August 28, 2002 - September 3, 2002
News - September 3,2002
Gio ISP Asks Booted Users To Re-Subscribe?
By:mark.j @ 9:43:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The latest unmetered dialup offering ISP to kick users for usage abuse, apparently without warning, is Gio Internet. One of our readers has reported receiving this somewhat COLD message:
Dear *********
Your usage patterns have been excessive and we believe that you have infringed upon Point 8.1(b) of our standard Terms & Conditions.
Under these circumstances we are obliged to provide you with 24 hours notice. Your connectivity account will be terminated on Tuesday 3rd of September 2002 at midnight (00:00).
Sincerely
Gioserve.com
Unfortunately kicking users is now more or less common place with ISPs, yet the same reader has reported seeing the following unusual follow-up E-Mail, which is anything but common:
Dear Sir / Madam,
By now you may have received notification for termination of your service for which Gio apologises. Unforfortunately the service is provided by a third party backbone provider whom has stipulated there conditions on Gio.
As a solution please forward your username and WorldPay transaction ID number to billing@gioserve.com so that we can issue a pro-rata refund.
Secondly, signup for the service again under a different username as a new subscriber, this will overcome the immediate problem for connectivity.
From October Gio's own connectivity backbone goes live and we will move all accounts from current provider.
Your patience would be much appreciated.
Aside from the fact that we'd always been led to believe GIO was an independent ISP (nobody controlling them from afar), we’ve never seen an E-Mail like this before.
So you get kicked, loose your E-Mail and are then asked to re-subscribe under a different name, how helpful. Still, at least they’ve been good enough to offer a refund. |
Hoax E-Mails Run Rampant
By:mark.j @ 9:24:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] There's only one thing worse than an E-Mail virus, a hoax message, which is essentially another form of SPAM. Apparently more and more would-be fraudsters are running E-Mail con tricks, such as the notorious Nigerian money scam:
Increasingly we are seeing more and more emails - offering us everything from natural Viagra to a share of Bill Gates' fortunes - and those sending them clearly still see a market for their ludicrous scams.
Similarly a second threat from spam email is that posed by hoax virus warnings, which can be as dangerous as genuine viruses once they begin to spread like wildfire through email servers worldwide - taking up important human and computer resources.
Anti-virus firm Sophos has today released a list of the 10 most common email hoaxes reported during August - some purporting to be virus warnings - others trying to scam users out of their hard-earned, easily lost, cash.
We ourselves have seen an almost endless stream of such messages, at least one new E-Mail everyday. The simple advice is to ignore, erase or even print them out for legal action, but never reply! More @ Silicon. |
Tiscali ISP Suffers Downgrades
By:mark.j @ 9:18:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's hardly surprising that Tiscali, the European ISP that recently reported a dip back into the red, is now being hit by analysts whom continue to cast doubt over its long-term prospects.
Tiscali reported on Thursday (last week) a second-quarter core loss of £6.0Million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, all but erasing the acclaim it earned for being the first European ISP to generate a core profit the previous quarter.
Tiscali is now facing a barrage of questions and analysts have weighed in with a series of downgrades and price target cuts.
Robbiati criticised Tiscali for lacking a credible broadband strategy and for an outdated approach to narrowband. Tiscali has established a billing relationship with under a third of its customers, making it easier for them to switch providers.
Customer defections, which numbered 400,000 last quarter, is affecting Tiscali's top line. It cut its full-year revenue guidance to 800 million euros from 1.0 billion euros. |
Thomson To Supply BTO ADSL Modems
By:mark.j @ 9:11:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld has announced that Thomson will now be supplying SpeedTouch broadband ADSL modems for their "Plug and Go" (Wires-Only) packages:
BT Openworld and Thomson sign two year supply agreement for SpeedTouch DSL modems
Thomson a leading provider of home entertainment products, and world leader in Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) CPE technologies, today announced that its SpeedTouch modems would be included in BT Openworld's new "Plug & Go" self-install consumer broadband package.
Thomson's SpeedTouch DSL modem range is designed to allow users to enjoy high-speed online applications, up to 10 times faster than traditional modems. The SpeedTouch modem, combined with the BT Openworld broadband offering makes subscribing to broadband as easy as possible for customers, and makes listening to CD-quality music, interactive internet gaming and downloading MP3s and the latest movies, easy and more enjoyable.
BT Openworld launched its broadband Plug and Go offering in March 2002. It is available for just £29.99 a month.
As part of the agreement, Thomson will supply BT Openworld with Speed Touch DSL modems over a two-year period, including the new SpeedTouch 330 modem.
