July 23, 2002 - July 30, 2002
News - July 30,2002
NTLs 300,000 Broadband Subscribers
By:mark.j @ 2:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UKs largest cable operator, NTL, has today hailed the success of its broadband cable modem ISP services after it announced that the 300,000th customer had subscribed. This brings broadband penetration to 13% in NTL served areas:
In a press release, ntl's MD, Stephen Carter, said: "Broadband Britain is arriving at high speed, led by NTL. We’re leading from the front."
The cable operator, Britain's largest, also revealed estimates which indicate the company holds a 37% share of the broadband market, putting it ahead of fellow cableco Telewest (on 23%), BTopenworld (on 17%), BTwholesale (15%, covering other DSL providers using BT's wholesale offering) and BT Business (8%). It should be stressed these are estimates from ntl, and are not independently verified.
On the downside and NTL has also scrapped its £19.99 per month 512Kbps cable modem service, which was £5 cheaper than the standard offer due to not being supplied with a modem adaptor.
The good news is that NTL is now offering free installation on the £24.99 PM (512K) and £49.99 PM (1Mb) service, although you'll need to click on one of its advertising banners for that. More @ DigitalSpy. |
Ericsson Releases 3G Software
By:mark.j @ 8:42:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The next generation of 3G broadband wireless mobile phones received a boost yesterday, curtsy of Ericsson.
The mobile handset manufacturer issued a suit of fifteen 3G apps to mobile operators, which are design to show the potential of third-generation mobile services:
The programs -- which were developed both in-house by Ericsson and also by independent developers -- include business applications, multiplayer games and Web browsing software.
Ericsson is sending the complete set of 3G applications to 40 mobile operators, and it hopes they will use them to demonstrate 3G to their customers. The Swedish company thinks that operators could also use them as part of their commercial 3G packages.
"These 3G applications are all really exciting," claimed Ericsson's Kevin Nicholl in a statement. "They are interactive, have rich content, great graphics and all of them used bandwidths provided by WCDMA (3G)," Nicholl added.
The ZDNet item reports that among the applications there's a mobile version of Microsoft's NetMeeting video-conferencing program, an app for corporate LAN access and some multiplayer games etc. |
Freeserve Respond - Wanadoo Re-Brand
By:mark.j @ 8:34:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One of the UKs largest ISPs, Freeserve, has today responded to some of the fears aired about their possible re-branding to 'Wanadoo', which among other things, could force customer E-Mail addresses to change:
Freeserve says that: "We don't know if customers' email addresses would change. But as a customer focused organisation we will of course be putting customer interests first."
If Freeserve/Wanadoo is sincere in this, it must surely be extremely unlikely that customers' best interests will be best served by having to change email addresses.
In plain English, Freeserve is still undecided, although are willing to listen to their customers.
Our advice would be for some such users to start an online petition or website and inform us of it, it's a good way to collect and show specific views. More @ Silicon. |
BT Touts ADSL Advertising Success
By:mark.j @ 8:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT Group has today hailed the success of its recent multi-million pound broadband ADSL marketing support campaign, which was introduced by BT Wholesale:
INNOVATIVE MARKETING SCHEME DELIVERS VOLUMES
An innovative multi-million pound marketing support campaign introduced by BT Wholesale has played a notable part in further stimulating Britain's emerging broadband marketplace.
Paul Reynolds, Chief Executive of BT Wholesale, said: "The success of our marketing support schemes to date graphically illustrates just how hard we have been working with our service provider customers to stimulate the marketplace for broadband.
We introduced the first scheme in December 2001 to raise awareness of broadband by increasing the number of service providers marketing broadband ADSL. At that time, fewer service providers were actively advertising their services. The scheme was a joint effort, with BT Wholesale investing in more than 80 marketing initiatives."
These included seven radio campaigns, 30 press advertising campaigns, five online advertising campaigns and 35 direct mail campaigns.
By mid-July this year, 13 per cent of all new broadband installations were directly attributable to the campaigns that service providers ran under the marketing scheme. It is anticipated that the scheme will deliver in excess of 40,000 new ADSL broadband subscribers once all the campaigns have finished.
