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October 21, 2002 - October 25, 2002

News - October 25,2002

People Prefer Cable Modems To ADSL

By:mark.j @ 1:26:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
New research commissioned by Telewest Broadband has found that eight out of ten broadband owners claim to prefer cable modems to ADSL:

Eight out of ten prefer blueyonder's recipe for broadband

Eight out of ten broadband owners say they prefer cable modems - based on new research commissioned by Telewest Broadband.

The independent report first identified broadband internet users who had a choice between the company's blueyonder services and ADSL access and then found which they had opted for.

In a blow to big-spending BT, 86% of respondents living in areas where the two technologies compete head-to-head had made blueyonder their broadband provider of choice. BT and ADSL resellers, such as AOL and Freeserve, shared the remaining 14%.

David Hobday, deputy managing director of Telewest Broadband, said: "BT says broadband has landed, but cable has already taken off. Where consumers have a choice of provider, cable is winning by more than a whisker.

Speed addicts are voting with their feet and we're determined to keep up the pressure on our slower rivals. Consumers are making informed choices based on a number of factors including speed, pricing, quality and clarity of the services.
"

Research carried out in September 2002 by Research International, using the Lightspeed research panel. To identify respondents in the Telewest Broadband regions a list of 216,000 postcodes was used as a filter, leaving 4,007 suitable respondents. All respondents claiming to have opted for Telewest Broadband's high-speed internet services were compared against the post-code checker on the BT.com web site, to establish if they could also potentially receive ADSL.

Those with cable who could not receive ADSL were removed from the sample to ensure a fair comparison. This provided 652 consumers with broadband internet access, of which 561 (86%) were with Telewest Broadband.

SPAMMERS Want SPAM To Stop?

By:mark.j @ 1:17:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Advertisers responsible for sending out junk e-mails (SPAM) appear to have become victims of their own making.

In some countries SPAM has now become so bad that even the advertisers, those responsible for the problem in the first place, are now calling for stronger restrictions:

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), which once opposed any federal anti-spam legislation, says it will now lobby for federal and state laws to control the growth of million-message batches of emails.

A daily flood of spam vexes consumers and internet service providers (ISPs) alike, whose attempts to block it are circumvented by stealthy emailing technology, says the DMA, which has 4,700 members.

Jerry Cerasale, the DMA's vice president for government affairs, told Reuters that the sheer volume would swamp the medium, rendering it useless.


There could hardly be a clearer irony, with the DMA now recommending that all such messages include legitimate identifiers (no more false subjects or return addresses etc.) and offer a 'working' opt-out method. More @ VNUNet.

IDC Predicts Dialup ISP Decline

By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
New research from the IDC indicates that Western European dialup access and use will peak during 2003 before declining to 39.9 million connections at the end of 2006.

A total of 46.2 million dialup connections were counted in Western Europe at the end of last year (2001):

According to IDC, user spending on broadband will grow by nearly 13 times between 2001 and 2006 as more European consumers upgrade to broadband.

The study also indicates that by the end of 2001, the consumer Internet market was dominated by a small number of pan-European ISPS, led by T-Online, Tiscali and Wanadoo.

Last year, 52 percent of dial-up subscribers in Europe were held by the top six ISPs.


It's very hard to predict such things, although we'll know whether it's correct come this time next year. More @ NUA.

IAP Broadband Preps Dialup Service

By:mark.j @ 9:18:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The broadband wireless ISP IAP Broadband looks to be expanding into dialup (narrowband) services with the announcement of their latest package, which is a basic local call rate dialup:

In the VERY near future IAP will be launching our 0845 Dialup
Service "IAPDial"

Each customer will be provided a connection that works with 56K, V90 and 64/128K ISDN. Also the following features will be standard with IAPDial

25MB Webspace
Newsgroups
POP/SMTP Servers
Webmail

There are also plans to open a seperate Community dedicated to IAPDial customers

We are currently testing the dialup platform and further details will be announced shortly.

News - October 24,2002

Alcatel - The Future of Broadband = Content?

By:mark.j @ 2:51:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Alcatel, the telecoms/broadband equipment manufacturer, has today said that ISPs will need to bundle entertainment content with broadband access before the service can become truly mass-market:

Said Dave Hills of Alcatel: "We predict that by offering a bundled broadband service of Internet access, music and video content as well as networked gaming, providers will widen the appeal of broadband by offering benefits to more family members."

Curiously, research published earlier this month by Forrester found the complete opposite. It believes that the way forward is to split access from content.

So, the answer is probably that both approaches will prevail. However, what's essential is that access and content are essential to the mass-market adoption of broadband.


Strangely, Alcatel also found that of the 43% with narrowband (dialup) ISP connections in the UK, just 8% actually used it in the past three months. More @ The Register.

Oftel Publish Latest UK Internet Statistics

By:mark.j @ 2:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The UK telecoms regulator, Oftel, has today published new research covering the residential use of telecoms and Internet services during August 2002.

The regulator found that consumers who currently use dial-up Internet access are interested in upgrading to broadband via xDSL (ADSL) or Cable Modem:

The research also shows that consumers continue to make use of the alternatives available to them. For example, over a third of businesses have switched mobile network and the majority of these have taken advantage of the ability to retain their mobile numbers.

