April 15, 2002 - April 19, 2002
News - April 19,2002
Guernsey: The Broadband Utopia
By:mark.j @ 2:34:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Guernsey is hardly what you'd call an urban sprawl, indeed for most people it's more of a holiday Island. However Guernsey's government is in the middle of sealing up to a dozen high-tech investment deals, some of which will bring ADSL to every home:
Over the past year £12m has been invested in wiring education, with each teacher set to receive a laptop. A wide area network linking all 27 schools on the island is due to be completed by the end of the year.
Deadlines for this year also include the completion of a fibre optic network and the roll-out of ADSL connections to every household on the island.
Green is also confident Guernsey will do well in niche areas such as digital streaming, data collection and online intellectual property management even though the island only has a population of just 60,000 and faces stiff opposition from the mainland.
So if you don't want to leave the rural area of the mainland UK for ADSL then you don't have to, simply nip over to Guernsey and leave BTs poor coverage behind. More @ Silicon. |
Tiscali ISP Slaps Users With Price Hike
By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We're receiving some 'early' word from Tiscali customers that branded services offering the 'bulk hours' package choices (50, 100Hrs per month etc.) are to see a price hike.
50Hrs = From £5.99 To £7.99 PM
100Hrs = From £9.99 To £11.99 PM
Typically this has angered a lot of people, not least because they've only been given 13 (unlucky) days notice, but also because the increase comes at a time when many are still seeing serious service problems. We'll have more information when we get it.. |
200m Europeans Online By 2006
By:mark.j @ 9:08:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Forrester Research claims that the number of European Internet surfers is expected to exceed 200,000,000 by 2006:
A need to communicate and falling hardware and connection prices are expected to spur Europeans to get online, as internet penetration is predicted to hit 67 per cent, up from 39 per cent last year. The report says Germany will lead with 70 per cent of its population, or 48.5m people, as regular internet users in 2006.
France and Italy are to show the biggest increase in new, regular online consumers – more than 30m new users in the next five years – and should account together for more than 40 per cent of all new online consumers.
Italy is expected to see the most remarkable growth, reaching 68 per cent penetration, or 33.1m regular internet users, by 2006, the report predicts. The UK will come a close third, achieving 68 per cent penetration or 32.8m regular users. France will be marginally slower, with just 64 per cent penetration, or 31.3m users, in 2006.
The EuropeMedia item notes that the current number of online users in Europe is 119Million and most are still 35 years old or younger. |
Tele2s New Broadband Challenge Site
By:mark.j @ 9:02:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Many may remember how Tele2, broadband wireless provider, claimed it would increase its coverage in areas where interest is shown by 100 residents & businesses within a 15km radius.
Today Net4Nowt has noted Tele2's new site: Bringing Broadband 2 You, which states:
Fed up with the state of UK Broadband? Do something about it! If you want Broadband - we'll bring it 2 you!!
The UK Broadband Challenge from Tele2 is looking for Area Co-ordinators for a unique venture - get 100 customers within a 15km radius to commit to a Tele2 tariff and we'll expand the network to your area... Bringing Broadband 2 you!
Sign up here to become your local Broadband Champion - and receive your Tele2 promotional package!
In other words you'd become no less than an unpaid promoter of Tele2's broadband wireless services in areas they don't currently cover. The five things you need to do are..:
(1) Get 100 people to each sign a pledge order form
(2) Make application by way of our "We've Got A Hundred" button, that connects you directly to the CEO of Tele2 UK.
(3) Having received your application, Tele2 will conduct a site survey and mini-study of the town/area in question
(4) Tele2 will establish a base station transmitter site with legal access
(5) The big "Switch-On"!!
It's not such a bad idea, although it'll be interesting to see how many people would have the time to promote such a service. We can’t help but be surprised that after getting all those people the person responsible only gets a connection, how about a prize (free wireless broadband)? |
EC Won't Clamp Down On Cookies
By:mark.j @ 8:45:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if the European Commission (EC) is set to avoid insisting upon tougher cookie restrictions. Note that cookies are used by websites all around the world for a number of reasons.
We ourselves use them to ID familiar computers so that readers don't have to keep re-logging in to our forums:
The Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs said on Thursday that users should not be warned in advance before a Web site installs a cookie on their hard drive. The issue of cookies was being considered by the committee as part of its scrutiny of the draft European electronic data collection and privacy directive.
This policy puts the committee at odds with the European Council, which believes users should be told first. Back in March the European Council agreed to amend the text of the draft directive so that sites would be required to give information about cookies "in advance".
