June 15, 2002 - June 21, 2002
News - June 21,2002
ISPs Support BTs New ADSL Move
By:mark.j @ 8:38:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Despite the media throwing criticism at BT over its new method for testing the demand of broadband ADSL services in specific areas, some ISPs have still managed to come out in support of the idea:
A spokeswoman for ISP Virgin.net, which is planning to launch its own broadband service shortly, said the BT initiative was much-needed. 'There are a number of reasons customer's fail in the broadband application process. What we had planned to do was to go to BT when this happened with certain exchanges,' she said.
Freeserve said in a statement that the initiative was a good idea but stressed that 'BT Wholesale must share all broadband leads that it gets from it'.
Consumers will be able to access the BT target number, and they'll also be able see how many users have already registered a need for high-speed access at each individual exchange.
Unfortunately nothing in the NewMediaZero item mentions the high demand level requirements, which is what most are complaining about. |
TW Blueyonder ISP Hacked
By:mark.j @ 8:29:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Unfortunately Telewests broadband and unmetered dialup ISP service, blueyonder, appears to have been hacked.
To be more accurate, the top right website banner was replaced with one, that among other things, advertised PIPEX's ADSL service and made a few anti-by and BT remarks.
This morning the banner is notable by its absence. |
Oftel Boosts Provision Of ADSL
By:mark.j @ 8:18:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Oftel has boosted the provision of broadband after it announced that BT will now be required to offer ADSL interconnection services to enable operators to connect to BT's network.
It's hoped that this will provide a much wider range of wholesale and retail broadband services in competition with BT:
BT must also set prices for these interconnection services on a non discriminatory basis at a level that allows other broadband providers to compete.
Broadband interconnection will increase the range of options for providing broadband services to business and residential consumers. These currently include leased lines, BT's wholesale DSL products, cable modems, unbundled local loops and emerging technologies such as fixed wireless broadband access and satellite.
BT will also be required to begin a trial for an interconnection product based on Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) technology following consultation with the operators.
Oftel's decision, which follows a request from Energis and Thus, means operators will be able to use a combination of their own and BT's DSL networks to deliver high-speed services to consumers and service providers.
Oftel expects that operators will be able to launch ADSL services using the new product later in the year.
David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said: "Progress in rolling out broadband continues. 20,000 new customers are signing up each week, and prices are as cheap as in France, Germany or the USA. By the end of June, we estimate that around 700, 000 customers will have fast access to the Internet.
Today's announcement is a further boost to the provision of broadband services in the UK. It will enable operators to offer consumers a wider range of products.
Prices for these new services will be set by Oftel at a level that encourages competition between different providers of broadband services, and ensures that other operators still have an incentive to invest in alternative broadband delivery mechanisms.
The best way to support takeup of broadband services is through a thriving and competitive broadband market, where consumers have choice of products and prices. Competition stimulates innovation, gives consumers choice and puts competitive pressure on prices."
For the record, anybody currently wanting to offer DSL services must either buy BT's wholesale broadband products at BT's prices or install their own DSL equipment in BT's local exchanges. |
News - June 20,2002
BTOpenworld ISP Advertise Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 2:52:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One of the UKs most populated unmetered dialup and broadband offering ISPs, BTOpenworld, has today announced a new promotion to advertise its unmetered dialup packages for those still not online:
BT OPENWORLD LAUNCHES ANYTIME PROMOTION
BT Openworld, BT plc's mass market ISP, is offering Internet access for only £9.99 for the first month, £15.99 thereafter.
BT Openworld Anytime provides unmetered access to the Internet at any time of day or night with no extra Internet call charges.* This offer enables customers to save £6 on a month's subscription.
The promotion runs from now until the end of July. Subscribers will get all the normal benefits at almost half the price. These include ten email addresses to keep in touch with friends and family, 50mb of web space so you can build your own web site and instant messaging.
To take advantage of this offer, customers can go to www.btopenworld.co.uk and click on the Anytime offer button to sign up. They then have to go through few steps before installing the software, which will be activated immediately. Other sites that are also offering the promotion are Lycos and Yahoo.
Duncan Ingram, senior vice-president of BT Openworld said: "Introducing promotions shows our commitment to getting the UK online. The aim of this promotion is to encourage those people who still haven't made that decision to get connected."
To use BT Openworld Anytime, customers must have a BT telephone line. This offer is only available for the first month of connection. It will be £15.99 per month thereafter.
* Online session limitations apply. See terms and conditions.
Strange that such a promotion to get those still not online should be sent to a website =), then again even existing Internet users can take advantage.
Unfortunately having to pay £15.99 per month for the privilege, regardless of the initial discount, is still a lot for standard 24/7 unmetered dialup. |
Freeserve ISP To Stream Glastonbury
By:mark.j @ 2:44:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The French Wanadoo owned UK ISP Freeserve has teamed up with PlayLouder.com to offer webcasts (streaming media) of the best performances from the Glastonbury event, which opens next Thursday:
The webcast line-up will be announced next week, but is expected to feature around a dozen live performances from the two main stages - The Pyramid Stage and The Other Stage - as well as interviews, archive footage and up-to-the minute news from the UK's best-loved festival.
Music fans from around the world will be able to access the streaming from Freeserve.com, PlayLouder.com and glastonburyfestivals.co.uk, the official site for the festival.
