November 3, 2002 - November 7, 2002
News - November 7,2002
BT / IDC Predicts 50% More VISPs - 2005
By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] New research from the IDC and BTWholesale shows that the number of ISPs adopting a virtual business model (companies that Internet services etc., yet outsource the ownership of the network to another company) is set to increase by 50% come 2005:
NUMBER OF 'VIRTUAL' SERVICE PROVIDERS TO INCREASE BY 50 PERCENT BY 2005, IDC REVEALS
The number of service providers adopting a virtual business model is set to increase by 50 per cent by 2005, IDC has revealed in a BT Wholesale-commissioned white paper. The white paper, named 'The Virtual Telecoms Business: A CAPEX-lite Business Model that Works', estimates that there are close to two hundred virtual telecom service providers in the UK, i.e. companies that provide fixed, mobile and Internet services but outsource the management of the network to another company, and that this number will rise by 50 per cent by 2005. Current examples of companies deploying a virtual business model include Virgin Mobile.
IDC points out that companies that adopt a virtual business model can experience margins as high as 35 per cent, and new revenues worth £10-15 Million per annum.
> This approach is becoming increasingly attractive during current uncertainty in the telecoms industry, as service providers can expand their product portfolio or extend the brand, whilst reducing capital and operational expenditure (CAPEX and OPEX). Broadband access offers the biggest opportunity to new entrants, with projected increases in revenues of 122 per cent from 2001 to 2005. In addition, Internet access is projected to grow by 17%.
By the end of 2001, IDC estimated that approximately 15 per cent of UK mobile traffic and 10 per cent of fixed traffic were being created by virtual operators. In addition, one third of UK Internet access subscribers use some form of virtual ISP. IDC claims that among most consumers, the virtual nature of their ISP is neither known nor relevant. This approach is not only relevant to the UK. DLG, the virtual mobile business, achieved 10 per cent of registered mobile subscribers in the highly competitive Danish market in as little as 18 months.
In conjunction with the white paper, BT Wholesale today announced that the virtual services market is a key focus. BT Wholesale can offer the services to enable companies to expand into new markets without the need to invest in telecoms infrastructure. Voice, data, mobile and broadband solutions such as flexible working and micro-payment products are available which enable BT Wholesale customers to easily and quickly enter new markets, either branded or unbranded, at competitive costs.
Fionnuala Morgan-Rees, General Manager Service Provider Channel, BT Wholesale Markets, said: "Virtual business means that anyone can start providing their own branded telecommunications services, be they utilities, supermarkets or publishing houses. With BT's push on broadband and data, Service Providers will be in a good position to successfully deliver virtual business services to the market."
Lars Vestergaard, IDC Analyst, said: "Service providers are currently in a position where they need to grow their businesses, but they do not have the resources or capabilities to build and manage their own networks. We believe that the virtual business trend will continue to grow as network owners like BT can provide their specialised services more cost effectively than the costs that are attributed to building your own infrastructure."
Communications companies interested in finding out more about the BT
Wholesale service provider offerings can call Freefone 0800 671 045 or visit http://www.btwholesale.com to get further information and a copy of the IDC White Paper. |
Vispa ISP To Fully Support v.92 Modems
By:mark.j @ 9:46:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Some very good news today, UK ISP Vispa Internet has become the latest in a small, yet growing, number of ISPs to upgrade their modem stack with v.92 support:
Vispa has been providing high quality 0845 dial-up services for over 3 years, however even tried and tested platforms need an update to ensure that this quality remains.
After quite a few requests from customers, we are pleased to announce that we have upgraded our Cisco equipment to now include support for v.92 modem users. The updates also tweak various other platforms and provide better support for ISDN, especially improving support for 128k and Multilinking ISDN users.
Vispa also continues to offer business class 0845 services with no monthly charges, even though some ISP's still insist on charging a monthly fee on top of the 0845 call charges.
Vispa Internet Limited
Sales Department
http://www.vispa.net
We assume that Vispa means 'full feature support', since v.92 is already supported (not the new features) under existing technologies. One of the primary benefits of v.92 is its increase upstream speed, which should help multiplayer fans. |
MessageLabs - SPAM Still Rising
By:mark.j @ 9:39:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The latest report from AV firm MessageLabs shows that the amount of junk e-mail (SPAM) received has risen by over 80% since the beginning of the year!:
According to a monthly report from filtering firm MessageLabs, one in six e-mails is now spam, an alarming 64% increase on September and up a massive 81% since January.