Although 90 %of consumers are happy with the service they receive from their mobile phone company, only 50 per cent are satisfied with the cost of calling people on other networks from their mobile phone.

Peter Waller, Deputy Director General of Telecommunications, said today: "A third of consumers who use dial-up Internet access are interested in upgrading to high speed broadband access. This shows that there is still plenty of room for growth beyond the one million broadband connections the UK has already reached.

Oftel’s research also shows that there is growing awareness amongst consumers of the new directory enquiry services which Oftel has helped to introduce.
"


The full publication can be found HERE (Consumers' use of Internet, August 2002); below is a rough summary from some of the more interesting aspects of the report:

50% UK adults use the Internet in a variety of locations
42% UK homes connected to the Internet
61% Internet homes using unmetered packages
7% Internet homes using broadband
9 hours is the average weekly household time spent online

Internet usage outside the home

3.5 A further 7% of UK adults access the Internet from locations other than home. Combined with those accessing from home this equates to half of all adults using the Internet. There has been little change in this figure since August 2001. Further details on use of alternative access points are discussed in section 7.

Internet access in rural and deprived areas

3.6 Consumers living in rural areas in the UK continue to be significantly more likely to have home Internet access (53%) than those living in urban areas (40%). This could be linked to lifestyle, or simply the demographics of consumers living in these areas – more likely to be higher social grades and higher income groups who are more likely to have home Internet access. Areas of low deprivation, ie more affluent areas remain significantly more likely than those within areas of high deprivation to have Internet access at home (51% and 25% respectively),

Method of connecting to the Internet at home

4.1 Most (96%) consumers with home Internet continue to use the PC or laptop to gain access. Alternative methods range from accessing the Internet via mobile phones (5%) and digital television (5%) to games consoles (2%) and personal organisers (1%).

Type of Internet package used

4.5 Around 6 out of 10 homes (61%) with Internet use either a fully or partially unmetered package. Excluding those currently using a broadband unmetered package (7% according to recent subscriber figures) approximately 54% of homes use a narrowband unmetered package.

ISPs used

4.8 Consumers with home Internet access continue to be making use of a range of ISPs. Freeserve (20%), AOL (19%), BT (18%) and now NTL (17%) are the most popular choices within the residential Internet market.

Weekly time spent online

6.1 Currently home Internet users are spending an average 9 hours per week online. This rose for the first time in November ’01 from 8 hours and has remained stable since. Consumers using unmetered packages are currently spending an average 13 hours per week online compared to 6 hours amongst subscription and calls and 3 hours amongst calls only users – these figures remain broadly unchanged.

Satisfaction with Internet service

7.1 Satisfaction with overall Internet services currently stands at 91%. Satisfaction has remained at around 90% over the past couple of years, but significantly lower than overall satisfaction in both the fixed and mobile markets, which currently stand at 96% and 94% respectively.

7.2 When asked about different aspects of their home Internet service, consumers remain least satisfied with the speed of their current service. Around 7 out of 10 (71%) customers are satisfied with this aspect - consistently lower than satisfaction with the quality and reliability (86%) and overall service (91%) in recent months

Ericsson & Proxim Prep Public Wi-Fi

By:mark.j @ 1:17:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The latest set of public broadband wireless (Wi-Fi) services, such as the hotspots provided by UK ISP BTOpenworld, could well be delivered by Ericsson thanks to their new deal with Proxim:

PROXIM AND ERICSSON ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC WIRELESS LAN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Proxim Corporation (Nasdaq: PROX), a leading provider of high-performance wireless local area networking (WLAN) and wireless wide area networking (WWAN) products, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Ericsson to provide WLAN access points for the public space market.

Ericsson will use Proxim's ORiNOCO AP-2000 dual-slot access point (AP) in its Mobile Operator Wireless LAN solutions for public hotspots. Ericsson s Mobile Operator WLAN solutions enables operators to integrate WLANs with their existing 2G and 3G mobile business, reusing investments made in core infrastructure, subscriber management, billing and authentication. The offering will initially include Proxim's 802.11b radio in its AP, and in the future include 802.11a and future technologies such as 802.11g.

"We are delighted to co-operate with Ericsson in order to enable mobile operators to be a driving force in the market take-off for public WLAN services," said Jonathan Zakin, Chairman and CEO of Proxim. "Both Proxim and Ericsson bring to the table a level of expertise far superior to any of their competitors, making this a winning match not only for Ericsson and Proxim, but also for Ericsson's customers."

This agreement capitalises on the complements between WLAN and GSM/UMTS technologies. Operators need more bandwidth for data, in order to offer more applications to the business professional, and later to consumers as well. By offering public WLAN services, operators can provide businesses with fast data access and transfer to support an increasingly mobile workforce.

"The Wi-Fi Alliance sees the integration of Wi-Fi networks with GSM systems as a key move in bringing about the reality of public Wi-Fi networks," said C. Brian Grimm, marketing director for the Wi-Fi Alliance. "We know that users want the flexibility of access that public wireless networking affords. The fact that they will now be able to use existing GSM technology to access the networks will greatly expand the attractiveness of public Wi-Fi networks."

Under the agreement, Proxim and Ericsson will also jointly develop SIM-based authentication for public WLAN access. The aim is to enable users to gain secure access to a public WLAN via their mobile phone using its SIM card as a means of authentication. This will use the SIM Extensible Authentication Protocol for GSM (EAP-SIM) and the Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol (EAP-AKA) for UMTS, used in combination with Proxim's 802.1x AP security implementations.