Freeserve MD, Portals, Jon Gisby said: "The webcast complements the launch of Freeserve's new Music Club and we look forward to adding further exciting music content in the future." Music Club is a digital music subscription service that allows users to download tracks to portable music players or PCs for £4.99-a-month upwards. It also offers a monthly play list that subscribers can sign up for according to their musical preference.
Of course nothing can ever quite beat actually being there in person. More @ netimperative.info . |
Oftel Boosts Telco Competition
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Oftel has issued a new press releasing announcing its intention to boost competition and better protect consumers, which could spell trouble for BT:
There will be a new opportunity for companies to offer a complete residential telephony service to consumers, a continuation of controls to ensure BT’s customers’ bills do not rise, and an extension of measures to protect BT’s lowest spending customers.
Oftel’s measures are designed to boost competition and lead to the eventual abolition of price controls when the market is fully competitive.
The arrangements are:
* A new wholesale line rental product that will enable competitors to offer a complete telephone service covering line rental and calls. This could lead to a range of innovative tariffs such as flat rate subscriptions for unlimited calls or the abolition of line rental charges with all costs recovered through call charges. BT will be required to provide the line rental product to new entrants on the same terms as it does to BT’s retail business;
* A new price control on BT’s lowest spending 80 per cent of residential customers to reduce customers’ bills by the rate of inflation will be introduced in August 2002. The control will be revised to one which pegs prices to the rate of inflation once the new wholesale line rental product has been fully implemented by BT and is being used by other operators to provide services;
* The upper limit for eligibility to BT’s Light User Scheme will be extended from the lowest spending 20 per cent of customers to the lowest spending 30 per cent, making more customers eligible for a reduction in their line rental charge.
David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications said today: "Although price controls have delivered significantly lower prices for consumers, competition is increasing in the domestic calls market and the time is right for a new approach.
Oftel’s measures are designed to boost competition and protect consumers while competition develops."
Oftel will apparently review the situation again in 2004, although a truly competitive market still seems some way off. |
Personal Data Logged By ISPs
By:mark.j @ 9:26:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The 'Snoopers Charter' may have been delayed a little longer, yet did you know that most ISPs already log your activity for a period of up to three months, some for a full year?
Of course the current logging is limited and for a small fee most ISPs will provide you with the details. E-Mail addresses, logon/logoff times and duration are the primary details stored:
Steve Rawlinson, managing director at internet service provider Claranet, said: "Most of the time we ask police to get a court order. The exceptions are when it is an issue of terrorism, where the time taken to get an order could be important. The other is where child abuse may have taken place."
He notes that there are a number of issues that the ISPs have to consider, apart from helping the authorities. Individuals have privacy and data protection rights that the ISP cannot break casually.
Equally, obtaining the required information is a costly and time-consuming task given the vast amount of data that passes through an ISP's network. In theory, there is some provision in legislation for compensation but at present, service providers have little or none of their costs covered.
The Telegraph's story then goes on to talk about the different matter of sharing such details with departments that shouldn't need to see it and the potential problems with more recent proposals. |
CharityDays ISP Gets A Facelift
By:mark.j @ 8:59:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The unmetered dialup and broadband ADSL offering charity ISP CharityDays has given its website a new look and explains why in their latest press release:
CharityDays Gets A Facelift
The good cause ISP that went live at the end of last year giving internet users the chance to help UK charities has just given their web site a facelift.
Commercial Director, Nick Aldrich explained the reasons why “We have spent the last 6 months listening to our users and taking on board their suggestions about the site and service. The main improvements have been in the clarity of information to new users of the Internet as well as reducing any confusion over the 30+ different access accounts that we offer. We hope the new site will enable people to find what they need more quickly and easily as well as explain the benefits to people of using CharityDays as their ISP.”
CharityDays have gone from strength to strength with charities such as Oxfam, NCH and Youth Hostels Association promoting the service to their supporters. Although they are raising money for Charity, they attribute their success to being a good ISP first. Nick went on to explain. “We want people to use us because of the quality and cost of our service and not just because we are helping charity”
The new CharityDays site can be found at www.charitydays.net. Take a minute to have a look around and see what you think. |
Mobile Industry Warns Of 3G Pessimism
By:mark.j @ 8:53:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Earlier in the week we reported on some new research that showed how 40%+ of people simply weren't interested in next-gen 3G (UTMS) broadband wireless mobile phone technologies. Today the industry has moved to rebut the report by Detica:
The remaining 42 percent, Detica feels, will only use mobile technology for voice calls and have little interest in mobile banking or video services. Given the vast sums of money spent on 3G to date, Detica's findings make gloomy reading. Some in the mobile industry, though, believe that 3G will have a bright future.
Jeffrey Torrance, business manager with Ubinetics, a company that makes platforms for testing 3Gnetworks and devices, told ZDNet UK that it wasn't sensible to expect users to be enthusiastic about 3G before the technology is up and running.
"If you go back to when GSM was rolled out, the question was why upgrade to a digital network when you have a perfectly adequate analogue network? You have to create the applications first and then get people interested," said Torrance.
The ZDNet item goes on to highlight a number of other examples of how 3G could succeed and indeed it will ultimately have to because it's a replacement technology, the problem is more about price.