Worryingly, the UK is steadily beginning to catch up with the US's unenviable record on spam and experts are not sure where it will end.
"I'd hate to think it will get worse," said MessageLabs spokesman Paul Wood. "If it does it will be at the point of saturation."
No doubt many of you reading this have witnessed the same increase; we ourselves spend some 15-20 minutes per day clearing all of the unstoppable junk messages.
The BBC News items only good news is that pornographic SPAM has actually decreased by roughly 23% since January. Unfortunately it'll be next autumn before sending unsolicited e-mail is made illegal in the EU =(. |
Europeans Prefer Mobile Phones
By:mark.j @ 9:33:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] New research from GartnerG2 shows that European mobile phone usage is growing faster than the Internet, at least among the regions four largest countries:
The percentage of all adults who use a mobile phone grew between 5 and 10 percent across the UK, France, Germany and Italy in Q2, 2002. Internet usage via a PC only grew by between 1 and 2 percent on average across the four countries -- in the UK it didn't grow at all, said GartnerG2.
GartnerG2's explanation for the slowing growth is due to a difference in popularity of the Internet between the generations. Although middle-aged people are continuing to take to the Internet, the popularity of mobile devices and SMS is eclipsing Internet usage among young Europeans aged 15 to 25. "The use of the Internet actually fell among younger people. So again this is a complete shock to conventional wisdom. The young people are the future, as they grow up their patterns of behaviour will become patterns of the general population," said Daum.
One wonders how many of those individuals leaving the Internet for mobiles have a newer generation of smart phone and thus use Internet access via that medium? More @ ZDNet. |
The Future - UK Broadband
By:mark.j @ 9:25:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Next week will see a meeting between some of the industries leading decision makers; the meeting itself is to focus on the future of Broadband Britain.
Representatives from BT, Cable & Wireless (C&W), Telewest and the government’s e-Commerce minister, Stephen Timms, will all share their visions:
The meeting will also consider the report from think-tank Demos this week, which calls on regulator Ofcom to consider the break-up of BT.
BT's dominance of the market through ownership of the local loop, is holding back the progress of UK broadband, says the Politics of Bandwidth report.
Recommendations include an immediate review of telecoms competition with a cost-benefit analysis of BT restructuring, and short-term remedies like the full legal separation of BT's retail and wholesale arms.
We don't doubt that BT would resist any suggestion that it separate its retail and wholesale arms, more @ VNUNet. |
News - November 6,2002
NTL Supplies Broadband To Virgin.net
By:mark.j @ 1:37:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UKs largest cable operator, NTL, has today announced a seven-figure contract to supply wholesale DSL broadband services to Virgin.net:
NTL Business seals Virgin.net wholesale broadband deal
* Delivers 'white label' broadband service for Virgin.net customers
* Provides a complete managed service from infrastructure to call centre services
* Builds on existing narrowband contracts with Virgin.net
NTL Business, a leading national and local provider of integrated business communications, today announced a seven-figure contract to supply wholesale DSL broadband services to Virgin.net, the UK's fifth largest Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Under the deal, NTL Business will supply Virgin.net with a complete Virtual ISP (VISP) solution. The service comprises broadband access, hosting, email, 24*7 call centre support, billing and collection.
This latest contract builds on NTL Business' highly successful, six-year relationship supplying unmetered and pay-as-you-go narrowband services to Virgin.net.
Paul Rusby, Director Wholesale Internet Services, NTL Business, said: "NTL Business has built a leadership position in the VISP market through the reliability of our network services and the quality of our account management. Winning this contract with Virgin.net extends that position deeper into the broadband arena."
Alex Dale, Managing Director at Virgin.net, said: "NTL Business has a proven track record of providing robust 'white label' internet services to Virgin.net, and was the natural partner for our broadband launch."
The contract is NTL Business' first wholesale DSL deal. NTL Business is now in discussions with Virgin.net to provide wholesale broadband via the NTL cable network, providing Virgin.net with an additional broadband access solution.
The Virgin.net broadband service launched on 1st October 2002, delivering high-speed, great value Internet access for £24.99 per month. |
BT Awards Albion ISP With £200,000
By:mark.j @ 1:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP Albion, formerly known as netAxis, has won £200,000 in BT Wholesales not-so-recent broadband competition:
Albion Computers plc wins £200,000 first prize in BT Wholesale broadband competition
Albion Computers plc, a London-based provider of IT and communications solutions, services, support and training, has today announced its success in a recent marketing competition initiated by BT Wholesale. Albion was one of five companies to win a marketing fund of £200,000 to promote its broadband offering.