There have also been a number of other additional benefits. Service providers have attributed part of the success of their individual campaigns to the sheer numbers of others that are now advertising.
Many now say they will continue their campaigns with their own funding, due to the positive impact.
"We hope that this scheme has sent out a key message - that BT Wholesale is innovative in the marketing arena, and we are keen to continue to work with our service provider customers to raise further awareness of broadband."
Without a doubt the campaign was one of the things BT did right and has helped to increase demand and awareness. |
News - July 29,2002
Blueyonder Offers Broadband Lessons
By:mark.j @ 3:28:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Telewests broadband cable modem ISP wing, blueyonder, is to offer its customers lessons to help them get the most from their high-speed Internet connection:
Lessons in speed for broadband novices
Telewest Broadband is providing new internet customers with a series of online lessons to help them get the most from their high-speed internet connection.
The company's blueyonder broadband customers now receive a series of six 'bluetorials,' with a new application or area of net content highlighted every two weeks. Topics include broadband web sites, music, software and movies, streaming video, gaming, instant messaging and digital photography.
The bluetorials also provide useful explanations of web jargon and the virtual classroom has already received over 25,000 hits from new customers.
Chad Raube, head of internet services at Telewest Broadband, said: "There's a myth that there isn't enough suitable internet content for broadband access. It's simply not the case and our bluetorials have been created as a guide to some of the endless possibilities presented by ditching the dial-up for life in the fast lane."
Net novices can learn basics like accessing internet radio stations, but more experienced surfers are also catered for, with tips on more advanced applications such as creating online photo albums and becoming a deadly online gamer.
The bluetorials are designed to compliment the company's existing blueyonder broadband web site, which offers customers broadband-orientated content and services in one convenient place. |
V21 ISP Grabs The Free Internet (TFI)
By:mark.j @ 3:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UPDATE: V21 has informed us that they've also purchased the TFI domains, thus customers will keep their E-Mail addresses, which is good news.
We missed this over the weekend; however the unmetered dialup ISP V21 has taken over operations of The Free Internet (TFI), which recently closed following a supply dispute with their Telco.
Ex-members of the TFI service have been seeing the following message:
ATTENTION: IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR USERS OF THE FREE INTERNET
V21.co.uk are pleased to announce that they have taken over operations of The Free Internet with immediate effect.
As a temporary measure to allow all TFI members to gain access to the Internet, V21 will offer them use of their 0845 service. This service is a Lo-Call rate service, and the charges for calls to this number will appear on the users phone bill. The number to use this service is 0845 1207961, and existing usernames/passwords will be valid with this number.
There is a dialler preconfigured with the V21 0845 number available to download from http://www.thefreeinternet.net/packages/v21.exe, and instructions on how to manually configure a connection at http://www.thefreeinternet.net/dialupsetup.txt.
By August 1st 0808 access will once again be available to TFI members, and as a gesture of goodwill, V21.co.uk will honour all pre-paid contracts for the remainder of their length. The service offered by V21 will be the same as that offered by The Free Internet, although all users will need to call V21 Customer Services to activate their accounts.
V21 are looking forward to being of assistance to all The Free Internet users and offer their apologies for any inconvenience caused by the ceasing services by The Free Internet.
V21 hope that these problems have not affected confidence in Internet Service Providers, and hope that they can offer all TFI customers a happy future of surfing on the Internet.
If V21 can be of any assistance during this transition period, please do not hesitate to call on the numbers below:
V21 Customer Services 0870 225 1210
(Available Monday Friday 9-5, calls charged at National Rate)
V21 Technical Support 0906 738 0219
(Available 7 days a week 8-8, calls charged at £1 per minute)
Unfortunately the fate of any E-Mails attached to the addresses of ex-TFI members is uncertain (we’ll find out). V21 has also had to upgrade its support capabilities following the acquisition. |
BTOpenworld Cuts Wireless Price
By:mark.j @ 2:57:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld, one of the UKs largest ISPs, has issued a new press releasing announcing a cut of up to 22% in the cost of their wireless networking products:
BT OPENWORLD CUTS CABLES AND PRICES FOR SMES
BT Openworld has reduced the price of its wireless network products by up to 22 per cent. The number one business ISP offers a range of wireless solutions which help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) link multiple PCs. This enables SMEs to access shared IT resources and information without the need for complicated and expensive cabling. The products are supported by Linksys, a leader in networking solutions for small businesses, and are designed to the Wi-Fi (802.11b) global standard.
