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August 14, 2002 - August 19, 2002

News - August 19,2002

The Register Launches ISP - VCISP

By:mark.j @ 2:06:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UPDATE: Some readers have noted that the ISP proclaims to support 'all modem technologies' at 'at optimum speed', yet this DOES NOT seem to include v.92; no surprises there then.

Online website news service The Register has today officially launched its new broadband and unmetered dialup ISP, the Vulture Capitalist ISP. Ignoring the obligatory free (subscription) 0845 local call rate package, the rest of the services pan out as follows:

ADSL Connect:
25 POP3 email accounts
25MB Web Space
Webmail
Online Applications
Technical Support at local call rate
Manage your account online
FREE Website Wizard
Domain hosting
Minimum contract 1 month
£25.99 per month
£65 activation charge


Easy Connect 30 (24/7 Unmetered):
25 POP3 email accounts
25MB Web Space
Webmail
Online Applications
Technical Support at local call rate
Manage your account online
FREE Website Wizard
Domain hosting
Minimum contract 1 month
£19.99 per month

Easy Connect 20 (24/7 Unmetered):
25 POP3 email accounts
25MB Web Space
Webmail
Online Applications
Technical Support at local call rate
Manage your account online
FREE Website Wizard
Domain hosting
Minimum contract 1 month
£15.99 per month


There doesn't appear to be an obvious cut-off period for their unmetered dialup services, although heavy downloader’s are restricted to 150MB per day (same on both accounts).

Also note that the 20 and 30 denoted in the title of said packages refers to the max 'weekly' usage, which appears to be economically fair. Overall - nothing too remarkable.

NTL Chairman To Quit

By:mark.j @ 1:54:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

It looks as if NTLs chairman, George Blumenthal, could be the latest senior at the troubled cable operator to quit come years end, just as they emerge from a massive debt restructuring programme:

Some analysts are apparently questioning Blumenthal's motives for wanting to quit; while it is reported that Blumenthal "is understood" to be interested in moving somewhere else in the media industry, some are thinking it may be a move to pacify investors who wanted to rid the company of CEO Barclay Knapp after the refinancing process had been completed. Knapp has made it clear, however, that he intends to stay at the helm.

More @ DigitalSpy.

Online Surfing - The Gender Difference

By:mark.j @ 1:50:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

A new survey from the ICM, which was commissioned by Age Concern and Barclays, has highlighted the different surfing habits for silver surfers (55+) of both sexes:

The ICM survey found almost 80% of men aged 55 and above use the web to pursue hobbies and interests. But 86% of web-connected women in the age group see it primarily as a communications tool, particularly for keeping in touch with relatives.

The research also shows that those who venture online quickly find the internet an important part of their lives. However it's still difficult to encourage those who have not done so already to venture online.


Unfortunately two thirds of those without an Internet connection say that they've no intention of ever getting one. More @ Ananova.

Mobile Operators Respond - 3G R.I.P?

By:mark.j @ 1:45:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK mobile phone operators have today hit back at Nick Greenway, a Datamonitor analyst, for his suggestion that operators should forget about 3G broadband wireless:

In the UK there are five 3G licence holders - Hutchison 3G, mmO2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone. They paid, respectively, £4.38bn, £4.03bn, £4.09bn, £4.00bn and £5.96bn for 3G spectrum, before at least another £2bn each on the equipment needed to build their new networks. They all have operations around the rest of Europe, though in most cases licences outside the UK were much less expensive.

Such overall capital expenditure last week moved Datamonitor analyst Nick Greenway to say: "It's cheaper to abort 3G plans, despite the sunk costs."


The Silicon item then goes on to highlight some rather vague comments from all of the key operators, although each seems intent upon pursuing their respective 3G networks as a long-term investment.

Another Unmetered ISP - Safariconnect

By:Keith @ 8:46:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One of our readers has told us about another unmetered ISP, which we've not heard about before, called Safariconnect.

Safariconnect’s Anytime package offers the following for £12.99 per month (PM), if you register before 31st August 2002:

You can be online any time of the day or night - and you can stay on for as long as you like.
- No hidden extras. No additional charges.
- You know exactly what you pay each month.
- You get 5 email addresses and 15MB of free webspace.


Another package called Home&Away offers the ability to use the account from any location, priced at £19.99 PM. Both have a 2hour cut-off and 15 minute idle time.

