May 15, 2002 - May 20, 2002
News - May 20,2002
BT's Business Broadband Warning
By:mark.j @ 3:08:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While most of the UK still doesn't have ADSL enabled (geographically), BT has never the less warned businesses that they could become toast if they don't move to high-speed links:
Tony Harris, BT's head of business internet services, said that companies need to take advantage of high-speed connections or risk losing competitiveness. He was quoted by the BBC as admitting that the initial rollout of broadband "hadn't been a success".
To help persuade the UK's 1.2 million small businesses to move to a broadband connection, BT has unveiled a series of initiatives.
Typically there's the usual mention of BTs rip-off satellite ISP service and a £1Million donation to community groups and selected businesses in deprived areas, which hardly helps anybody.
Real improvements can only come from a wider ADSL coverage scheme, more so than a few hundred exchanges every other year; unfortunately without any kind of realistic government subsidy then we fear this may never happen. More @ VNUNet. |
Freeserve Attack Oftel - BT Broadband
By:mark.j @ 2:55:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The French Wanadoo owned UK ISP, Freeserve, has today attacked the telecoms regulator (Oftel) for caving-in to BT over its new and highly controversial 'No Frills' BT Broadband ADSL service:
The comments from the UK's biggest ISP come as Oftel attempted to clarify how BT can market its new "no frills" BT Broadband service without acting anti-competitively.
However, Freeserve has lashed out at this decision claiming that under physical separation rules, BT is already prevented from using customer information to market its own Internet access services.
In a strongly worded statement Freeserve said: "Oftel has used this piece of old news to bury in its press release the fact that it has gifted to BT the anti-competitive advantage of using its blue bill to charge for its own broadband service.
The blue bill, which supports BT's near-monopoly fixed line phone business, is not available at wholesale and as such is a privilege of BT and BT alone."
Unfortunately there's no mention of the contrast between the 'No Frills' offer and that of the many cheaper and full ADSL ISP services from providers such as Nildram, PlusNet and PIPEX etc.
Hence BT's 'No Frills' Broadband service could only be a commercial success if it were able to dominate the advertising market and eclipse the opposition, which it has the power to do.
This could only mean that potential customers wouldn't be getting the full facts about BTs ADSL alternatives – not good. More @ The Register. |
Bonfield Never Had A BT Future
By:mark.j @ 2:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Comments made by BTs current chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, have emerged today showing how the former chief exec, Sir Peter Bonfield, never had a future with the operator:
In an interview this weekend Bland said that he drew-up a "To Do" list just after he joined the company last year from the BBC.
Among the ten items on his list was a Rights Issue, an idea to demerge BT's wireless business, a bid to reshape the Board, and ... oh yes, the appointment of a new chief exec.
Bland told the Sunday Telegraph: "That was something that was always going to happen."
So far BTs new chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, seems to be doing a better job. More @ The Register. |
Hutchison 3G Demo UK 3G Service
By:mark.j @ 9:14:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's been awhile since we heard of any major developments in the production and implementation of UK broadband wireless 3G mobile phone technologies.
However today Hutchison 3G has given a beta type demonstration of its 3G mobile service to a number of selected analysts:
Those present included Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Nomura International and Merrill Lynch. The demonstration took place at Hutchison 3G's Maidenhead office along the M4 corridor in the UK.
The demonstration consisted of a mixture of tests on mobile handsets whilst others were simulated on PCs as some applications were in an earlier stage of design e.g. alpha design stage.
During the demo, it was shown that the 3G speed for downloading a video clip was approx. 20 times faster than that of an identical GPRS download. Hutchison 3G has put a number of significant contracts in place to address the needs of network management, subscriber billing and roaming with other operators. However, one of particular interest is with Sky TV which will permit Hutchison 3G to show streaming goal-scoring video clips from the UK's Premiership Football League matches.
Hutchison officials confirmed that it is committed to launching 3G mobile services in the UK during the 4th quarter of 2002 and that the service area is likely to cover around 40% of the UK population. It was also stated that Hutchison 3G will have 3000 base stations in place at the time of launch.
More @ 3G UK. |
E-Mail To Save British Explorer?
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Dave Mill, a British explorer marooned on an ice floe near the North Pole, is hoping to be rescued after marking out a runway in the ice using his sledge and sending a picture of it via E-Mail to a rescue team in Canada:
The 34-year-old from Perthshire in Scotland is now hoping for calm weather, while a ski-plane makes its way to him.
He had been attempting to be the first man to walk to the North Pole solo and unaided, but after a series of problems and delays he was stranded on an ice floe, miles from land. Rescuers took off from Resolute Bay in Canada and if all goes according to plan should be touching down on Mill's makeshift runway between 12.30am and 1am on Monday.
Until then, Mr Mill will be frantically clearing the area of ice rubble to guarantee a smooth landing for the emergency team.