BT Openworld Business 500 users can connect up to four computers to their broadband connection, using any mixture of wireless USB desktop adapters or laptop cards. The price of both these products has been cut by 16.9 per cent. Customers with a BT Openworld Business 500PLUS, 1000PLUS or 2000PLUS service can connect up to 15 computers by installing a central Wireless Access Point and USB desktop adapters or laptop cards in each computer. BT Openworld has cut the price of the standard Wireless Access Point product by 22.4 per cent.
Overview of product range and price cuts
Old price(exl. VAT) | New price(exl. VAT) Price cut
WIRELESS ACCESS POINT £138.72 | £107.66 22.4%
USB DESKTOP ADAPTER £73.19 | £60.85 16.9%
LAPTOP CARD £73.19 | £60.85 16.9%
STARTER PACK 2 USB desktop adapters £146.38 | £121.70 16.9%
STARTER PACK 1 USB desktop adapters1 laptop card £146.38 | £121.70 16.9%
STARTER PACK 2 laptop cards £146.38 | £121.70 16.9%
SYSTEM1 Wireless Access Point 2 USB desktop adapters1 laptop card £288.51 | £228.93 20%
For further information visit http://www.btopenworld.com/wirelessnetworking or call 0870 792 2118. |
Small UK Businesses Still Not Online
By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While larger UK businesses are doing their best to exploit the Internet for commercial gain, many smaller firms remain offline, something that could cause a new e-commerce digital divide:
As a result, the UK is falling behind other counties in the use of e-commerce in the retail sector, despite the government's aim to make the UK "the world's best place to trade electronically".
The report, titled E-commerce Impact Study: Retail Overview, found that 23 percent of retailers surveyed make no use of e-commerce, defined as "the exchange of information across electronic networks, at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an organisation, between businesses, between businesses and consumers, or between the public and private sector, whether paid or unpaid."
The situation is worse for the smallest business. Over half (56 percent) of micro-retailers, such as corner shops, are failing to use e-commerce at all, according to the survey, which was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The survey, which was done by the governments Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is worrying; however for some smaller businesses the Internet could ultimately be more of a cost than gain. More @ ZDNet. |
Hutchison Warns Of 3G Problems
By:mark.j @ 2:44:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Hutchison has warned that its third generation (3G) broadband wireless mobile network could suffer from dropped calls when it launches in the UK and Italy in October this year (2002).
Group managing director Canning Fok told reporters in a telephone conference that Hutchison's 3G network will be the best in the areas where it provides coverage but dropped calls are inevitable.
"There will be dropped calls but we don't think dropped calls are a problem since every network has dropped calls," he said.
Dropped calls can occur when users travel from areas covered by 3G networks to those that are covered by 2G networks, said Fok. Hutchison's 3G networks will initially cover about 50% of each market when they are launched, he said.
Fok said Hutchison's 3G networks will have 3,500 cell sites in the UK and about 2,200 in Italy come October. Hutchison hopes to sign up between 5,000 and 10,000 users in the first month in each market.
The group aims to have 6,000 cell sites in each of the two markets by the end of 2003, which will cover roughly 80% of the two markets. No doubt other operators could also see similar problems. |
Oftels Business Internet Access Survey
By:mark.j @ 2:37:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from last weeks publication, in which Oftel detailed the results of its survey into residential Internet use, today the regulator has done the same for businesses HERE:
This report provides an overview of business use of Internet, taken from the ninth wave of Oftel’s quarterly business survey, conducted in May 2002 amongst 810 UK businesses. The results are subject to an error margin of about 2-4%, this is slightly higher amongst smaller subgroups.
Headline figures
* 63% of all SMEs have Internet access
* 55% SMEs with Internet access use unmetered packages (60% medium and 55% small)
* 90% satisfied with overall quality of service
* 36% of SMEs with Internet now using ISDN up from 29% in February ’02
* 13% of SMEs pay for (at least some) home Internet usage for employees working from home
* 12% of SMEs with Internet currently use a broadband connection (DSL/cable modem)
Just over a half (55%) of UK businesses use PSTN/ordinary dial up access for their Internet connection, a drop from 67% last quarter and 76% the quarter before. The fall appears to be mainly driven by small businesses, currently 56% are using this method compared to 69% in February 2002.