"Packages such as BT Openworld's 'Plug & Go' simplify the switch to broadband. The easy self-install process is what is making large-scale adoption of broadband a reality in the UK. We are really pleased with this agreement because it continues the relationship with BT and allows Thomson to contribute to the take-up of broadband services," said Andrew Susans, Country Manager, UK and Ireland, Thomson. "The agreement is also an excellent endorsement for our DSL modem products, which are renowned for their quality and reliability." |
New Ways To Get Sacked - Internet Abuse
By:mark.j @ 9:05:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] KLegal, a law firm associated with KPMG and Personnel Magazine, has conducted a new survey into the things likely to get an employee sacked or reprimanded.
The study found that E-Mail and Internet abuse, including the downloading of porn, has overtaken theft of office supplies and lying to the boss as the top disciplinary action reported in the work place.
KLegal and Personnel Magazine compiled the survey in June, polling 212 UK companies. Survey participants reported taking action in 358 disciplinary cases related to e-mail and Internet abuses compared to 326 cases for incidents of violence, dishonesty and safety breaches.
The survey is the latest evidence that corporate chiefs are cracking down on employees' e-mail and Internet privileges in an effort to ward off potential lawsuits and damage to the company's image.
In July, computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard suspended approximately 150 staff in Britain and Ireland and dismissed two for inappropriate use of company e-mail.
Twenty percent of the firms polled said they monitor employee e-mail and Internet usage on a daily basis. In a similar survey published by KLegal 18 months ago, 11 percent said they checked on employees on a daily basis.
The top three Internet-related abuses were excessive personal use of the company's Internet or e-mail connection, sending pornographic e-mails and accessing pornographic Web sites, the survey said. |
BTs Broadband ADSL Checker Offline
By:mark.j @ 8:58:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It didn't take long for every man and his dog to inform us that BTs broadband ADSL availability checker is currently offline and showing the following message when used: "Component/WinInet error: A connection with the server could not be established "
http://www.bt.com/broadband
It looks as if the connection to the database has been broken. Hopefully it'll be back soon and BT won't have lost all of those lovely pre-registrations, which we're sure would go down very well indeed =). |
News - September 2,2002
Napster To Finally Bite The Bullet?
By:mark.j @ 1:38:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Napster, the once popular online music service, could finally close its doors following the owners (Bertelsmann) decision to clamp-down on loss-making ventures. Book business Bol.com may also have to go:
Sources familiar with the situation said in July that Napster could be among the first casualties and Bol.com's future was also hanging in the balance. Sources said on Sunday Bertelsmann was now closing in on a decision on their future.
"Bertelsmann is not happy with Bol.com, and I would expect some kind of decision on its future soon," said one source. "Napster's future is still also extremely uncertain."
Bertelsmann's DirectGroup division, which houses the e-commerce businesses, confirmed it was considering strategic options of non-core operations but declined to comment specifically on Bol.com or Napster.
More @ ZDNet. |
Internet Viruses Decline - August 2002
By:mark.j @ 1:18:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] MessageLabs has today updated their live virus stats with the latest total for August, showing that once again the number of Internet viruses detected has continued to decline, if not by much:
Unfortunately the now famous W32/Klez.*-mm virus (E-Mail Worm) has remained the top runner and actually managed to increase its presence from 475,000 infections in July to 535,000 during August.
Other reports have sighted the strong increase as being related to SPAM (Junk E-Mail), more specifically, those that send the SPAM. Apparently some such individuals have become infected and thus helped to spread the virus far and wide, very clever!
Current Top 10 Viruses:
1 - W32/Klez.H-mm
2 - W32/Yaha.E-mm
3 - W32/SirCam.A-mm
4 - W32/Klez.E-mm
5 - W32/Yaha.C-mm
6 - W32/Magistr.B-mm
7 - W32/Hybris.B-mm
8 - W32/Magistr.A-mm
9 - W32/Nimda.E-mm
10 - W32/Tettona.A-mm |
Telewests Devon & Cornwall Broadband
By:mark.j @ 1:00:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While we've already reporting on how Telewests broadband coverage has expanded to some areas of the South-West such as Devon and Cornwall, the embargo has now expired on the operators official PR:
Surf's up in the South West and it's better and faster than ever before...
Broadband internet access launches across Devon and Cornwall today as Telewest Broadband Eurobell introduces its award-winning blueyonder broadband internet service to high-speed hungry consumers.