The Anytime package is priced below the average for this type of service, although the wording 'you can stay on for as long as you like', in our experience tends to get changed at some point.

News - August 18,2002

Waitrose ISP Surveying Customers

By:ross @ 3:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Waitrose, mainly known for their Foodstuffs, have had a free 0845 ISP running since 1999, but it looks as if they may be taking their first steps into unmetered and broadband territory.

Customers have recently been sent an email asking them to take part in a survey which points to the following link here.

The jist is they are looking for opinions on what packages their customers would like to subscribe to. Although taking a look at the site, their proposed packages are highly priced compared to other ISPs. Thanks to Brynmor for the email.

ISP Review Weekly Update

By:mark.j @ 10:00:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Another week gone, another weekly update; seems about right. I'll keep this one short as I'd like to get on with swapping my system into a new all aluminium Coolermaster case, which obviously can't be done with the system switched on =). You could try but..

Firstly I'd like to apologise for the odd bit of forum downtime some of you have been seeing, we've been trying to kill a nasty bug and it means that the forum has to go on and offline now and then. We'll try to resolve this today.

It looks as if all of the currently reported 'Reader ISP Review' system bugs should finally get squashed this weekend, no doubt only to see a few more in their place =). Never the less we're hopeful that the public beta can start soon.

Once that's done then work on the next news system and ISP Reviews re-design will finally be able to begin. The next version of ISP Review should integrate a lot of the dynamic content output that we've had designed, although it'll take awhile to complete.

Finally and toward the end of the year we may change to some different forum software, although we’re still testing a number of alternatives. This would most likely come at the same time as any new re-design. It’s early days yet and our budget is low following the change of web host.

News - August 17,2002

Gio Internets Not-So-Hidden Redesign

By:mark.j @ 8:24:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One of our forum members, the imaginatively titled 'sniffer_dude', has come across Gio Internets not-so-well-hidden future website redesign:

http://www.giointernet.com/new

Typically this isn't live yet and thus we can't be sure whether they'll pull it from our prying eyes or not; catch it if you can. It looks as if Gio has finally managed to come up with a clearer and less eye-taxing design.

One Way Internet Offer

By:Keith @ 9:56:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

One Way Internet are currently offering a discounted rate on their unmetered packages to the first 100 new customers:

Throughout August we are offering the first 100 new users
to our Unmetered Internet Access service a special reduced
rate of £12.99 per month home users & £15.99 per month for Business users for the first years subscription.


Their website still does not allow online setup so you will need to call their customer services number to register.

UKStamp ISP Updates Mail Server

By:mark.j @ 8:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Users of the unmetered dialup ISP UKStamp, which has recently been having a few service problems, will have to change their outgoing E-Mail server to solve an issue with authentication:

OUTGOING MAIL SERVER CHANGE

To all UKStamp Customers

Please change your outgoing SMTP mail server settings to:

mail.ukstamp.net

Technical Support can be found at http://www.ukstamp.co.uk/tech4.htm

(212.43.185.43) is no longer available for sending emails!
Reason: This should correct the authentication problems a few customers have been experiencing.

We thank you for your patience and support.

Telewest Expands Broadband Coverage

By:mark.j @ 8:24:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Telewest has confirmed that their plans to launch broadband cable modem access in some former Eurobell areas this September are going ahead as planned:

A spokeswoman for the company told us: "We are planning to extend broadband services to Eurobell regions, initially Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay, in September.

We are delighted to be bringing broadband internet and TV services to consumers in these areas, and further integrating the former Eurobell regions within Telewest Broadband.

Customers will be able to register their interest on our website very shortly and we will be mailing customers directly to tell then all about the benefits of broadband.
"


More @ DigitalSpy.

Dump 3G Broadband Wireless

By:mark.j @ 8:21:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Datamonitor analyst Nick Greenway has lashed out at operators holding a 3G broadband wireless mobile phone license, suggesting that they drop such services altogether:

In a note entitled 'Death bell tolls - 3G RIP', Datamonitor analyst Nick Greenway writes: "Within the next 12 months some licence holders may shelve 3G aspirations, possibly having to treat the cost of licences as a write-down."

He urges: "Give it away now - there's more sense in abandoning the market altogether than rolling out a service on top of giant sunk costs."

