October 11, 2002 - October 16, 2002
News - October 16,2002
Broadband Helps e-Commerce
By:mark.j @ 1:25:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The director of e-marketing at the Institute of Directors', Jonathan Cummings, has today stated that broadband connections will be crucial to the continued growth of UK e-commerce in the future:
'It's an enormous year-on-year growth but its still a small percentage of overall sales. Broadband will have a huge impact and hopefully we will see even faster growth rates over the next year or two,' he said.
David Roberts, chief executive of blue chip user group The Corporate IT Forum, agrees that high-speed communications will provide a further boost to online sales.
'If growth is at almost 50 per cent without much effort on broadband then think what it could do with broadband,' he said.
More @ VNUNet. |
ADSL Pre-Reg Deadline = Flexible
By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Reacting to concerns that not all UK broadband ADSL offering ISPs may be chasing their pre-registrations for confirmation, BT Wholesale has today stated that the six week deadline for the process is not set in stone:
A spokesman for BT Wholesale reassured Todmorden broadband campaigners that the 22 October deadline is not set in stone.
"It is not a hard deadline," he said. "We needed to have some sort of timescale and we thought six weeks was enough time to register interest. Todmorden has hit the trigger level."
Unfortunately the comments on Web-User will do little to ease the concern of many that other ISPs may not be actively chasing pre-registrations on exchanges that have hit their trigger level. |
New Broadband Satellite ISP Online
By:mark.j @ 9:36:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Much as we reported at the start of October, another broadband Satellite ISP has finally launched its website and details, Everywhere! Broadband.
The service costs just £19.99 inc. VAT per month and provides a one-way (you still need a dialup ISP) broadband satellite connection using Eutelsat's OpenSky technology.
The service will offer users, whom can now register for it on their website, download speeds of between 500Kbps and 1Mbit-ps.
The installation price appears to be set at £99, yet you'll still need to buy a suitable satellite modem (PCI Card) and dish. There also appears to be a £32.85 inc. VAT per month package, which appears to include some style of unmetered dialup service.
Much like other satellite services, this one will also be able to pickup certain free-to-air TV channels such as BBC World etc.
Sadly there's no mention of any bandwidth/download limits, which can be somewhat of a double edged sword with satellite ISPs. It's always good to have it in writing that an ISP isn't going to suddenly impose a hidden usage limit and sadly we couldn’t see any Terms & Conditions. |
RedDSL ISP Cuts ADSL Price
By:mark.j @ 9:16:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if the recently launched broadband offering ISP, RedDSL, has just moved one step closer to making its ADSL service one of the most competitive around.
The ISP has cut its monthly charge from £29.99 down to £26.99 inc. VAT per month, yet this isn't any ordinary ADSL package:
RedDSL Reduces Monthly Charge Of Broadband Service And Still Includes FREE Games and A Fixed IP
RedDSL has reduced the price of their broadband service from £29.99 inc VAT down to £26.99 inc VAT per month, including a fixed IP and a two month contract instead of the average six or twelve months contract terms.
On top of the reduction RedDSL are still offering FREE computer games from NovaLogic and regular promotions and competitions from their partners:
• Thrustmaster
• Hercules
• NovaLogic
• JoWooD Productions
RedDSL was established to help drive the upgrade initiative from standard dial up phone connections to the government back broadband initiative of ADSL phone connections that will speed up data transfer. RedDSL has a clear vision to ensure that all homes and businesses have access to a simplistic, affordable, reliable internet service that enables them to talk and surf at the same time, download movies and music files and play games online with family or friends.
Richard Seear, spokesperson for RedDSL commented "We are delighted that we have been able to implement a reduction in the monthly charge, it can only help drive the upgrade initiative. We are also keen to ensure that our philosophy for added value such as games and a fixed IP still remains as part of our package".
RedDSL wants to ensure that it offers a fast, efficient, informative but above all simplistic service that is designed to increase productivity and enjoyment without all the technical jargon.