The launch of blueyonder means the 'world wide wait' of dial up internet is finally over, allowing potential surfers to experience the internet nearly 10 times faster than previously possible.
Digital TV services will also be introduced offering consumers a greater choice of TV channels, razor sharp pictures with CD quality sound and access to interactive services and email via their TV.
David Hobday, sales and marketing director at Telewest Broadband, added: "The broadband tide has turned in Devon and surfers will now be able to download a sea of music, gaming and video content in seconds.
With digital TV and interactive services also launching, consumers will have a complete broadband surf 'n' turf to feast on."
Broadband internet and digital TV services from Telewest Broadband Eurobell are now available to over 180,000 homes throughout Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay. For more information or to subscribe call 0800 499994 or visit http://www.telewest.co.uk/eurobell |
Andrews & Arnold ISP Offers IPv6 ADSL
By:mark.j @ 8:56:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide reports that the broadband ADSL offering ISP Andrews & Arnold has become one of the first UK ISPs to introduce an IPv6 based service for ADSL users:
IPv6 is a new IP allocation scheme which uses 128 bits to define the IP address rather than the current 32 bit system with IPv4. The big advantage is that this means the rationing that exists on IPv4 addresses may disappear in the future.
At present IPv6 the implementation A&A will be using works over the existing ADSL infrastructure via an IPv4 tunnel onto a linux box or appropriate IPv6 router/gateway. A&A is able to offer a /48 allocation at no extra cost - this means a mere 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 IP addresses.
IPv6 has been around for sometime, yet the process of switching from existing IPv4 technology has taken far longer than expected. Sooner or later more UK ISPs will have to support the standard and A&A has made a good start. |
NTL Users Receive Software Upgrade
By:mark.j @ 8:49:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy reports that NTL users can expect a network-wide software upgrade on the cable operator's systems by the end of the year.
The upgrade, Liberate 1.2/'CR3', is the same to have recently occurred on Telewests services and should, among other things, enhance its broadband TV offerings:
In an email received from a senior figure at the cable operator, it emerged that Liberate 1.2/'CR3' upgrades to the Bromley system are scheduled to be completed by early November. The Bromley system refers to former Cable and Wireless ConsumerCo areas; a rollout of 'CR3' software commenced in Southampton on August 22.
'CR3' is based upon version 1.2 of set-top-box middleware from software provider Liberate Technologies, which is also the chosen middleware vendor of Britain's second largest cable operator, Telewest Broadband.
The upgrade should be completed by mid-December and hopefully NTL won't suffer the same problems as experienced by Telewest customers directly after the upgrade. |
News - September 1,2002
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 11:21:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Please excuse the later than usual update, I'm still recovering from last nights barbeque and sitting in front of a computer monitor is just about the last place I want to be =).
For the record, I also enjoyed going to see the film 'Reign Of Fire', it made a refreshing change from the 'every lines a cliché' action movie (don’t worry, some did get through =]). It even had some semblance of a narrative.
We hope some of you enjoyed our article on 'The Mobile Internet', it's been awhile since our last write up and something was needed to fill the void while the new site features are prepared.
Speaking of new site features, the Reader ISP Reviews system finished another week of testing without any real bugs to report, bar one tiny issue. We're now in the process of preparing the system for a public beta, which will be announced early next week in a news item, unless something unexpected gets in the way. More on this in the next few days.. |
News - August 31,2002
Vodafone Confirms Vizzavi Buyout
By:mark.j @ 9:15:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having already surrendered its unmetered dialup ISP customers several weeks ago, Vizzavi has now finally been purchased by Vodafone for £90.4Million.
Friday's move all but finishes off the Vizzavi brand name, one of the most elaborately financed and wildly hyped European Internet ventures ever. Vodafone said the Vizzavi brand would be fazed out in favour of its new mobile data offering called Vodafone Live.
The much-touted sale comes as Vivendi, the world's second-largest media company, struggles to stave off a cash crisis by selling off assets no longer deemed core.
Vizzavi was set up as a 50/50 joint venture two years ago, with both Vodafone and Vivendi investing an initial 1.0 billion euros. |
BTOs Commercial E-Mail & Webspace
By:mark.j @ 9:12:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld is set to turn their once free email and web space service into a commercial package costing £1.50 per month, which is to be targeted at users of BT Retails BT 'No Frills' Broadband ADSL service:
From September, customers will be able to get a POP3 email service and webspace for £1.50 a month. If they don't want to pay they can get a webmail service, similar to Hotmail, and 4Mb of webspace (less than you'd get if you took the premium service) for free from BT Openworld.