The competition, judged by an independent panel of adjudicators, was devised to reward the most creative and innovative concepts for campaigns designed to stimulate broadband sales.
Albion has created an online tool that analyses productivity gains offered to SMEs switching to a broadband connection from a 56k modem. This tool, named the Speed Tester, provides the facility to enter existing corporate statistics and obtain specific and detailed feedback on improved access costs, transfer speeds and employee productivity offered to broadband users. It is available at http://www.albion.co.uk/speedtester
Sarah Berry, Customer Marketing Support Manager at BT Wholesale stated: “Albion was awarded the top level of funding from BT as it was felt that they had comprehensively met the adjudication criteria. Positioning the solution as a productivity booster for businesses demonstrates that the benefits of broadband extend beyond fast internet access. It is good to see service providers such as Albion producing a specific end-to-end solution that addresses the needs of their specific target markets.”
Howard Cole, Managing Director of Albion Computers plc commented: “Broadband is reshaping the way in which businesses operate as it delivers tangible business benefits and cost-savings. The SME customer can vastly improve marketing and internal processes by achieving real-time interaction with customers and colleagues, permanent connection to online services and continuous access to email accounts.”
It's actually been sometime since BTWholesale announced the winners and so we're surprised to only be getting a press release now, never the less - well done Albion. |
BT Broadband Sponsors Big Brother
By:mark.j @ 1:19:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Speaking of BT, the operator has also announced the signing of a six-figure sponsorship deal for Celebrity Big Brother:
The show, which will run from November 20 for ten days, and will feature six as-yet un-named celebrities, will have sponsorship slots featuring known characters from BT Broadband's current major advertising campaign.
BT Broadband will also supply 24 hour coverage of the house, and has developed desktop software that will update office-workers with the latest interesting scenes from inside.
More @ Europemedia. |
BTs Broadband Alliance With Microsoft
By:mark.j @ 1:14:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from similar deals, BT has just inked yet another strategic alliance with Microsoft, the U.S.A based software giant, to develop more broadband Internet services:
NEW STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH MICROSOFT WILL BOOST BT'S BROADBAND STRATEGY
BT has become one of Microsoft's key European telecoms partners after signing a new strategic alliance that will see the two companies collaborating on how to bring dynamic broadband applications to the market for residential and business customers.
The alliance - negotiated throughout the summer - has been signed by the chief executives of both companies, Ben Verwaayen for BT and Steve Ballmer for Microsoft Corp. This moves Microsoft's relationship with BT onto the same footing as its other alliances in the global telecom sector - Korea Telecom in Asia and Verizon in the US.
This announcement clearly demonstrates Microsoft's deep level of commitment to the broadband strategy and technologies being deployed by BT. It also builds on the partnership between BT and Microsoft on existing projects like Xbox Live and web services.
The alliance is a marriage of BT's broadband capability and Microsoft's strength in .Net technology. Both companies will now be putting their best development teams to work in inventing and revolutionising communications over broadband.
Microsoft and BT will focus their efforts on five key programmes, developing applications for:
* multi-media home computing
* increasing the productivity and flexibility of large organisations
* the new generation of mobile computing
* .Net and web services
* portals
Around 30 separate projects are included within the five programmes, with details being announced as they progress. The latest of these involves discussions with Microsoft about becoming the software and digital content partner for BT Home Computing, the one-stop service to take the hassle out of going online.
Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, said: "Microsoft is strongly committed to speeding up the adoption of broadband in the UK, and we are very excited about BT's broadband strategy and innovative no-frills product, which we believe is a great catalyst for broadband penetration." |
Satellite ISP SatDrive Limits Bandwidth
By:mark.j @ 9:49:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UK broadband satellite ISP, SatDrive, has done exactly what we've been warning about in recent news posts and limited the bandwidth (in this case, speed) for customers whom download too much data.
While we've yet to see the official e-mail, one of our readers did quote a line from the message they received: "Some customers who have been using the service for very large downloads for long periods on priority level one will have had their bandwidth reduced thus slowing the download speeds."
To be fair SatDrive is one of the cheapest One-Way solutions @ £14.99 per month, although that's soon negated by their hefty setup charge.
Despite this we were unable to find any obvious clause in their T&C's warning of bandwidth speed limitations, this doesn't mean to say there isn't one, just that 'we' couldn't find it.