Both Ericsson and Proxim are leaders in their respective fields. Ericsson is the global market leader in wireless communications infrastructure and Proxim is a leading provider of high-performance WLANs and WWANs. According to Synergy Research Group, Proxim is the market share leader for WLAN access points with a 36% market share.

Zipcom Completes GX Net Acquisition

By:mark.j @ 9:40:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Zipcom, an independent UK telecoms operator, has today issued a new press release announcing the finalisation of their GX Networks (formerly the UK operation of XO) acquisition:

Zipcom, the independent UK telecoms operator, has today announced it has completed the acquisition of Transigent, the holding company for GX Networks (formerly the UK operation of XO). The deal, worth approximately £10 million, establishes Zipcom as a major player in the UK's business-to-business telecommunications market.

Customers of Zipcom and GX Networks are set to reap significant benefits from the acquisition, including:

* An increased number of POPs to over 80 including new geographical areas for Zipcom such as East Anglia, North East England and the South Coast

* An expanded product portfolio including fully managed corporate Virtual Private Networks, Checkpoint Firewall technology, wireless connectivity and a full range of voice services

* A dedicated data-centre located in Central London that rapidly deploys Internet hosting solutions with specialised load balancing facilities

Commenting on the announcement, Grahame Purvis, Chairman of Zipcom, said:

"There is a tremendous synergy between the two companies. The products and services complement each other perfectly, providing Zipcom and GX Networks' customers with a truly exceptional quality and breadth of services."

Purvis continues, "This acquisition represents a further quantum leap for our business and demonstrates our commitment to delivering a comprehensive range of broadband services to the local loop across the length and breadth of the UK."

Zipcom independently owns and operates one of the most extensive, secure and resilient national networks. Zipcom's service is backed by a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA) guaranteeing 99.92% uptime. Zipcom also offers all its customers a dedicated account manager, providing a single point of contact for all enquiries.

A dynamic, leading-edge provider of competitive high performance voice, data, Internet and E-commerce connectivity solutions, Zipcom is committed to next generation technological advances.


Hopefully Zipcom will also bring back the broadband cable modem services that XO began to offer before their closure.

Tracing The Global Internet Attack

By:mark.j @ 9:33:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Experts have warned that it could be difficult, if not impossible, to track down the perpetrators of Mondays massive attack on the primary Internet DNS servers.

The attack, which went unnoticed by many people and yet stopped just short of doing serious damage to the Internet as a whole, was conducted using an all too common and difficult to trace denial of service (DoS) method.

"The only hope we have is if somebody turns somebody in over it," said Paul Vixie chairman of the Internet Software Consortium Inc., which operates a Silicon Valley-based Internet root server, one of the 13 spread around the globe that were attacked on Monday.

While unprecedented in its scope, the attack failed to cripple the Internet and the vast majority of Internet users were not affected, experts said.

The Bush administration said on Wednesday it was investigating the attack, but played down speculation it was carried out by terrorists. "There is an investigation under way to determine who is responsible for the attacks," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

But when asked if cyber-terrorism was suspected, Fleischer told reporters, "I'm not aware there's anything that would lead anybody in that direction. History has shown that many of these attacks actually come from the hacker community."

Cisco - The Death of WAN

By:mark.j @ 9:25:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Don't worry, Wide Area Networks (WAN) aren't going to die anytime soon, after all, you're technically using one now.

However one of the worlds leading networking companies, Cisco, has stated that the WAN we know today will not exist for much longer:

Cisco believes that metropolitan area networks will begin to proliferate within municipalities as local areas demand better services and greater speeds than are currently possible.

Mark de Simone, vice president of technology solutions and corporate marketing at Cisco, said: "There is now a new definition of broadband. If you want to leverage applications you have to make sure that the outside of the company looks a little like the inside.

So this is the death of the Wan as we know it and the birth of the new local area network: a simple pervasive broadband infrastructure with the software to deliver it.
"


Cisco is also another company to point out that the best way forward, going past ADSL etc., is for the UK to embrace fibre networks (10Mbps to 1Gbps).

Unfortunately the UK still appears reluctant to even consider that, which is often the way when you have a less technically minded and forward thinking government. More @ VNUNet.

Clara.net ISP Drops E-Mail Filter

By:mark.j @ 9:16:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
UK ISP Clara.net has reportedly dropped its e-mail virus (worm) filtering service from its servers after performance issues arose:

Claranet continues to market to business users a separate service which uses more sophisticated virus scanning and filtering. Other ISPs sometimes bundle such services with basic access packages targeted at consumers - for example, BTOpenworld this month rolls out virus/spam blocking technology from Brightmail/Symantec to improve the customer online experience.

Claranet takes a different line. Since the decision to drop its global mail filter, the ISP advocates a DIY approach - advising home users to use desktop AV scanners (which they should use anyway) and to set email clients to automatically delete email from persistent virus senders.

Neil Levine, Claranet CTO, explains: "Claranet has over the years applied generic filters to our mail spool to prevent mails which may be virus infected being delivered. However, as a result, there was a strong potential for false positives to be generated, which may have meant valid, non-infected mails were filtered out."