BT Openworld is aiming the email and webspace services at customers who sign up with BT Retail's new "no frills" broadband service, which costs £27 a month for high-speed internet access, but doesn't include extras like email and webspace.
For the last few weeks it has been offering the premium email and webspace service for free. It has now emerged that this service will no longer be free from September and customers using it will be asked to pay the £1.50 a month fee.
The Web-User item quotes BTOpenworld as stating that the service had always been intended as a trial, yet apparently that's not always been made clear.
Judging by a recent news item, those subscribing to the ‘No Frills’ service via BTOpenworld should get this for free.
Hmm so let’s see.., that's £27 for ADSL, £1.50 for the basic ISP services and it all comes to £28.50! So what's the advantage of BT 'No Frills' Broadband again? It’s certainly not economics or service. |
BTOpenworld Warn Service Abusers
By:mark.j @ 9:00:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenwoe reports that BTOpenworld continues to warn customers about their unmetered dialup usage when they exceed the maximum of 12 hours per day.
However some users have claimed that their usage simply isn't that high and yet BTOpenworld refuses to provide the evidence to justify its conclusion:
BT Openworld never provide any information from these e-mails to justify the claims, although you are entitled to request a copy of all personally identifiable information about you from any company holding such information electronically - it may cost you though - as this rule is from the Data Protection Act, an "admin" fee can be charged by the company being asked to provide information (we believe BT Openworld make a charge of £10).
We also know of at least one person who claims BT Openworld refused to provide such information, stating that they wouldn't have this information about dialup times linked in a personally identifiable way (which would negate the point that they make in being able to tell you you're abusing the service!).
It's a valid point, although we can't be sure whether or not an accounts usage is truly the legal property of the individual concerned. If anybody happens to be intricately briefed on the Data Protection Act then their input would be appreciated. |
News - August 30,2002
T-Online ISP Reports A Profit
By:mark.j @ 2:32:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Hot on the heals of Tiscali's loss, T-Online, Europe's largest ISP, has reported a profit in the last quarter, some three months ahead of schedule:
Europe's largest ISP said that EBITDA (earnings before interest etc) ran in at €28.8m, although almost all of it (€27.3m) came from the sale of its share in mobile services outfit T-Motion.
OK, so it's smoke and mirrors, but it's still a plus of €1.5m - a huge improvement on the EBITDA loss of €123m it racked up over the same period last year.
Revenues for Q2 were up 37 per cent to E738m. While most of this was made up from revenues based on access charges, T-Online reported that non-access revenues (such as income from advertising and paid content) was up 90 per cent to E152m and accounted for around a fifth of total revenue for the quarter.
There's no mention of its broadband services, although it's nice to see some positive news for once. More @ The Register. |
3G Can Succeed - Better Applications
By:mark.j @ 2:16:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The second report to claim that the prospects of future 3G broadband wireless technologies could be improved with better applications has surfaced, this time by UbiNetics:
Bjorn Krylander, chief executive of UbiNetics, insisted this week that 3G has the potential to save mobile phone companies from collapse or takeover in the next few years. According to Krylander -- formerly a director at Ericsson -- 3G is here to stay.
"To call on mobile operators to abandon their licence obligations and get out of 3G altogether is an overreaction. The fact of the matter is that the 3G genie is out of the bottle -- this technology is here to stay whether we like it or not," insisted Krylander.
"With voice revenues expected to peak and then fall within the next year, operators urgently need to find a way to make up for these losses. High-value data services are already helping some operators increase average revenue per user. For example, mmO2 recorded 50 percent growth in receipts from its data offering in the company's latest earnings announcement," Krylander added.
Not surprisingly UbiNetics just happens to be a 3G wireless technology company, so obviously there are no conflicts there. More @ ZDNet. |
The Reason For Broadbands Success - Porn
By:mark.j @ 2:12:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Every wonder why broadband Internet access is so popular? Australia's Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, believes that its popularity, at least in South Korea, can be put down to pornography:
"Well for example, people will tell you that pornography is one of the major reasons why there's been a high take-up rate in South Korea. I haven't confirmed that at first instance but I've been there, I've looked at what's happening."
So there you have it. South Korea is the number one broadband nation thanks to porno.
It has nothing to do with the fact that the nation has high population density, which makes the roll-out of broadband networks to end users more cost effective; or a highly competitive Internet access sector that has helped drive down prices to some of the lowest in the world; or a willingness of its population to embrace technology.