Clearly there's a moving trend toward using broadband xDSL and Cable Modem etc. services as opposed to the old style PSTN (Phone) alternative.
It's also interesting to note that ISDN uptake has actually increased from 29% last quarter to 36%, which is a big jump for an older technology. This change is demonstrated well HERE. |
One Way Internet Launch Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Net4Nowt has spotted the launch of yet another new unmetered dialup ISP, One Way Internet. Apparently the first 100 customers to subscribe will only have to pay £12.99 per month for the first 6 months; the normal subscription rate is £14.99.
The bare website is to get a revamp in the near future, which is to include some additional hosting services. The unmetered dialup also comes with a 4hour cut-off and the standard (seems to be, these days) 20mb web space.
Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be an online signup system and nor could we spot the service terms and conditions. |
10% Of Each Working Day Lost To SPAM
By:mark.j @ 9:38:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently a new report has found that businesses are forced to spend an estimated 10% of every working day dealing with junk E-Mails (SPAM):
It says one in seven emails is unwanted, and the problem is getting worse.
A survey of 160 managers by email security company MessageLabs found that three out of four feared the problem would get bigger over the next year.
This comes despite the recent introduction of stronger EU regulations (Opt-In) and the arrests of those know to spread such junk messages. More @ Ananova. |
Internet - The Third News Source
By:mark.j @ 9:33:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Newspapers and Magazines have lost out to the Internet, that's according to a new survey, which indicates that the Internet is now established as the third source of news behind TV and Radio:
Sixteen to 34 year olds, the group advertisers prize the most, spend 15 times longer on the internet in an average week than they do reading a newspaper.
Commissioned by Freeserve, the survey found that overall people spend three times longer surfing the net than they do reading newspapers.
The Silicon item notes that although the difference may be most prominent in the younger age groups, the Internet also wins out in every other demographic, yet not by such a margin. |
Freeserve Re-Brand & E-Mail Change!
By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The French Wanadoo owned UK ISP, Freeserve, could be forced to change all of its 2.5Million customer E-Mail addresses.
The warning comes as Freeserve considers whether to re-brand its services under the 'Wanadoo' name, which has owned the UK ISP since December 2000 (cost = $1.6Billion):
That would mean customers changing the ending of email addresses to wanadoo.com during a massive rebranding exercise.
A Freeserve spokesman said the idea was still at an early stage: "There's an intention to do it but we need to find out what the impact will be."
Concerns are likely to centre on the issue of brand loyalty and the cost of the exercise, which some analysts believe could hit £30 million. But Freeserve and Wanadoo believe it would create major savings for the group, particularly in terms of advertising and marketing spend.
Despite the cautionary tone of the Ananova item, many other sources are reporting the change as a done deal.
It remains to be seen exactly what will happen, although forcing the change of so many E-Mail addresses would not bode well for Freeserve's image (naked people?). |
News - July 28,2002
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 9:26:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] No sooner than I'm back from vacation and the host goes offline due to having their supply (unexpectedly?) cut. The good news is that we're back online with our new host, now working as normal (bar a 'time' problem, will fix ASAP).
The long list of bugs from our private (soon to be public) 'Reader ISP Reviews' system beta test have now also been cleared and we're awaiting the latest code update, which should arrive on Monday.
On a side note - we're planning to re-write our ISP Listings to better accommodate recent market changes (new types of service) and be easier to search/more interactive.
There's even another forum upgrade planned, although this is all set for after we introduce 'Reader ISP Reviews' in the near future. |
Freeserve ISP Cuts VAT - Via Madeira!
By:mark.j @ 9:07:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In its latest bid to highlight AOLs still existent exemption from paying the UKs high VAT rate (17.5%), one of the country’s largest ISPs, Freeserve, is officially relocating itself to Portugal (Madeira).