Unfortunately the problems highlighted by Clara.net are not uncommon and will continue to dog such software for sometime to come. More @ The Register.

News - October 23,2002

Manchester Telco's Hit By Arson

By:mark.j @ 2:09:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The Manchester wings of two or more Telco's, BT and Your Communications (formerly Norweb), appear to have been hit by a suspected arson attack, which took out some phone and Internet services:

Police were called to two incidents in the early hours of this morning. In one incident in Salford, a fire started in a wheelie bin near a cable box damaged underground cables. Shortly afterwards, police attended a similar incident nearby, following reports of another fire.

Gary Clarkson, operations director for Your Communications, described the fires as a "serious incident" and said engineers were working to fix the damaged cables. According to one unconfirmed report the fires may have been started deliberately as part of a malicious attack against a telco.


It’s far too early to confirm whether or not the attacks were indeed arson and if so then what was the motivation (lack of broadband coverage perhaps =])? More @ The Register.

CommWorks Predictions For 2003

By:mark.j @ 1:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
CommWorks, a worldwide IP infrastructure provider, has today issued a new press release with, among a few other things, a list of predictions for the future of the telecommunications market.

Note that removed points 1 and 5 due to not being of interest to our readership:

In the midst of this gloom however, Mike Valiant, European market development manager of CommWorks, has identified areas of growth and opportunity for the telco market in 2003. Listed below are his thoughts on IP Centrex, personal communications, death of billing by minutes, horizontal services, VoIP traffic, and wireless connectivity for data communications.

2. Personal communications
Personal communications platforms will intensify in popularity as service providers begin to realise the revenue potential of tailored packages that suit the communications style of individuals and identified communities of interest. With next-generation networks, the cost of offering a new service is minimal thereby reducing the risk of failed ideas. This is in stark contrast to the investment and restrictions of "en masse" new service rollouts dictated by the PSTN. Providers can creatively offer sets of services that will appeal to groups such as vertical markets, Fortune 500 companies, mobile professionals etc. Examples of these "microservices" include:
• personal directories with voice activated dialling;
• location based services;
• "on-the-fly" conference calling;
• call return services linked to a voice mail; and
• personal communications management allowing more granular control of find me/follow me services and incorporating personalised greetings.

3. Death of billing by minutes
Reducing margins on voice calls will motivate voice service providers to increasingly offer flat rate voice plans, for example, 500 minutes for a flat rate fee of 39.95 GBP per month. As telecoms infrastructure and bandwidth costs have decreased, one major carrier admitted that collecting call data and billing by minutes now constitutes more than half the cost of a call. These new voice plans will allow for unlimited calls, but will most likely be bundled with other chargeable services. Content, information management, and productivity services, such as those outlined above, are good examples of new services for which an operator can charge. Some will be billed for on a monthly flat rate basis; others will be based on usage such as notifications or information sent via SMS messaging. Several fixed-line carriers are adding SMS functionality to their networks, and operators are upgrading or activating reverse charging so that content providers can be paid for delivering SMS messages to their customers.

4. VoIP traffic
More than 50% of voice calls will travel over IP for at least some part of their path in 2003. For example, Italian incumbent Telecom Italia claims 80% of its voice traffic will travel over IP by end of 2003. CommWorks has carried more than ten billion minutes of voice traffic since April 2000, and is now handling more than 680 million minutes per month. According to Frost & Sullivan, VoIP will account for approximately 75 percent of world voice services by 2007.

6. Wireless connectivity for data communications
Wi-Fi and wireless hot spots are going to be a growth area in 2003. Announcements in Sweden, Germany, Italy and the UK presage the beginning of a rush to provide service in the hottest "hot spots". Although wireless LANs have been talked about for years, the growing number of wireless-ready laptop PCs, reducing cost of WLAN cards, and the demands of an increasingly mobile workforce make this one of the most desired services by ardent road warriors. Frost & Sullivan predicts that annual shipments of wireless LANs will reach over 20 million units and exceed $1.5 billion in revenues by 2007.

BTO ISP Offering Travel Insurance

By:mark.j @ 1:35:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The UK ISP BTOpenworld appears to have extended its reach to travel insurance, or say says their latest press release:

GREAT VALUE INSURANCE PACKAGE FROM BT OPENWORLD TRAVEL CLUB

Winter sports enthusiasts are being offered a fantastic insurance deal by the BT Openworld Travel Club (www.btopenworld.com/travelclub). For £69 per person, customers receive fully comprehensive multi-trip travel insurance for a year, which includes 17 days winter sports cover as well as membership to the exclusive BT Openworld Travel Club (which costs £29 on its own).

Not only will customers save money on winter sports and annual travel insurance with this great value deal but they will also receive all the benefits of the BT Openworld Travel Club. Benefits include competitive discounts on travel deals as well as 'money can't buy' packages and exclusive access to tickets for sold out events, all backed by a price match promise.

The insurance package includes a unique membership card, which provides proof of cover while abroad and, in some places, can also enable medical staff to access membership details. Customers will benefit from a 24-hour emergency help line for claims, information and advice. Winter sports cover can be used at any time over a one year period and includes on and off piste skiing and snowboarding.

John Raczka, senior vice president of content at BT Openworld, said: "The cut price insurance deal, along with a free subscription to the BT Openworld Travel Club, provides excellent value to our customers, who will benefit by not only saving money but by gaining access to all the benefits of Travel Club."