We always knew it was porn, truly we did. More @ The Register. |
Slow E-Mail Based Customer Support
By:mark.j @ 2:02:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's something that many of our own readers will known only too well, you attempt to contact your ISP via E-Mail (customer support) only to wait several days, weeks or even months for a reply.
Thankfully such individuals are not alone; a new study from Jupiter Research has found that support via E-Mail can be very poor. Just one third of companies surveyed issued an automatic response to state that they'd received a customers E-Mail in the first place:
Most of the companies did eventually respond to consumers, but don't hold your breath; only 52 percent got back within 24 hours, while 32 percent took three days or longer.
Those response rates could come back to haunt Web sites. Earlier studies Jupiter has done found that 59 percent of high-spending consumers (those who spend more than $500 online over six months) expect a resolution within 24 hours of firing off an email.
"That lack of response could drive consumers back to more costly channels such as the telephone," said David Daniels, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "Consumers are definitely concerned about this."
Unfortunately many ISPs would be more than happy to have customers use their phone lines instead, not least because many charge between 50p and £1 per minute for the privilege. Making profit out of problems is never a pleasing sight, more @ ZDNet. |
One.Tels Broadband In A Box (Comet)
By:mark.j @ 10:39:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One.Tel (Centrica) has today announced that from tomorrow it will be offering its broadband ADSL ISP service in a similar way to Freeserve, complete in a box for direct consumer sale via Comet stores.
Costing £84.99, the package will contain, among other things, a free and exclusive MTV T-Shirt, Mouse and Mouse Mat:
ONE.TEL BROADBAND COMES TO COMET
One.Tel has joined the race to bring broadband to the ‘high street’ in an exclusive deal with leading electrical retailer, Comet, that will see ‘broadband in a box’ available from tomorrow in most Comet stores.
The news comes hot on the heels of One.Tel’s broadband roadshows, which were announced recently and that start in October 2002. The roadshows will take interactive broadband demonstrations into major shopping centres across the UK encouraging people to ’suck it and see’.
“We’ve got to widen the appeal of broadband if it is to succeed,” said Phil Worms, One.Tel’s head of internet. “The One.Tel roadshow will demonstrate why the internet through a broadband connection is such a valuable commodity and it’s important that we support the roadshows with a trusted electrical retailer where customers can buy broadband off the shelf.
Comet is a big name in household electricals and we are proud to put One.Tel broadband on sale in their stores.”
This the first time that One.Tel’s internet products have been available in stores. The company is confident that the combination of online content from big names like MTV and the BBC, plus the roadshows and this latest high street venture will prove a winner with customers and see One.Tel become one of the broadband market’s brightest stars.
Launched tomorrow, the ‘broadband in a box’ will be on sale for just £84.99. Plus, because One.Tel has a content agreement with MTV, the pack will also contain an exclusive MTV T-Shirt, Mouse and Mouse Mat. |
New Article @ ISPr – The Mobile Internet
By:mark.j @ 9:47:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ISP Review has just uploaded a new article designed to give a brief explanation of how to turn a common mobile phone into a wireless modem for Internet access using a PocketPC (PDA). The method can also be used in a similar way with other devices such as a Laptop.
We even show how newer generations of mobile phone (smart phones), such as the Nokia 7650, can be used to browse web sites, E-Mail directly and even bypass expensive picture messaging costs.
PLEASE note that you will need at least some Internet related technical aptitude in order to understand what’s explained.
QUOTE:
"There are many different types of both fixed (IEEE 802.11b LAN) and mobile (mobile phone) wireless communications. The one we’re going to look at today involves turning any WAP, GPRS or HSCD capable mobile phone into a reasonably effective remote modem for your PDA, Laptop or Desktop PC/MAC."
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/mobile/ |
SPAM = The Majority Of E-Mail Traffic
By:mark.j @ 9:16:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] According to data from three E-Mail service providers, SPAM (Junk E-Mail) is expected to make up the majority of message traffic on the Internet by the end of 2002!:
Businesses "are seeing an enormous increase in spam," said Enrique Salem, chief executive of anti-spam service provider Brightmail. "It's become a huge problem."
In July, according to Brightmail's latest interception figures, unsolicited bulk email made up a whopping 36 percent of all email travelling over the Internet, up from 8 percent about a year ago.
Once considered a productivity-enhancing tool, sorting through email has become daily drudgery as employees separate wanted messages from heaps of spam. Market research firm Gartner estimates that a company of 10,000 employees suffers more than $13m worth of lost productivity because of internally generated spam. Add the Internet, and the problem gets much worse.