The bottom of the article tells it all, with consumer to business costs going from £25 per month (PM) all the way up to £80 and possibly more if limits are exceeded. Would you even pay £25 PM for 3G? Better to get the Sky movie channels =). |
Sync Problems - Alcatel USB ADSL Modem
By:mark.j @ 8:43:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] | ADSLGuide has reported that anybody experiencing exchange synchronisation problems should check their drives to make sure they're on v1.4 to v1.6 because older variants aren't so reliable. |
News - June 19,2002
Ex-Tele2 Sales Staff Looking For Love?
By:mark.j @ 2:54:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Cyber Call's Ex-Tele2 sales staff have apparently posted a lonely hearts ad mocking their previous employer:
Says the ad: "Highly desirable and hot to trot, good looking and fully loaded ISP Sales Team - recently dumped by long-term, short sighted Wireless ISP partner - WLTM - dynamic, imaginative partner for exciting and profitable long-term relationship. Genuine callers only please. Tel: 07050 555 222."
Tele2 dumped its sales force as part of "drastic" cuts at the wireless broadband operator following what appears to be extensive restructuring at the company.
Tele2's future is now very much under review and we've yet to find out exactly what might be planned for the future, probably because they themselves don't know yet either. More @ The Register. |
BTs New ADSL Scheme Under Pressure
By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not surprisingly a lot of people have been concerned that BTs demand requirements of between 200 and 500 interested registrations is far too high and could well dash the hopes of many EVER getting ADSL.
ADSLGuide has now highlighted the following official F.A.Q on BTs broadband website, which covers the recent announcement. Unfortunately the answers to some of the more difficult questions are little more than diversionary politics.
Perhaps more interesting is the reply one of ADSLGuide’s posters had from BTs own Ben Verwaayen, although we can’t confirm the legitimacy of it and he has quite poor writing for such a senior official:
I am honest;y surprised to read your email and the comments on adslguide. This is a huge improvement. Exact visibility, clear yardsticks and open communications. Up until now there was no visibility and people just had to wait and see.
We have always explained that there are economic criteria before we enable exchanges, but never there was this absolute clearity. So if anything we have speeded up the process, not slowing it down. There will be places, you are right, that probably never will meet the criteria. They have to rely on satelite or other means.
We are working a flurry of technological alternatives, like wireless, but nothing definite yet. Hope this helps.
Another item @ Silicon once again highlights Broadband4Britains (BB4B) recent announcement on demand levels, which followed research conducted by Ovum:
Andy Williams, campaign manager for BB4B, said studies carried out by analyst house Ovum pointed to a far lower figure than BT Wholesale's 'trigger point' of between 200 and 500 users.
Williams said: "Our research shows an exchange could break even or be profitable with between 12 and 75 users over two to three years, although this number does differ depending on the mix of business and residential users.
If BT Wholesale isn't careful it will dampen demand for broadband rather than create it. We know the actual flash point is much lower than 200 users."
It's worth pointing out that we believe 75 is probably too low, although perhaps 120/150 is more realistic. Either way both are well below 200 to 500! |
Online Viruses Double - 2002
By:mark.j @ 10:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] British security company MessageLabs has reported that it tracked as many online viruses during the first two quarters of 2002 as it did in the whole of last year (2001):
The company, which screens corporate email accounts for viruses, said it intercepted more than 2 million infected messages in the first six months of 2002, double what it encountered in the same period last year.
John Harrington, US marketing director for MessageLabs, said such serial development of worms has helped virus writers create more malicious pests.
"Not only are we seeing more email viruses out there, but the type we're seeing are more malicious," Harrington added. "Two years ago, the big pest was the Love Bug; it was a mass mailer, but the payload wasn't that malicious. With SirCam and Klez, they're extremely malicious -- they root around in your hard drive; they send out sensitive documents."
The ZDNet item finishes by noting how more countries are starting to crack down on virus writers, many seeing it as a serious crime with others now willing to convict authors as terrorists. Unfortunately not everybody is doing it. |
Cautious Welcome To Snooping Delay
By:mark.j @ 8:30:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Yesterday’s decision to delay a key debate on cyber surveillance, known as the 'Snooping/ers Charter', has today been welcomed by civil libertarians, albeit somewhat cautiously:
John Wadham, director of Liberty, described the move as a welcome boost for the defence of basic privacy. But he added respite would only be temporary if the government "insist on bringing back this extraordinary measure in the autumn."
Mr Wadham said: "The public reaction to this sweeping extension of snooping powers shows just how ill-judged it was - and how alarming it is that such drastic measures could pass through Parliament almost unnoticed."
Indeed the delay may not change anything; the government could just as easily use it to ignore people now as they have done for the past two years. More @ Ananova. |
News - June 18,2002
Isonetric Satellite ISP Helps ITC
By:mark.j @ 3:17:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Isonetric, the broadband satellite service behind a number of other ISPs as well as its own, has today been touting the success of its technology while at the ITC Conference on 11th June 2002:
Satellite Broadband at ITC Conference
Isonetric Broadband provided satellite internet connectivity at the ITC Digital TV Conference in the Brighton West Pier Hilton Hotel on 11th June 2002.
