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November 11, 2002 - November 16, 2002

News - November 16,2002

V21 Launch £6.99 Unlimited Unmetered!?

By:mark.j @ 8:42:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP V21 (Free24-7) has apparently launched the impossible, an unlimited unmetered dialup service costing just £6.99 per month!:

Today sees the launch of one of the cheapest unlimited ISP's in the country.

Fast4.net have launched an unlimited 24/7 dial up service for the amazing price of just £6.99 per month. Offering a contention ratio of 10:1 with a 2 hour cut off and no weekly or monthly limits, the package also boasts national rate customer and technical support.

Lloyd Sanders, Operations Manager of Fast4 commented "surfers can once again forget the clock watching and enjoy a fast reliable dial up connection. We aim to provide a service to people who can't yet receive a broadband service, without penalising them like many other ISP's have done."

The service will support up to speeds of 56k dial up and 64 k ISDN.
Connectivity for both PC's and MAC's will be supported. Anyone wishing to take up this offer can sign up at http://www.fast4.net


Not surprisingly we have absolutely no idea how V21 can maintain such a service, especially on a 10:1 ratio, although we will attempt to find out.

It's worth noting that this service uses separate ports from V21 and thus other ISP services will not be affected by any problems with Fast4. ISP Fast24 may find the name a little too similar for their liking.

News - November 15,2002

UK Broadband Subscriptions Rocket

By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Over the past week Telewest, NTL and BT have all issued their third quarter financial results and all showed a clear boost in broadband connections.

Combined, an estimated 34,000 new customers connect to a broadband technology each week, up from 20,000!:

Latest figures from BT, NTL and Telewest show that, after the disappointment of previous years, broadband is one of the success stories of 2002.

BT Wholesale, whose ADSL products are resold by around 200 Internet service providers, is currently adding more new broadband connections than either NTL or Telewest individually. BT Wholesale announced last week that new orders are running at 16,000 per week.

NTL is understood to have gained 70,000 broadband customers in the last six weeks -- a take-up rate of almost 12,000 per week -- and Telewest is selling "in excess of 1,000 connections per working day (Monday to Saturday)", which works out at a take-up rate of over 6,000 per week.


ZDNet's item is essentially a summary of the past weeks various results from the three major market players.

Vispa ISP Cuts Broadband ADSL Prices

By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP Vispa Internet has announced a cut in the cost of its broadband ADSL packages:

Vispa, who has been offering broadband connections since March 2000; have taken the decision to reduce the monthly price of its broadband packages. The reductions being made are due to lower operating business costs, therefore allowing savings to be directly passed to the customer.

Package prices are now as follows and include a static IP as standard (essential in our eyes) and a 3 month minimum contract period.

Home 500 (50:1 Contention) - £24.67pm
Business 500 (20:1 Contention) - £60.00pm
Business 1000 (20:1 Contention) - £95.00pm
Business 2000 (20:1 Contention) - £140.00pm

Multiple IP addresses totaling 8 can be added to any of the above packages for a little as £5 per month, ideal for business or individuals requiring remote access and more control to internal services.

The above prices are exclusive of VAT @ 17.5%

Likewise Vispa's ability to buy in large quantity directly from hardware vendors has ensured that they offer modems at some of the best retail prices. You can now buy your modem complete with filters, manuals and everything to get you up and running for a little as £69.99, including postage and delivery costs.

For further details and information visit
http://www.vispa.net/broadband.php

Internet Breaks Marriages

By:mark.j @ 1:29:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Two-thirds of lawyers meeting at an annual conference in Chicago believe that the Internet is responsible for the break-up of many marriages:

Meeting a new lover online and an "obsessive" interest in pornography were the top two problems cited in many Internet-related divorce cases. Other reasons that have led to the break down of marriages include excessive use of the Net and chat rooms.

"The computer is a great communications device. But spouses need to remember to communicate with each other as well," said J Lindsey Short Jr, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.


The Register also notes that 80% of attorneys questioned said that incriminatory e-mails had been part of divorce proceedings. Best use encryption then =).

BTO NOT Capping Satellite ISP Speed

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

UPDATE: Please note that we are still investigating this, we’ve had some information in the past few hours that could be important and will be passing it onto BTO. More soon..

Despite what some readers have said, we can now confirm that BTOpenworld is not putting a cap on their broadband satellite service speeds, at least not for normal users. The following response is from a PR official acting on behalf of BTOpenworld:

I have confirmed with BT Openworld that they have not capped the speed on their business broadband satellite ISP service. Back in August BT Openworld contacted some of their customers regarding their usage of the broadband satellite service as they were using a disproportionate percentage of bandwidth.

To ensure that BT Openworld could continue to deliver a high quality of service to all of their customers, they notified these heavy users that they need to adjust their usage patterns.