More in The Daily Telegraph Newspaper. |
Oftel Warns BT Over ISP Marketing
By:mark.j @ 8:58:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Oftel has warned BT Group not to use information gleaned from customers' bills to market its Internet services.
"BT cannot use detailed information contained in residential customers' bills in order to target its Internet access services to particular customers, as no other operator has access to this information," regulator Oftel said in a statement on Monday.
Oftel said BT sales staff would be closely monitored to ensure they complied with the rules. It said the situation would be up for review again in six months' time. "Oftel is likely to view use of this information as anti-competitive," they said.
BT already has one broadband product on the market, offering high-speed Internet access over home telephone lines for £30 per month. It will launch another "no-frills" product (BT Broadband), which will bypass service providers like Freeserve and AOL, for as little as £27 per month (as little?) later this year.
Freeserve, which leads the overall access market in Britain with 2.4 million users, in April called for BT's new product to be closely monitored by the regulator to avoid abuse of its market position. |
Working Parents Prefer E-Mail To Children?
By:mark.j @ 8:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Well not exactly, although new government figures have shown that such individuals spend on average twice as long dealing with email as playing with their children:
UK employees spend almost 49 minutes a day managing their inbox, according to the Department of Trade and Industry's campaign for better work-life balance.
That compares with just 25 minutes a day that British parents spending playing with their children.
Other findings also highlight the poor life balance being achieved by Britain's workforce.
We're not sure whether comparing a particular practice done during working hours to one occurring through personal time is a fair comparison, never the less it is still interesting. More @ Ananova. |
News - May 19,2002
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 9:59:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's probably obvious by now; we've finally managed to upgrade the forum software. I had been planning to do it today, although the fact that StarWars was booked up meant that I had some time to spare on Saturday instead.
This now leaves the future 'Reader ISP Reviews' system as the primary thing to do, although we've also got upgrades planned for the 'Reader Top ISPs' service as well. Our News and Poll software is also set to be replaced in the coming weeks.
Overall we're hoping to have all of the above done by Mid-July, which is when I'm off for a vacation away from all things ISP =). However I'm hopeful that it can all be achieved during May/June, before July even starts; it takes awhile to pack you know.
We've also got some new Reviews to write and a couple of articles in the pipeline, although all the new systems and upgrades are taking their toll on my spare time right now.
Note that the future ‘Reader ISP Reviews’ service may ultimately replace the ‘Reader Top ISPs’ system, we’re not sure yet, it’s just that they’d essentially do the same thing, only the new one would be better. However not everybody wants to write a review etc. |
BT Enable More ADSL Exchanges
By:mark.j @ 9:03:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The World Of ADSL has managed to get the heads-up on the latest batch of 15 broadband ADSL exchanges to be enabled by BT from the original list of 100:
Blunsdon
Blandford
Dalgety Bay
East Bay
Elgin
Lymington
Midsomer Norton
Oswestry
Oxted
Penicuick
St Andrews
Torquay
Wickersley
Chester South
Wolverampton Central
The last group left the total enabled @ 1,032 and so it should now be 1,047. |
Gio Reconnect / Refunds Booted Users
By:mark.j @ 8:53:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if the unmetered dialup ISP Gio Internet, which was among several NeonHippo backed ISPs to start booting heavy users, is now to re-active said accounts or offer pro-rata refunds. Gio's Managing Director, Abdul Khaliq, had this to say:
Gio Internet a channel partner of NH shall re-connect customers accounts whom have been terminated by NH or pro-rata refund accounts in the first instance.
Gio Internet apologises to all those affected by the recent events.
Customers are requested to call Gio Internet on 08707 425070 at the earliest opportunity to have the accounts re-activated.
No reason is given for the reversal, although it should be fairly obvious. What they were doing may have been practical, yet it was a clear breach of their own advertising. NeonHippo is being given the blame for this one.
Having said that we doubt this applies to other NH backed resellers, which operate a different set of prices, advertising and offers. |
News - May 18,2002
ISP Review Forum Upgrade
By:mark.j @ 2:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UPDATE: The forums are now back online and running with the new software. Not much has changed from a 'reader' perspective, most of the alterations are internal improvements etc.
The forums will be offline for up to two hours while we upgrade to the latest software revision, note that there could be complications, although hopefully these can be avoided.
If something goes wrong then we’ll revert to the old (current) version. |
NH Booting Customers Of Resold ISPs?
By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following on from the Gio news below; One of NeonHippo's (NH) resold ISP services, 123 ISP, has let us know that customers are being booted from more than just Gio Internet:
Just thought I would let you know that 123ISP has had 2 of its heavy users booted also by NeonHippo. (as has 24-7freecall, and other resellers).