Isonetric worked with Victoria Real, a Brighton based digital TV company, to enable them to set up a number of streaming videos, including one from the Scottish Parliament. These real-time demonstrations showed the attendees at the conference what kind of information can be streamed across the web with a broadband connection.
Isonetric Broadband is a Brighton based satellite broadband provider with additional offices in Falkirk and Liverpool. Satellite Broadband is a new way to connect to the internet. Providing download speeds of up to 4mbps and upload speeds of 128kbps to SME’s and high end home users who are unable to access ADSL or more expensive broadband connections. |
Eircom Receive Broadband Funding
By:mark.j @ 3:08:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Ireland’s government looks set to award Eircom 3.5Million Euros to expand their broadband ADSL networks outside Dublin:
A source close to the situation has confirmed a report in the Irish Times that said the government funding matches a further EUR11 million in which Eircom will invest in the project, which will be supported by the government under the National Development Plan.
The plan will enable Eircom to extend its rollout of high-speed Internet technologies to the South East region, and the Border, Midlands and West. The project is to be announced more than a year after Eircom pulled out of a similar scheme due to cash constraints.
The source further explained that Eircom will extend its new Internet service i-stream to an extra 14 telephone exchanges under the plan. It will also build fibre-optic rings, microwave radio infrastructure and Internet points of presence in areas where it is not considered commercially viable for firms to invest without government subsidies.
It's nice to see that the governments of some countries consider broadband important enough to directly invest in, even for rural areas. More @ ElectricNews. |
The BBC Wants Your E-Mail Blunders
By:mark.j @ 3:04:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The BBC has started seeking people who have made embarrassing email blunders for a new TV series:
It will feature serious incidents like the infamous Jo Moore "bury the news" 11 September email and humorous ones like the Liverpool office worker who signed his email with the Alanis Morissette lyric: "Are you uninhibited in bed more than three times a week and up for being experimental?"
Producer Jonny Young, said: "When we started working on this series we realised what a shared experience email blunders was. Most of us who use a computer have either sent an email we later regretted or know someone who has."
"Some of the stories we are going to feature will be quite serious but others, we hope should be quite fun - the sort of thing to make you shudder and think 'I nearly did that'."
We can’t help but feel that this sort of program wouldn’t work, not least because it’s very easy to make up fake messages all for the sake of humour. More @ Web-User. |
BTs mmO2 MMS, 3G Prices & Demand
By:mark.j @ 2:55:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A new report from Detica has found that 40% couldn't care less about 3G multimedia services and are more interested in being able to pay bills and check account balances using their phones.
Still, BTs mmO2 hasn't been put off and today announced the launch of its own MMS (Multimedia Messaging) service for GSM, GPRS and future 3G networks:
MMS allows users to send images, sound files and text to other mobile phones or email addresses. The O2 portal features an image bank where customers can store and access photographs from their handsets. mmO2 will also unveil a range of multimedia text alerts covering sport, entertainment, news, travel and other subjects.
The company hopes to attract consumers and business users through a marketing campaign that will "emphasise compelling content and applications", and it will introduce a simplistic pricing structure where customers can either pay around 30p per message, or, pay a flat monthly rate for a set number of messages.
The netimperative.info item is well timed because the first Digital Camera + GPRS colour combo phones will be on sale within the next couple of weeks. The Nokia 7650 is one such example.
Unfortunately Ananova also has some information on mmO2's possible future 3G pricing, which is based off of their Isle of Man service trials. Be prepared for a shock!:
Trial prices for the Isle of Man will see a typical residential user charged £1.40 a day or £44 a month for surfing the web, downloading music or using e-mail. MmO2 is the first company in Europe to put a price on its third generation services, although it said the tariffs may yet differ for the UK.
The company's Manx Telecom subsidiary began testing its 3G network at the end of last year and will now gauge the reaction to its pricing structure among 200 customers on the island.
The good news is that this may only be one of several possible pricing solutions to be tested, although any price above £20 per month (at most) is unlikely to go down well with EU consumers. |
Users Gain Influence Over ADSL Rollout
By:mark.j @ 2:36:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide has been quick to spot THIS new press release on BT Groups website. BT has launched a new way for potential customers to better help and view the rollout of ADSL broadband:
BT GIVES CUSTOMERS POWERFUL INFLUENCE OVER WIDER BROADBAND ROLLOUT
BT today gave its customers a powerful voice in where broadband should be rolled out next.
It paved the way for the widest possible availability of its broadband services with the announcement of an innovative order registration system. It will give service providers and the public a direct say in the rollout plans for ADSL.
The on-line scheme will:
* encourage consumers and businesses to log their interest in ordering broadband service in their area through service providers
* enable them to see the "trigger point" at which their local exchange will be upgraded and to view the number of end-users already interested
* give service providers a powerful tool to target marketing drives
* and ensure BT commits resources precisely where demand levels make commercial sense.
BT chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, said: "We are pushing out broadband wherever we can. This scheme is hugely important in testing demand and making sure we get broadband out there without delay. Everyone who wants to get the benefits of broadband should register. Every vote counts."
BT Wholesale chief executive, Paul Reynolds, said: "This exciting new scheme gives us the means to bring broadband Britain to every community where it is commercially viable. It will act as a true barometer of demand. People have been claiming that there is sufficient demand for broadband in their areas if only they had a way to channel their interest to us. Now we have created just such a scheme.