Interestingly the Madeiran rate stands at 13%, which only marginally reduces the payments required by Freeserve, yet the point is clear:
On current figures, Freeserve will continue to contribute into the EU approximately £13m per annum of VAT following the change of place of supply, compared to £17.5m today.
John Pluthero, Chief Executive Officer of Freeserve, commented, "We said a year ago that we would establish our services outside of the UK if AOL was allowed to retain its VAT advantage, and Madeira enables us to do this without any change to the customer experience.
Freeserve has managed to account for UK VAT and remain better value than our closest competitors for unmetered access. We will continue to contribute sales tax in the EU, though regrettably, it will be 12 months and another £40-50m later before AOL is bound by the same laws as the rest of us."
Readers will be glad to know that the core ISP access and support of Freeserve's service will remain local to the UK, much as with AOL =). More @ Net4Nowt. |
News - July 27,2002
Fast24 ISP Update - Unmetered Problems
By:mark.j @ 3:06:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] No sooner than we're back and the unmetered dialup ISP Fast24, which we'd recently been seeing a lot of complaints about, has finally responded to our hails with a more positive update:
The reason that you have been receiving complaints has been that our supplier of BT FRIACO ports has not been supplying them. They have been telling us that the problem would be resolved every day (and many times per day) since it started. Finally yesterday it was resolved.
Updates will be forthcoming as to what we shall be doing to prevent this happening again, but at the moment (as for the past week and a bit) I am awaiting information.
So have things improved with Fast24 as per the above update? Let us know on the usual forum. |
PIPEX - 40,000 ADSL ISP Customers
By:mark.j @ 2:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] This should be the last catch-up item with PIPEX announcing their accumulation of 40,000 (very impressive for a non-BT ISP) broadband ADSL ISP subscribers:
As of 14 July 2002, PIPEX had signed up 40,000 ADSL customers. This was the stated target covered by our £2m Broadband Development Fund which offered free connection to the first 40,000 subscribers to the Xtreme Solo residential ADSL service.
Please note therefore that effective immediately, all new customers subscribing to this service will be charged a £50 + VAT (£58.75) connection fee. The monthly subscription remains at £19.95 ex VAT (£23.44 inc VAT). |
Nildram Roll-Out SQL Server Support
By:mark.j @ 2:31:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One of the UKs more popular ISPs, Nildram, has issued a press releasing announcing the addition of SQL server support to their web-hosting portfolio:
Nildram roll out support for SQL Server...
Nildram, one of the UK's leading Internet Service Providers, have announced the addition of SQL server support to their web-hosting portfolio.
Following customer requests, Nildram have introduced a shared SQL Server service to their popular range of hosting services.
Administration of the database is supplied through a web interface that facilitates the creation and deletion of the database; generation of stored procedures; queries and tables; checking properties of the database and importing/exporting the database. Specifically, the SQL platform includes the following components: Shared SQL Server, single username access, web administration console, up to 200MB of database storage and access to SQLXML v3 services.
Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's marketing manager comments: "We believe this addition to our range of hosting options will prove popular and further illustrate our aim to provide the best range of web hosting options in the UK, connected to one of the fastest, most resilient networks - the Nildram Backbone."
For further information, please visit: http://www.nildram.net |
Broadband Helps Entrepreneurs
By:mark.j @ 2:27:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having been offline for so long we're not sure whether this next press release from BTOpenworld is old news or not, however..
UK broadband services have apparently helped give rise to a new breed of British business people, 'Œinterpreneurs':
BROADBAND GIVES RISE TO BRITISH ŒINTERPRENEURS¹
The internet has sparked a resurgence amongst a new breed of home-based internet entrepreneurs or Œinterpreneurs¹.
Research commissioned by BT Openworld and conducted by BMRB Interactive has found that 52 per cent of entrepreneurs feel they couldn¹t work from home without access to the internet.
Around half (49 per cent) of the 335 respondents surveyed said that home working was a lifestyle choice, with the internet enabling them to share ideas with other people and conduct business while avoiding the drudgery of the office and the time and expense of commuting. Around two-thirds (67 per cent) of the respondents also stated that the internet has provided them with new business opportunities.