"As regards the use of 'cookies', the Committee concurred with the Council position that users should have the right to refuse the installation of cookies, but it felt that it would suffice to guarantee users the possibility of accessing clear information on the purposes of cookies, thus rejecting the Council's view that users should receive this information in advance," said the committee in a statement following a meeting on Thursday.
Note that the UK may still follow a pro-privacy approach, although this depends on how the new directive is phrased. ZDNet has the juice. |
BTs ADSL Problems & Alcatel DSLAMs
By:mark.j @ 8:37:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide has a small update to yesterday’s item regarding Alcatel’s DSLAM upgrades:
The upgrades "are neccessary because of the programme of upgrades that is part of a phased approach to improve Alcatel Network Stability & End User performance. The benefits will be removal of current intermittent problems and increased overall Network performace."
However of more interest is their long piece on installation failures being reported with ADSL line cards, which is the chip-board BT install in an exchange to convert the ‘line’ signals etc.:
Following our last announcement with regards the new line failures, we have learned of further steps being taken by BT to fix these problems. There appear to be two issues and the cause of these problems is due to Fujitsu line cards in the exchange, affecting a third of new modems and a "proportion" of the existing customer base.
There are two generations of Fujitsu cards, and both seem to be affected with differing problems. There has been no mention of any problems affecting Alcatel line cards. The first generation cards are causing problems to users with high upstream margins (i.e. high dB reading on the upstream portion of the line). As a user tries to connect, the line card locks up and will not accept connections through it. This requires a reset to be done by BT in order for the user to be able to connect again.
It's interesting to note that we've seen the exact same problem occur on BTs ISDN Home Highway exchange cards, although rare (once per year), a simple reset usually solves it. Typically you can find much more @ ADSLGuide. |
Freeserve's Broadband in a Box
By:mark.j @ 8:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Freeserve is to become the first ISP to openly sell its ADSL installation kit (Wires-Only) at the mass market level through high street retailers Dixons, PC World, Currys and The Link next week.
The company said that the kit will cost £84.99 and enable consumers to install high-speed asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) service in their homes or offices. Note that subscribers would also have to fit the £29.99 per month subscription fee as well.
The kits, which will go on sale April 26, are being introduced to boost Freeserve's relatively small broadband subscriber base and should help it compete with the likes of BTOpenworld.
ISPs across Britain, including Freeserve and AOL, are keen to sign up consumers to higher-margin broadband subscription services to bring their loss-making operations into the black.
In February, UK telecoms firm BT Group slashed wholesale broadband prices. The ISPs responded by cutting subscription rates by roughly £10 per month, which is a move many believe will spur consumer demand.
Hopefully Freeserve won't go off the rails and cheat people by not clearly informing them that their area may not yet be covered by ADSL, this should be done BEFORE somebody buys the kit. |
News - April 18,2002
Microsoft Pushing IPv6
By:mark.j @ 3:16:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In an effort to address a small yet growing concern that newer Internet technologies aren't being introduced fast enough, Microsoft has begun pushing the use of IPv6:
At its WinHEC conference in Seattle, Microsoft executives urged hardware and software engineers to support IPv6, a replacement of the IPv4 version of Internet Protocol that underlies all communications across the Internet. IPv6's chief benefit is enabling a vastly larger number of computing devices to connect to the network by essentially lifting IPv4's limited number of addresses.
"We need your help. Work with network administrators to get IPv6 deployed in your enterprise. And build native support for IPv6 in every application or piece of hardware you build," said Mike Shappell, a product unit manager in Microsoft's Windows networking group, in a speech on Wednesday. "It will take time for the world to move to IPv6. Now's the time to start."
Typically Microsoft has its own dubiously commercial reasons for pushing IPv6, although that's not to say they shouldn't be doing it. Despite this the ZDNet item goes on to mention a number of other problems that could become 'wider' issues in the future. |
New Unmetered ISP - 1066AD.COM
By:mark.j @ 9:55:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] 1066AD-COM is latest UK unmetered dialup ISP to launch and is backed by Affinity IH (Breathe, Powergen etc.). Net4Nowt reports that the three primary packages have the following details:
Maxi Surf
24/7 unmetered access
£14.99 per month
Has a 2-hour cut-off period
For home users
Mini Surf
Unmetered access between 4pm and 8am and all weekend
£10.99 per month
2p per minute at other times
Has a 2-hour cut-off period
Biz Surf
24/7 unmetered access
£17.99 per month
Has a 4-hour cut-off period
There's a minimum 3-month contract and the usual 0845 (Local Call Rate) service is also included as an option for those that might want one. Typically we’ve already added a specific forum for it under the usual section. |
V21 ISP Preps 1:1 ADSL!