It's worth pointing out that Gio doesn't have the same relationship with NH as resold ISPs such as 123 and 24-7FreeCall etc. NH never responded to clarify exactly what that means.
That said and they may as well be resellers because the network appears to be shared, hence 123's pleasure at seeing Gio removing heavy users, which it blames for at least part of the service problems. |
Gio Internet Break ISP Usage Promise
By:mark.j @ 8:41:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Gio Internet, the ISP that likes to boast about not restricting, "the number of hours you are on-line or how much data you download," appears to have broken their own promise, potentially putting it at odds with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
One of our readers has reported receiving the following message after only being with the £7.99 PM service for three weeks!:
Your usage patterns have been excessive and we believe that you have infringed Point 8.1(b) of our standard Terms & Conditions. Under these circumstances your connectivity account will be terminated on Saturday 18th May at 6 PM.
Sincerely
Gioserve.com
Aside from the fact that there appears to be no sub-section to point 8 of their T&C's, Gio is clearly doing exactly what we warned of when they first launched. Gio has also been suffering, much like other ISPs 'associated' with NeonHippo, from a problem with engage tones, which could be related.
Despite this the above E-Mail appears to be a clear (illegal?) contradiction between the way the service was advertised and how it's run. So far we’ve only heard this reported once, although apparently more people may have now received it – unconfirmed.
Anybody having this problem may like to report it to the ASA or Office of Fair Trading for further investigation, but only if you subscribed under the original ‘no restrictions’ offer. Hopefully some of you took our original advice and made screenshots of said offer, which would help the above groups investigate.
Please remember that Gio now advertises the service for ‘LIGHT’ users, yet this gives them no right to remove those who subscribed under the original offer. They’re also required to give prior warning of any changes to the T&C. |
AlphaPhe's New Unmetered Package
By:mark.j @ 8:14:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AlphaPhe.Net's latest service update has announced the introduction of another new unmetered dialup package, this time for night users between the house of 1am and 6am:
AlphaPhe.Net are always workng on new ideas and introducing new services, to bring you the best and most personalised service possible, perfectly suited to your needs, please take the time to read this update email as it contains important information about our new AlphaPhe.Net services, and other issues that may be of interest to you.
ALPHAPHE.NET PACKAGE 5 (NIGHT OWL)
AlphaPhe.Net have just introduced a new service called package 5 (Night Owl), this new service will appeal to shift workers, downloaders and insomniacs, so if you fall into one of those categories then check it out!
* 0808 FRIACO un-metered based service between 1am and 6am and access to 0845 local-rate service
* No gain in INM points between 1am and 6am
* Unlimited POP3 email accounts
* Unlimited forwarding and auto responding email accounts
* Email anti-virus protection
* Email anti-spam filtering
* 25MB of personal web space
* Full FTP access; including cgi-bin & Perl script functionality
* Domain name hosting
* Extensive Technical and Customer Support, including online, email and telephone
* SMS Notification Service - text alert to your mobile on receipt of an email.
* Extensive Payment Methods
* Unlimited session time-outs.
* Single channel (64k) ISDN connections
* Multiplayer Game Servers - Q 3, Half-Life, Counterstrike, RTCW and UT.
* "Web Fax"
* Logos and Ring tones
Night owl is charged at £3.99 a month for non-credit card payments and £4.49 a month for credit card payments. You can sign up for package 5 (night owl) by going to our website and using the register section.
ADSL SURVEY
We are currently running an ADSL survey on the home page of AlphaPhe.Net, if you have a few minutes to spare and have not done so already please take the time to complete the survey, as your input could be the deciding factor whether we introduce ADSL!
The survey can be found by clicking on this link:
http://www.alphaphe.net/adslsurvey.html
I think we have just about covered everything this time round, so until next time we hope you continue to enjoy AlphaPhe.Net and as always if you have any problems or general queries please do not hesitate to contact us. |
AOL Removes IE From Mac Software
By:mark.j @ 8:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In the first true sign that AOL is about to replace Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser with its own Netscape brand, the ISP is to replace IE under its Mac software client:
In an email to developers, the company said AOL for Mac OS X version 2 featured an integrated Netscape browser.
The software has also been updated to the "aquafied" style of the OS X interface, and supports instant messaging with Mac.com users.
Under the terms of a six year deal, AOL offered Internet Explorer as its default browser, but its partnership with Microsoft foundered last year after the two companies disagreed on new terms.
With AOLs version 7.0 software due out later in the year, it's now a very real possibility that IE will finally be replaced, but will the customers prefer Netscape? More @ Silicon. |
News - May 17,2002
Surfmore Unmetered ISP - Bankrupt
By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Sometime ago we noted the existence of the Surfmore unmetered dialup ISP, which cost £14.99 (special Pre-Pay deal) for a 24/7 service on a nasty 20:1 contention (2 hour cut-off).