It's also worth pointing out this phrase from their site: "A one way satellite broadband internet access service for individual and business users providing unlimited download capacity."
Typically other such one-way solutions often claim to offer unlimited data transfers, yet this often only applies to basic web-surfing and e-mail access and not downloads, however SatDrive do clearly state their support for unlimited downloads.. hmm. |
DSL-Warehouse Launch ADSL ISP
By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DSL-Warehouse, a popular source of broadband ADSL and networking hardware, has today announced the introduction of DSLW.net, their own ADSL ISP:
We have launched an ADSL service with the help of V21 that we believe offers the lowest cost of entry for ADSL in the UK. As a hardware supplier we are bundling a USB modem (DSLW-EA900) with our ADSL service for FREE.
The monthly charge is £27.99inc VAT and a 12 month contract is required. Customers have the option to get a USB modem and one filter completely free or to get a 4 port ADSL router for a subsidised price of £49inc VAT (Our retail for this unit is £116.33 DSLW-EA715).
While the new V21 backed service may indeed offer 'one' of the lowest entry costs, its high monthly price combined with a lengthy contract leave it looking somewhat expensive. |
SurfControl Turns A Profit
By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] SurfControl, the group offering tools for filtering unwanted Internet content, has done what others have failed to do and turned a profit during the last quarter to 30th September:
The company, which develops software aimed at blocking offensive material on the internet, had expected to be in profit as of the third calendar quarter in 2003, according to CEO Steve Purdham in May.
However, strong sales helped the company deliver a profit of $437,000 in the first quarter, way ahead of expectations, against a loss of almost $22m last year.
More @ netimperative.info. |
News - November 5,2002
Global Online Population = 600 Million+
By:mark.j @ 2:55:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Net4Nowt has been quick to spot the latest global online Internet user statistics from NUA Internet Surveys, which appears to have been overlooked by others.
A global total of 605.6 Million people had Internet access at the end of September 2002, up from 580.7 million in May 2002:
The research findings indicate that Europe currently has the biggest online population in the world with 190.91 million Internet users.
However, growth has been particularly strong in the Asia-Pacific region in recent months and the continent has now overtaken North America in the number of Internet users it has.
According to the study, the online population in Asia-Pacific reached 187.24 million by the end of September. At the end September 2002, the North American Internet population stood at 182.67 million in North America.
In short Europe has 31.5% of global Internet users, the Asia-Pacific follows with 30.9% and North America trails both with 30.1%. |
The Internets Smallest Advert?
By:mark.j @ 2:31:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One of the Internets smallest websites, Guimp, has launched what it believes to be the smallest ever online advert, this time for the Atari game Micro Machines (yes, very funny):
The tiny advert features a quirky and fun animation accompanied by comic motorised sound effects. Atari's owners, Infogrames, claim the advert is the world's smallest and cheapest; the cost of producing the advert and posting it into the host site was 30 pence.
Now wouldn't the Internet be a better place if all advertising was like this. More @ Web-User. |
Birmingham City Council Goes Wireless
By:mark.j @ 1:29:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Zipcom's broadband wireless, HighwayWireless, Internet access service appears to be behind Birmingham City Councils new network link:
Citizens and staff at Birmingham City Council are benefiting from fast reliable and accessible Internet access, having chosen Zipcom's HighwayWireless to provide wireless Internet connectivity services.
Zipcom is providing over 40 community libraries and the Council's central reference library with a 4Mbps high-speed broadband wireless (microwave) connection. The technology is being used by library staff to research material on the Internet and email large amounts of data and by its citizens as a resource for public Internet access.
Unlike a leased line Internet connection that is susceptible to disruption, the diversely routed wireless Internet service provides 'always available' connections. It also operates on an automatic fail over system so comes on stream instantaneously when used in conjunction with a leased line connection. Furthermore, because HighwayWireless' broadband capacity is easily scaled up, the service will grow with the Council's future requirements.
Andy Humphries, Head of Corporate Network Services, Birmingham City Council comments, "The Council needed to provide its citizens and its library based staff with an 'always available' Internet service that ensured a reliable connection able to cope with a large number of simultaneous users.
Zipcom's HighwayWireless service gives us an exceptional quality of service at a flat rate fee no matter how much time is spent on the Internet. It has brought substantial cost savings to the Council compared to our previous cable-based services. As part of our plans to deliver e-Government we aim to extend the service to voluntary organisations via firewalls and the Birmingham Media Hub, subject to technical checks and approval by library staff.