By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UPDATE: It looks as if V21 has preyed upon a 'common understanding' among ADSL users, that of the 'bandwidth' contention ratio (50/20:1) set by BT.
ADSLGuide has clarified with V21 that its 1:1 refers to the available ADSL ports at the ISP and not the contented bandwidth. Obviously it’s easy to get confused given the PRs wording and so hopefully V21 will be clearer about the differences in the future. True 1:1 (bandwidth) contended services are on the way (not by V21), although expect a REAL 1:1 offer to be far more expensive.
The unmetered dialup ISP V21 is set to dip its feet into the murky waters of broadband ADSL when they launch one of the cheapest and best contented services available:
V21.co.uk have today confirmed their launch date of August 1st 2002 for the UK's cheapest ADSL 1:1 contended service.
The price for the ADSL Home Surf Product has been set at only £19.99 per month with a one off activation charge of £55 +vat.
The service will be available to order from July 2002 but we are inviting pre registration from our web site, this will mean those pre-registered will be invited to be the first to have the service connection.
We will also be releasing pricing for Home Surf 1mg and 2 mg within the next few weeks and of course Business Surf. All of which will be available with a fixed ip address for a small extra cost.
For further details interested parties can contact sales staff on 0870 442 9600
We've already heard that 1:1 services were on the way, yet we're still not quite sure how such a 'leased line quality' offer can be achieved. Indeed such a service makes alternative 50:1 providers look very poor, is there a catch? |
BT Grap Redstone's Voice Network
By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In a deal worth some £170Million, BT is to 'look after' Redstone's national voice network as the operator moves away from telecoms, yet the fate of their SDSL LLU service remains unclear.
Redstone gave up on its LLU trial of broadband SDSL in Portsmouth after a catastrophic slide in their share price and a desperate rights issue to rescue the company from a cash crisis:
Redstone chief executive Ian Brown said: "We don't see any point in digging up the streets to supply DSL which will just become a commodity. We are focusing on business areas that won't be commoditised."
Nonetheless the Portsmouth SDSL installation is still running, and the company has connected additional customers since the trial phase.
Brown added: "We're out there selling with a vengeance. We aren't going to build any more, that's all."
More @ Silicon. |
SniffOut ISP Re-Launches Unmetered
By:mark.j @ 9:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Thanks to one of our readers (Terry) for letting us know that SniffOut, the troubled unmetered dialup ISP, has announced its return following a number of lengthy service problems:
We are pleased to advise you that your Sniff Out unmetered Internet access package is now available again.
At the same time, we have to advise you that the monthly cost of the TimeOut and SmartTime packages have been increased by £1 to £9.99 and £13.99 respectively. These modest increases reflect actual usage patterns, and mirror recent identical increases by the three largest ISP's. The PeakTime package price remains unchanged at £11.99 a month.
You will recall that we cancelled your FuturePay Agreement as WorldPay had no facility to suspend collection of the monthly subscription charge. If you wish to use your unmetered access account again, it will therefore be necessary to set-up a fresh WorldPay payment authority via the Customer Account Administration section.
To switch back to an unmetered package, click on the Customer Account Administration link at the top of the main menu on the Sniff Out home page. At the prompt enter your username (without '@sniffout.com') and password. Then select the second item on the menu, 'Change Your Sniff Out Account' and click 'Next'. Now select the package you require - you have the option to change your unmetered package as this point - and proceed through to set-up the new payment facility with WorldPay.
Provided you have kept your Sniff Out settings in your computer, you do NOT need to use the automatic configuration facility at the end of the re-registration process. You will only need to change your dial-in access number to the new freephone number of 0808 *******. There are notes at the end of this email which explain how to change the number within your computer. All other elements of your package remain the same.
If you still have any subscription balance remaining, it can be carried forward as a credit, expressed in days, and applied against the initial monthly payment. Please note that the online Customer Account Administration link to WorldPay can not be used if you have any credit due for unused days; credit adjustments can only processed manually by telephoning the Support Desk on 0845 ******* between 08:00 and 20:00.
To ensure that you have Internet access, the emergency dial-in number, 0845 3600100 (charged at local call rate on your normal telephone bill), will continue to operate on your account until you re-subscribe to your unmetered package.