BT Openworld Travel Club insurance offer overview:

*17 days winter sports cover including off piste ski and snowboarding
*Unlimited number of trips per year with 45 days cover per trip
*Worldwide cover including the United States and Canada
*Business trip cover
*24-hour emergency help line for claims and medical assistance
*Travel card which provides policy documentation
*14 days money back guarantee
*Free membership to the BT Openworld Travel Club - includes regular discounts on travel packages backed by a price match promise, exclusive deals and 'money can't buy' offers

How The Internet Changes Healthcare

By:mark.j @ 1:30:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
New research from Datamonitor has found that 1 in 3 European citizens used the Internet to look for health information last year:

Half of those questioned said they would welcome direct email contact with their doctors. The same number would like the opportunity to schedule appointments and receive prescriptions electronically.

Datamonitor suggests the growing profusion of online information will eventually foster a new type of healthcare.

They have found that people are becoming increasingly well-informed about their conditions and treatment options.


More @ Ananova.

Internet Suffers Major DoS Attack

By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The FBI is investigating what could well be one of the most powerful denial of service (DoS) attacks ever.

The assault, which occurred on Monday, was powerful enough to cripple 9 of the 13 servers that manage global Internet traffic, although few noticed any difference in the UK:

The attack lasted an hour and meant that it took much longer than usual for users to log-on to web pages for the first time.

According to Associated Press, the FBI is concerned because the attack appeared to be the "the largest and most sophisticated assault on the servers in the history of the internet".

Experts explained that the attack transmitted data to each targeted root server at 30 to 40 times the normal amount, and that just one additional failure would have disrupted email messages and browsing across many parts of the web.


Many may remember the recent warnings from a top government cyber-security adviser (USA), Richard Clarke, whom stated that an attack against the Internet's root servers could cause severe disruption. More @ VNUNet.

Fast24 Unmetered ISP Service Update

By:mark.j @ 10:20:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Troubled UK ISP Fast24 has again issued a service update to explain the progress of their various upgrades and changes. Note that we cut the less interesting pieces out:

We are pleased to report that progress has continued apace on our various system enhancements. The current situation is as follows:

1. Access teething issues on 08089920024

We have been informed that BT have, today, resolved issues in the following areas:

0173325xxxx
0197061xxxx
0136377xxxx
0140776xxxx
0190371xxxx
0140863xxxx

In addition to this, BT are meeting with the suppliers of the above number to resolve any other outstanding issues tomorrow (23/10/02).

6. Radius Server Authenication Upgrade

Many of you have noticed, and commented, that the new radius server authentication is faster than previously experienced.

However, prior to this weekend, we hope to have the radius server authenticating from a new SQL database, which should further improve performance.

8. Email Backlog

We are conscious that we have again fallen behind with our email support responses. Now that the 'dust is settling', we are already working to clear the backlog. Your patience is much appreciated.

We will try to keep you updated as further progress is made, and news is worthy of reporting.

SatDrive Touts One-Way Satellite ISP

By:mark.j @ 10:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
SatDrive was another ISP to use the TMA 2002 event to tout its broadband satellite service, specifically as a means to fill the gaps where ADSL, Wireless and Cable appear unable to reach:

"Many consumers will be happy to pay £14.99 a month just for the basic service, but we think business users such as consultants and Web developers will be happy to pay for priority bandwidth when necessary," Eoin Lambkin, founder of SatDrive, told ZDNet UK News.

Lambkin, who was promoting SatDrive at TMA 2002 in Brighton, believes a home office worker would be happy to pay to quickly download a large file such as a new software upgrade, or multimedia work for a client.

SatDrive will offer five levels of priority that give users progressively higher priority over other users, with enhanced download performance. The lowest priority -- one level up from the basic service -- costs 3p for each extra megabyte, with the highest priority costing 9p per megabyte.


Unfortunately SatDrive's one-way service still requires that a user own a phone line and dialup ISP connection for upstream transfers, not to mention the hefty installation/hardware cost of £399 (PCI) or £450 (USB) inc. VAT.

The service itself may only be £14.99 per month, however if you include the rest it's actually very expensive and far more restrictive than ADSL or Cable Modem access.

Sadly another common problem is that most satellite ISPs can get expensive / restrictive where large downloading is concerned. Be warned, some satellite ISPs may state unlimited data transfers, however this will often only be for basic web sites and e-mail, not lots of 200/300mb game demos or video etc. More @ ZDNet.

BT Chief Reiterates Broadband Pledge

By:mark.j @ 10:00:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Speaking at the TMA, BTs chief executive Ben Verwaayen used the opportunity to reiterate the operators pledge to have 5Million homes online with broadband by 2006.

Unfortunately it looks as if the road ahead will require more than just words:

Keith Todd, chairman of the Broadband Stakeholders Group, warned that the telecoms industry and government will come under increasing pressure to tackle the problem of one in three UK households still being unable to get access to affordable broadband.
"Over the next few months it is important that government, industry and regional bodies get together to discuss how we can target coverage," he said. "This is a problem that must be addressed now."

Todd highlighted the importance of regional development agencies in driving the roll-out of high speed internet access to parts of the UK where BT and the cable companies do not yet see a commercial market.


Strange, we seem to remember the BSG taking a less active stance toward that particular problem only a week or two ago. More @ VNUNet.