Commenting on the rise of home working, Tony Harris, president, Business Internet Services at BT Openworld said: "The new business strategists are succeeding where their dotcom predecessors failed because they are more realistic about the role of the internet in their businesses. Most are using the technology to support their business proposition and complement sales rather than putting the internet at the core of their business model."
Broadband internet access is playing an important role in facilitating home working. More than 13 per cent of those surveyed said they were already using broadband, with a further 19 per cent planning to install a high-speed, always-on connection within the next 12 months. Interpreneurs in the 16 to 34 year old age group are leading the transition to broadband with two-thirds of those surveyed placing it at the top of their shopping list.
"The most valuable finding of this survey is proof of how much of a lifestyle enabler the internet is - not only in terms of promoting a work/life balance, but also by allowing people to realise their dreams and start their own business," added Harris. "It¹s especially encouraging to see that broadband has made such an impact so early on in the drive to promote mass market adoption." |
Power Internet Ltd. Intro's £20 ADSL
By:mark.j @ 2:19:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A shocking 1p more expensive than V21's new broadband ADSL service, Power Internet Ltd. has now also introduced its own £20 per month (including VAT) ADSL package.
Unfortunately like V21 there's a catch, it requires a 2 year minimum contract. You're also required to pay a £52.88 setup charge, which we doubt would include a USB ADSL modem.
Note, there are also a number of other options and prices under Power Internets 'Home DSL 500' product, ranging downwards from £32.93 per month (1 Month contract & payment) + £58.75 setup. |
Vizzavi To Shutdown ISP Service
By:Keith @ 10:55:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Vizzavi, the joint venture between Vodafone and Vivendi, has today announced that it will be shutting down its ISP service on 29th October this year.
Virgin.net has been chosen as the ISP to take over its customer base and members are advised to complete a migration process to move over if they wish.
Although registrations for the service stopped sometime ago, current customers have still been able to use the service.
Any Vizzavi customer who moves over from the £12.99 service to Virgin's £13.49 service will receive 1 months free access.
Vizzavi have put together a help page for customers, which is available Here and includes links to the migration pages on both Vizzavi and Virgin.net websites. |
News - July 26,2002
ISP Review Back Online
By:mark.j @ 6:45:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] That's by far the longest downtime we've ever had and it could have been much longer, thankfully things were only offline for 3+ days, less than the 7 we feared.
If you're wondering what happened then a friend of a friend explains it best on The Register > HERE, thanks Drew. It's certainly not everyday that one of the UKs supposedly Top 25 rated hosts vanishes for 'dubious' reasons.
At this point I'd like to thank a number of specific people/sites for their direct help in aiding our return and helping to speed things along:
ADSLGuide (Seb, Andrew)
The Register (Drew)
Net4Nowt (Paul)
Flump.Net (Craig)
Will Beavis
Richard (ISP Review) and all our other staff and supporters..
You'll be glad to learn that no data was lost in the process, at least as far as we know =)? Don't be surprised if there are a few minor teething problems with the new server, such as 'Reader Top ISPs' or the 'Forums' not sending out validation E-Mails etc.
At the time I write this the DNS on the domain has yet to resolve for everybody, all should be well for Saturday afternoon. |
Internet Users Won’t Pay For Content
By:mark.j @ 6:11:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A new survey from media agency Incepta Online has found that most Internet users would be unwilling to pay for Internet content because so much is already free, surprised?:
64% of the 500 survey respondents said they were unwilling to pay for basic information but 69% said they would pay for more advanced services such as personalised news, financial information and services such as language translation.
They said they were also put off by the time it takes to register and the complexity of setting up payment.
There's little that we didn't already know in the Web-User item, however apparently people are willing to pay if the site offers more than just information. |
V21 Preps £19.99 Per Month ADSL
By:mark.j @ 6:06:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] V21 is set to introduce its £19.99 per month (inc. VAT!) broadband ADSL 'Home User' service from the 1st August 2002 next month.
The service looks set to be one of the cheapest such ADSL alternatives in the UK, yet still requires £200 for the start-up fee on a fixed 12 month contract. Not forgetting the other £164 (inc. VAT) charge for installation and required USB ADSL modem.