Typically this is nothing we didn't already know, yet many of those complaining claim not to have received the 'heavy usage' warning. There could be several possible explanations for this:

1) The bad weather.
2) A problem with one of BTOs hubs is affecting ‘some’ users.
3) Gilats (BTOs satellite supplier) restructuring.


If you've not received a heavy usage warning and aren't a heavy downloader, yet still get slow speeds, then please contact me and we’ll pass this on for a quicker answer.

NTLs Financial Report - Cuts Jobs

By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The UKs largest cable operator, NTL, has finally published its third quarter results, which saw 113,000 customers leave:

However, it admitted cash constraints during the period had forced it to minimise expenditure on connecting new customers to its network, and that "negative publicity" surrounding its situation had impacted on market share and relationships with suppliers.

Revenue for the period fell from £627m in the previous quarter to £617m while the company's total subscriber base stood at 2.67m at the end of September compared to 2.70m three months before.

Having slashed 8,000 jobs over the last two years, the company is also preparing to cut another 250 when the restructuring deal goes through.


Thankfully NTL has managed to increase its broadband cable modem customer base by an additional 105,000 during the summer, making for a total of 450,000. More @ netimperative.info .

News - November 14,2002

BTO Cap Business Satellite ISP Speed?

By:mark.j @ 1:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BTOpenworld recently announced that heavy users of their business broadband satellite ISP service would find their bandwidth limited; however it appears as if this restriction may be somewhat wider spread.

Stephen from PixelStock sums up the problem quite well:

Had an interesting conversation with support at BTOpenworld yesterday were it was revealed that the transmit bit rate limit on the 2 way business satellite has been reduced from 150kbits/sec to 63kbits/sec.

The end result of this change is that I'm lucky to upload 3KB/sec (used to have 7KB/sec with ISDN), download speed is severly hampered because of and my bandwidth place download speed is reported as 109K bits/sec though I have had up to 200kbits/sec (less than half the promised maximum)

Contractually we are supposed to receive 14 days notice of any changes to the service but this has been imposed without warning. Worse still the sales page at http://www.btopenworld.com/satellite/ still promises up to 150kbits/sec upload and 500k bits download.

When I spoke to tech he confirmed that his machine is also capped - its all users affected.


While we're still working to confirm the above information about an overall speed reduction, posters in our BTO Satellite Forum appear to confirm the problem. If true then BTOpenworld should no longer classify the service as broadband.

V21s November ISP ex-Customer Offer

By:mark.j @ 1:38:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

This is a few days old now, however UK ISP V21 has sent out another newsletter to its ex-customers announcing their latest unmetered dialup offer:

V21.co.uk are offering you, as an ex-V21 subscriber, the chance to sample their new, re-vamped service for a VERY special price.

For a limited time only, and for the UNBELIEVABLE price of £29.97, V21 will give you a MASSIVE 5 months internet access. That means a whole months access for £5.99, and after that it will still only cost you £9.99 per month.

Don't believe us??? Too good to be true??? Well, just click on the link below and the signup screen will appear.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP


Unfortunately much of the reaction we've had so far appears to be from people complaining that they still haven't been unsubscribed from the systems mailing list, this despite previously clicking the remove link.

BTO Reduces Business ADSL Price

By:mark.j @ 1:24:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP BTOpenworld has today announced its intention to reduce the cost of broadband Internet access for UK businesses via several cut-price offers, which will run until the end of the year (2002).

Savings of up to £150 can be expected thanks to the various free installation and cashback promotions:

BT OPENWORLD SLASHES BUSINESS BROADBAND COSTS AND OFFERS SAVINGS OF UP TO £150

BT Openworld is reducing the cost of broadband for UK businesses with a series of cut-price offers, which run until the end of the year. The UK's number one business ISP* is waiving the initial set up fees and equipment costs for its self-install Plug & Go product. This means free activation, free ADSL modem and ADSL filters - a saving of £1501.

In addition, businesses signing up to BT Openworld's engineer-installed Broadband PLUS products, ideal for networking, could receive £130 cashback2.

Businesses subscribing to BT Openworld's 'Activation Only' service can also have the activation fee and cost of the ADSL filters refunded - some £85 cashback3.

The cashback promotions (both £130 and £85) are valid for any organisation that purchases one of BT Openworld's Business 500PLUS, 1000PLUS and 2000PLUS products in conjunction with the BT Openworld Internet Business Pack4.

Tony Harris, president, Business Internet Services at BT Openworld, said: "<The present economic downturn is forcing businesses of all sizes to take a more prudent approach to cost control. These promotions make it easier for businesses to invest in broadband thereby increasing productivity and reducing costs - two key objectives for any business given the current business climate."

* Oftel survey October 2002
1 Business 500 Plug & Go orders must be placed and activation date agreed between 14/11/02 - 30/12/02. The product must be activated before 31/01/03.

2 Engineer Installed Cashback Offer applies to orders placed with the Internet Business Pack. Orders must be placed and installation date agreed before 30/12/02. The product must be installed before 31/01/03. Cashback application form and Terms & Conditions can be found at http://www.btopenworld.com/brace .