Unfortunately over the past few weeks the service appears to have been in some trouble, yet we've been unable to find out why, until now.
Thankfully one of our readers (Pete) has finally found the answer and posted it on our Surfmore forum:
Today I contacted TM Retail who are responsible for McColl's More Martin's and Forbuoys newsagents who sell the Surfmore Prepaid Internet Access product.
I was informed that Surfmore and the related Talkmore products were not being sold any more and that the company responsible for Surfmore had been declared bankrupt.
I have been asked to return my Internet Topup Card by Registered Post or Recorded Delivery and I would in turn be re-imbursed both purchase price and postage.
If anyone else has problems with the Surfmore product they too can send the card etc to the company.
PS Thanks to Keith for his assistance in this matter and an extra saucer of milk for Kitty
Another one bites the dust.. |
Telewest Lifts Usenet Death Penalty
By:mark.j @ 2:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Good news for subscribers to Telewests blueyonder ISP arm, the controversial and self-imposed Usenet Death Penalty (UDP) has now been lifted:
The cable company voluntarily suspended its UseNet newsgroup access early this week in response to a threat of a UseNet Death Penalty, (UDP) which was mooted by an anti-spam campaigner in response to a stream of inappropriate postings apparently originating from users of Telewest's ISP business, Blueyonder.
The company claimed that the offending messages had not originated from its own computers, or those of its customers, but said that external spammers were exploiting "poorly configured customer computers" to post the offending messages onto UseNet.
The Silicon item reports that Telewest has solved the problem by contacting around 150 customers who were identified as having open relays. The problems were caused by incorrectly installed software. |
BTO Announce ADSL Promotion Plans
By:mark.j @ 10:06:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not unrelated to the item below regarding BTs mass-market advertising campaign for ADSL offering ISPs, BTOpenworld has today sent us news on its own new promotion:
BTOPENWORLD CLEARS THE PATH TO BROADBAND BUSINESS
Announces £1million plans for nationwide promotion of high-speed Internet access
BTopenworld is unveiling a series of initiatives designed to accelerate the move towards Broadband Britain. The plans, to be announced at the company's Broadband Summit in London today, aim to remove barriers to uptake and educate the market on the benefits of the high-speed Internet. The ISP, which currently has the largest number of business broadband users in the UK, has divided its plans into several categories. Firstly, the company is donating 800 lines as part of a series of Internet-focused initiatives, worth over £1 million, over the next two years. A significant proportion of this will be dedicated to the promotion of broadband awareness and uptake.
In an effort to bridge the digital divide, BTopenworld will equip community groups, and selected small businesses with broadband Internet access and equipment free of charge. To complement this, the company has created a Broadband Ambassadors Programme, awarded to businesses that can play a key role in evangelising the high speed Internet in their region or sector. In order to support businesses in non-ADSL enabled areas, the company has also announced a new rental option for satellite broadband, bringing in new contract terms, enabling customers to spread the up-front costs for satellite over two or three years. A move which research confirms will quadruple the number of customers taking up the service.
To gauge the progress of Broadband Britain, the company is also launching a quarterly 'Broadband Index' showing the rate of uptake among businesses across the UK. This will highlight the country's broadband hotspots, as well as the areas where greater education needs to take place.
Alison Ritchie, CEO of BTopenworld, said: "Despite real success in the area of broadband uptake over the last year, still under five per cent of Small and Medium Enterprises in the UK are taking advantage of this technology. We're committed to taking it up the curve from this point until it becomes as much a business utility as electricity and water." The first stage of this process is to ensure that broadband is widely available. Our immediate plans are therefore to remove as many barriers to uptake as possible, be they down to geography, cost or lack of education." |
Two ?New? Unmetered ISPs
By:mark.j @ 9:06:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Once again our resident forum mod and news hunter, Keith, has come across two unmetered dialup ISP services, ones we haven't already got listed. It's not clear whether they're actually new or not, although it's the first time we've seen them:
yesmate.com:
These new packages are based on a FRIACO (Fixed Rate Internet Access) system. They are cheaper than the old Surftime packages - there's no extra subscription to pay British Telecom. Sign up is simple and quick with the online registration system, you can be up and running in a few minutes.
* Gold Seal. £14.99 inc VAT per month. You receive completely unmetered access to the Internet, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, with no additional telecoms costs for connection to the Internet. Exceptionally, the Gold service targets a first-time connection on 99% of calls. Cut-offs are employed after 20 minutes inactivity and 4 hours absolute use.
* Surf Unlimited Silver. £12.99 inc VAT per month. You receive completely unmetered access to the Internet, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, with no additional telecoms costs for connection to the Internet. The Silver product targets better than 95% first time connection, an impressive level of service in Internet industry terms. Cut-offs come into effect after 10 minutes inactivity and 2 hours absolute use.