For further information hit http://www.reddsl.com
With a fixed IP and two month contract, £26.99 is closer to the level that we’d like to see UK ISPs pricing their residential ADSL services at. |
Gov Preps Third 28GHz Wireless Auction
By:mark.j @ 9:10:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] What do you do when you're the UK government and the first two of your 28GHz broadband wireless license auctions flop? Yes, that's correct, you start another one!
The 12-Month deadline from the second auction has just come to an end without attracting any bids; however the government is keen to succeed by making some small changes and starting a third:
The Radiocommunications Agency announced on Tuesday that it hoped to begin the new award process at the start of 2003. It is proposing that this time the licences -- which use the 28GHz spectrum -- will have less stringent conditions attached to them.
By removing the earlier "purpose of use" restriction and the ill-fated "use it or lose it" clause from the licence, the government believes it will encourage telcos to take part in the auction, which is likely to run for 12 months.
Experts believe, though, that significant interest in this third auction will come from 3G and DSL operators, rather than companies looking to provide broadband wireless access to consumers, as the government had hoped.
The ZDNet item reports that anybody interested in the proposed changes has until mid-November to offer their feedback. |
Two More Exchanges Hit ADSL Trigger
By:mark.j @ 8:56:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that the Harrowden and Ivybridge local exchanges have both hit their broadband ADSL pre-registration trigger levels. It shouldn't be long now before we know whether BTs new process is really working.
Perhaps BT would have better luck if they actually told ISPs about the new system, since a good number appear oblivious to the point of arrogance. |
News - October 15,2002
Tiscali ISP Deals With Billing Complaints
By:mark.j @ 2:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It looks as if we're not the only consumer group trying to highlight the high level of billing complaints against Tiscali's ISP, the BBCs excellent Working Lunch TV program has also done so.
Indeed they even got Tiscali UKs director, Steve Horle, to pledge that all its outstanding issues concerning billing complaints would be resolved before the end of October!:
He was told of a rack of complaints the programme had received concerning some Tiscali customers not being charged for the service, while others continued to have cash debited from their accounts even though they had cancelled their subscriptions.
"Those people who have been incorrectly billed will be fully refunded," said Mr Horley. However, he said the problems only affected less than half of one per cent of the company's 900,000 customers.
The Register reports the ISPs director as blaming the problem on their seven ISP acquisitions and the ultimate merging of the billing databases for all services into one. We'll see how things are going come early November; it’s taken long enough already. |
10, 40 & 100Gbps Ethernet LAN
By:mark.j @ 1:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We neglected to report on this last week, however 10, 40 and even 100Gbps (Gigabits per second) local area networks could soon become a reality:
A high-speed Ethernet standard originally developed to run over fibre networks could eventually run over cheap copper cabling if the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) adopts a new standards effort for 10Gbps Ethernet at its annual conference in Taipei, Taiwan next month.
"Ten Gigabit is already running on copper -- for distances of around 15 feet," said Bobby Johnson chief executive of Foundry Networks, in a wide-ranging interview with Tech Update. "We need this to be 100 metres, but there should be products that do this in around two years."
Sadly we can't expect 10Gbps home networking anytime soon, although that's probably a good thing because it gives 1Gbps Ethernet a chance. More @ ZDNet. |
Japan Tests 4G Broadband Wireless
By:mark.j @ 1:24:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] European operators have barely even begun to rollout 3G broadband wireless mobile phone services and already Japan's NTT DoCoMo has managed to successfully conduct an outdoor 4G test!
Compared to 3Gs standard speed of 384Kbps, 4G will offer connections closer to LAN (Local Area Network) quality @ 100Mbits-ps (20Mbps upstream).
The Japanese government plans to get 4G going by 2005, with a commercial rollout expect to follow in 2010, but don't expect it to hit Europe until closer to 2015/2020.
Of course by then broadband wireless LAN technology could have become more popular and ultimately negate any need for 4G, you never know. |
McDonald's Pop-Up Porn Scuppers ISP
By:mark.j @ 1:15:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The popular (if only in numbers) McDonald's fast food chain has apparently been forced to suspend trials of its Internet access kiosk service after customers witnessed porn pop-ups on the screen:
Three outlets in Kilmarnock, Dunfermline and Paisley began a scheme to offer "McNetAccess" in the summer. Although McDonald's took measures to block access to adult sites, this failed to stop porno pop-up ads from appearing on screen.