Greenway's argument is based on likely return on investment (ROI) for licence holders and the business viability of companies that will supply them, from big network equipment and handset makers to small content producers struggling for funding and contracts.


Unfortunately Mr.Greenway's suggestion would only add to the many varied problems being experienced by 3G license holders. The market has already designed itself for a 3G future, turning back now would do more harm than good.

News - August 16,2002

AlphaPhe ISP Payment Requests

By:Keith @ 5:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

AlphaPhe.Net, the ISP that withdrew all their unmetered products earlier this week, seem to have forgotten to cancel their rebilling request emails.

Today customer’s of the service are still being sent the normal submit payment email, Part of which states:

Congratulations! You have completed your current month's subscription with AlphaPhe.Net - the ISP that listens to its customers. You should have enjoyed great connectivity and fantastic overall service, if not, we want to know why :)

We hope that you renew your account promptly to maintain your full service, and look forward to continuing to provide an ISP that delivers so many great features for such an unbelievable price


In view of the connection problems customers have faced over the last few weeks and that the service no longer exists, customers will no doubt have wished that Alphaphe had not sent this email to remind them to submit more money to another failed isp.

Government MPs Avoid E-Mail

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

A second survey, this time by the Parity Group (IT consultancy), has once again found that government MPs are slow to adopt new technologies such as E-Mail:

Of 151 surveyed, just 5% of MPs office staff use email for correspondence with voters, compared to the 75% who still prefer using letters, the research claims.

In addition, just one of the 151 offices use electronic methods in more than 75% of total correspondence, despite most MPs having access to the internet. 25% also receive more than 25 emails per week.

Rich Bacon at Parity said: "MPs could be more productive if they made better use of IT and in particular better use of instant communication with constituents via email."


More @ netimperative.info.

AOL UK Apologises - Slow Broadband

By:mark.j @ 2:31:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The unmetered and broadband ADSL providing content ISP, AOL UK, has today apologised for the slow speeds on its recently launched ADSL service. Transfers as low as 2Kb per second have apparently been recorded!:

In a statement, AOL said: "We are aware that some AOL Broadband members may, at times, be experiencing a slower than desirable service.

We would like to apologise for any frustration and inconvenience this is causing and to assure you that we are addressing these issues as a matter of priority.
"

AOL said it is working closely with its network provider, BT, and will continue to work "round-the-clock" until the service is back at optimum service levels.


Web-User reports that the service should start to improve over the next few days. It's certainly not what you'd expect from an ISP charging £34.99 per month, especially when many do better for up to £10 less.

I.W.F To Become A Charity

By:mark.j @ 2:23:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The UK Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which was designed to remove child pornography etc. from the web, could soon register itself as a charity in a bid to increase funding:

The self-regulatory organisation's new CEO Peter Robbins today said the IWF is having "a good look" at taking on a 'dual-status' format through which it could continue to source financial backing from business and tap funds from charitable organisations at the same time.

The potential move forms part of a wider governance review of the organisation's working practices, role, remit, board structure and selection process and funding, and mooted potential changes to its relationship with statutory bodies such as the police.

Robbins, who recently called for additional financial backing from the industry to deal with increasing reports or instances of child abuse-related content on the web, told netimperative: "We are having a look at whether or not we are denying ourselves a revenue stream by not being charitable."


On a related matter the netimperative.info item points out that the IWF will soon issue a list of roughly 50 newsgroups, specifically ones deemed to advocate or advertise paedophile content. The list is to be supplied to as many UK ISPs as possible.

PIPEX ISP Complaints Continue

By:mark.j @ 9:05:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

As well as having enough ISP complaints to add Tele2 and BTOpenworld to our list this week, PIPEX has once again managed to receive a further three again itself.

PIPEX, which is backed by UUNET, whom themselves are owned by WorldCom (UH-OH!), has continued to have the same problems with support and engage tones for the past three weeks.

Our attempts at contacting them have failed and not once have we received a response to our very public hails. Thus once again we've chosen to highlight a couple of their most recent reader complaints:

All my Pipex Dialspace web pages have disappeared or been deleted by Pipex!
- E-Mail By Ian

I have an unmetered ADSL service from Pipex and I have had problems with stability of the connection. I have also had numerous problems with other Pipex instalaltions which I am involved with. They have ALL been exacerbated by the TOTALLY INADEQUATE support service offered by Pipex.