* Surf@Home. £9.99 inc VAT per month. High quality unmetered evenings and weekends package. 4pm - 8am.
* Business Unlimited. £9.99 + VAT per month. High quality unmetered access from 6am to 6pm.
* Pay as you surf. The new metered service, you pay no subscription and local call rates at all times
Also checked the T & C's...
http://www.yesmate.com/faq.htm
Q Can I stay connected all the time?
surf unlimited silver - This is not intended to support continuous or unattended Internet access, and as a result there is a cut-off after 10 minutes of inactivity and after 2 hours of absolute use. This is necessary to allow all members to access the service.
gold seal – This is not intended to support continuous or unattended Internet access, and as a result there is a cut-off after 20 minutes of inactivity and after 4 hours of absolute use. This is necessary to allow all members to access the service.
Business Unlimited – There are currently no disconnections on this service.
Surf@home - There are currently no disconnections on this service.
KernowServe:
homefree... *NEW*
for unmetered evening and weekend Internet calls - £12 per month. Our own unmetered Internet access service, no need to sign up with BT or pay them anything. Longer "free" hours, 6pm to 9am Monday to Friday, 6pm Friday to 9am Monday. Better contention ratios (6:1) - meaning more chance of connection. Local call rates outside of call-charge-free time. 2x email accounts included.
homefree24... *NEW*
for unmetered Internet calls 24 hours a day- £16 per month Our own 24x7 unmetered Internet access service, no need to sign up with BT or pay them anything. Max Contention ratio 6:1. 2x email accounts included.
KernowSurfTime...
for unmetered evening and weekend Internet calls Just £6.00 per month (payable by Credit/Debit Card) gives you unmetered evenings and weekend Internet calls.
Remember to sign up with BT SurfTime or SurfTogether package by calling 150.
(Note: BT will make an additional charge of up to £15.99pm depending on the discount package chosen), with calls charge at 1p per minute outside of 6pm-8am Mon-Fri or 6pm Friday to 8am Monday. 9:1 contention ratio - amongst the lowest in the industry. 1 month payment in advance, no minimum term.
KernowADSL...
Permanent AlwaysOn Broadband connection from £29 per month. Now available in Cornwall! Visit our ADSL section for further information.
We can provide ADSL services from £29 per month to compatible areas, including Plymouth, Truro and Exeter - contact us to find out when your area get ADSL Broadband. |
PlusNET Launch Ultra-Cheap ADSL
By:mark.j @ 8:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] PlusNET has today furnished us with a new press release announcing the launch of their new broadband ADSL Home Surf product, which is set to cost just £17.86 (£20.99) per month!:
* ADSL Home Surf - Best price & best value Broadband in the UK!
* PlusNet will not be beaten on price or value!
PlusNet, the best buy for Broadband in the UK*, today announced that they are reducing the cost of broadband even further with the introduction of their new "Home Surf" ADSL account.
ADSL Home Surf is just £17.86 per month [£20.99 inc VAT] and has been designed specifically for consumers who use the Internet for web browsing, gaming and email.
"By focusing on the requirements of the majority of Internet users, we have been able to bring a new price point to the UK market" stated Phil Sheard, Marketing Manager at PlusNet.
The Home Surf product boasts an impressive specification while delivering an unrivalled low cost. Included with the package are features such as unlimited e-mail addresses, 25 Megabytes of Webspace and 24 hour, 7 days a week, local rate Technical Support. The activation fee for the product is £50.00 [£58.75 inc VAT].
Customers wishing to take out a monthly contract just pay an extra £10 + VAT for activation. There is also the option to spread the activation fee across the first year's subscription.
ADSL Home Surf is a self-install product, providing 512k download speeds (256k upload). Home Surf does not support file sharing (or peer-2-peer) applications and only allows access to text-based groups on PlusNet's USENET service.
"We have built a reputation for unrivalled value added services, we didn't want to remove this from this product. The fact is that ADSL Home Surf has more services than most other ISPs can offer on their premium services" continued Sheard.
For further details on ADSL Home Surf and our full range of ADSL products, including business offerings starting at £29.99 per month, go to http://www.plus.net/
Obviously it needs to be pointed out, again, that PlusNET appears to be targeting this toward 'light' broadband users and won’t support file sharing, which is known to eat bandwidth.
Having said that it's still an exceptionally priced service, let’s hope they can maintain it. So much for BT ‘No Frills’ Broadband =). |
ISPr Help BTO ADSL Policy Change
By:mark.j @ 8:42:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Roughly two months ago we began a small investigation into a little known hazard for those with broadband ADSL installed and about to move house.
This was highlighted by one specific individual who noted that while he was only moving a few houses down (still ADSL enabled), he was still required to end his 12 month contract, pay the remaining monthly bills and then subscribe again.