3 Activation Only Cashback Offer applies to orders placed with the Internet Business Pack. Orders must be placed and installation date agreed between 14/11/02 - 30/12/02. The product must be installed before 31/01/03. Cashback application form and Terms & Conditions can be found at http://www.btopenworld.com/brace .

4 BT Openworld's Internet Business Pack offers SMEs a quick and easy route to getting online. It contains everything a business needs to capitalise on its broadband connection and establish a professional online presence and costs £10/month (exc VAT).

BSG - 2003 Crucial For UK Broadband

By:mark.j @ 1:18:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) has claimed that despite a 300% growth in UK broadband use, 2003 will still be a critical year for the technology:

In advance of the BSG's annual report next week, chief executive Antony Walker said the figures are positive but there's still a lot to do.

'UK broadband growth is on track, but the next 12 months will be critical. We are still at only one million users and we need to maintain our current growth rate throughout the next year,' he said.

The report will recommend a continued focus on promoting the benefits of broadband to consumers and small businesses and measures to combat the lack of coverage still affecting almost a third of the population.


The VNUNet item also notes how the BSG perceives broadband wireless technologies as a possible solution for rural areas, something we'd agree with.

Fraud & BTs ADSL Registration Scheme

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

It's long been a fear that BTs new broadband ADSL pre-registration scheme could be open to fraud, albeit pointless fraud because you still have to validate the orders before an exchange is enabled.

Unfortunately it's being reporting that despite the recent exchange success stories, pre-registration fraud remains alive and well. The most recent exchange to suffer from this is Wrexham North:

BT has been working with an unnamed ISP for the past few weeks to identify the false information. "There were over 200 fraudulent entries for Wrexham North, based on multiple consecutive phone numbers," explained a BT Wholesale spokesman.

BT's broadband registration scheme is based on 'trigger levels' -- the number of broadband customers that BT has calculated it needs for upgrades a local exchanges to become economically viable. In Wrexham North's case this trigger level was set at 400, which was "achieved" at the end of September.

Wrexham North will now be returned to the registration scheme, where it will stay until it again reaches 400.


In the past few months it's believed that several other exchanges have also seen similar problems, more @ ZDNet.

Vanity Surfing & Online Privacy

By:mark.j @ 9:31:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Ever tried putting a neighbour’s postcode into a search engine? How about using a cars registration ID with an online insurance quote to get more details about the vehicle?

It doesn't work for everything, yet it is a clear example of how easily personal information can be picked up and tracked over the Internet:

A full postcode will typically cover 15 addresses but on occasion it will extend to include the whole side of a road.

What tends to come up on the web? Well, if you live above or near to a promenade of shops, expect links or references to them to dominate.

However, on purely residential roads, the results prove to be more varied and unexpected. Frequently, you will uncover a business run from home or maybe a personal home page.


The BBC News Online item is short and generally relates to the practice of vanity surfing, however it's also an excellent example of just how easily privacy can be breached.

UK ISPs To Block 76 Newsgroups

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

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has followed up on an earlier announcement by asking all UK ISPs to ban 51 newsgroups that carry child abuse images and another 25 that appear to advocate it:

The information was gathered by the group, an independent statistician, the Crown Prosecution Service and Home Office.

Home Office Minister Hilary Benn MP, who is responsible for the government's new Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet, said: "Child protection is of the highest priority to the Government and we welcome the new stance that the IWF has taken on newsgroups. There is no justification for any newsgroup containing or claiming to contain child pornography."


The netimperative.info item reports that the UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has welcomed the move.

Yesterday’s speech by the Queen outlined a commitment to bring forward a bill to review the laws on sexual offences, including that of the Internets use by paedophiles.

Hopefully this won't give the green light for the government to go over the top and censor everything, instead of concentrating on the core issue above.

News - November 13,2002

Update on ET Global Solutions

By:Anne @ 11:25:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It has been brought to our attention by a member that Gio Internet has contacted the ET Global customers. They have been sent e-mail's advising customers and giving them a link to Gio's customer services for any queries or questions.

Quoted from Gio's e-mail.
Customers with any queries or questions are requested to contact Gio
Internet on 0870 922 4000 or email support@giointernet.com, additionally
all activated customers will be contacted by Gio internet within the
next few days to address any issues customers may have.

Non Activated customers whom made payments to ET Global, will be
contacted separately to advise method for refunds by no later the 20th November


This could be what a lot of people have been waiting for after ET Global Solutions stopped trading. It is hoped that Gio will sort out this and the customers who have lost money paid back.

Satellite Operator(s) For Sale - Inmarsat

By:mark.j @ 2:32:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Inmarsat, a UK satellite operator, expects to receive bids from three private equity firms in time for the 22nd November 2002:

Apollo Advisors, Apax Partners and Permira are all expected to put in bids for the company which provides telecommunication services to aircraft, shipping and other users beyond the range of traditionally-carried signals.