BTO & Fox To Drive Internet Awareness

By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
UK ISP BTOpenworld has teamed up with media giant Twentieth Century Fox in order to drive family use of the Internet through the launch of the hit film Ice Age on DVD and video this month:

BT OPENWORLD AND FOX JOIN FORCES IN FAMILY WEB AWARENESS DRIVE

BT Openworld and film giant Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment are promoting family use of the internet through the launch of the hit film Ice Age on DVD and video this month.

Customers who sign-up to BT Openworld Anytime in selected high street stores will receive a free Ice Age CD-ROM containing 40 minutes of exclusive footage, games and downloads. The Anytime and Ice Age disks are available from HMV and Toys 'R' Us stores in the UK. The initiative is part of a wider marketing arrangement between Fox and BT Openworld.

As part of the celebrations, Fox and BT Openworld held a party at the BT Tower on Monday, October 21. The night saw the BT Tower illuminated for the first time this decade, to resemble a giant icicle (images attached).

Chris Jones, head of distribution at BT Openworld said: "BT Openworld and Twentieth Century Fox share important customer values and are committed to bringing families together through the internet and new media. This relationship is a result of that shared vision."

Claire Ward, product manager at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment said: "Ice Age has been a huge global hit for Fox and the BT Openworld relationship is a great way for us to communicate this great release to a huge audience."

Ice Age CD-ROMs are also available from: http://www.btopenworld.com/iceage


Hmm, it doesn’t seem as if there’s much promotion of Internet awareness going on in what’s described.

Freeserve Complains About BT - Again

By:mark.j @ 9:44:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Once again the French Wanadoo backed UK ISP Freeserve has lodged a complaint against BT with the UK telecoms regulator, Oftel.

Freeserve believes that BT has too much of an advantage over other ISPs, primarily because it has 70% of the country's residential lines and can market its products via the phone bill:

Freeserve, which has commissioned two economist reports to "support" its complaint, is calling on Oftel to prevent BT from using its phone bill, or "blue bill", to push its no-frills broadband service, BT Broadband.

David Melville, general counsel for Freeserve, said: "Oftel would have us believe that all is rosy in the UK's broadband market with consumer take-up now gathering pace. But market growth should not be at the expense of the true competition that created affordable narrowband internet for millions of customers."

Freeserve warns that unless action is taken against BT's "near-monopoly" position in residential telephony, broadband prices will stay "artificially high".


Not surprisingly the Web-User item quotes a BT spokesman as refuting the latest, if somewhat familiar, allegations.

Eurim Snaps At Broadband Suppliers

By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The Secretary General for the European Information Society Group (Eurim), Philip Virgo, has used the recent TMA2002 conference in Brighton to voice the need for a broadband shake-up in Britain:

Virgo said the roll out of Broadband in Britains has been frustrated by a regulatory framework in Europe and Britain more suited to the 80s than the 21st Century. A conflict exist between control, planning and regulation on the one hand, and innovation and evolution on the other, he said.

As a result Britain has been left trailing in the wake of Broadband leaders such as Korea, where broadband speeds of up to 8Mbps are commonplace.

Korea, unlike Britain, understands the importance of broadband is not just about economics but "national and cultural survival", he added. If Britain fails to act now it will become only significant as a "local English language base to address Europe", relegating its status to that of a city like Hong Kong rather than a strong player in the global economy, he added. Immediate action is necessary.


It's nice to finally hear somebody speak about the cultural aspect of broadband services, more @ The Register.

BT Cuts City ISP Prices

By:mark.j @ 9:22:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
BT has cut the cost of its Flex Gold ISP service, which gives businesses based close to major cities a discount of up to 28%, by extending the range of its nine Points of Presence to 25km; more services can now get the discount:

The deal, if companies are elligible for Flex Gold, also includes greater traffic capacity and improved terms compared with businesses outside the new limits.

BT has also introduced a new package for ISP companies, allowing them to sign up for flexible dial-up capacity that will automatically upgrade the traffic they can cope with by expanding the number of ports used.

The deal, called Ratchet, means ISPs can set a standard limit for the amount of ports required and a pre-agreed upper limit that the system will automatically use should traffic grow significantly, with costs expanding only as more ports are used.


The netimperative.info item points out that this latest move could be at least partly as a result of Oftels continued insistence that BT cut their Internet access prices.

News - October 22,2002

E-Mail Privacy – The Myth To Many

By:mark.j @ 2:42:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
A shocking survey from Indicii Salus has found that people have a greater respect for the privacy of a posted (snail mail) message than they do for the electronic (e-mail) kind:

83% of those questioned said they believe that emails are “free to be read”, but would not consider opening a sealed envelope without invitation. However, once opened, over a quarter see a letter as fair game for public viewing.

While happy to use email for sending general innocuous messages, 79 per cent said they would still post or courier confidential or urgent private documents, believing that email is neither secure nor 100 per cent reliable. However, a massive 93 per cent said they would prefer to use email if the communication could be comprehensively and quickly secured – citing it as a more cost-effective and speedy communications tool.

Prying eyes are most interested in other people’s personal finance details according to the research. Of those admitting to have secretly looked at a colleague’s email, 36 per cent said they were most interested in salary review and bonus details.


It's incredible to think that such a huge percentage of people would have so little regard for the privacy of another person. There’s nothing more annoying than somebody who reads your private messages.