Overall the high initial cost may represent something of a no-no, not to mention some of the problems being experienced by providers pricing at a similar level. Did we say that you're also required to pay the first two months subscription up front? Long term it's value for money, we think. |
NTL Trials Southampton Broadband
By:mark.j @ 5:53:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy reports that broadband cable modem services could be coming to Southampton before the end of the month, thanks to NTL:
"We are delighted to announce that we going to trial in DTV areas of Southampton for STB Broadband. Additionally, Winchester, Totton and Hythe will be getting DTV and STB Broadband for trial and subsequent launch.
Trial will start on Wed 31 Jul. We are still recruiting trialists for these areas at trials@ntl.com. We would love to have DS board members on the trial.
Target Wessex trial date is currently Tues 6 Aug. All those on the list will be approached by the trials team. In order to roll - out the service as quickly as possible, this trial will be run in parallel to a launch." |
Sky Preps Broadband Internet Access
By:mark.j @ 5:47:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BSkyB, aka - SkyDigital etc., is today refusing to comment on a report from The Guardian newspaper that referred to their preparation for revealing a broadband Internet access product:
The Guardian reports that the satellite broadcaster will reveal the plans for a broadband package to analysts next week when it reports its annual results. Also on the cards, says the report, are plans to launch a broadband-enabled set-top box to improve its digital TV-based interactive services.
BSkyB refused to comment on any plans, while BT was not immediately available for comment. However, it has long been thought that the two would get together to fill the holes in each other's home packages. Cable firms such as Telewest and NTL can offer convenient all-in-one internet, phone and multi-channel TV packages with payments on just one bill.
This wouldn't be the first time we've heard of such a venture and have long been expecting something along the aforementioned lines.
Unfortunately those living outside of the fixed-line broadband ADSL zone could be left out; no surprises there then. More @ netimperative.info. |
UK Freeserve ISP To Pop-Up
By:mark.j @ 5:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Regular Internet surfers will no doubt be all too aware of the growing trend for online advertisers to use pop-ups on their website in order to attract more custom.
Unfortunately customers of the French Wanadoo owned UK ISP Freeserve, which had previously vowed not to allow them, are the latest group to go back on their word:
After previously vowing that pop-up ads would not appear on its opening page, Freeserve's advertising sales director Caroline Pathy said it was working to offer these options to advertisers and would institute frequency capping on such campaigns to minimise the obtrusivess for users.
The company has recently begun promoting its own services, particularly ISP access, via home page pop-ups, but now says it will offer them out having become convinced of their value as advertising tools and deciding that users have become accustomed to pop-up campaigns.
Pathy said: "Based on the evidence, we're going to give it a trial. Pop-ups are now part of the experience. All advertising is obtrusive. It is annoying when the TV ad break comes on during a programme and most people say that hate advertising, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact or that they reject all ads."
More @ netimperative.info. |
Broadband Satellite Laser ISPs?
By:mark.j @ 5:30:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Scientists believe that Satellites equipped with specialised laser beam technology could, in the future, help to carry vast quantities of Internet traffic:
They claim the volume of radiowaves planned for the next 10 years will create a communications bottleneck.
Laser systems could cope with at least 10 times the amount of data being sent now. The move would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but experts believe the technology is well worth the investment.
Unfortunately those expecting to signup with a laser beam based satellite broadband ISP might have a wait on their hands, the Ananova item reports that the most suitable technology for the task is still in development. |
News - July 23,2002
ISP Review Server Problems
By:mark.j @ 2:52:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] For some strange reason only a handful of people are able to access the site, such as those using a PIPEX connection. It appears that most will be unable to resolve the host and this is not isolated to ISP Review (network wide).
Strangely I can view and update the web pages via some ISPs, yet am still unable to run a tracerout or login to the FTP; no response - period. Same with E-Mail, all down, very unusual. Hopefully things should be back to normal soon. |
UK MPs Fear E-Mail SPAM Attacks
By:mark.j @ 2:44:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Many UK government MPs are apparently afraid to embrace the E-Mail world because they fear that campaigners will bombard them with hundreds of emails:
According to the House of Commons Information Select Committee, many MPs who use email are refusing to publish their email address because they are concerned about the impact on their work if campaigners began bombarding them with messages.
"Publicising an email address to the full membership of an organisation can prompt mass posting of a standard email to any one Member," said the committee in a report published last week.