If you require any further assistance, please email support@sniffout.co.uk
Note that SniffOut have done just what we feared, they’ve used recent price increases from AOL, Freeserve and BTOpenworld to unrealistically justify their own. Despite that their diabolically bad handling of the situation is unlikely to win them any favours with new or existing customers, if they have any left? |
Irish Broadband ADSL - Update
By:mark.j @ 9:12:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following yesterdays good news for both broadband Cable Modem and ADSL technologies in Ireland, today we've managed to get some additional details:
After months of negotiation with the ODTR and other telecoms, Eircom has now agreed to launch the service at a much lower wholesale monthly cost of EUR49. But the once-off connection cost has gone up to EUR350. For a 1Mb/s connection, Eircom will charge other operators EUR79 per month with a connection fee of EUR350.
"We are very pleased to have found a solution that is workable both from our perspective and from the ODTR's perspective," explained Majella Fitzpatrick, public relations manager with Eircom. Fitzpatrick said that prices for its i-stream retail DSL product will be announced next week.
Eircom claims that over the next two years it will make ADSL available to 1 million consumers in Ireland. Initially, the service will be available to 500,000 customers in Dublin through 35 unbundled exchanges. The company says that over the next few months, it will unbundle a further eight exchanges in large cities and towns including Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Tralee, Killarney and Westport, making ADSL available there before the end of the year.
Fifty-seven more exchanges are set to be opened up to Eircom's competitors by the end of 2003 and in total Eircom says that its investment in ADSL in Ireland will amount to EUR125 million.
It's a good start, although with cheaper Cable Modem services from NTL coming to the same area then ADSL could soon find itself being undercut. More @ ElectricNews. |
Oftel - Promoting Broadband Competition
By:mark.j @ 9:03:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that Oftel has put a new document online covering their speech on promoting competition for various services including broadband - read it here.
Broadband strategy
There has been a lot of 'noise in the system' about broadband. I would like to focus on some key facts and to explain how Oftel's approach to broadband. First, some facts:
Over 180,000 consumers now use ADSL while over 280,000 consumers have high speed services using cable modems.
So since broadband was launched 18 months ago, we are rapidly approaching half a million UK consumers signing up for high-speed services.
The rate of take up in the UK compares well to other countries. For example, current UK take up rates are comparable to France, despite the fact that both cable modem and DSL services were launched earlier in France.
I am confident that growth will continue. The industry will develop innovative content and services, attracting more consumers to broadband.
ADSLGuide also has word from Eclipse that BT and Alcatel are due to perform a round of DSLAM firmware upgrades between 27th April and 2nd May 2002. This will apparently only affect those on Alcatel DSLAM's and there may be a short 30 minute outage. |
BT Refuses Rural ADSL Rollout
By:mark.j @ 8:54:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT has today snubbed those living in rural areas (the countryside) by saying that it's not going to roll out any more broadband ADSL exchanges in those areas.
Those in such a situation are being re-directed to their restrictive Satellite ISP service, which hasn't even gone live yet (not the BTO one [rip-off], rather the recently announced wholesale offer):
Among the critics is Bob Jones, UK telecoms entrepreneur, who said BT is creating a two-speed Britain with fast ADSL in the cities and satellite broadband in the countryside, which he said is inferior to ADSL in speed and general ability - not to mention more costly.
Jones said: "After the government has spent months waffling on about 'Broadband Britain', BT has just turned around and said it's not going to do it. So who is? If BT isn't going to accept its responsibility, it must be forced to."
A BT spokesman said: "We should not have a universal service obligation to supply ADSL to areas of Britain where the demand for it is low. There isn't the demand for broadband in the countryside at the minute to justify spending our shareholders' money on enabling exchanges."
Sadly you can't expect any help from Oftel either as the Silicon notes that they've sided with BT. The government won’t help either, thus those of us living in the countryside will be forced to suffer extortionately priced Satellite or ISDN services, wonderful – back to modems then. |
News - April 17,2002
Global DSL Subscribers = 19 Million
By:mark.j @ 3:28:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently the worldwide total of broadband DSL subscribers has almost tripled during 2001 from 6.5 Million (12 months earlier) to 19 Million now!:
According to the authors of the DSL Worldwide Retail Directory, Edition 5 this marks "an impressive achievement for the industry and a demonstration of the demand for broadband."
However, price still remains an issue. Europe remains the most expensive place to subscribe to DSL with charges (including installation and equipment costs) ranging between $50 and $75 a month.
In the US that figure is nearer $50 a month whereas in Asia Pacific it's between $20 and $50 a month.
Coverage is currently more of a problem for the UK, although it's hard to judge the 'cost' remark without being to make an effective comparison.