Businesses and consumers can register their interest with service providers who will record it on the broadband registration database. The demand and the target levels will be clearly visible to all and will help individuals, communities, local authorities and service providers to have a direct impact on broadband roll out."
BT Wholesale's scheme will go live on July 1 and will record firm demand for broadband at every exchange in the country. It will also publish the threshold at which the level of demand makes individual exchanges commercially viable for broadband upgrade.
At launch, trigger levels ranging from 200 to 500 user registrations will be published for more than 300 of 500 exchanges reviewed since April to establish individual costs of ADSL deployment and operation.
For the remaining exchanges in that review further work needs to be done to work out costs before a threshold is set. Threshold levels for these exchanges plus a further 400 exchanges will be published in phases between July and September.
The move will also help BT reach its target of one million broadband connections by summer 2003. So far more than 250,000 customers have been connected to ADSL. BT Wholesale has enabled 1,115 exchanges, serving 66 per cent of Britain's households and 73 per cent of current internet users.
The 900 exchanges being reviewed for the broadband registration scheme, together with the 1,115 exchanges already ADSL-enabled, serve more than 80 per cent of Britain's homes.
It's not yet clear where we'll be able to see this system or whether it takes into account existing interest registered through other ISPs. |
More Problems With ISP Liability
By:mark.j @ 9:33:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Until recently ISPs had been regarded as 'passive conduits', which means they couldn't be held accountable for customers' online activities.
These days ISP liability is going through a rather difficult change, one that could ultimately see providers held more responsible for the actions of customers on their service, but is it fair?
In more and more cases, industry groups, with the help of law enforcement authorities, are succeeding in getting ISPs to take down sites that violate laws regarding privacy, security, speech and standards of decency.
Earlier this month, the Motion Picture Association, the international arm of the Motion Picture Association of America, forced a Dutch ISP to shut down Film88.com, a Web site that advertised the download of copyright-protected first-run films for $1 apiece.
Other ISPs have vowed to fight for their clients. Virginia-based ProHosters last month opposed repeated requests by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to remove from its network the controversial video of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, which was posted on Dutch Web site Ogrish.com, a ProHosters customer.
This is just the latest example of how ISPs are not entirely comfortable with the role of content editor, even enforcer, fearing a heavy-handed approach could alienate customers and drain resources.
To be honest the regulation in the above examples appears to be correct, anybody can view such material and the video of somebody being murdered is hardly in good taste. Posting of such material is just as likely to damage an ISP in other ways such as loosing customer respect etc.
The real problem is that of the snowball effect, once it's started, where does it stop? The recent problems in the UK with personal data monitoring, storage and sharing is a good example of what we always expected R.I.P to become despite earlier denials. |
BTs Internet-Enabled Cow Kiosks
By:mark.j @ 9:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] To be honest we're not quite sure how to introduce BTOpenworld's latest press release and so perhaps it's better if we just let it speak for itself, strange thou it is..:
BT OPENWORLD AND BT PAYPHONES PUT THE COWS AMONGST THE PIGEONS
BT Openworld and BT Payphones have teamed up to help London visitors and residents get fully involved in one of the capital's major summer events. The two businesses are working together to turn five prominent phone boxes into Internet-enabled cow kiosks.
The phone boxes will be transformed into 'Cow-moo-nication Centres', which will be used to promote BT Openworld's Anytime service, by the addition of fibreglass cow heads and legs and cow-panels. Each cow kiosk will be an individual character and will be positioned in some of central London's busiest locations, as well as appearing at the launch of the event in Trafalgar Square.
They will all provide access to BT's new Internet kiosk services, such as Internet, e-mail, text messaging and payphone calls. Starting in June, BT is creating the world's largest public network of Internet kiosks, installing 28,000 new terminals over five years, with 3,000 in place in the first year.
The cow kiosks are part of CowParade London 2002, taking place for 12 weeks from June 17. Approximately 150 fibreglass cows will be positioned around the capital, serving as cultural and artistic attractions for the city's visitors and inhabitants.
After the event, approximately 75 cows will be auctioned at Sotheby's Olympia on the evening of Thursday October 10, with substantial proceeds benefiting ChildLine. A second auction to benefit the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution will be held in late November. It is hoped that CowParade will raise over half a million pounds for these worthy causes.
BT Openworld's sponsorship of eight cows constitutes the event's largest herd. These include the five multimedia kiosks, as well as a design by students from Westminster College of Adult Learning and a cow created by a BT Openworld user via an online competition.
The ISP has also sponsored a cow in full England football kit, which was signed by celebrities including Ant and Dec, Westlife and Rod Stewart at the recent Music Industry Soccer Sixes tournament, Stamford Bridge. This cow is expected to raise a significant amount of money at auction for the charity.
Duncan Ingram, SVP consumer at BT Openworld, said: "CowParade is set to be the enduring image of summer 2002 in London, so we're delighted to play a key role in both sponsoring and designing the exhibits. We saw some real synergy between BT Openworld and CowParade - particularly in the areas of innovation, creativity and entertainment - so getting involved was really a formality."