This is one of several innovative uses of IT in libraries over the recent years, including an email centre for the public, adoption of thin client solutions and E3 technology, all jointly deployed by Corporate Network Services and library staff," adds Andy.
Authority buildings need to be situated in direct line of site and within a radius of 10km of Zipcom's radioPoPs (Point of Presence) - an access point to the Internet. A discrete dish can be installed quickly and easily at the premises. If line of site is not available Zipcom can set up a miniPoP relay.
Zipcom's services are backed by a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA) and customers are offered a dedicated account manager, providing a single point of contact for all enquiries. "Zipcom tailor made its SLA to our individual needs, an 'added extra' that is proving a key benefit to the Council," concludes Andy. |
Albion ISP Releases SDSL Pricing
By:mark.j @ 1:24:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP Albion, formerly known as netAxis, has today issued a small press releasing announcing the availability of their new broadband SDSL business service pricing:
As well as the new website, name and logo and winning the BT Broadband competition, Albion (formerly netAxis) now have SDSL pricing.
The cheapest 256Kbps offer costs £475 to install (same for all listed services) and £99 per month to run on a 10:1 contention. SDSL, unlike ADSL, runs at the same speed both ways (upstream and downstream). |
New E-Mail Virus Warning - W32.Braid
By:mark.j @ 1:20:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] MessageLabs has today been warning of a new mass-mailing (e-mail worm) computer virus known as W32.Braid:
Although the company has seen only 43 copies of the virus -- indicating an extremely slow start -- W32.Braid shares some attributes of the widely spread Klez family of viruses and could have similar success. Among the similarities, both viruses forge a fake sender address in the emails they use to propagate themselves, which makes finding infected PCs more difficult.
W32.Braid, also known as PE.Brid, can spread to PCs running any version of Microsoft Windows. People who use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 and 5.5 may find that their computers automatically become infected, because Braid uses an old flaw in Internet Explorer to automatically execute the attachment that carries it when the email message is viewed. Patching the program with Service Pack 2 will solve the problem, Network Associates said in its advisory on the virus.
Braid is presently rated as a low-priority threat, while others have been more concerned about its design and given it a medium risk score. Hopefully it won't spread, more @ ZDNet. |
Vivato Extends Wireless ISP Coverage
By:mark.j @ 1:13:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK broadband wireless ISPs could stand to get a welcome boost in coverage thanks to a new network-infrastructure start-up, Vivato.
Apparently its new switch can extend a Wi-Fi wireless network's range from 300 feet to 4 miles and offer far more simultaneous users:
The company said the new switch is aimed at businesses because networks that feature the switch will be able to host "thousands" of simultaneous users, over distances suitable to a large building or campus of buildings. With conventional gear, Vivato said, every floor of an office building requires its own Wi-Fi network, and most networks bog down after more than 20 users sign on.
Vivato is the latest in a long line of companies that have sought to extend the range of Wi-Fi networks. ArrayComm, Nokia, Navini Networks, Flarion, Motorola and others have introduced similar products based on Wi-Fi, though those products haven't focused on increasing the number of simultaneous users.
Unfortunately it's too early to say whether any UK ISPs will adopt the new technology, more @ ZDNet. |
ex-BTWholesale Chief Questions xDSL
By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] John Davies, BTWholesales outgoing chief operating officer, has stated that broadband xDSL (ADSL/SDSL etc.) technology is unlikely to play a dominant role in BTs future plans:
"Broadband is not just a DSL landscape and DSL will have to learn to survive among many other players," said Davies. "We are in a Jurassic age of broadband populated by dinosaurs."
Davies' comments at a Berlin forum came on the heels of BT's multimillion-pound promotion of DSL, which in turn followed years of reluctance to update BT exchanges to handle the technology. Alternatives to DSL include wireless, satellite and fibre in the last mile.
The VNUNet item reports that Cisco agreed with the comments made by Davies and both stated that the government would also need to play a more active role in pushing broadband access.
We note that Davies chose not to mention Cable Modem access as a competitor to DSL, which seems unusual because that's the strongest opposition right now. |
Internet (W.W.W) Credibility Questioned
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] New research from Consumers International (CI), a federation of consumer organisations across 115 countries, has cast doubt over the credibility of website types.
The group, which investigated 460 web sites dealing with health, financial services and so-called "deal-finder" sites, found that you shouldn't always believe everything you read.
For example, at least 50% of sites giving advice on medical and financial matters failed to disclose full information about the authority and credentials of the people behind that advice, the study said.
