken advantage of for any user signing up to either
http://www.24-7Freecall.com or http://www.do-doisp.com .
Typically this looks to be one or two extra choices for those wanting more ISP options and with existing NTL connections.
It should be noted that most ISPs, unlike Ex-08002Go and Ex-Nutshell, don't have the problem of an underlying metered charge - most seem more intelligent than to follow such a rout.
Speaking of 08002Go, aren't they supposed to return next week? We'll see. |
V21 & Free24-7 ISPs Back Online
By:mark.j @ 9:55:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if both Free24-7 and their main backers, V21, finally managed to re-emerge from a sustained period of downtime last night.
Following this an E-Mail containing an explanation and a special 'compensation' offer was sent to us, which can also be found on their Service Status page:
26th October 2001
The service is now operational once again after our extended outage today due to serious problems with the RADIUS database. We can confirm that the problem was outside of our direct control on one of our BT managed RADIUS servers. This is not an excuse for our failure to provide the service today but simply a statement of fact. Further investigations into the exact cause are continuing and we will keep everybody informed about this and the steps taken to prevent such an episode happening again.
As a result of the problems over the last week we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our users for their support and apologise for this second service failure in under a week. We will be providing all users who signed up before today with one weeks free access to the service.
We realise that the service level this week could have been better and hope that the 7 days free access will compensate our users for the inconvenience caused. This offer is for all current Free24-7 and V21 customers alike.
It's nice to see an ISP able to recognise the importance of a functional ISP service to customers and actually compensating them when things go wrong. |
BBFW Auction Flops - No Bids
By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Just two weeks into the second round of UK broadband fixed wireless license auctions and not a single bid has surfaced:
Broadband fixed wireless is considered to be a potentially good way of offering high-speed Internet access to people who live in rural or remote parts of the UK -- where ADSL and cable networks are unlikely to arrive in the near future. Around 30 percent of the UK population don't live within an ADSL-enabled area.
Licence-holders will operate a radio base station on a central building transmitting within the 28GHz frequency, communicating with nearby subscribers whose equipment will be attached to the side of their house.
Firms have been able to make an offer for any of the 26 available licences since 15th October. The last licence ended in failure after just 10 days, when over half of the licences attracted no interest at all. Given the disappointing take-up of broadband services to date, many within the industry were hoping that the licences would be snapped up quickly.
Apparently the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) insists this is all down to the fact that they've only just started and it's a 12 month 'open' process.
Perhaps they're playing the usual 'eBay' style game, wait for the others to bid and then bid yourself, which can often lead to last second scrambles. More @ ZDNet. |
Wales Gain £18.4m Broadband Boost
By:mark.j @ 9:40:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Wales it set to get a cash infection to the tune of £18.4Million in order to help expand its broadband networks:
Welsh Assembly First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Assembly e-minister Andrew Davies said the cash will bring broadband within the reach of many more people in the Principality.
Over the next six months the money will be used to bring high-speed network and broadband internet access into each Welsh local authority.
Schools, libraries and learning centres will get connected and it's hoped that with this investment in place business parks will also be able to hook up to the hi-speed network.
More @ The Register . |
Zen Upgrade Network Infrastructure
By:rich @ 9:11:AM - - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Zen are to upgrade a major part of their network. The upgrades will also allow them to take part of the responsibility of fixing problems away from BT. Here is the press release in full:
Zen announce major infrastructure upgrade
Zen Internet, one of the country's leading Broadband Providers, are pleased to announce plans for a major network infrastructure upgrade.
Due to the ever-increasing popularity of Zen Internet's products and services and the massive growth witnessed by the company over the past year, Zen have highlighted the need to significantly upgrade the network infrastructure in order to remain ahead of customer requirements and to build for the future.
As of yesterday, Zen upgraded the UUNET backbone by an additional 20% to meet customer demand. The company are also awaiting the commissioning of another 8Mbps line from BTnet to further increase backbone bandwidth and network redundancy.
Several measures are being taken to significantly reduce the load on the core firewalls and network infrastructure as a whole. The first steps of this work are being carried out at the moment, and customers should witness a significant improvement very soon. Following successful completion of this work, steps will be taken to separate mail from the rest of Zen's services as this is currently one of the highest loads forced through the firewalls.
An order has been placed for a 155Mbps ADSL Central pipe from BT - a replacement for the current 34Mbps. This will significantly increase the bandwidth between the BT and Zen network and will make the company more than capable of meeting increasing demand for Zen's ADSL services.
By purchasing a 155Mbps Central Pipe from BT, Zen gain the additional advantage of L2TP access, enabling total command of their Home Gateway router. With this degree of control, Zen's core technical team will be able to gain an increased understanding of router capabilities and be able to highlight problems as well as source improvements more quickly and easily.
Full routing control will provide efficiency improvements and reduce the CPU load on the router.It will also allow Zen to rectify set-up errors much more quickly, without the need to contact BT.
The upgrade will also reduce the number of hops to get access to Zen services and will mean that session traffic can be directed much more efficiently within the Zen network.
More improvements and internal infrastructure upgrades in the pipeline will further increase the speed, capacity, efficiency and redundancy of the Zen network. These upgrades will take place gradually over the next 4-6 months and demonstrate Zen's dedication to providing a 'complete Internet solution' backed by an unrivalled level of service and support.
The 155Mbs pipe will enable Zen to support more users and improve the situation with the problems with the first hop load on the routers. |
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