Unfortunately tougher European and USA anti-SPAM laws have come too late and aren't likely to have much of an affect as those spreading the messages often use temporary accounts. More @ ZDNet. |
PSINet ISP Restructuring - Cuts Jobs
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ISP PSINet Europe, which was recently acquired by ClearBlue Technologies, has begun the process of restructuring its services:
The ISP has laid off 16 staff in the UK and is downsizing its European support facility in Switzerland as part of a restructuring plan.
Its new business strategy will see a firm shift away from its bread-and-butter leased lines business to offering managed services to customers. These will include disaster recovery, remote storage and backup, and load balancing.
Currently 60 per cent of the company's business revolves around providing leased lines to customers.
The VNUNet item notes that PSINet believes the changes will enable it to better compete with the likes of BT Ignite, Exodus and Colt. |
Vispa Changes Unmetered Usage Policy
By:mark.j @ 9:02:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Several readers have reported that UK unmetered dialup and broadband ADSL offering ISP Vispa Internet has change the terms and conditions (T&Cs) to one of its packages.
Apparently the unmetered Connect Anytime Plus (128Kbps ISDN) offer has had its monthly dual channel usage allowance reduced from 180 hours to 100 per month (both channels combined) and yet the price remains at £29.99 PM.
The move was made in order to combat heavy usage, although it's not clear whether all users were informed beforehand; some appeared unaware of the changes.
While economically understandable, ISPs should try to anticipate the impact of heavy users on their service beforehand (it's not hard) and make alternate services to suit them. Changing the specifications of a service after people have paid for it is never favourable. |
News - August 29,2002
Netscape v7 Web Browser Released!
By:mark.j @ 2:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] As we predicted a few days ago, following the release of Mozilla v1.1, Netscape has today released the final version 7 of its web browser. More details and a download link can be found HERE.
The AOL owned Netscape web browser brand is semi-Mozilla based and thus there could be some strong similarities between the two applications. |
Tiscali ISP Slips Into The Red
By:mark.j @ 1:59:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] European ISP Tiscali, which not too long ago announced having broken even, has once again slipped into the red after cutting its full-year sales outlook and reporting a core second-quarter loss.
Tiscali, Europe's third largest ISP behind T-Online and France's Wanadoo, reported on Thursday second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) losses of £6.07Million, reversing a small, but symbolic profit of 1.0 million euros in the first quarter.
First-half EBITDA losses were 8.6 million euros, an improvement on losses of 118.9 million euros in the first half of 2001, but below analysts expectations as many were predicting EBITDA profits for the period.
Revenues in the first half were 367.7 million euros, up from 258.7 million euros a year earlier. First-quarter sales were 195.2 million euros. Analysts were disappointed with the results, which came in considerably below consensus estimates.
The full-year revenue outlook was also dramatically reduced to 800 million euros from 1.0 billion euros, sparking doubts that Tiscali could keep alive its business model of attracting customers that don't pay subscription fees.
Interestingly the ISP claims to have added 100,000 new broadband ADSL subscribers, a higher-margin customer set, in the first half. Once again broadband has helped to prop up an otherwise troubled service. |
The Calls For Cheaper Irish Broadband
By:mark.j @ 1:50:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Irelands IBEC Telecommunications User Group (TUG) has criticised the delay in rolling out broadband xDSL services to the country and called for lower charges to help stimulate demand:
In its annual policy statement, TUG said that the government and regulators should put pressure on Eircom to accelerate its implementation of competitively-priced DSL services throughout the country. Eircom's digital subscriber line service provides high-speed Internet connections for a flat monthly fee, but TUG wants to see rates of around EUR30 to EUR40 a month compared to current charges of more than EUR107.
TUG has also called for the creation of a National Broadband Management Agency, which would have responsibilities that are currently divided among various agencies such as the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation and the Department of Public Enterprise.
"Because there are so many people responsible for broadband implementation, it would be better to set up a specific agency in order to have a co-ordinated approach," said Nickey Brennan, chairman of TUG.
"Eircom has given a DSL rollout plan, but it's hard to see when it's going to happen," said Brennan. "It's also unclear where it's going to be implemented first, whether the telecoms infrastructure will be able to handle the rollout, and whether it will counteract the digital divide."
The problems reported by ElectricNews mirror that of the UK and the early introduction of broadband ADSL services. |
PIPEX ISP Improves Networking
By:mark.j @ 1:40:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that troubled dialup and broadband ADSL providing ISP PIPEX has made some networking improvements, which is certainly a welcome change.