Presently my home ADSL has been non-functional since last Thursday when it dropped out in the middle of a session.
- E-Mail By Paul


It's true to say that being owned by WorldCom doesn't help, yet even this is no excuse because PIPEX have failed to acknowledge the problems with their service.

The worst part of all this is that those wishing to leave the service are unable to do so; they’re stuck because you can’t contact anybody to cancel. Paying above and below £70 per month for an unmetered dialup service that doesn’t work isn’t good.

Ireland Gains Business xDSL Funding

By:mark.j @ 8:29:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

BT's Irish business services and solutions division, Esat, is to partner with Ericsson to deploy Ireland's first broadband xDSL solution for the business market:

The contract award is in the value of EUR25 Million. The first area to gain access was Limerick in April this year. Ballina, Thurles and Churchfield will all come onstream at the end of August.

More @ ElectricNews.

News - August 15,2002

BTO Cuts Wireless ISP Prices – Again

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

Having already cut the price on its individual wireless products, BTOpenworld has today announced yet another spate of reductions. This latest move could save small businesses up to £190 on some BTO wireless networking and Internet business products:

BT OPENWORLD CUTS PRICE OF WIRELESS ACCESS PACKAGE FOR SMEs

BT Openworld has launched a special offer that can provide savings of up to £190 on some wireless networking and internet business products.

The number one business ISP is offering a reduced price wireless networking solution, removing the need for expensive and complicated cabling. The reduction follows an earlier announcement by BT Openworld of price cuts on individual wireless products.

The wireless products are supported by Linksys, a leader in networking solutions for small businesses, and are designed to the Wi-Fi (802.11b) global standard.

Savings of up to £190 are available when connecting to one of the selected ethernet broadband BusinessPLUS products in conjunction with the Internet Business Pack and a Wireless Access Point Network kit before September 30, 2002.

For further information visit: www.btopenworld.com/wirelessnetworking or call 0870 792 2118.

Ethernet £130 cashback offer
Offer applies to customers purchasing any ethernet product as well as rental of the Internet Business Pack. Twelve month minimum rental period. Business customers invoiced quarterly in advance. Conditions apply.

Offer applies to orders placed before September 30, 2002. Installation must take place before October 31, 2002.

To qualify, customers must fill in an application form (available from the BT Openworld website at www.btopenworld.com) and send this with a copy of the relevant bill (showing £260 installation and first quarters rental for the Internet Business Pack).

Linksys £60 discount offer
1. Offer applies to customers purchasing the Business 1000PLUS or Business 2000PLUS product, as well as rental of the Internet Business Pack, when they also purchase the Linksys Wireless Network WAP 11 Kit. Customers will be given a £60 discount off the normal retail price (usually £107.66 ex VAT).

2. The offer applies to telephone orders placed before September 30, 2002.

3. In order to receive the £60 discount customers should order the WAP 11 Kit at the same time as the Business 1000PLUS or Business 2000PLUS and the Internet Business Pack.

4. Further details about this discount and Linksys products can be found at http://www.linksys.com

AlphaPhe ISP Clears Up Confusion

By:mark.j @ 2:25:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

AlphaPhe, which recently suspended its unmetered services, has today issued a new press release in the hope of being able to clear up some confusion.

Apparently some customers may have been confused by offers from ISPs such as 'Gio Internet' to take on any old subscribers, yet such things are not part of an official agreement with AlphaPhe:

It has been brought to our attention that some AlphaPhe.Net customers may be under the impression that it has been agreed that the AlphaPhe.Net service will continue with another ISP.

We would like to clarify this situation and let everybody know that this is NOT the case, although we have had various offers from other ISP’s and Telco’s we have only been in talks with one in particular but unfortunately as of yet have not felt that anything we have been offered will benefit the company in the way that we would like, if however we are offered something that we feel will be a turning point for AlphaPhe.Net then we will let our customers know.

We apologise to those user’s who may have been under the impression that this case, we do not know where these rumour’s have come from and would just like a chance to set our customer’s straight.

3G Broadband Wireless Modems

By:mark.j @ 2:19:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

You can already buy PCMCIA based GSM and GPRS wireless modems, thus it should come as little surprise that 3G broadband wireless modems are sure to follow, or so Lucent hopes:

The wireless telephone network equipment maker struck a deal this week with Novatel Wireless to develop and supply modem cards that use UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). UMTS is designed to increase the capacity of a cell phone network for voice calls and data downloads between 144Kbps and 2Mbps.