The Register notes the reports suggestion that regulators should push wholesale DSL services rather than LLU, which is an interesting viewpoint and one BT would no doubt approve of. |
Irish ODTR Clears Eircom's ADSL
By:mark.j @ 2:53:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Following this morning’s news concerning NTLs broadband cable-modem service in Ireland, the Irish telecoms regulator (ODTR) has now also cleared Eircom to roll out its alternate ADSL product:
Eircom said on Wednesday that its broadband Internet service will finally launch following an agreement with the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation on the wholesale prices which will apply to other Licensed Operators in Ireland and Eircom's retail business.
ADSL will now become available immediately to 500,000 homes in Dublin through 35 unbundled exchanges. The company plans to unbundle a total of 100 exchanges throughout Ireland over the next two years.
Today certainly seems like a good one for Irish consumers awaiting broadband, now both competing Cable-Modem & ADSL services will soon start to spread across the country. More @ ElectricNews. |
BT To Re-Focus On UK & Broadband
By:mark.j @ 2:47:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In roughly one year BT will close down its loss-making European operations in order to further reduce debts (below £10Billion); the operator also plans to extent its broadband ADSL coverage:
The telco also said that it will put broadband at the "heart" of the company. It is planning to equip 100 more exchanges to run ADSL lines by the end of May and launch a stripped-down version of access-only broadband through its retail arm, although full details of that product will not emerge until later this month.
Pierre Danon, chief executive at BT Retail, said of the new product at a press conference: "It is a combination of new technology and new presentation. It will save a few pounds on the cost."
He shrugged off worries that telecoms watchdog Oftel may prevent the launch of the BT Retail direct product as unfair to internet service providers (ISPs). BT also said it would increase the capacity of its existing 1,010 ADSL-enabled exchanges and restart its engineering programme to upgrade 600 more.
Typically this is nothing we didn't already know, although apparently orders for ADSL lines have now risen to more than 10,000 a week (wholesale). More @ VNUNet. |
BTOpenworld Dips Into Online Gambling
By:mark.j @ 2:38:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTopenworld has today issued a new press release announcing its move into the online gambling industry:
BTOPENWORLD TO ENTER ONLINE BETTING ARENA WITH NEW SPORT AND BETS CONTENT SITE
BTopenworld announces first three strategic partnerships for UK betting destination site
Following the UK government's announcement of deregulation in the gambling industry, BTopenworld today announces a major move into the online betting space with the news that it is to create a leading sports and betting online service ( http://www.btopenworld/sport.com ). The new service 'Sport & Bets' will focus on four core gaming areas: sports betting, lotteries and bingo and casinos, each of which has been developed with key licensed, strategic content partners. This development follows BTopenworld's policy of building focused, market-leading destination sites with best-of-breed partners, a strategy highlighted by the rapid development of its leading games (www.gamesdomain.co.uk) and music (www.dotmusic.com) services.
UKbetting.com, which recently acquired leading sports sites Sporting Life and Sportal, has been selected as BTopenworld's first sports betting partner. As well as a full online bookmaking service, they will also provide daily sports news, previews and reports, live scoring and the UK's most comprehensive betting news service covering the full range of sports, including US sports. In addition, other leading UK bookmakers, including Coral Eurobet, have been signed to provide live odds to BTopenworld subscribers. A deal with Oddschecker will also allow the betting site to offer comparative odds across a number of bookmakers.
The huge popularity of bingo in the UK, particularly among female punters, has resulted in a tie-up with bingo giant The Rank Group Plc to offer Rank.com branded bingo, keno, dice and fruit machine style wagers. These will form an important part of the new BTopenworld betting offering. The fourth and final core area of lotteries will encompass a free daily lotto, a lottery newsletter and National Lottery results online and via SMS.
In the casino sector, a partnership has been signed with Las Vegas local casino operators Station Casinos and respected international casino operators Sun International Hotels Online division (licensed in The Isle of Man). Sun and Station Casinos recently formed a joint venture to co-develop online gambling. This move makes BTopenworld the first UK ISP to sign with Sun International and Station Casinos. As well as making available a wide range of downloadable and online casino games through linking, the BTopenworld betting site will be offering regular joint promotions with Sun's Bahamas resort, Atlantis.
Each of the core betting areas will be branded solely with the partner brand and partners will handle all aspects of security, payment and age policing. The new BTopenworld sport and bets service will launch later this month. |
AOL Puts Netscape On CompuServe
By:mark.j @ 8:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In a largely symbolic move, AOL has chosen to bundle its Netscape browser, rather than Microsoft's Internet Explorer, with its next CompuServe v7.0 (secondary ISP) software release:
However, the decision for CompuServe to embrace Netscape, also an AOL subsidiary, could further divide AOL's tenuous partnership with Microsoft. For years, the two companies existed in an amicable quid-pro-quo arrangement where AOL would use IE as its default in exchange for Microsoft bundling AOL into its Windows operating system. Last summer, that arrangement dissolved, sending the tech rivals back to their respective corners.