Paul Hendron, director of BT Payphones, said: "It has been very exciting working with CowParade and BT Openworld to develop the interactive cow kiosks for this incredible summer art exhibition. The facilities provided will mirror those available to all of our customers in the UK as we rollout our multimedia terminals during the summer."
"BT Payphones is proud to be part of this worthwhile project designed to promote the arts and raise much needed funds for ChildLine and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution," he continued.
Charles Langhorne, managing director at CowParade Europe, said: "Whilst this event has already taken place in other places around the globe, no other city has successfully combined technology and art to such a great degree. The interactivity offered by these booths, and the Internet in general, means that people can not only look at the cows but actually enter into the whole experience. That way, the Internet kiosks are sure to leave a lasting impression on the capital's visitors, workers and inhabitants."
Haha ‘Cow-moo-nication Centres’, very funny, now shoot me! |
BT To Comply With Leased Line T&C's
By:mark.j @ 9:08:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT has stated that it will comply with Oftels 10-day deadline to change the terms and conditions (T&C's) of its operator contracts for broadband leased line services.
The order, which was made last Friday, could see the price of such services drop:
A BT spokesman said that it would be able to meet the deadline, but with some difficulty. "All it means is that we will have to draw up new contracts for each of our customers. It should be possible for us to do in that time frame because it does not require any technical changes, but it will be a lot of work."
New contracts will be sent out to BT leased line operators in the next few days, the spokesman said.
The VNUNet item notes that Oftel has also given BT nine weeks to improve its level of connection with operators and remove some restrictions. |
Oftels Residential Internet Trends
By:mark.j @ 9:02:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Oftel has shot up a new publication HERE on the key residential trends for a number of communication types (mobile, fixed voice) including the Internet. Some of the more interesting bits are as follows:
3.1 Around 11.5 million homes in the UK are connected to the Internet. Internet penetration grew at a consistent rate until May 2001, after which it temporarily stabilised before continuing to rise to 46% by February 2002.
3.2 Personal computer (PC) ownership currently stands at 54%.
3.3 50% of adults currently access the Internet at home or elsewhere such as at work/place of study/educational establishments, etc.
3.4 Ownership remains most prominent amongst the younger and middle age groups, higher social grades and the working population.
Packages and connection methods
3.5 43% of UK homes with Internet access are opting for unmetered products. This corresponds with the continuing decrease in use of calls only packages.
3.6 The vast majority (94%) of homes connected to the Internet, currently use a PC or laptop. Ordinary phone line/dial up remains the most popular method of access by households (88%) with Internet.
3.7 Based on recent subscriber figures 3% of Internet homes are using a broadband connection such as DSL or cable modem.
Satisfaction
3.8 Satisfaction levels remain fairly high, with 89% of Internet users claiming to be satisfied with their overall service at home. |
Gov Delays Anti-Privacy Debate
By:mark.j @ 8:57:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A debate to discuss the government’s highly controversial plans to extend powers to snoop on telecoms and electronic communications has been delayed.
Apparently the delay is due to parliamentary procedures, whatever that means:
Nick Gibb, Conservative member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, told silicon.com: "There is absolutely no justifiable reason why non-criminal justice authorities should have the power to obtain people's phone bills and other personal records. This bill doesn't even require a magistrate's permission."
"I'm anxious about the police having these powers, but at least it can be justified in their respect for fighting terrorism."
Conservatives are up in arms over the proposal and will oppose the draft order when it gets to the Lords if Labour uses its majority to get it through the Commons.
Interesting, when the R.I.P act was going through the conservatives didn't seem too bothered so long as they could make changes and now all of a sudden they're against it?
Typical politicians, you can't trust any of them anymore, that said and they are at least against it now. No new date for the debate has been set, although we doubt it'd do a lot of good anyway. More @ Silicon. |
News - June 17,2002
Hutchison3G UK Denies Delay Reports
By:mark.j @ 3:15:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Newspaper reports from earlier today had claimed that Hutchison3G UK were to delay the launch of their broadband wireless mobile phone service until the end of the year.
Despite this Hutchison3G UK has now denied the reports, yet their response shows some level of confusion toward the official timetable, or lack thereof:
A spokesperson for the firm claimed that it had not changed its position, after resolutely sticking to previously projected launch dates of "the second half of this year" and, more recently, "Q4".
The operator, notoriously wary of giving away its secrets to the opposition, also claims that it will have the necessary, dual-mode handsets, available by the time of the launch - a concern that initially led competitor O2 to move its schedule back until next year.
It's hardly surprising that people are confused, not least because they keep denying reports that seem technically correct, more @ netimperative.info. |
One.Tels Broadband MTV Music
By:mark.j @ 3:07:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One.Tel and MTV have struck a new music deal, which is supposed to bring the UK’s first 24-hour broadband music channel to life. Full press release follows:
ONE.TEL AND MTV SHOW BRITAIN WHAT BROADBAND CAN DO
A deal to bring the UK’s first 24-hour broadband music channel to life has been struck between One.Tel and MTV.
Launching officially on 1 July, and boasting some of the biggest names in pop and rock music, including Kylie, Eminem, Kelis, Fun Loving Criminals and Groove Armada, the new channel, MTV Live, will be the premier place for live music on the internet and is the first time the power of broadband has been showcased in the UK.