57% of general advice sites provide a source for that advice. 60% of sites provided no information that would indicate whether or not their content was influenced by an advertiser or sponsor, it said.
"Consumers are being put at risk by misleading, inaccurate and incomplete information, for example, where they need to seek health or financial help," Anna Fielder, director for Consumers International's Office for Developed and Transition Economies, said in a statement.
In a separate study, commissioned by advocacy group Consumer WebWatch, experts in the health and financial fields were asked to comment on which Web sites they consider to be authoritative.
Not surprisingly, health professionals assign more credibility to sites that provide information from authoritative sources. Financial professionals consider sites with unbiased financial perspective to be the most credible, the study said. |
BT Touts Teleworking Success
By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Teleworking, which is the practice of employees working from home, received a boost from BT today. Research conducted with roughly 2,000 BT teleworkers found that it's good for company productivity, employee health and quality of life:
The telco claims that it saves £35m a year in accommodation, recruitment costs and absenteeism alone. Its teleworkers are four times less likely to take sick days, averaging three days off a year compared with 12 for office-based staff.
Almost 80 per cent of teleworkers said that they are more productive thanks to reduced disruption, commuting time and stress, and greater flexibility about when and where to work.
Alison Garner, marketing manager for social responsibility at BT, explained that making staff feel part of the BT community is key to the scheme's success.
Of course it's hardly surprisingly that BT would promote such a thing, not least because of their own broadband and unmetered dialup based teleworking offers to businesses. More @ VNUNet. |
NTL Suspends Wireless Registrations
By:mark.j @ 9:31:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having only just come out of trial under a week ago, ADSLGuide is reporting that NTLs broadband wireless ISP service has now got enough subscribers (1,000) and already suspended new registrations:
Wireless Broadband from ntl:home
Thank you for your interest in our Wireless Broadband service.
We have now reached the number of customers for which this offer was valid. As a result we will not be taking orders for this product in the foreseeable future.
Thankfully the above notice, as posted on their official NTL Wireless site, is slightly misleading. Despite not having any plans for "the foreseeable future", NTL states that the situation will be reviewed again in March 2003. |
News - November 4,2002
BT Offers Free Broadband Wireless
By:mark.j @ 4:53:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] From today BT is offering free access to its localised broadband wireless Wi-Fi Hotspots around the country; the operator hopes that this will drive more paying customers onto the service:
From today, BT won't charge a penny for services such as Web access, email and text messaging from its Internet kiosks in London. The London promo runs for a week until November 10. Punters in Leeds and Manchester can get it between November 11 and 17.
After that, the promo will roll out to a further 27 towns and cities between November 18-24, and in another 40 areas from November 25 to December 1.
The Register reports that BT now has more than a thousand Internet kiosks and plans to have 20,000 within five years, thus their success is important, hence the promotion. |
A Day In The Life Of.. BTO Support
By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Independent has put up an interesting new article chronicling a day in the life of Chris Mellor, whom is apparently one of BTOpenworlds customer support staff.
The item is essentially a transcript of Mellors day, yet it does yield an interesting picking or two:
A couple of months ago, our chief executive reduced the price of the "Plug and Go" Broadband service by £10 to £29. Our independent marketing analysts predicted a 100-150 per cent increase in orders. What we got was in excess of 600 per cent, and a corresponding increase in the amount of calls to the Helpdesk. Problems we couldn't solve passed to the faults department. The much-vaunted, 48-hour clear-up time turned into 72 and then 96 hours.
After dealing with the faults, it is time for my first break – 15 minutes logged off. Woe betide you, though, if you are a couple of seconds late. Your every second in the centre is monitored by the all-seeing software that runs the place, and disciplinary action may result. At least the coffee's free.
We are employed by a Scottish recruitment agency called Search plc, but the centre is run by ClientLogic, a Canada-based worldwide supplier of call-centre facilities. As such, we get no contributory pension, no sickness scheme other than that provided by Her Majesty's Government, and none of the perks enjoyed by BT staff proper.
One wonders how Mr Mellor might feel if in the future BTOpenworld does indeed swap its support lines to Indian, as has been rumoured at various places around the Internet. |
BT Responds To Break Up Calls
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT has moved to brush off earlier claims that it should be broken up, something that many believe would improve UK broadband access and make the market more competitive:
According to BT, break-up isn't on the agenda as it isn't in the best interests of either BT or the UK, and the company has dismissed the report.