The company is estimated to be worth GBP1bn (E1.6bn), and is being sold because many of the owners themselves have large debts to service, such as Deutsch Telekom and France Telecom.


The Europemedia item also reports that another familiar name, Eutelsat, is in a similar situation. Both of these operators are linked with various UK broadband satellite ISPs.

SniffOut ISP Upgrades DialPlus Service

By:mark.j @ 1:46:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP SniffOut has today announced a significantly improved and streamlined connectivity upgrade to DialPlus, its basic Pay-as-you-go Internet access package for modem users:

Major upgrade for Sniff Out’s popular DialPlus package

Sniff Out has significantly improved and streamlined connectivity to DialPlus, the popular, reduced rate, pay-as-you-go package.

DialPlus calls will still be only 2p per minute during the weekday peak period and 1p per minute at all other times – up to 50% less than a normal local rate Internet access call.

The upgraded DialPlus package now offers:

* Connection via any phone (previously required a BT line)
* Full support for 128K Home Highway/ISDN access
(previously only 64K ISDN access available)
* Faster authentication process and greater connection reliability
* Additional upstream bandwidth for smoother Internet surfing
* Support for v.92 modem users

The key elements of the DialPlus package are unchanged, and include unlimited email addresses, plus 50MB of personal web space.

The upgraded package uses a slightly different access number – 0844 4440000. Customers will need to change to the new number to use the improved features. The original access number is still available for existing members who do not wish to connect to the new network.

Instant online registration for DialPlus and all other Sniff Out packages can be found at http://www.sniffout.net


We note the full v.92 support, hopefully something they'll also spread to unmetered dialup services in due course.

PlusNET Launch Cheap Business ADSL

By:mark.j @ 1:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Popular UK ISP PlusNET has today announced the launch of a new broadband ADSL product for businesses. The new 'ADSL Biz Surf' package costs just £26.99 ex-Vat per month:

Biz Surf - the Easy, Low Cost Broadband Solution for Business, say PlusNet

PlusNet, the popular UK Internet Service Provider, today announced their 'best value yet' Business Broadband ADSL service, specifically designed with small business users and teleworkers in mind. At just £26.99 exVAT per month ADSL Biz Surf offers a high-speed Internet connection whilst still allowing the office phone to be used for FAX and voice calls in the normal way.

Businesses who currently use standard modems or ISDN to dial up to their ISP are sure to notice the financial benefits of moving to PlusNet ADSL. Unlike most standard modem connectivity, ADSL is 'unmetered' - you pay only for your subscription, no charges will be made to your phone bill for your Internet access.

"With ADSL Biz Surf we have responded to our customers' demand for a low-cost, entry-level ADSL service for business," explained Alistair Wyse, Technical Director of PlusNet Technologies Ltd. "What's more we are able to offer this high-value product at a very competitive, and what is for us, sustainable price."

PlusNet's latest addition to their comprehensive range of Business Broadband packages allows the customer to surf the Web, publish their own website and download their email at speeds of up to 10 times that of a standard modem. More advanced users may wish to take advantage of the included Static IP address and optional SMTP mail delivery features.

Users wishing to use high-bandwidth applications such as 'peer-to-peer' file sharing and access 'binary' newsgroups would find these options, and more, available on PlusNet's highly popular £29.99 exVAT per month ADSL NetStart account.

"By filtering out what from many peoples' perspective may be seen as inappropriate applications in a business setting, we are able to offer this high-value service, in a sustainable way. ADSL Biz Surf is ideal for those wanting to moderate the content available to their end users whilst keeping Internet access costs down" concluded Wyse.

With Starter Packs available from just £85.10 exVAT, which include everything you need to get started with ADSL (Line activation, modem or router, 2 microfilters and set-up guide), we think you'd find it difficult to find any other supplier that offers a similar package at the price.

You can find out more about the range of ADSL services for Home and
Business - and sign up today at http://www.plus.net

BTO Interactive Music Awards Shortlist

By:mark.j @ 1:36:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP BTOpenworld has today announced a shortlist for their 2002 Interactive Music Awards:

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR BTOPENWORLD INTERACTIVE MUSIC AWARDS 2002

The shortlist for the BT Openworld Interactive Music Awards 2002 was today announced. The awards celebrate the best of the UK's interactive music industry and the winners will be announced at an exclusive ceremony at the BT Tower on November 26.

Over 1,500 entries have been received in total with an extremely diverse range of artists and organisations hoping to pick up awards. The main contenders are Universal and Parlophone, with eleven and eight nominations respectively. Parlophone dominates the Best Rock / Indie artist category in particular with four out of the five shortlisted entries coming from the label.

Eight of the categories are judged by industry experts whilst three are voted for by the public. Voting opens today for the Artist of the Year category with 12 diverse artists including The Streets, Coldplay and Blue battling it out for this prestigious title. The awards web site – http://www.ima2002.com - features links to each of the contenders' web sites so that voters can make an informed decision.