Obviously such a bill could be VERY large and if you need to move house, especially in the same area, then it's quite ridiculous. Thankfully ISP Review has managed to force this issue with BTOpenworld for quite some time and we've finally got their response:
BTopenworld ADSL Statement - Customers Changing Address
To ensure its continued commitment to customers and the provision of high quality Internet access services, BTopenworld is currently reviewing existing T&C's with regards to broadband ADSL customers moving home.
Under the current T&C's, BTopenworld's ADSL customers who change address during their 12-month contract period are required to terminate their existing contract and settle the outstanding bill. If the customer's new address is in a broadband enabled area, they can open a new ADSL account from this address. This will require them to pay for the initial connection, as well as commit to a 12-month contract. These conditions apply to all customers, including those that are moving to the same local exchange.
Although these terms are currently featured in BTopenworld's T&C's, we recognise that customers will want to move - and therefore are working on a solution for them to end their contract, without penalty, if they are successful in getting BTopenworld Broadband at their new location.
BTopenworld will now evaluate customers on a case-by-case basis, with regards to providing reimbursements.
Unfortunately BTO haven't given us any specifics and don't mention whether or not they'll refund those who've already complained to us and now moved, thus having to pay and re-subscribe.
Thankfully if you do have this problem under BTOpenworld then you should now be able to contact them and hopefully resolve the situation. Note that we doubt this would apply if you intend to move house and never re-subscribe to BTO.
We'd now very much like to hear from those who originally complained to us about this. |
BT Preps ADSL Advertising Blitz
By:mark.j @ 8:26:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Remember the announcement from earlier in the year when BT spoke of plans for a massive broadband advertising campaign, which would also include a large majority of third party ISPs?
Apparently that very same campaign is now officially about to start and over 40 UK ISPs are to be involved:
ISPs who offer broadband services based on BT Wholesale's ADSL products were invited to apply back in December, and BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said on Thursday that the campaign will start very soon.
"BT's commitment to broadband doesn't just extend to the pricing, but also covers marketing," said Verwaayen, speaking at a press conference for BT's fourth quarter and full year financial results.
"A total of 41 ISPs are about to start advertising their broadband services, so the public are going to see a lot of positive marketing messages," Verwaayen added.
It's still not entirely clear exactly how each individual ISP will be able to get a piece of the advertising pie, although we should find out soon enough. More @ ZDNet. |
BT Enables More ADSL Exchanges
By:mark.j @ 8:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that a further 17 exchanges out of the previously announced list of 100 have now been enabled with ADSL. The total now stands @ 1,032:
Chalfont St Giles (SMCG)
Kidlington (SMKI)
Eversley (THEV)
Heathfield (NDHEA)
Flitwick (SMFK)
Littlewick Green (THLG)
Werrington (EMWERRI)
Radstock (SSRAD)
Hailsham (SDHLSHM) Woburn Sands (SMWS)
Rhyl (WNRE)
Cranleigh (THCN)
Wisbech (EMWSBCH)
Radford (CMRAD)
Trowbridge (SSTRO)
Corby (EMCRRBY)
Kirkcaldy (ESKIR) |
News - May 16,2002
BTO Specific Financial Results
By:mark.j @ 3:02:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While we've already seen the financial results from BT (general), BTOpenworld's own specific figures seem to show that despite rising income the ISP is still managing to lose money:
Publishing full year prelims it reported that turnover for the year jumped 59 per cent from £140 million to £222 million.
However, the ISP still made an EBITDA (earnings before interest, etc) loss of £102 million, a £96 million (48 per cent) improvement on the year before.
BTo claims the improvement is due to growth across its broadband and narrowband product ranges.
The Register's full item notes that BTOpenworld is hopeful for the future and will aim to reduce overheads. |
Trust Issues Hamper e-Government
By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The government has stated that a lack of trust in the Internet will hamper its target to put all government services online by 2005:
"We thought by now there would be a market for trust services," said Dr Stephen Marsh, director of security policy at the Office of the e-Envoy, "but it is not happening at the speed we need for our 2005 targets." A trust service, or online authentication service, identifies a user on the Web to third parties and avoids the need to continually log-in to Web sites -- Microsoft's Passport is one of the best-known examples.
A government-backed scheme to support trust services has only approved two in two years, but Dr Marsh believes that the government can still make its target, by using more old-fashioined accreditation on government Web sites.
Fifty-four percent of central government services are online already, said Dr Marsh, and 75 percent will be online by the end of the year. However, the majority of the systems online so far are just information-providing Web sites, not transactional services, he admitted.
More @ ZDNet. |
BT Announce Stable Finances
By:mark.j @ 2:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's been a turbulent year for BT, although today's newly released financial figures make things look more promising for the future:
Sales for the year to 31 March grew marginally to £21.8bn on a group basis, but pre-tax profits - before exceptional items - fell to £1.27bn. Net loss, after taking into account asset write-downs totalling £2.5bn, was £2.6bn.