"This report is sponsored by Cable and Wireless. The fact they are making another call for BT's separation is about as surprising as dead leaves falling to the ground in autumn," a BT spokesman told ZDNet UK News on Monday.
While we're surprised to hear that leaves fall to the ground during autumn, the rest of BTs response is indeed predictable. More @ ZDNet. |
BTO Touts Broadband For Business
By:mark.j @ 2:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP BTOpenworld has today issued a new press release with the results of a survey that they recently conducted on 1,000 UK SMEs; the ISP found that broadband would benefit all:
BT OPENWORLD SHOWS BUSINESSES THE ROUTE TO HIGH-SPEED COST SAVINGS
Fifty-two per cent of businesses could improve their financial wellbeing by switching to a broadband internet connection. This is according to research undertaken amongst small and medium-sized enterprises by BT Openworld.
Analysis of 1,000 UK SMEs has shown that, if the majority upgraded from narrowband to broadband, they could make substantial cost savings. However, according to recent research by the number one business ISP at its nationwide broadband summits, 45 per cent of business leaders believe that a lack of education is stopping companies making the leap.
BT Openworld has therefore produced a free beginners guide to broadband for business. Its aim is to help companies understand the technology better and decide whether to make the transition to a high-speed connection.
'The Superhighway Code' is available via the BT Openworld web site, http://www.btopenworld.com/superhighwayguide , or by calling 0800 783 7844. It offers a plain English overview of both the technology and the advantages it can bring to SMEs.
Tony Harris, president, business internet services at BT Openworld, said: "All of the research and analysis we carry out points to two things. Firstly, most organisations would benefit from moving to broadband. Secondly, the biggest barrier to uptake is that many SMEs just aren't aware of the hows, wheres and whys of the technology.
This guide is an attempt to address both areas and help organisations capitalise on the advantages. That means talking to them in the language they respond to - profit, efficiency, speed and flexibility - rather than always-on connections and megabits-per-second." |
Hutchison3G Casts Launch Doubts
By:mark.j @ 1:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from earlier rumours, new fears have now surfaced that the NTT DoCoMo backed next-generation 3G broadband wireless mobile phone operator, Hutchison3G UK, may not launch this year:
This is what Nora Yong, a Hutchison spokeswoman in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. "Our plan remains unchanged, A plan for a fourth-quarter launch isn't a deadline. Our priority is to make sure the product is 100 per cent right before we launch it."
Now that's what we call hair-splitting. We could have sworn that Hutchison 3G had committed publicly to November launches in the UK and in Italy. But no deadlines, right? The company now says it will have paying customers by the end of December.
This may be a little touch and go - the inference in Ms. Yong's statement is that "the product' is not 100 per cent right". Hutchison 3G trials show an ongoing problem in dropped calls and until this is resolved, there will be no formal launch, according to unnamed sources of the Financial Times.
The Register notes that smaller handset bugs, combined with the excessive power consumption of video conferencing, are only helping to hamper things further still. |
Ireland Calls For Unmetered Access
By:mark.j @ 1:31:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if Ireland's campaign groups and telecom operators have both had enough of waiting for unmetered Internet access to arrive and have begun to raise their voices:
Both IrelandOffline, a campaign group lobbying for unmetered net access, and telecom operators desperate to introduce new services to their customers, want to see radical changes soon.
The government is backing the campaign with Dermot Ahern, Minister for Communications in Ireland, calling for flat-rate internet access to be introduced in the Irish Republic as a matter of priority.
He wants to see an overhaul of the Irish telecoms watchdog, to give it radical new powers to push through changes which could see Ireland's incumbent phone company, Eircom, forced to introduce unmetered access early next year.
Unfortunately the BBC News item reports that it's still early days and despite the big push, no definite plans have been agreed upon. Does any of this sound familiar? It should do because the UK went through a similar thing between mid-1999 and early 2001. |
BT Group To Miss Financial Targets
By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Early reports state that BT Group is expected to miss its growth targets of 6 to 8% this week when it announces its second-quarter figures:
Faltering economic growth and the effects of excess capacity on telecoms markets will make the company's ambitious expansion plans difficult to achieve.
BT only managed 2% growth in its first quarter but Verwaayen insisted that 6% to 8% growth through to 2005 was achievable. He said at the time: "We're talking about a three-year period here. This is the first quarter. We have a long time to go, and we have absolutely no reason today to walk away from our targets."
When it releases figures on Thursday, BT is likely to produce far lower expectations from the financial community, and many predict that it will find it difficult to grow by 3%.