The most hotly contested category is the dotmusic People's Choice Award, which has received entries from more than 1,300 web sites. The award is open to any music site, with big name official sites such as Westlife.com rubbing shoulders with unofficial fansites like Greenplastic.com (Radiohead). More than 50,000 music fans have already cast a vote for their favourite site and this is expected to double before voting closes on November 22.

The awards ceremony will be an exclusive affair at the BT Tower. However, a huge party will be held immediately afterwards at Sway, in Covent Garden, with live performances and DJ sets.

Ben Drury, head of music at BT Openworld, said: "The diversity of the names on the shortlist is a testament to the fact that interactive media has been embraced by all genres of music and that both the big labels and small independent companies can excel in this field. The response from the public has also been amazing which goes to show the impact that music has online."

This is the inaugural year for the BT Openworld Interactive Music Awards. With 11 categories ranging from the Best Pop Artist to the Best Shop, the awards are open to the entire spread of the interactive music community including record companies, new media and marketing executives, specialist music web sites, webcasters, retailers, software manufacturers and also web sites built by music fans. The awards look at everything from web sites to SMS campaigns and interactive TV. Sponsors signed up to the awards include MSN, IPT, Revolution, PeopleSound, Vitaminic and dotmusic.

Christmas Boosts Online Shopping

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

Internet shopping is set to hit a new high this Christmas if the latest annual European online sales forecast from Forrester Research is to be believed.

Europeans are expected to purchase 7.6 billion euros worth of products through the Internet in the fourth quarter, breaking a record for the retail sector.

The forecast, which represents an 86% increase over the previous Christmas period, is an important piece of good news for online retailers that are hoping price-conscious consumers head onto the Net to find bargains, particularly as job losses mount and concerns about the global economy grow.

"Last Christmas, Europeans spent more than four billion euros (£2.5 Billion) online, but as more consumers spend more online, European online Christmas purchases will rise to 7.6 billion euros," said Forrester Research Director Jaap Favier on Wednesday.

He singled out the United Kingdom as a particularly strong region for online shopping; Britons are predicted to spend 2.6 billion euros in the period. The results from Forrester Research are very similar to that of a recent study by GartnerG2.

Super ISPs Do Battle - Tiscali & T-Online

By:mark.j @ 1:20:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Two of Europe’s largest ISPs, Tiscali and T-Online, have published their latest official financial results, but who’s doing the best?

Today, it (Tiscali) has published its results for the three months to September and reports that revenues slipped in at €179.9m, 4.3 per cent ahead of the previous quarter but 5 per cent lower than Q3 2001.

Revenues from Internet access - which account for two thirds of Tiscali's revenues - remained flat in Q3 at €121.7 million. Losses before interest, taxation etc (LBITDA) fell to €3.6m, down 62 per cent compared to Q2.


The Register reports that Tiscali has a total of roughly 125,000 European broadband ADSL subscribers, although its dialup users continue to decline. T-Online has been doing somewhat better:

Healthy growth in broadband punters helped deliver a 38 per cent growth in revenues for the first nine months of 2002 compared to the same period last year. Net revenues for the three months to the end of September rolled in at €383m, up from the €270m during the same quarter last year.

This performance means that the outfit has recorded its second consecutive quarter in the black with an EBITDA (earnings before interest etc) profit of €35.6m, compared to an EBITDA loss of €34.8m last year. Last quarter T-Online reported an EBITDA profit of €28.8m.


T-Online was able to add 200,000 broadband customers during the summer, taking its total ADSL subscriber base to an impressive 2.5 million.

Opera Web Browser Version 7 Beta1

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

Opera has released the first official public beta of its version 7 website browser code, which is one of Microsoft Internet Explorers biggest competitors and known to be very fast:

The saying "Less is more" couldn't be more true! Opera's code has been reworked from the rendering engine and up, giving you a faster browser packed with features in an exceptionally small download. Enjoy new features such as the new e-mail and news client, a sleek new interface, improved Hotlist, skinning or drag-and-drop and much, much more.

Opera is unfortunately a commercial product, however you can download the shareware version 7 HERE.

EU Proposal To Cut Broadband Prices?

By:mark.j @ 9:43:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The European Commission (EC) has made a new proposal that could prod national operators into issuing further wholesale price cuts for broadband Internet access services!

According to EU documents, the EC would ask national regulators to give ISPs more access to telecom networks with the ultimate aim of opening up the market to more resellers and lowering costs for the end user.

"It's significant," said Louisa Gosling, president of the European Internet Services Providers Association, a trade group that represents many of the continent's largest ISPs.

"The overall call from all sides of the industry, aside from the incumbents, is that local loop unbundling is not working. There is a dramatic need to do something about the bottleneck that remains," she said.

Advocates have asked that former state-owned operators reduce wholesale Internet access charges to at or near cost levels so that all resellers, including the incumbents' own retail divisions, have an equal competitive footing.