The company slashed the carrying values of European assets controlled by BT Ignite, its internet, voice and data services division. Ignite, following the hefty £2bn write-down, is valued at just £750m.
Overcapacity is rife in this sector and Ignite will be hard pushed to meet the boards' profitability target - for loss-making units - of March 2003. Full-year divisional turnover improved by 29% to £4.47bn and it will focus on "multi-site corporate customers" in the future to drive additional growth.
The netimperative.info item reports that the comparatively good news has helped to boost BTs shares by an impressive 4.9% higher at 268p. |
Freeserves Online Music Service
By:mark.j @ 2:35:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The French Wanadoo owned UK ISP, Freeserve, has become the latest provider to develop an online music subscription service, which is due to launch sometime during the summer:
Customers are promised a catalogue featuring artists signed to leading labels, including BMG and Warner.
The announcement stems from a deal between Freeserve's French parent Wanadoo and the UK's On Demand Distribution. Subscriptions will start at around £5 a month.
Charges will vary according to whether users choose 30-day access to streamed recordings or permanent download options.
The Ananova item notes that tracks will be encoded in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format and you'll probably need a broadband connection to make the most of it. |
Opera Release Browser Upgrade v6.02
By:mark.j @ 10:53:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not a day after Netscape v6.2.3 found its way in to the wild, today it’s the turn of Opera's Internet Explorer and Netscape web browser alternative. The v6.02 FINAL release for windows can be downloaded below:
http://www.opera.com/download/ |
Fast24 Introduce New FRIACO Ports
By:mark.j @ 8:54:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The much complained about unmetered dialup ISP Fast24 has finally issued a new service update on our forums regarding the introduction of some additional unmetered (FRIACO) capacity (ports):
Several weeks ago we mentioned that after the first batch of non BTFRIACO ports had arrived that another batch had been ordered of what we believed to be an even better quality connection. Well the introduction of these ports was delayed for further testing (as we didn't want a repeat of the problems encountered with the first wave of port introductions), and this should be completed by the beginning of next week.
Please note that the ports in question are not as yet nationwide (about 70% thus far), though there is a role out plan which should cover ninety something per cent by the end of the summer.
We hope to email those customers in the serviced areas next week in order to give you this additional option.
Apparently the news ports are from 186k.co.uk, although we'll have to wait until next week to find out whether they've helped or not. |
V21 Alter Free24-7 Unmetered Service
By:mark.j @ 8:49:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The following service update was apparently posted on V21's own support forum and notes that the popular Free24-7 unmetered package is to reduce its cut-off from 2 to 1 hour.
When the service first went live it cost £7.99 PM and had an unrealistic 4 hour cut-off, it was then reduced to 2 and now 1.
This should be a good lesson for people thinking that ISPs can sustain quality for such a low price with so few restrictions, it was bound to happen:
Free 24-7 Important Service Changes
Due the continued success of the well loved Free 24-7 Flat rate Internet access plan. Free 24-7 have been running extensive service testing on the platform at different times of the days and have concluded that to benefit all users with a faster, more reliable flat rate access with less interruption's we shall be reducing the total time online from 2 hours to 1. This does not change any other feature of the service and users are allowed to reconnect immediately still up to the provision of 28 hours per week
We hope that this change will help all users receive a better service and a continued reliable platform for times to come. However if you require longer online then you can upgrade your account type from within the members area
This change will take effect on the 28th May 2002
On the flip side and 28 hours PER WEEK @ £7.99 PM is still fairly good, although it's not what people originally signed up for. |
Ireland Gains Broadband Wireless
By:mark.j @ 8:39:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Having only just started to see broadband cable modem service from NTL and ADSL from both Eircom and Esat, now a 'Tele2' style fixed broadband wireless option is to come from Sky-net and Leap Broadband:
Fixed wireless broadband is a type of Internet service that gives users connections to the Net at speeds faster than 128kb/s. To access the service, users must be within the radius of the central broadcasting point and each customer also needs to have a permanent antennae attached to the roof of their building.
Sky-net announced on Wednesday that it planned to begin selling high-speed fixed wireless broadband services from 01 July to users within a three-kilometre radius of its central broadcasting point in Sandyford. Using the service, Sky-net customers will be able to access the Net at speeds of between 128kb/s and 2Mb/s. Moreover, speeds can be changed to suit customer needs within 24 hours.
Sky-net is not revealing prices for the service just yet, but Lee O'Carroll, the firm's joint managing director claims the cost of the service will be as much as 40 percent lower than existing landline options on the market. There will charges for installation, but these too are expected to be lower than landline charges for comparable services.