ISP Review recommends that those reading there e-mails in the presence of others use a taser gun in order to disperse nosy individuals =). More @ Europemedia.

Union Calls For Universal Broadband

By:mark.j @ 2:35:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has struck out at the government and industry today and called for universal broadband access in the UK to become a reality:

Speaking at TMA 2002 on Tuesday, the CWU's deputy general secretary for telecoms, Jeannie Drake, insisted that the government had to invest in pilot schemes, demos, education and awareness programmes as well as funding research into innovative ways of bridging the broadband divide.

"We believe that universal broadband access can be achieved if all players work in harmony over the next five years," said Drake. "If government can also raise its vision and see that universal broadband access could be a reality and puts it at the heart of its plans, then it would be a huge boost for the UK."

The key to universal broadband access, according to Drake, is wireless: "The 2.1GHz, 3.4GHz and 5.6GHz bands could all be used to offer broadband services. In our view, wireless is key to whether universal broadband access can be a reality."


Mr Drake highlighted subsidisation as a key requirement for pushing universal broadband, although the government has consistently refused such an idea. More @ ZDNet.

Bulldog Slashes DSL Interconnect Costs

By:mark.j @ 1:29:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Bulldog Communications has today announced a new deal with XchangePoint, which will help to cut their broadband DSL interconnect prices:

Bulldog Teams Up With XchangePoint, New Service Slashes DSL Interconnect Prices

Bulldog Communications, a leading wholesale broadband service provider
utilising DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technology, and leading Metro-area interconnect provider, XchangePoint, today introduced an interconnect service designed to help service providers dramatically reduce the cost and set-up time associated with backhauling DSL traffic into their own networks.

This 'first-of-its-kind' commercial agreement, between Bulldog and XchangePoint, means that a service provider, with network facilities in one of seven major co-location sites in London, can set up a backhaul link for as little as £1000 upfront and £200 per month in rental charges.....

AOL UK ISP Gains New Marketing VP

By:mark.j @ 1:24:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
AOL UK has appointed Sharon Lang as its new vice president (VP) of marketing; she now has overall responsibility for the company's brand and acquisition strategy:

Lang was previously brand director of marketing at AOL UK having joined the firm in February 2001. She continues to report to Karen Thomson, CEO and Co-MD of AOL UK.

More @ netimperative.info .

UK Gov Clashes With ISPs - Privacy

By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
One of our readers (Paul) spotted an interesting news story in The Guardian, it appears as if UK ISPs are refusing to sign-up to plans to give law enforcement and intelligence agencies access to the records of British web and e-mail users:

In the latest of a long line of setbacks for the home secretary's data retention campaign, the Guardian has learned that internet service providers have told the Home Office that they will not voluntarily stockpile the personal records of their customers for long periods so that they can be accessed by police or intelligence officers.

Last night, Home Office insiders dismissed suggestions that the voluntary code was dead in the water. But human rights campaigners said Mr Blunkett now had little choice but to think again.

Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, said: "Civil society, Europe's data protection commissioners, and now internet service providers have all told the Home Office their data retention plans are an unacceptable invasion of privacy."


The bad news is that Mr Blunkett now has the power to make the code mandatory, something that's likely to deepen the growing distrust between ISPs and the government.

BT ADSL Enables 10 Local Exchanges!

By:mark.j @ 1:14:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Much as had been expected, BT Group has now officially confirmed that Todmorden will become the first local exchange to be enabled for ADSL as a direct result of BTs broadband pre-registration scheme.

However that's only the icing on the cake, BT has also announced that 9 other exchanges will follow:

BT PRAISES CAMPAIGN GROUPS AS BROADBAND DEMAND TAKES OFF

BT today announced that customers on 10 exchanges are set to experience the benefits of broadband, the first successes of an innovative demand registration scheme.

Ben Verwaayen, BT chief executive, said: "It's terrific that customers have come together in campaign groups to drive demand in their areas. We can now identify with confidence where to invest next to give businesses and consumers fast, always on broadband internet services."

Todmorden, West Yorkshire, was the first exchange to hit its demand trigger level set under BT Wholesale's broadband registration scheme - and now after a six week validation period, service providers have confirmed sufficient customer demand for the exchange to be upgraded.

Work at the exchange and on BT's network is now underway and the first customers will get broadband service in November.

Six further exchanges, Irby on the Wirrall, Paddock Wood and Pembury in Kent, Penn in Buckinghamshire, Ponteland in Northumberland and Twyford in Berkshire will also now be upgraded after demand was confirmed by service providers. They are expected to go live in December.

Tom Byrne, campaign founder and area co-ordinator for the broadband4irby campaign, said: "The Irby campaign proves local people can make the difference in delivering the broadband future. The campaign team's work helped us reach the 400 trigger level in 11 weeks and now the demand needed to make sure we get broadband has been confirmed in just four weeks.

The effort by all our team has been fantastic and the news that Irby will be one of the first exchanges upgraded by BT under this scheme has made all the effort worthwhile.
"

Mr Verwaayen said: "People in these areas put themselves in the vanguard of the movement to be the next to get ADSL broadband. BT is now pulling out all the stops to match their enthusiasm and deliver the broadband connections they've asked for.