As Microsoft continues to weave Internet applications more tightly into its ubiquitous operating system, AOL has also taken steps to favour its own products. Nearly a year ago, AOL began testing versions of CompuServe that use Gecko, the underlying browser technology browser engine developed by open-source movement Mozilla.org and Netscape. Although AOL has not stated grand intentions for Gecko, the technology is being tested in experimental versions of the flagship AOL service.
Although AOL said in a statement on Tuesday that the upgrade was sparked by consumer feedback, some analysts wonder if there are more political reasons behind the move.
It's probably worth noting that this only 'appears' to apply to the USA wing of CompuServe, the UKs alternative is still set to close before the end of June this year.
Despite this the move is being seen as AOL taking its first step towards implementing Netscape into its own primary service. More @ ZDNet. |
PSINet Europe Goes On Sale
By:mark.j @ 8:41:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] PSINet Inc. has filed a motion with the US Bankruptcy Court to auction its ISP service, PSINet Europe:
Executives at PSINet Europe are already talking with a number of possible suitors about a possible acquisition although no one at the company would disclose any further information about the negotiations.
The deadline for the auction is next Monday. A new owner should be known sometime next week, although any decision would be subject to US Bankruptcy Court approval.
More @ The Register. |
NTL Ireland Expands Broadband
By:mark.j @ 8:37:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if NTL may be able to step in and fill the broadband gap left by a lack of ADSL in Ireland.
The cable operator is set to dramatically expand its cable-modem broadband Internet service at a price far lower than Eircom's proposed rate:
Although the company is in the middle of a major recapitalsation scheme, NTL says that over the next eight months it will expand its broadband Internet service to 25,000 homes in the Dublin area. Currently the company is running the service on a trial basis where it is available to 1,500 homes. NTL says that 11 percent of these broadband-enabled houses have taken up the service, a rate deemed to be "very good."
What may be most significant however is the price that NTL is planning to charge for the high-speed service. At EUR35 per month, NTL's cable broadband offering will cost consumers around a third of the price Eircom has proposed for its high-speed ADSL service, i-stream.
Both i-stream and NTL's cable broadband service offer connection speeds to the Internet of 512kbit/s, and NTL is also rolling a slower service that will connect to Net at 128kbit/s at a cost of EUR25 per month. Furthermore, with both of NTL's services users can receive a discount of EUR5 per month if they also subscribe to the company's digital television service.
The ElectricNews.Net item represents some very positive news for Irish consumers, although it's still far from a national solution. With any luck this will kick start some much needed competition and push ADSL into the market as well. |
Marconi Staff Lobby Gov - Broadband
By:mark.j @ 8:31:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Some 50 Marconi staff (Amicus union) have demonstrated outside the Houses of Parliament for the government to boost the UK telecoms sector and broadband in today's Budget speech:
Amicus wants Mr Brown to take steps to speed up the take-up of broadband in the UK.
The union says this would safeguard and create thousands of jobs within the UK's telecoms industry.
Amicus says the UK lags far behind other European countries, with only 0.2% of the population having access to broadband.
Unfortunately direct government funding for broadband has long been ruled out, although that's not to say that they won't announce something of use, even though they probably won't =). Here's preying they don't go nuts and increase VAT, more @ Ananova. |
Entrepreneur Joins LLU - Takes On BT
By:mark.j @ 8:23:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Rod Matthews, a Telecoms entrepreneur and former CEO of Scottish Telecom, has finally found funding for his bid to take on BT in the broadband ADSL market:
Aside from Matthews' company, accessUK, only one company, Bulldog Communications, is still planning to deliver ADSL services to consumers via LLU. A few more companies, including EasyNet, are planning to address the corporate market. Fewer than 200 customers are currently connected nationwide.
Nonetheless, Matthews has arranged enough funding to install his own DSL equipment in 1,000 local exchanges. His backers are a consortium of investors led by US firm Sandler Capital Management.
He hopes that by 2005, the company's networks will be available to two thirds of the UK business population, who will be the core of Matthews' end users. He also expects demand to connect residential customers to his broadband equipment.
This can only be good news for competition, although some other LLU providers have shown that such services aren't always cheaper than BTs own option. Apparently the provider is hoping to catch clients such as Cable & Wireless, Colt and Energies etc.