Meanwhile Leap Broadband, the fixed wireless broadband service provider run by the former Formus executives, Charlie and Rory Ardagh, will also be launching services in the coming weeks. "Price is a big factor and availability is big factor too, but I think there is a real pent-up demand for our services out there," explained Charlie Ardagh. Currently 14 business are testing the Leap service and Ardagh said the "results are exceeding all expectations."
The ElectricNews item can only be good news for Irish residents looking to find broadband Internet access, although typically wireless technologies can suffer more from coverage issues than ADSL etc. |
BT Under Fire Over SDSL Provision
By:mark.j @ 8:34:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide has spotted a two day old 'analysis' item on VNUNet regarding BTs continued reluctance to offer symmetric DSL (SDSL), which was dropped earlier this year.
Apparently and despite BTs own statements, there IS demand for SDSL, which, unlike ADSL, can send data at the same speed in both directions:
A white paper published last week by analyst Datamonitor, commissioned by BT Wholesale and Easynet, said that DSL would help companies that traditionally would not use leased lines compete by giving them access to bandwidth and comms services enjoyed only by corporates.
But BT's rivals said the incumbent was failing to offer business customers the key technology that would put them on a par with corporate enterprises.
Simon Jackson, marketing manager at Star Internet said: "It shocks me that BT seems to be missing out SDSL. It said there wasn't demand, but we're swamped with enquiries. I find it more acceptable to believe that BT hasn't launched SDSL because it doesn't want to."
The item is extremely detailed and makes for a good read, although BT does state that trials of SDSL technology do still continue. Perhaps it’ll be offered in the future, perhaps. |
News - May 15,2002
UK Tiscali ISP Breaks Even
By:mark.j @ 3:30:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Tiscali, the UK ISP with more complaints and problems behind it than a cow eating grass through the wrong opening, has reached the breakeven point. The UKs fourth largest ISP made £600,000 in the first quarter of 2002:
Its strategy of integrating the scores of small ISPs it bought around Europe, including LineOne, LibertySurf and World Online in the UK, and cutting costs accordingly appears to have paid off. Last year it axed hundreds of staff and set about rebranding all its acquisitions under the Tiscali banner.
Subscription revenues, which account for almost three quarters of Tiscali's total income, almost doubled in the last year to £85.7m for the first three months of 2002.
Its total number of users also increased by 72% to 7.4 million, although this was only a rise of 100,000 on the previous quarter.
The Media Guardians item may be good news for Tiscali, although many of their customers will still be wishing some cash to be spent on improving the troubled dialup service. |
BTs Last-Mile ADSL Broadband Woe
By:mark.j @ 3:10:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Thousands of UK residents based in areas where BT had previously abandoned a project for fibre optic networking are now finding themselves unable to get ADSL because they don't have a copper wire:
A BT spokeswoman confirmed that the telco had installed fibre to the doorstep in a number of housing developments across the UK, a practice it has now abandoned.
"We're talking about a few thousand lines out of the 26 million we serve," she said. "We're looking at other solutions, such as satellite and mesh fixed radio broadband."
"At the moment our broadband services run over copper. There's a business product for Ethernet over fibre but it's expensive for consumers," said the spokeswoman.
The VNUNet item also notes that exchange checkers will show ADSL as being available in such areas; we can only hope that BT rectifies this before more make the same mistake. |
Oftel Removes Pre-Pay From FRIACO
By:mark.j @ 3:02:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] While we still await confirmation on a 7% cut to the cost of FRIACO, Oftel has today introduced another new measure to aid unmetered ISPs using the same wholesale product.
BT must in future charge operators in 'arrears' for providing unmetered Internet access, instead of the current arrangements where operators have to pay in advance:
David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said today: "Currently 4 million UK consumers benefit from some of the lowest unmetered internet prices in the world. Unmetered access is often a stepping stone to broadband. New broadband connections are running at around 20,000 per week, although consumers should continue to benefit from competition in the narrowband market.
To compete effectively with BT where it has market power, operators have to be offered fair and reasonable terms for wholesale products and services, and Oftel will always take action when necessary to ensure that this happens.
Oftel ordered BT to provide a wholesale unmetered Internet access service for operators, and we have today taken further action to ensure that operators pay for it on terms that are equivalent to those for metered services.
"nder BT’s original arrangements for unmetered Internet access, operators had to pay in advance for the capacity they required.
Under Oftel’s new arrangements, operators will pay in arrears for unmetered Internet access. This is in line with BT’s charging arrangements for metered Internet access, and will make it easier for operators to manage their payments for unmetered Internet access.
Oftel has decided that these arrangements should be retrospective, so BT will have to refund to operators the additional costs they incurred from having to make advance payments.
Oftel’s action will also bring further future savings to the operators, which they may pass on to consumers."
The changes will apply retrospectively from the start of the Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination ("FRIACO") service. BT will therefore have to refund to operators the additional costs they have incurred by having to make advance payments. |
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