"The Member and his or her staff will then have to deal with each email. A Member may decide to delete each one without reading it first; but care will need to be taken to identify and preserve mail from constituents," the committee said, adding that it is concerned that MPs and their staff will be unable to cope with this extra demand, and that email from an MP's constituents could be lost as a result.
To be fair we can see how such fears could be easily justified, but is it realistic to make specific addresses available to the public in the first place? How would you cope with so many messages, legitimate or not? More @ ZDNet. |
BT Chief Unable To Get ADSL - HA!
By:mark.j @ 2:37:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Entertainingly the chief technology officer at BTexact, Mick Reeve, is unable to get broadband ADSL installed at his exchange despite his leading role in promoting its uptake =):
Mick Reeve sets the technical strategy and direction for BTexact, the innovation and R&D arm of BT, and is hugely influential in the technologies that BT pushes out to businesses and consumers.
But the Suffolk village where he lives does not benefit from ADSL, despite him living within the distance limit of an exchange. As many prospective users have experienced, his phone line is connected to an alternative one that lies outside the 5km limit.
Despite this personal setback, to which he does see the irony, his team's ideas have helped improve recent rollout of ADSL in the UK. "With the 1,000 exchanges roll-out there would have been none in Cornwall. But we did some work with the regional authorities and got a grant for 12 exchanges in Cornwall," Reeve said.
Yes indeed, the irony of touting a technology that he's unable to receive himself is most entertaining. Has anybody else also noticed how the reach of R/ADSL now appears to have dropped from 5.5KM to 5KM? More @ VNUNet. |
X-Box Online Broadband & Level 3
By:mark.j @ 9:13:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Microsoft has chosen co-location specialist Level 3 to help provide their X-Box games console with broadband infrastructure, specifically for the roll-out of the Xbox Live online gaming platform:
The two companies today signed agreements that will see Level 3 provide Microsoft with "multiple broadband infrastructure services" in North America and Europe, paving the way for the official launch of Xbox Live in autumn, after a summer of beta testing.
Level 3 will cater for Xbox Live's colocation requirements as well as the high-speed internet access and private network services needed for games to function correctly.
The Xbox Live service will cost about £7-a-month to consumers following a one-off £35 set-up fee. Sony and Nintendo also have grand visions of capturing a large slice of the online gaming market but Microsoft appears to have edged ahead.
Unfortunately you'll need a broadband ADSL or Cable Modem (Ethernet variants) connection in order to use the service, meaning that much of the geographic UK will be left out. More @ netimperative.info . |
Police Gain More Access To E-Mails
By:mark.j @ 9:07:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Lord Chief Justice of the High Court, Lord Woolf, has ruled that UK ISPs can lawfully intercept emails at the request of the police:
Lord Woolf, sitting with Mr Justice Curtis, said if the providers could not act then specific powers given to the police under the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act would be "almost totally worthless" and "wholly unhelpful" in the bid to detect serious crime.
Safeguards lay in the fact that the police had to justify their applications in court to obtain the special production orders under PACE.
The judges were giving their backing to an Ipswich Crown Court decision last September that the intercepts were lawful. Suffolk police had served notice on telecoms company ntl Group Ltd that they were applying for access to all electronic information stored on their computers and electronic data retrieval systems relating to a particular email address over a 10-day period.
It's a good thing that they're at least requiring the courts permission and not unilaterally invading a persons E-Mail without such consent. More @ Ananova. |
Freeserve Founder Moves To Energis
By:mark.j @ 8:57:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The founder of French Wanadoo owned UK ISP Freeserve, John Pluthero, has left the company to join Energis as its new chief executive:
He was lured to Energis by its new chairman Archie Norman, the Tory politician and former boss of Asda, as week after the company's banks bailed it out.
The two executives will try to rejuvenate Energis, which has put itself up for sale after its debts grew too large to pay back its bondholders.
Mr Pluthero says: "It's a wrench for me to leave Freeserve, after all, the business has gone from strength to strength since we became part of the Wanadoo group and is benefiting from the depth of capabilities that Wanadoo has across Europe."
Some may see the change as a positive move for Energis, although it's too early to know for sure. More @ Ananova. |
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