The Silicon item reports that the fledgling company expects to begin rolling its LLU ADSL lines out in the next few months. |
News - April 16,2002
Totalise ISP Refund Ex-Customers
By:mark.j @ 7:44:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Totalise, the share dealing ISP that got themselves into some trouble and later went into administration taking their UltimateSurf ISP deal with them, has finally begun to refund its ex-customers. One of our readers (George) had the following to say:
However, they have done the honourable thing, and this week they have sent us all refund cheques. Considering how many other ISPs, that got into trouble, just put two fingers up to their customers, I feel that Totalise do deserve a bit of praise for their attempt at making the best of a bad situation. |
Gio Internet ISP Cuts Unmetered Price!
By:mark.j @ 3:09:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] If there's one unmetered dialup ISP that you wouldn't expect to be cutting its prices then that's Gio Internet, an already controversial service for its economics.
Despite this one of our forum moderators (Keith) has let me know that Gio is indeed planning to cut £1 off the monthly price of its most popular package, Gio Universal 24/7. The offer will move from £7.99 to just £6.99 per month:
Gio Internet already provide the cheapest 24/7 Anytime Internet Access in the UK with no fixed hours online! Now we are planning to drop prices further so that we can pass on the benefits of our savings to our customers!
The plans come after a record number of sign-ups over the past week. It may take a few weeks to finalise the changes but plans are well on the way to make our already happy customers even happier!
The price drop will only be for existing customers, so if you are not yet one of our proud customers then sign-up here to reap the benefits
There's also a note to say that the anticipated 128Kbps ISDN offer should be ready very soon.
Gio is able to price so low by selling packages with high contention ratios, however this could be a problem when combined with their 'unrestricted' policy. Engage tones have been common on more restrictive services. |
Freeserve Slash DIY ADSL Price
By:mark.j @ 2:56:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We're already aware that Freeserve has cut its monthly broadband ADSL costs, however until today the setup charge still remained high:
Customers who sign up before the end of May will only be charged a total of £84.99. This covers both the ADSL modem and the activation fee charged by BT Wholesale.
Freeserve had previously said it would charge customers a total of £200 for modem and activation fee -- significantly more than most other ISPs. The new £84.99 deal puts it on a par with BTopenworld, and is the first stage of Freeserve's broadband marketing plan.
The second phase is expected to see Freeserve aggressively promoting its high-speed Internet product throughout stores in the Dixon's chain. Although Freeserve is no longer owned by Dixons, the two firms still work closely together.
Typically the ZDNet item has concentrated on the competition between the major players such as Freeserve and BTOpenworld, again ignoring smaller and less well known providers, many of which are better. |
Lucents 3G Chip Breakthrough
By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Yet more good news for future 3G broadband wireless mobile phones, Lucent is reported to have developed a new technology that could increase capacity and reduce costs for 3G operators:
The firm has unveiled a chipset for UMTS base stations that can accommodate voice and data signals. Researchers say it will mean each station will be able to handle 10% more calls at the highest transmission speeds.
Lucent has already licensed the technology for chipsets for UMTS handsets, wireless PC modem cards and other devices.
Third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System networks promise wireless multimedia communications at speeds comparable with broadband internet access.
More @ Ananova. |
Broadband ADSL Speed Tester
By:mark.j @ 2:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide has come up with a broadband speed tester for all of you wishing to see how well your ADSL connection performs:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp
Note that it's still in testing (beta) and so there could be bugs, you'll also need to have Java enabled to see it (on by default for most). |
NTL Splits & New Consumer Protest Site
By:mark.j @ 2:44:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if another of NTLs concerned consumers has decided to start his own alternative to nthellworld.com, which was recently purchased by NTL, thus eroding some of its readers trust:
Long-suffering NTL customer, Bryan Stevens, has registered the domain ntlhell.co.uk and already received offers of help to run the site from people providing Web space and programming skills.
Sadly the website itself isn't quite ready and reads..:
This site, however, is waiting in the wings as it were. If there are any adverse changes to nthellworld.com, i.e. corporate sanitation, then we'll take over where Frank Whitestone left off!
By the way, being new to web authoring, it may take a while to get something up and running so any help would be appreciated! (many thanks for the offers I've received already!).
Apparently Bryan has now received a lot of offers from people to help out with the site, although it's not yet completely live. On a related note NTL is to file for Chapter II and split its operations into two, which could help to rescue the company:
The lifeboat has been agreed by a committee of major creditors - mostly NTL bondholders, representing more than half the company's $11bn bonds debt. So it could still founder, if other bondholders disagree.