For the next exchanges service providers have confirmed demand levels faster, so broadband conversion work can begin immediately. This speed gives us increasing confidence in our new registration scheme and our ability to predict accurately the level of interest we need to make broadband upgrades economically sound.
"

Since the demand registration scheme was launched in July more than 160,000 customer registrations have been logged.

In addition to the seven exchanges where demand levels have been confirmed, a further three exchanges Leek in Staffordshire, Bishops Waltham in Hampshire and Kesgrave in Suffolk, are just a handful of confirmations short and are expected to be confirmed in the broadband upgrade programme later this week.

There are a further 10 exchanges which have hit their trigger levels and service providers are now validating demand so work can begin on upgrading further exchanges.

Those exchanges which have hit the trigger level and demand is being validated are:

Alton, Hampshire
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
Buckley, Flintshire
Drayton, Norfolk
Harrowden, Northamptonshire
Inverness Culloden
Ivybridge, Devon
Knaresborough, N. Yorkshire
Merthyr Tydfil
Shaw, Greater Manchester


Not only is this good news for those whom are about to find their exchange enabled with ADSL, it’s also vindication for BTs controversial new method, which appears to have panned out.

MSN v8 To Get UK Launch - Soon

By:mark.j @ 9:28:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
Microsoft Networks version eight (MSN v8) client software, which should bring you some extra online content, is now set to launch in the UK:

The big difference compared to its US cousin, so we're told, is that it’s just a content-only package. Which means that if you want to cough up to the service - which could set you back around a fiver a month - it would mean you would also have to supply Net access.

Question is, is MSN 8.0 good enough to warrant paying on top of your usual ISP fees?

But it's an idea that's gaining some momentum. Earlier this month Forrester Research claimed that no-frills access-only services, such as BT Broadband, could spell the death of ISPs, according to Forrester Research.


Clearly Forrester missed the fact that BT Broadband is actually more expensive than the vast majority of full ADSL offering ISP services. More @ The Register.

Todmorden To Be ADSL Enabled

By:mark.j @ 9:12:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
One of the first exchanges to hit its broadband ADSL pre-registration trigger level, Todmorden, now looks set to have its enablement confirmed:

According to sources Todmorden in West Yorkshire has managed to confirm enough orders for BT to go ahead and invest the necessary cash to convert the exchange.

BT is expected to confirm Todmorden's success tomorrow.


Since 'tomorrow' is today, that means we can expect to see some kind of announcement before the day is out, here's hoping. More @ The Register.

Live Chat - Pipex MD David Rickards

By:mark.j @ 9:06:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
ADSLGuide has secured a live chat session with the managing director, David Rickards, of troubled UK ISP Pipex. The event is set to take place tomorrow (Wednesday), 23rd October 2002, and will start at 3pm:

As usual, the chat session will last one hour and will consist of pre-submitted questions and those asked by the live audience. If you are unable to attend, you can e-mail your question to us at the following address - pipex-questions@adslguide.org.uk

More information can be found HERE; hopefully we'll finally learn why Pipex still has such poor support.

News - October 21,2002

Supanet ISP Launches ADSL Service

By:mark.j @ 2:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The latest UK ISP to launch a broadband ADSL service is Supanet, which is asking a hefty £29.99 per month for the package:

Bring your world up to speed with supanet broadband.

Supanet broadband is the new 512Kbits/sec high- speed domestic service from supanet, one of the UK's leading ISPs.

* supanet broadband costs just £29.99 a month.

* The hardware kit, including an easy-to-foll ow instruction manual, digital modem, sign-up CD and cables, costs just £119 .99, and includes BT connection fee.

* The kit is on sale in branches of The The Computer World, or sign up online through the supanet portal at http://www.supanet.com/broadband.

Look out for further broadband developments from supanet, coming soon. Contact our Broadband Customer Service departme nt on 0800 138 0454 (8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday) for more information o r to arrange a connection.


Unfortunately the ISP doesn't mention whether the price includes or excludes VAT, at that price most would expect VAT to be included.

There's also a 12 Month contract, which, overall, makes this a rather expensive service with very little in the way of features.

Nobody Wants AOLs ISP CDs

By:mark.j @ 2:37:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
It's not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last, however two USA men have become so tired of being inundated with promotional CDs from AOLs ISP service that they've decided to take action:

John Lieberman and Jim McKenna started to collect the CDs after getting blitzed by several of them in one week.

The pair, both IT specialists, have vowed to collect a million of them and return them to the firm with the message: "How would you like it if somebody was doing this to you?"

Lieberman and McKenna fear that the huge number of CDs being given away are polluting the environment. "Unlike pre-approved credit card offers made of paper, CDs are very difficult to recycle," Lieberman said.


The VNUNet item points out that you can find the pairs website HERE, it's no doubt an issue that has, in some way or another, managed to affect almost everybody reading this.

So far the group has managed to accumulate 77,028 CDs, with 6,751 of those coming directly from the UK. Unfortunately this campaign is nothing new, but it's nice to keep updated.

2,000,000 Text Messages Per Hour

By:mark.j @ 2:29:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]
The Mobile Data Association has reported that 1.43 billion mobile phone text messages (SMS) were sent during September 2002, making for roughly 2,000,000 per hour:

That takes the daily average to around 48 million, compared to 36 million for September 2001. The total for the year so far is over 12 billion.

More @ Ananova.

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