UMTS has emerged as the leading standard that carriers are adopting for the next generation of wireless networks that are still in the process of being built. The new networks are expected to be able to handle more phone calls at once and create wireless web services that rival those of broadband companies.


Unfortunately and like GPRS before it, 3G isn't likely to be the cheapest service for such use, although no doubt it'll get cheaper.

In fact GSM and possibly GSM based HSCD technologies (Orange) are the only two that don't charge for specific bandwidth allotments, yet GSM is often too slow for most surfing requirements (9600Bps). More @ Silicon.

Online File Sharing To Peak - 2005

By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The now common practice, especially among broadband subscribers, of sharing files (music, movies etc.) between other Internet users via systems such as Morpheus and Kazaa is set to peak in 2005.

The Yankee Group predicts that in 2005 P2P file sharing, which is also coming under increased legal pressure due to piracy concerns, will see 7.44 billion unlicensed audio files being swapped:

After 2005, however, Yankee predicts free music swapping will begin to decline. Yankee projects 6.33 billion unlicensed audio files will be swapped in 2006.

If Yankee's projections are right, it could be bad news for the recording industry, which has been launching its own pay services and working to thwart unlicensed music swapping. The entertainment industry is also pondering legal moves against individuals.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Internet piracy of music has shaved 5 percent from music sales in both 2001 and 2000. Although the declines can be attributed to other reasons, Yankee said, unlicensed music swapping is "certainly a significant contributing factor."


It's no longer so surprising that UK broadband ISPs are becoming increasingly concerned about the affect such transfers are having on their networks (bandwidth). More @ C|Net.

BTO Strengthens Helpdesk Security

By:mark.j @ 9:08:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Not long ago several readers contacted us with their concerns over BTOpenworlds helpdesk security. They were able to bypass routine security checks and have the operator give out the password with minimal effort, which was obviously a concern.

Typically ISP Review took the issue up with BTOpenworld and we now have their answer:

Issue: security loophole on order tracking page

BT Openworld would like to thank the reader and ISP Review for bringing this to our attention. Thankfully this is a rare occurrence and we apologise for the error. We have reiterated the great importance of security to all of our helpdesk agents – and revisited this aspect of their training with them.

Password security is a major priority for BT Openworld, so that customers feel confident using our services. It is not usual practice for our helpdesk to volunteer passwords.

Helpdesk agents validate the identity of a customer before discussing or amending any customer details. When identifying a customer, agents will ask for a password and if this has been forgotten, the customer’s mother’s maiden name. If the customer has also forgotten this we will ask for their ‘helpdesk phrase’, which was requested from the customer during registration. In an extreme example where this too has been forgotten, the helpdesk agent will take further action depending on the type of account.

• Anytime customers will be called back by a manager who will confirm other details relating to the account.
• Surftime customers must confirm their telephone account number.
• Pay as you Go customers will have to send an original utility bill, bank or credit card statement to the helpdesk where a new password will be dispatched by return post.

BT Openworld Spokesperson


We thank BTOpenworld for their response and hope that the helpdesk will have got the message not to cut corners where confidential account details are concerned.

35-44s (Age) = Heaviest Online Spenders

By:mark.j @ 8:55:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Yet more research, this time from Continental Research, has found that there are now 17.9Million UK adults using the Internet on a regular basis. Apparently each has spent an average of £305 online in the last 12 months:

From these figures it can be estimated that UK internet consumer users spent GBP5.5bn (E8.7bn) online in the past year. However, it is important to note that this figure will not take into account money spent online by businesses.

Certain demographic groups accounted for higher expenditure than others. In particular, men account for just over 70 per cent of all online expenditure. Also those in the 35 to 44 year age range (who account for 35 per cent of all online expenditure) were higher than average spenders. This is not surprising, asserts the report as this age group will have access to credit cards and be more likely to have young families which will tie them more to their home. The internet will, therefore, provide a time efficient way for this group to shop.


The Europemedia item finishes up by noting that the checking of Hotmail E-Mail accounts was by far the most popular online activity with 6.4 Million UK users doing it. 5.7 Million also used it to check their bank accounts and 2.9 Million preferred to toy with online chat.