In return for writing off their debt, the bondholders will end up with 100 per cent of NTL's UK and Ireland ops - initially - and 86.5 per cent of its continental European business. NTL is splitting the two components into separate businesses, removing a big sticking point among many creditors, which expressed their unhappiness with the UK arm being saddled with the lossmaking European sub( to be called NTL Euroco. The operating businesses are not in Chapter 11 or local equivalents, and continue trading as normal.
Stage 2 in the recapitalisation will see a rights issue for the NTL UK and Ireland, Existing NTL shareholders, most notably France Telecom, will have subscription rights equivalent to $10.5bn "enterprise value", entitling them inter alia to buy up to 32.5 per cent of the business.
The Register has a lot of extra detail on both topics. |
TW blueyonder's New Cable Modem
By:mark.j @ 8:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] NTL isn't the only operator to be adding another type of cable modem to the mix, Telewests blueyonder ISP service has also had its 'Scientific Atlanta' choice on the cards since last year:
the cable operator has ordered around 25,000 units of the WebSTAR SADPX110. Customers will not notice any operational differences from the Motorola SurfBoard 4100 model that has already been deployed on the network; aside from a different range of LEDs and no 'standby' button, the modems will operate in the same way on Blueyonder's network.
DigitalSpy has some additional information on the specifics of the new model, which should move into circulation this week. |
Nokia Sign 3G Deal - mmO2 (BT)
By:mark.j @ 8:23:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Nokia appears to have won a deal to supply third-generation (3G) and GSM mobile phone network equipment to UK/European mobile operator mm02 (BT).
The Finnish company on Tuesday gave no value for the equipment order, but said it would remain the main GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) supplier to mm02.
Nokia said it would supply at least 30% of 3G radio access network equipment for mm02's networks in Britain, Germany and Ireland, and would compete to provide an additional 40% of equipment to them.
It shouldn't be long before we see the first public, yet restrictive, 3G broadband wireless mobile phone services in the UK.
UPDATE: mmO2 has also done some other deals today, which it estimates will save £375m in capital expenditure over five years. Where it had once planned to spend £1.8Billion on 3G, it'll now only need £1.4Bn and all thanks to Nortel and Nokia. |
NTL Sells Back Noos Stake
By:mark.j @ 8:19:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The latest change for NTL is that the debt laden operator is to sell back its stake in French cable company Noos to France Telecom:
Embattled NTL paid $625m for the unit last year, borrowing the funds to do so. However, now it looks likely that it wouldn't be able to meet a repayment deadline, so the French national carrier - itself an owner of 18.3 per cent of NTL - has agreed to buy back the stake.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley is the other owner of Noos.
More @ Silicon. |
Problems With 1Mbps NTL Service
By:mark.j @ 8:11:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] DigitalSpy is reporting that some ntl:home customers have been seeing difficulties when signing up to the new 1Mbps broadband cable modem package:
members describe problems with the registration page on ntlworld.com, which is designed to allow existing customers of the cable modem service to upgrade online to the new "gold" 1mbps level of service. It appears that on occasion the registration page rejects the details of some customers, resulting in them being turned away from the new service.
In addition, there seems to be another problem in some regions with the relevant cable modem configuration file (in this case, '{cablemodemmodel}-gold.cm'), not being referred to correctly on the local DHCP server; instead a generic 'gold.cm' file is referred to which appears to not exist.
The item goes into a lot more detail and also highlights a number of other problems, such as some customers being told that they need a different modem to use the service, which is apparently untrue. |
News - April 15,2002
ADSL Demand Causes Supply Problems
By:mark.j @ 3:22:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Apparently the increasingly strong demand for broadband ADSL services following recent price reductions and the introduction of new services (Wires-Only) is causing suppliers, such as BT, some trouble:
Retailers such as PC World say they are being swamped with phone calls, and websites that let people check if broadband is available in their area are being deluged with traffic.
Louise Barrett, a spokeswoman for online store Solwise, said traffic on its site is five times heavier than last year's levels, as people try and get hold of ADSL kit.
But the increase is leading to shortages of the microfilters that people need to use to convert their phone line. Solwise, which sources its kit in the Far East, is having to wait for more stock to arrive to meet the demand.
The VNUNet item also notes that BTs own exchange 'availability checker' has been in so much demand that the website is often overloaded.
This isn't the first such news item we've seen; the other major complaint is that coverage of the technology is still poor despite increased demand. Can BT keep up? We'll see. |
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