Having spun out its 02 mobile operation, BT faces a contraction in its revenue from voice calls, and its wholesale operation has been hit by price cuts in the market. However, its two revenue drivers have been its enterprise unit, BT Ignite, and BT Openworld, which covers its ISPs and portals, where demand has been soaring for broadband services.
Once again broadband helps to keep the problems of faltering economic growth at bay, but for how much longer? More @ The Register. |
Music Sales Suffer Due To Online Piracy
By:mark.j @ 1:15:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not surprisingly the latest research into the growing popularity of CD burning and online song-swapping has found that such practices are cutting into revenue from music sales.
The ComScore survey, which monitored 1.5 million+ web users, found that online music sales reached £348 Million through the third quarter, compared with last years £467 Million for the same period:
The researchers said former Napster users appear to have flocked to alternative file-sharing networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus, after Napster went offline last year.
They found Morpheus' user base grew from fewer than 1 million in June of that year to 7.2 million by March 2002.
Phil Leigh, an analyst for Raymond James & Associates, commented that the study showed consumers are increasingly seeking the instant gratification of free downloads.
The Ananova item notes a ComScore official as prophesising the death of the physical form factor and pre-packaged concept. |
Eclipse ISP Taking Online SDSL Orders
By:mark.j @ 1:04:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | Following the announcement of their broadband SDSL (business) pricing on 8th October last month, UK ISP Eclipse has stated to us that they "are now taking online orders for the SDSL trial". |
More BT Break-Up Calls
By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In a mirror of similar suggestions from last month, a left-leaning think tank has suggested that control of the country's local telecoms network should be taken away from BT Group.
Apparently such a move would ensure that the former monopoly does not corner the market for broadband (xDSL) Internet access.
Putting the "local loop", or the last stretch of phone lines running into homes, into the hands of a public-interest company would encourage improvements to the network, Demos said in a report on Monday.
"The UK is sleepwalking towards a broadband monopoly, with little opportunity or incentive for innovation within the network," James Wilsdon, co-author of "The Politics of Bandwidth", said in a statement.
Demos, set up in 1993 with the aim of influencing government policy and public opinion, called on the new super regulator Ofcom to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of breaking up BT.
The think tank noted that Ofcom Chairman David Currie had published a paper shortly before his appointment which indicated his support for a separation of the national network. Not surprisingly BT remains opposed to such a notion. |
THUS Boosted By ADSL Growth
By:mark.j @ 9:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] THUS Telecom, the operator behind UK ISP Demon Internet, has today issued its official interim financial results:
The alternative telco hailed today's interims as evidence of 'strong improvement', in operating performance and financial controls. In spite of pricing pressures, margins are up, thanks to better network utilisation. And capital expenditure is reduced, reflecting the completion of the network build.
The company notes contract wins in its business telco division, with half year sales up 19 per cent year on year to £78.2 million. Also sales were up at its Demon Internet subsidiary, with small business ADSL accounts delivering the engine for growth. Demon half year t/o was £44m, up 16 per cent on the last year.
But there is still a mountain to climb - Thus recorded a hefty operating loss, albeit down 37 per cent to £25.2m on revenues advancing 11 per cent to £143m.
It's good to see that a strong growth in ADSL services is still helping to lift up small areas of the market, although whether that'll last until this time next year is hard to say. More @ The Register. |
The Fastest 10 ADSL ISPs - October
By:mark.j @ 9:12:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] According to ADSLGuide the top 10 fastest broadband ADSL offering ISPs for last month, October, were as follows:
1. Nildram
2. Zen Internet
3. Demon
4. Freedom
5. Clara.net
6. One.Tel (Centrica)
7. Eclipse Internet
8. PIPEX Internet Limited
9. PlusNet
10. BTOpenworld |
News - November 3,2002
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 9:57:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Thankfully last weekends storms didn't take out our power and we were thus able to continue updating the site, which is a good thing because otherwise we'd have missed the collapse of two ISPs and the suspension of another’s unmetered service.
Overall this past week has been a good one for ISP Review, not only are we ready to launch 'Reader ISP Reviews', but we've also made good headway customising the new forum software.
I do realise that I had intended to leave working on the new forum code until after Christmas, but you can't keep a web developer away from new technology, it's kind of an unwritten rule =). It's possible that the switch could thus come sooner than expected.
The only things left to do on Reader ISP Reviews revolve around finalising the service rules, updating the main settings for public use and re-doing certain external pages for the new content source.
Expect some interesting changes within the next week - hopefully.. =) |
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