It's worth noting that this may not have a big impact in the UK, where wholesale ADSL charges are already very low.

ADSL ISP Q.931 Moves Into Liquidation

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

Andrew Quinn from the World of ADSL website has informed us that the little known UK ISP Q.931 Ltd. is now in liquidation:

Their web site and email is currently down. When I tried phoning it just says "We can not connect your call".

Q.931 specialises in security and communications, providing consultancy and software development as well as their own schools and business internet servers and firewall products (the FireBrick). As BT partners they are able to set up corporate private networks and internet service providers using ADSL technology.

BT To ADSL Activate 13 Exchanges

By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ADSLGuide has managed to obtain details of the 13 other local exchanges that have now had their broadband ADSL activation date set:

Pembury (NDPEM) 12 December 2002
Bishops Waltham (STBISHW) 12 December 2002
Ponteland (NEP) 12 December 2002
Paddock Wood (NDPWO) 12 December 2002
Twyford (THTF) 12 December 2002
Kesgrave (EAKSG) 12 December 2002
Leek (WMLEE) 12 December 2002
Irby (LVIRB) 12 December 2002
Penn, Buckinghamshire (SMPEN) 12 December 2002
Harrowden (EMHARRO) 17 January 2003
Drayton (EADRA) 17 January 2003
Buckley (WNBUC) 17 January 2003
Shaw (LCSHW) 24 January 2003


The news follows yesterdays announcement of an additional three exchanges, which, including Todmorden, makes for a total of 17. Not bad going.

ET Global Solutions ISP Confusion

By:mark.j @ 9:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

ADSLGuide is reporting that confusion still surrounds the suspended ISP ET Global Solutions. Apparently ex-customer’s attempting to get their money back have been experiencing some strange difficulties with both the receivers and credit card companies:

In a statement by Abdul Khaliq, a director of ET Global Solutions, we were advised that R W Keating were acting as liquidators for ET Global. Following several enquiries from users, we contacted R W Keating who confirmed that they are not acting as liquidators for ET Global at present and that to their knowledge the company is not yet in liquidation, although they have been consulted by the directors of the company. Further developments may take place next week.

Despite two e-mails last week, Abdul Khaliq (who is also a director of Gio Internet which took payments from some users' credit cards on behalf of ET Global) has failed to respond to our queries regarding the appointment of liquidators and the inaccurate information he provided to us.


The item goes on to note how ex-customers have also been experiencing difficulties with getting their money back from credit card companies. This is hardly going to help Abdul Khaliqs reputation; hopefully he’ll be able to clarify the situation soon.

News - November 12,2002

EC Approves 3G Network Sharing

By:mark.j @ 2:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The European Commission (EC) has finally ruled that operators CAN join forces to develop 3G broadband wireless mobile phone systems without being prosecuted for anti-competitive behaviour:

This so-called "anti-trust protection" is seen as vital if companies such as Siemens and Sony are to afford the effort of developing technology for 3G, a high-speed service that will allow users to download video or connect to the web.

As the mobile telecoms market has stumbled in recent months, mobile handset manufacturers and network operators have increasingly sought ways of sharing the enormous costs of rolling out 3G services.

The arrangement proposed by Brussels will allow the firms to access other manufacturers' patents when creating new products, without breaching EU rules.


More @ BBC News Online.

D.T.I Warning - SCAM E-Mails

By:mark.j @ 2:40:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The governments Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has today launched a new awareness campaign to help highlight the growing problem of e-mail, text messaging and fax scams:

Consumer Affairs Minister Melanie Johnson wants to raise public awareness and crack down on offenders. She wants to encourage the public to become more sceptical and report dodgy messages.

Miss Johnson said: "Every day, people throughout the UK open their mail, turn on their computers or switch on their mobile phones to learn that they've won 'an exciting prize.'"

She said that while much of the marketing conducted in this way is legitimate, some are misleading or untrue. "All too often those people taken in by scams make the mistake of being too trusting and lose money as a result."


Unfortunately the government is once again far too late to prevent the situation from getting any worse, more @ Ananova.

Computer Store Promotes Safe Surfing

By:mark.j @ 2:35:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

PCWorld, the popular UK computer store, has teamed up with Parents Online (Department for Education and Skills) to help promote safer online surfing for children.

PCWorlds move follows the publication of some new research from the Department for Education and Skills, which found that most children were spending hours online without parental supervision.

80% of parents don't know how to secure their computers, yet 67% of children knew more about such systems than their minders:

The campaign, which will run in all PC World stores nationwide from 15 November, comprises a Safe Surfing guide, available free on CD-Rom or as a leaflet from PC World stores.

Store visitors can browse the CD-Rom at kiosks for the first week, called the "awareness week", but Peter Keenan, marketing director of PC World said it shouldn't only be a week-long campaign, but an on-going education process.