Apparently the ISP has managed to improve its data traffic routing by peering with Nildram, thus less traffic will rout via the USA and instead stay within the UK, or so it's hoped.
Sadly the changes won't help their unmetered dialup engage tones or extremely poor quality of customer support, yet it should make things a little faster for those that enjoy online gaming (multiplayer). |
BTOpenworld vs The USA NFL
By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Online Casino news has reported that UK ISP BTOpenworld has managed to anger the USAs National Football League (NFL).
The problems follow a new deal, which allows BTO to add some of the world's top sports content, including NFL games, to a sports betting service:
BT Openworld's recent announcement caught the league on the backfoot, with the NFL unaware that SportsChoice believed it had acquired rights to NFL content. Upon learning of the deal, NFL bosses declared that NFL-licensed games, highlights and clips would not be allowed on a wagering Web site.
The league has a longstanding antipathy towards any form of betting on its games - to the extent of suspending NFL players who have associated with sports bettors.
'There is no way we'll have NFL-licensed content on a betting site,' said Pete Abitante, the league's senior director of international public affairs when asked about the BT Openworld announcement.
John Raczka, the BTOpenworld’s senior vice president of content, said the company from which BT Openworld licensed the NFL archive might not have let the NFL know about the betting component of the site. But Raczka points out that, as far as BT Openworld are concerned, there is a clear demarcation between the content and the betting sides of the site.
The disagreement would appear to stem from the cultural differences in attitudes toward betting, the Internet may be global, yet national beliefs can still hold true. |
Oftel Throws Out Freeserves BT Complaint
By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Oftel, the UK telecoms regulator, has ruled against Freeserves long standing complaint that ISP BTOpenworld has acted anti-competitively with its broadband ADSL strategy:
The ISP claimed in April that despite BT's recent broadband price-cut, the telco was acting illegally in its provision and marketing of high speed access.
Freeserve accused BT of cross-subsidising its Internet business, BT Openworld and of unfairly marketing it through links on its Web site, BT.com.
Oftel has spent the last four months examining the ISPs various complaints but concluded that none of the evidence suggested BT was engaging in anti-competitive behaviour.
The newmediazero item goes on to remind us of just how well known Freeserve is for its continued attacks on rivals BT and AOL, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. |
Netscape Browser Still Loosing To IE
By:mark.j @ 9:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently the AOL owned and Mozilla based Netscape brand and web browser is still loosing out to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, not to mention the others such as Opera.
Netscape now has a market share of just 3.4%, which is some way down from 13% a year ago:
A twice-yearly survey from StatMarket, a division of analyst WebSideStory, showed that despite recent technological advances AOL Time Warner's Netscape browsers, which use technology from the open-source Mozilla project, have ceded more ground to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. A year ago, Netscape's market share stood at 13 percent, but fell steeply to 7 percent by March, as IE 6 gained popularity.
IE has now reached 96 percent market penetration, according to StatMarket, up from 87 percent a year ago. Mozilla gained some market share when it finally reached a 1.0 release earlier this year, but browsers such as Mozilla and Opera still only accounted for less than 1 percent of the market, StatMarket said.
"The newest versions of Netscape have failed to win over users so far," said Geoff Johnston, vice president of product marketing for StatMarket, in a statement. "Unless AOL makes a move soon, Netscape may find itself battling Opera for the last 1 to 2 percent of the market."
The ZDNet item notes that Netscape’s share could still improve when AOL integrates the technology into their wider client software releases, which will replace IE.
However the growing popularity of IE has another drawback, the fact that most web designers see this and make sure their sites work best with IE and not the other options. This can cause differences in rendering quality between the browsers.
Entertainingly Netscape is now said to be hunting down such sites and asking them to fix the so called errors, which seems like a last ditch effort. Perhaps they could instead make their site more compatible for IEs methods? Compatibility is often the key. |
BT 'No Frills Broadband & ISP Services
By:mark.j @ 9:06:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTs BT 'No Frills' Broadband ADSL service, so called because it doesn't offer E-Mail and other ISP style services, is apparently to start offering exactly that.
In a move that could anger a lot of ISPs, BTOpenworld is set to offer 'No Frills' subscribers 'free' e-mail access and web storage, which changes the very nature of the package, free or not.
The £27 a month BT Broadband service offers high-speed access over a single home phone line, but customers need to find their own "extras" such as email from other providers.
BTopenworld will now provide up to five email addresses,10MB personal webspace and online help to BT Broadband subscribers for free.