Tiscali ISP Apologises For Forum Slurs

By:mark.j @ 8:45:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

The UK ISP wing of Tiscali has apologised to a Merseyside man, among several others, after its discussion forum moderators were exposed as having made abusive posts about specific members.

The issue came to light when a supposedly private forum became visible to all, exposing the slurs:

Although these "private" posts should have only concerned matters regarding the forums, it became clear that many were personal comments about some of the boards' posters. Karl Davis, a regular contributor on the Tiscali forums, was shocked when he found he was the subject of some of the comments.

He said the remarks mocked him, turned him into him a figure of fun among the forum community and caused him a great deal of embarrassment. According to Davis, the personal attacks questioned his integrity as a respected forum contributor and undermined his credibility among Tiscali's forum community.

He complained to Tiscali demanding an apology and action against those behind the offensive remarks. Yesterday, Mr Davis has finally won his apology when a notice posted on the ISP's forums expressed "deep regret" over the posts.


The Register notes that the moderator at the centre of the incident has been reprimanded.

NTL Loosing Subscribers

By:mark.j @ 8:30:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

NTL has apparently been loosing subscribers since it filed for Chapter-11 bankruptcy protection in May 2002, yet their broadband cable modem services have continued to grow:

NTL reduced its net loss from $1.1bn to $594bn on sales of $916m, up 3.6%, and EBITDA earnings improved by more than 60% to $254m.

But more than 70,000 subscribers decided to leave the company during the quarter, possibly due to the confusion surrounding its financial predicament. Its remaining 2.7m customers are however spending more with the company on average, with sales growth driven by demand for high-speed internet connections.

At the end of August the company had exceeded 300,000 installations of broadband - it is currently connecting about 25,000 new households per month. The company is expected to re-list towards the end of the year and CEO Barclay Knapp said the company chose New York over London as it was quicker to implement. He added that NTL would "almost certainly" seek an additional secondary listing on the UK's largest exchange.


Once again we see broadband services helping to keep an operators head above the water line, more @ netimperative.info.

News - August 14,2002

PlusNETs Lowest Cost ADSL 'Start-Up'

By:mark.j @ 3:13:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Popular UK ISP PlusNET has today announced the introduction of what they believe to be the lowest cost of entry to broadband (ADSL) services with their new 'ADSL Starter Packs':

PlusNet announce UK's lowest cost ADSL 'start-up' package

PlusNet today announced the UK's lowest cost of entry to broadband Internet with their new ADSL Starter Packs. PlusNet are already well-known for offering the highest value of any ISP - now their entire ADSL product range is set to establish PlusNet as the 'one-stop shop' for broadband ADSL.

"Other ISP's either artificially inflate the start-up costs or charge high subscriptions. Our offerings deliver the right price without compromising the service and just as importantly are financially sustainable", said Alistair Wyse, Technical Director of PlusNet. "This forms part of our long term strategy for our ADSL products and isn't the result of any short-term offer, BT-marketing funds supported offer or other examples of 'number manipulations'."

Included within each starter kit is your telephone line activation, 2 ADSL line splitters and the option of internal modem, external modem or a network-compatible router. Not only that, but PlusNet include an easy-to-understand setup guide and offer the best online and local-rate telephone support in the business - to help even a complete novice set up with ease.

"We've got the best support team in the business, proven by our having the lowest percentage fault-rate* of any major UK ISP" said Wyse, "With the lowest cost possible at the highest standard of service, you can depend on PlusNet."

You can find out more about the benefits of ADSL and sign up today at
http://www.plus.net.

ADSL starter kits are available from just £99.99 (inc. VAT), with monthly subscription prices starting from as little as £20.99 (inc. VAT) per month.


With any luck the ISP gods in the sky will now allow me to stop typing news items for awhile so that my fingers may finally stop smouldering.

Brightview Acquires ISP - Doubles Size

By:mark.j @ 3:06:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Brightview, the group behind a large number of UK ISPs such as IC24 and Madasafish, has apparently doubled in size following the acquisition of UK-based ISP business - XO Communications. New unmetered dialup and broadband ADSL services are now planned:

Following the appointments announced last week, this message is to announce that Brightview, the company that owns several internet service providers, including www.IC24.co.uk, www.Madasafish.com and www.Totalise.net has doubled in size by acquiring the UK-based ISP business that previously belonged to American telecommunications company, XO Communications.