"There are plenty of simple measures that parents can take to ensure that their children are safe online, and many are available for free. Our campaign is designed to give parents greater knowledge of the tools available to ensure safer surfing," Keenan added.


The Web-User item highlights a common trend where the children appear to be more knowledgeable than their own adult parents, making for a difficult situation. The campaign will begin on 15th November 2002.

BT Confirms 3 More ADSL Exchanges

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

ISPs have apparently confirmed enough pre-registrations on three more local exchanges to have them enabled with broadband ADSL by February 2003 (17 in total):

Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, Tottington near Manchester and Danbury in Essex will all be upgraded to offer ADSL after ISPs confirmed to BT that there is sufficient demand in each area.

BT set "trigger levels" for each exchange earlier this year, after calculating how many broadband customers would be needed to make an upgrade economically viable. These trigger levels were set at 200 expressions of interest for Tottington and Danbury, and 400 for Bradford-on-Avon.

Each area hit their trigger levels in October, which meant that ISPs then had up to six weeks to get firm pledges, or advance orders, from three quarters of those people who has said they would like to get broadband.


Hopefully several more announcements will follow in the coming weeks, bringing yet more positive news before the years end. More @ ZDNet.

BTO ISP Touts Todmorden Success

By:mark.j @ 9:42:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP BTOpenworld hasn't wasted any time in touting the success of Todmorden as being the first UK exchange to hit its broadband ADSL trigger level and finally be upgraded:

BT OPENWORLD TO ENABLE FIRST BUSINESS ON 'PEOPLE POWER' BROADBAND EXCHANGE

The UK's flagship 'trigger scheme' broadband community will go live today. To mark the occasion, ISP BT Openworld will provide free business ADSL access to the first customer, Barbara McCluskey, to enable her to work from home.

Under the programme, customers on exchanges without ADSL availability can register their interest in getting broadband. Once the number of people registered reaches the 'trigger' level and their interest is confirmed, BT will enable the exchange. Todmorden, West Yorkshire, is the UK's first exchange to be upgraded in this way.

Tony Harris, president of business internet services at BT Openworld, said: "For Broadband Britain to happen, it will need the support of the public. Todmorden is a great of example of an area which wanted high-speed access and made it happen. With this type of support we can really deliver on our commitment to bring broadband to communities."

Tony Harris will attend the opening, taking place today at the BT exchange, Todmorden, with Barbara McCluskey.

New Antenna Boosts Wireless Security

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

A new optical antenna that uses a geometrically shaped lens could improve the security of broadband wireless networks, so says a group of British scientists from the University of Warwick:

Optical antennas are already available. But this new antenna is so precise, according to the researchers, that it can detect a signal on a single wavelength of light. The scientists, led by professor Roger Green, assert that the device is 100 times more efficient at gathering in a signal than any previous optical sensor of this kind.

"It's got particular strategic advantages in areas where you want to send large amounts of information quickly or want greater security with lower chances of eavesdropping," Green said.

The new antenna may have a favourable impact on the use of wireless networks in corporate settings or for business transactions. Compared with radio frequencies, which pass right through walls, infrared beams can be more tightly controlled.


More @ ZDNet.

BTO Offers Parental Surfing Control

By:mark.j @ 9:31:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP BTOpenworld has announced the launch of 'Parental Controls', which is a type of Internet filtering software designed to help keep the surfing habits of children safe:

BT OPENWORLD OFFERS PARENTS AN INTERNET CHAPERONE

'Parental Controls' - CyberPatrol content filtering software - is available now and is free for up to 45 days for customers to try. This launch reinforces BT Openworld's commitment to providing a safer surfingenvironment for internet users.

The new service will help parents protect their children from web sites, which they feel may be unsuitable, even when they're not in the same room. It also enables parents to filter inbound and outbound chatroom content, or even elect to block it completely, and to allocate the amount of time spent online by individual members of the family. There is no limit to the number of user profiles that can be set up and customers can tailor the service depending on what they think is and isn't suitable for their family.

For example, an eight year old can be prevented from accessing certain sites and allocated ten hours online a week, whereas a parent's access can be unhindered.

As well as managing the amount of time spent online, CyberPatrol filters search engine results and can prevent children from disclosing personal information.

All consumer narrowband and broadband customers can download the software from CyberPatrol via BT Openworld's Safer Surfing web site. At any time during the free 45 day subscription, BT Openworld customers will be eligible for a 20 per cent discount on the retail price of a CyberPatrol annual subscription.

Duncan Ingram, senior vice-president at BT Openworld said: "This agreement is a demonstration of our commitment to ensuring our customers are getting the most out of the internet. The web is like any other public place and people need to act responsibly. By introducing more parental controls, we're making the net a safer place for everyone."

Russell Chadwick, vice-president at CyberPatrol said: "As more and more homes get connected to the internet, it opens up a whole new world. Unfortunately, the internet is unregulated and there are millions of web sites that are simply not suitable for children. Our aim is to put the control back into the hands of parents by giving them the tools to choose when and where their children go online.