Broadband users will be able to watch their favourite acts performing at MTV concerts any time of the day or night with DVD quality pictures and sound. As well as exclusive content taken from MTV, the site will feature an archive of acts catering for all music tastes.
“To really get broadband into shape in the UK, there has to be better content available,” said Phil Worms, One.Tel’s Head of Broadband. “In partnership with MTV, we are putting some of the biggest names in music today on the internet and supporting live music. It’s the first time that broadband will appeal to a truly mass market because everyone loves music.
The industry has talked content for months, but that’s all it’s been – talk. Now we are doing it. Interaction lies at the heart of internet whether it’s email, surfing, audio, video or on-line games. Broadband makes that interaction faster, richer and easier to use”.
In addition to the MTV Live site, One.Tel’s broadband portal will host all of MTV’s live shows, hold an archive of live acts and give budding musicians the chance to compose their own tunes and live the life of a pop star through interactive games.
One.Tel will also sponsor all of MTV’s live UK concerts including the acclaimed Unplugged series.
“Working with One.Tel to provide MTV Live showcases one of MTV Networks key strengths - providing compelling music content and programming”, said Daniel Salem, Viacom Brand Solutions’ Commercial Director. “We are committed to offering music to our audiences, in a way that suits their ever-changing lifestyles and broadband provides us with a new platform opportunity. Furthermore the integrated nature of the deal reflects our ability to offer partners a complete marketing solution.” |
Did Telewest Mislead Shareholders?
By:mark.j @ 2:59:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Some good news and some bad for Telewest, whose 70 year old chairman in particular has now been accused of misleading shareholders over levels of executive pay:
At the cable TV and broadband company's annual general meeting (AGM) last week, chairman Cob Stenham told assembled investors that company directors had seen their pay frozen. However, finance director Charles Burdick saw his pay packet swell £40,000 this year to £400,000.
The Sunday Times yesterday reported Stenham as saying: "I was on my feet for about two hours. If you're having questions hurled at you over that period of time, you're only human and you make the odd error."
The paper pointed out FD Burdick, on the stage with Stenham, chose not to correct the chairman, nor did other members of the company's remuneration commission.
Thankfully none of this is going to bother those more concerned about the pleasantly priced launch of Telewests new 1Mbps service below =). More @ Silicon. |
Tele2 Wireless ISP Update No.2
By:mark.j @ 2:47:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following last weeks revelation that Tele2's once promising fixed broadband wireless service was in serious troubles, we've today spotted the first official remarks from its CEO, Elliot Mueller:
The broadband operator also dismissed speculation that the business had called in the administrators. Elliot Mueller, the CEO of Tele2, told The Register: "That is not true."
However, he admitted that the company was facing a challenging time. He said: "Due to the economic climate we have had to restructure our business…to lower our cost base. We have had to make job cuts."
He added that right now "we're concentrating on our existing customers" and said that there was "nothing for customers to worry about".
In other words Tele2 has sacked a significant portion of its staff and isn't taking on any new customers; the latest rumour suggests that they're looking for a buyer, which makes sense.
There's little else new over @ The Register, although no doubt this story will unfold further through the weeks ahead. |
TW blueyonder Launches 1Mbps
By:mark.j @ 2:38:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Telewests much touted 1Mbps speed broadband cable modem service from their ISP wing, blueyonder, has finally launched following its successful trial in Scotland.
The price is significantly lower than the £49.99 PM charged by ntl:home for a similar service. Full press release follows (this replaces our earlier/shorter item):
Telewest Broadband breaks speed barriers
UK launch for blistering 1Mb blueyonder service
Telewest Broadband today launches its pioneering 1Mb blueyonder residential internet service across the UK, following an extensive trial with 1,500 Scottish customers.
The new service is the fastest way to experience the internet at home, via a continuous cable connection to the world wide web. It is nearly 20 times faster than traditional dial-up internet access and easily outperforms the residential ADSL services provided through BT's copper wires.
The super-fast access is available for £35 per month, when taken with other Telewest Broadband services, or £39.99 on its own. That is a £10 premium on standard (512kbps) blueyonder broadband access, and offers outstanding value compared to slower ADSL services offered by BT (£29.99) and AOL (£34.99).
David Hobday, sales and marketing director of Telewest Broadband, said: "1Mb is like viagra for your PC, providing a mind-blowing internet experience that other service providers simply can't keep up with. For the first year, it also works out nearly £140 less than BT's speediest home ADSL service, which is only half as fast."
"BT has previously questioned consumers' interest in going faster, but it's their only response when they can't get out of first gear themselves. Our standard 512kbs blueyonder service now has over 169,000 customers and will continue to be our most popular broadband choice but, with 1Mb, we've also got one foot on the accelerator."
The 1Mb service provides:
* Downstream speed increased to 1024kbps
* Upstream speed increased to 256kbps
* Dedicated 1Mb freephone technical support number
The additional bandwidth will enable customers to experience blistering downloads of music and software, easily share large files and benefit from full-screen video pictures and audio streaming.
Hobday added: "We have listened to the views of triallists and received some positive feedback in the process. There is also a growing number of web sites providing top speed content, such as highly-encoded video and mega-sized files to suck down, and we are as excited as our customers."