As a consequence, Brightview is now probably the UK's largest independent ISP, with over half a million live, active subscribers. It has achieved this market position in less than 18 months since formation in April 2001. However, unlike some other well-known ISPs, Brightview is also a profitable business.

In the deal, Brightview purchased three high profile ISPs, www.Globalnet.co.uk, www.Freenetname.co.uk, and www.Dialstart.net, as well as the rights to provide internet connection services to customers of www.Waitrose.com and several other well-known consumer brands. It also acquired call centre operations with 45 full-time staff and technical infrastructure equipment valued at over £8m.

Brightview's approach to the ISP market differs from that of most other major players. It does not believe in focusing its efforts on E-commerce or advertising; instead it concentrates on providing sophisticated subscribers with a superior on-line experience - highly efficient Email and a fast reliable connection to the internet that does not seek to restrict where they can surf. Brightview also believes in preserving on-line communities; therefore it has no plans to undertake a major re-branding exercise of the kind that would consolidate its brands under a single identity or require customers to change their Email addresses.

David Laurie, Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted to have acquired some fantastic assets. Global and Freenetname have previously won accolades for their outstanding customer service and technical support and they have consistently appeared high up in Internet magazine's ranking of Internet Service Providers."

He continued: "We will soon be offering these new customers unmetered (FRIACO) and ADSL connection packages. We will also look at more sophisticated services that we can offer to our subscribers at a low cost."

At the same time as the acquisition, Brightview has made a substantial investment in technology to upgrade its existing technical platform and to build a new platform, located in one of Europe's most advanced data centres, to support the business it has just acquired. The new platform accesses bandwidth directly from Level(3), which is arguably the strongest of the world's top four Tier 1 Internet Backbone Providers. As a consequence, Brightview's most recently acquired brands will offer customers more and higher quality bandwidth than any other major ISP in the UK.

Ido Pollak, Chief Technical Officer, said "We will provide over 20 kb of bandwidth per connected subscriber, which is much greater than the industry average, and we will not throttle bandwidth. This means that at peak times, customers of our newly acquired brands will, on average, be able to download a great deal faster than customers on many rival networks."

Incumbent EU Operators = Threat To DSL

By:mark.j @ 3:01:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite the 20% rise in broadband xDSL installations during the last quarter 2002, Europe's new carriers now fear that incumbent operators could stranglehold the emerging market:

Publishing its latest "DSL Scorecard", the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) yesterday noted that 90% of DSL lines in Germany and France are still retailed by the incumbents, and blamed Europe's national telecoms regulators for failing to do enough to enforce local loop unbundling (LLU) laws.

At face value, ECTA's DSL Scorecard at least suggests that Europe's lethargic adoption of broadband services is starting to acquire a sense of urgency. Of the almost 200 million telephones installed in European Union countries, more than 6 million are now converted to DSL, compared with 2.7 million in October last year. However, ECTA's point is that virtually all of this growth is coming from incumbent operators, which still dominate the retail as well as the wholesale DSL market in all European countries.


Entertainingly The Register points out that the situation is actually better in the UK =), where BT holds only (only?) 60% of the retail DSL market. Not much better then, although LLU isn't likely to help much at this late stage.

Gio Take On AlphaPhe ISP Customers

By:mark.j @ 2:53:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Despite having been forced to suspend sign-ups to their own unmetered Anytime 100/200/300 services on 8th August, Gio Internet has today proposed to take on existing AlphaPhe customers:

Gio Internet will take on the existing Alphaphe customers and also offer a free months access to allow migration without incurring additional costs.

Typically this relates to our earlier news item HERE, which announced the suspension of AlphaPhe's unmetered ISP services.

UK ISPs Win Critical Legal Protection!

By:mark.j @ 2:45:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

UK ISPs have today won critical protection from legal action over content held on, or passing through, their networks!:

The new rules were generally welcomed by the ISP industry, which had lobbied hard in the wake of a case that saw Demon Internet successfully sued for defamatory remarks posted on its news groups. Demon said at the time that with more than a million messages a day posted to the service, it was not possible to scan them all.

But one key issue has still not been satisfactorily resolved, says the ISP Association (ISPA): how ISPs should remove content once they have been warned that it may be illegal under criminal law or actionable under civil law such as that of libel or slander. Although Demon was warned about the message on its server, it did not remove it -- a decision backed by other service providers at the time, who contented that it was untenable for ISPs to police their servers.