CyberPatrol's 'Parental Control' software is developed by SurfControl, the world's number one web and email filtering company. CyberPatrol will cost £31.95, including VAT, for a 12 month subscription with free upgrades for all BT Openworld customers.

Customers wishing to sign up to the service should go to
http://www.btopenworld.com/safersurfing

Freeserve Wins Appeal To Investigate BT

By:mark.j @ 9:24:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The Competition Commission Appeal Tribunal has overturned a ruling by the UK telecoms regulator, Oftel, which prevented ISP Freeserve from pursuing a complaint of uncompetitive behaviour against BT.

The complaint related to BT and its controversial marketing of residential broadband Internet access services. The competition regulator will now investigate the complaint itself, making Oftel look somewhat incompetent.

Freeserve, owned by France's Wanadoo, alleges BT's retail arm knew in advance that a wholesale price cut was on the way, giving it unfair advantage over competitors. Oftel decided not to investigate the complaint in May.

BT Wholesale and BT's ISP Openworld are both part of BT Group, but are meant to operate independently to maintain a level playing field in the market for fixed-line access.

One of Openworld's other largest rivals, AOL UK, vowed to monitor the new power structure closely. "We would expect them to maintain a clear line between the retail and wholesale businesses," an AOL UK spokesman said.

News - November 11,2002

UK Broadband Needs Women!

By:mark.j @ 1:59:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

New Research from the French telecoms group, Alcatel, shows that most new subscriptions to UK broadband services appear to be predominantly male:

Alcatel suggests that if the the UK is to get past the first phase of broadband growth and on to something approaching mass market acceptance, attracting women is critical.

Figures released by some of the few broadband providers willing to release demographic breakdowns, show that where broadband subscriptions are concerned, men outnumber women by nearly four to one. Compared to say digital TV, where NTL says its male/female split is more or less equal, just 20% of subscribers to its 600K broadband are female.

That falls to 10% in the case of its 1Mb service, substantially down from the 44% of women who use NTL's dial-up service.


The Guardian Newspaper goes on to state Alcatels belief that bundling broadband entertainment packages offering content based on health and lifestyle would make broadband more appealing to women.

Apparently women are also less likely to shop online (73%) than men (82%).

BTO Launch Online Payment Engine

By:mark.j @ 1:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISP BTOpenworld has teamed up with WorldPay to launch a new service that enables businesses to set up their own online shop:

BT OPENWORLD PROVIDES BUSINESSES WITH ONLINE SALES AND PAYMENT ENGINE

BT Openworld has launched a self-install OInternet Trader Pack¹ which enables sole traders and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to use the internet as a direct sales channel.

The pack can be installed within one day and includes an online Ostore¹ module plus a credit and debit card payment engine. It is part of a series of BT Openworld products designed to help businesses generate revenue via the internet.

The Ostore¹ offering enables businesses to set up their own online shop which can sell up to 100 product or service lines. The payment mechanism is provided by WorldPay, the global leader in online payment systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. WorldPay also offers anti-fraud technology as standard, to protect businesses which take card payments online.

There are two strands to the WorldPay payment option - World Direct and Bank Direct. World Direct eliminates the need for SMEs to apply for a separate internet merchant ID, while Bank Direct is for clients who already possess an internet merchant ID.

Tony Harris, president, Business Internet Services, BT Openworld, said: "The Internet Trader Pack is ideal for small businesses which want to start selling online without aggravation. We¹ve designed it to help those companies take the leap from just having access to the internet and email to actually using the web as a sales channel."

Obtaining an internet merchant ID is a statutory requirement for companies which want to accept card payments for goods and services online. Applying for such a licence can be a daunting, slow and complicated process as it requires the candidate to produce details of its trading history over the last two years.

Harris added: "By working with WorldPay, who have captured over 40 per cent of the e-payment market in the UK and are able to take on board smaller merchants that typically get rejected by other banks, we¹re helping SMEs to overcome a real barrier. This pack enables smaller companies to enhance their online business proposition easily and affordably."

The Ostore¹ option, which costs £19.99 per month (minimum 12 month rental term), is a self-build product and comes with a guide to take businesses through the installation step-by-step.

The payment product carries a one-off £75 set-up cost and a £150 annual subscription fee and is also subject to individual transaction charges. With World Direct, each credit card payment carries a 4.5 per cent charge (this includes all bank and card charges) and debit card payments incur a 50p charge. With Bank Direct, payments by credit card incur a 1.95 per cent transaction fee and 25p debit card charge. All prices exclude VAT.

The Ostore¹ and payment options can be purchased individually or together. For those customers who already have an online store, the payment product is compatible with nearly 70 online shop products currently on the market, and can be integrated with many self-designed web sites.

The Internet Trader Pack is available to BT Openworld broadband and dial-up customers from November 2002, and can be purchased online from http://www.btopenworld.com/broadband/forwork

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