Existing blueyonder broadband (512kbps) customers can simply upgrade their service online, at no cost, at http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/evenfaster. New customers should call 0800 953 0730 or visit http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/info and a standard £50 installation charge applies. |
EU Investigates Internet Snooping
By:mark.j @ 9:18:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Somewhat ironically, the EU has begun to collecting data on online services and software that collect personal details and track or pass the information around too freely. The move could be the start of a wider and formal investigation.
Officials at three European data protection centres said the main concern of EU controllers remained .NET Passport, an authentication system for Internet users by software giant Microsoft, which has over 100 million users.
"These (other) software's are not the object of an in-depth investigation," Anne-Christine Laciest, joint councillor at Belgium's data protection office, said on Friday. "At the moment, what concerns us is Passport."
The officers stressed that co-ordinated action at EU level was only being taken on Passport. But data was informally being collected on other software in the context of broad research on privacy on the Internet, they said.
Laciest said that in principle the EU was against any Internet device that collected personal data without the user's knowledge. Something we find amazingly ironic considering the recent EU/UK anti-privacy moves we've seen =). We’d guess they don't like others doing what they do! |
Hutchison Delays UK 3G Launch
By:mark.j @ 9:11:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] There's long been concern that Hutchison's target for launching their broadband wireless mobile phone service (3G/UTMS) has been too ambitious and despite denials it now looks to have been true.
Hutchison3G UK has now officially delayed its rollout until the end of this year:
The move is a blow to the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, which owns stakes in telcos and licences around the world, as it won't be able to capitalise on the traditionally lucrative Christmas buying period.
However, today's Guardianquotes Hutchison 3G UK MD saying: "We have to launch when ready." Hutchison 3G has ruled out big handset subsidies and has so far done a good job of keeping its launch name under wraps.
Perhaps more worrying is that the Silicon item highlights a separate report published by Credit Lyonnaise Securities Asia, which predicts the average monthly spend by users to be between £50-60 per month.
If that's what they're expecting then we seriously doubt 3G could succeed, few people would cough up even remotely near to that. |
News - June 16,2002
ISP Review Forum Back Online
By:mark.j @ 11:12:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We’ve now finished our monthly maintenance sweep and the forums are finally back online, note that we also removed around 800 members whom registered in 2001 and never made a single post.
We also expect to do a software upgrade with bug fixes for the last one and a few new features sometime in the next couple of weeks. |
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Where's the summer? Perhaps this is the price we pay for having a mild autumn and early winter. On the bright side and England beat Denmark 3 - 0, now only the major games remain and our team is about to be given a real test.
News has taken up most of our time this last week; there's barely been a single day when we didn't have at least 10 full news items.
Thankfully we have found time to continue bug-testing the new 'Reader ISP Reviews' system, which remains on target for a pre-July introduction. This is also the reason why we haven't added any new static reviews, because the automated system is so close.
The bad news is that we'll be taking the forums offline today for the usual maintenance sweep and removing any members who joined in 2001 and have yet to even make a single post. |
News - June 15,2002
BT Aims To Dominate – No Frills ADSL
By:mark.j @ 9:44:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In an incredibly arrogant way, BT has stated that other ISPs will need to change their ways if they hope to compete with its new BT 'No Frills' Broadband product. How exactly should they change their ways? They’re already cheaper!:
The company is confident that millions of people in the UK will sign up for its BT Broadband product, which gives customers a fast Internet connection but doesn't include services such as email or Web space, within the next few years. BT Broadband quietly went on sale last week, but is expected to have a full launch this September.
Chief executive Ben Verwaayen recently announced BT Group's broadband targets for the next five years. BT is aiming to have one million wholesale ADSL customers by the summer of 2003, and five million wholesale ADSL customers by 2006.
BT Retail, like other ISPs such as Freeserve, AOL and BTopenworld, will buy broadband connections from BT Wholesale and resell them to customers. Speaking to ZDNet UK, Angus Porter, the managing director of BT Retail's consumer division, said he was confident that there would be at least 500,000 BT Broadband subscribers in 12 months' time.
BT is clearly looking to outdo its own BTOpenworld ISP service, although we're not quite sure how they're going to get 5Million wholesale ADSL customers =)? Cough, I think they mean consumers (wholesale is sold to ISPs).
However BTs stance of arrogance toward other ISPs, most of which now charge LESS than £27/28 per month for full residential services, seems just plain dumb.
How can they help to promote ADSL services to ISPs and at the same time try to compete with their own product? It's a clear conflict of interest and this only helps to show it. BT is clearly being very miss-leading about the state of the market, but will Oftel care? More @ ZDNet. |
ISPs Taking BT To Court (Broadband)?
By:mark.j @ 9:34:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently several UK ISPs and Telco's including THUS, Freeserve and Tiscali are preparing a judicial review to examine BT's alleged abuse of its dominant market position for broadband:
The problem is that any legal action will be costly and it may be necessary to seek additional financial backing from other ISPs and operators before any challenge gets underway.
Certainly, no single operator is likely to want to go head-to-head with BT without some additional support.
Also, any challenge against BT is likely to be risky because of the dominant telco's role as wholesale provider of ADSL services raising genuine concerns that any challenge could damage the relationship between operators and BT.
We always expected something like this would happen, although it's too early to know exactly how things will proceed. More @ The Register. |
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