Although the final regulations have removed doubt over limitations on civil and criminal liability of service providers who transmit, cache or host third-party content, they still do not outline a formal procedure for the removal of illegal content (known as notice and takedown) or provide statutory backing for notice and takedown codes of practice, says ISPA.


We've often noted how unfair it is for an ISP to be blamed for the mistakes of a customer; thankfully this now looks to be less of a problem. More @ ZDNet.

BT Kicks ADSL User – Copyright Abuse!

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

Apparently BT is threatening to kick users of Person-2-Person (P2P) file sharing applications off its broadband service due to copyright abuse:

Last week, Reg reader Robert Brown received a letter from the BTBroadband abuse team accusing him of distributing copyrighted material via his account.

The letter (a copy of which was sent to The Register) ordered him to stop distributing such material within 24 hours of face having his account terminated, for breaching the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for the no-frills ADSL service.

Brown could find no mention of not being allowed to use P2P in the policy, though in the Usenet section there is an injunction to observe copyright issues and not to "post material that you did not create, unless you have the permission of the owner of the relevant rights in that material".


To be fair BT did state, when it was first announced, that the service wouldn't allow such file sharing. However, if it's not clear in their usage policy then should the customer be blamed?

It's obviously less about Copyright and more about an ISP trying to prevent the use of 'File Sharing' applications, which a number of cheaper ADSL providing ISPs do now block because such services eat expensive bandwidth for breakfast =). More @ The Register.

Strong Broadband Demand Helps THUS

By:mark.j @ 2:23:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Thus Telecom, the group behind UK ISPs such as Demon Internet, has today issued its latest quarterly financial results.

Apparently the strong broadband ADSL uptake has helped Thus cut its losses by more than one third, yet warns of tougher market conditions hurting its growth over the next 6 months:

The alternative telecoms carrier reported sales of £71m for the three months ended 30 June, up 11%, and generated an EBITDA profit of £4.5m against last years' deficit of £4.2m. After depreciation of £18m, the company posted an operating loss of £13.5m, representing a 27% improvement year-on-year.

Seasonally, Thus said it is historically its quietest quarter, but declining sales from its ScottishPower Facilities Management contract offset any slight improvement in first-quarter trading. At £3.6m for the period (down more than 50% on the previous quarter), the SP FM contract now represents just 5% of group turnover.

Yet sales at its internet division improved by more than a fifth to £22.5m, driven by growth in business services (up 35%) and demand for ADSL, with sales of high-speed internet services stable compared with quarter-four despite an average price reduction of 21% since April.


It's almost as if the growing demand for broadband Internet services is managing to keep the whole market afloat, almost. More @ netimperative.info.

Oftel Solves 0800 Telco Dispute

By:mark.j @ 2:16:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

For sometime now Telewest and BT have been in a dispute over interconnect charges for origination of calls to freephone (0800 [unmetered]) numbers, thankfully Oftel has finally resolved the dispute.

Since much of the publication is little more than political jargon we'll just quote the small bit that matters:

Telewest requested a determination from the Director that:

* Telewest should be able to set its own price for the charge of a freephone call which originates on Telewest’s network and terminates on BT’s network; and

* any such charge should be derived from a reasonable Telewest specific-cost estimate.

The Director’s decision

5.26 Having considered the arguments for and against Telewest’s request, the Director directs that Telewest may propose its own price for the charge of originating a freephone call that originates on Telewest’s network and terminates on BT’s network.

IAP Broadband Wireless ISP - Update

By:Anne @ 12:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Internet Access Point Ltd. was formed about 4 Years ago with the intention of Bringing the Internet closer to the community.

So far tests have shown good results. People interested in this new broadband wireless service can now pre-register on the website. Apparently the new website has a lot to offer the IAP Broadband community:

Roger Whitefield has told me “We expect to go Live on the 6th September 2002. All the equipment you need to connect your computer to the internet is provided and the service is up to 20x faster.

Interest has been so great in this project that I have been getting requests for service from Cornwall to Scotland with a couple from America and Spain.
"


This is another broadband wireless ISP and should appeal to a lot of our reads, many of whom can't get ADSL or Cable Modem Broadband. Unfortunately early coverage is limited, yet they do have plans to expand.

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