Many providers had feared that this would happen, a move that allows BT to greater corner the market and yet say it's still only offering a connection, thus saving it from cries of being anti-competitive.
The Web-User item also reports that a range of new subscription services from music downloads to online gaming are also soon to be announced. |
Fast24 ISP Service Update (Cut-Offs)
By:mark.j @ 8:47:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We've been trying to contact unmetered dialup ISP Fast24 ever since some readers reporting that the cut-off time for their packages had been reduced to 6 hours per session without notice.
Some two weeks on and Fast24's Jason Elsom has finally been kind enough to issue a response:
Unfortunately I've been snowed under with the server upgrades that we've been doing during the past couple of weeks We now have new DNS servers, mail servers, web servers, backup servers, radius, and all on a new network with more reliable connectivity.
It appears that we had to reduce the cut-off to 6 hours for the moment, as customers did not fall onto the correct dial numbers as expected, and we have an overweighting of users on the BTFRIACO numbers, compared with the Mediaways Friaco network.
Unfortunately we're unable to reduce the cut-off on solely the BT Network, otherwise this is what would have been done. What we've decided to do in the interim is to manually alter the cut-off, so that it is only six hours during the evening peak, and that for the rest of the day it is eight hours.
This will then change once we've managed to encourage more people on the Mediaways network. This was an unexpected event.
Of course some people have reported problems on the other number and have thus avoided changing, yet this could be more of a regional issue because some other users don’t appear to suffer the same problems. |
News - August 28,2002
Telewest Expands Broadband
By:mark.j @ 2:28:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy reports that Telewest Eurobell is to offer digital TV and broadband cable modem Internet access to customers in Devon and Cornwall from 2nd September.
Not surprisingly the service on offer will be the 512kbps cable modem package from blueyonder. |
SurfControl Launches ISP E-Mail Filter
By:mark.j @ 1:56:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] SurfControl has launched a new application programming interface (API) for ISPs, among other businesses, to offer customers a more effective method of filtering SPAM from their E-Mails:
SurfControl Launches E-Mail Filter Application Programming Interface for ISPs
SurfControl, the world's number one Web and e-mail filtering company, today announced the launch of E-mail Filter Application Programming Interface (API), a tool that lets Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer effective spam filtering services to their home and business customers.
"People are increasingly irritated by the flood of unwanted e-mail messages and spam. They know Internet content carries a risk, and are looking to their ISPs to help stem the flow," said Hywel Morgan, SurfControl product marketing manager. "This new API means our vast RiskFilter database of junk, nuisance and spam e-mail can be integrated into ISPs' existing infrastructure to create the kind of anti-spam service demanded by consumers and businesses."
With SurfControl E-Mail Filter API, ISPs can offer home users a service that will:
* Redirect inappropriate material addressed to children to the parent's account;
* Redirect spam messages to a 'spam inbox', which can be cleared at regular intervals.
And, ISPs can offer business users an additional service that will:
* Redirect spam to a special account that the corporate administrator will review.
Brian Burke, senior analyst at IDC, a leading technology analyst firm said: "Over the last nine months, user complaints about unwanted e-mail messages increased sharply. Both the quantity and highly objectionable nature has drawn universal ire. So, there is a real need for spam control services from ISPs. SurfControl's new E-mail Filter API is just the tool ISPs need to control the volume and content of e-mail messages and develop an effective anti-spam service."
SurfControl E-mail Filter API also is a perfect fit for Internet appliances that act as e-mail gateways. It provides:
* RiskFilter: a database of known junk, spam and nuisance e-mail messages that devour bandwidth and resources, contain offensive material and bring hidden costs to those that receive them;
* Identification of junk messages with no false positives
* C++ API: allows integration into all the leading mail services on Linux and Solaris;
* Ease of integration: comes with sample code and a comprehensive Developer's Guide to speed integration.
SurfControl E-mail Filter API enables ISPs to enforce policies. It will extract the components of a message and categorize it based on the content. Then, based on the policy, the API will decide to block the message, warn the recipient or allow the message to be delivered. E-mail filtering policies can be applied globally to all users or different policies can be applied to various groups of users. Or, if no policy enforcement is required, SurfControl E-mail Filter API can simply categorize messages.
"Spam provides an inexpensive way to reach mass audiences, so it's a safe bet that it is here to stay and will continue to grow," said SurfControl's Hywel Morgan. "ISPs now have a flexible tool to provide a much-needed service to their customers. E-mail Filter API easily integrates to lay the foundation for a spam filtering service." |
|