According to the Evening Times, children at the Kilmarnock restaurant were eating their Happy Meals just yards from sexually explicit material.
In a statement McDonald's said: "As soon as we were alerted to the issue we suspended this trial service. We are currently investigating this matter and will be taking appropriate action before resuming service."
Is pornography really any more off-putting for diners than a giant and frightening clown with an evil "you'll never be rid of me" smile? More @ The Register. |
Brightview ISP Wins Support Award
By:mark.j @ 9:08:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Brightview, the UK Company behind ISPs such as Madasafish and IC24, has today announced that their Waitrose.com off-shoot is set to be named as the ISP offering the best technical support in the UK market:
Waitrose.com will be named as the ISP offering the best technical support in the UK market in the next edition of Practical Internet magazine, due on newsstands on Thursday October 17th. The magazine's editorial team, who write for a technically sophisticated audience, make the award based on their own evaluation and experience.
Brightview purchased the rights to operate Waitrose.com earlier this year from the UK subsidiary of US telecommunications company XO Communications. Although the acquisition and move to a new technical platform were completed in August, Brightview has been managing the Waitrose.com technical support call centre since March.
David Tarsh, Brightview's Chief Marketing Officer, who is responsible for the Waitrose.com call centre, said: "When Brightview did the XO deal, it was very fortunate to acquire many outstanding people, including highly competent technical support, customer services and marketing teams. We set some demanding objectives and asked our new staff to show us what they could do. They have responded magnificently. We are also grateful to Waitrose
for their ongoing commitment to the ISP."
In response to a major investment in new technical infrastructure, Brightview's brands have also achieved their highest combined position ever in Internet magazine's league table of the 143 best performing ISPs. In the latest (December) edition, IC24 was 2nd, Freenetname was 3rd, TotalServe was 4th and Madasafish was 12th. On a six-month basis, Brightview had three ISPs in the top 10 and is optimistic about improving this statistic, as platform upgrades took effect in August.
David Laurie, Brightview's Chief Executive, said: "These achievements demonstrate Brightview's commitment to the ISP market. We believe that if we focus our efforts on providing our subscribers with a superior on-line experience - highly efficient Email, a fast reliable connection to the Internet and first class technical support - that we will build a successful and enduring business." |
Isonetric Launch New Satellite ISP Offer
By:mark.j @ 9:04:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Much as we've already reported, Isonetric has finally issued full details of their new and cheaper broadband satellite ISP service HERE:
Broadband internet access available to anyone anywhere
SwiftSat, working with established independent satellite broadband provider Isonetric Broadband, has released a product to compete directly with ADSL. The one-way satellite broadband system will be available to everyone regardless of their proximity to an ADSL enabled exchange or the quality of their phone lines/cabling.
The £30 per month system will provide users with up to 1mbps downstream bandwidth enabling them to access broadband content on the internet. This can include e-mail, web browsing, streaming video, movies, music, downloads and much more interactive content. The system is currently one-way with information requests being sent by the users current modem connection and receives the information at high speed through their satellite dish. Users will also be able to access free to air digital television channels and digital radio. The product offers unlimited data transfer, and the user will get an average of 400kbps (bursting to 1mbps) download speed which reduces slightly depending on the volume of data downloaded within a calendar month. This offers users who do not download large amounts of data an enhanced browsing experience.
The hardware can be purchased for £249 and there is an additional charge of £45 for installation. SwiftSat will attach a 60cm satellite dish to the customers property and run a cable to the users computer. The user can choose USB connectivity or utilise a PCI card. Once the user has then run the intuitive set up software their broadband connection is up and running. The system is available on a 12 month contract. The hardware/installation costs can be paid upfront or there will also be an option to spread the costs throughout the 12 month contract.
Isonetric Broadband and SwiftSat are setting up offices with 800 sales staff throughout the UK who will be on hand to answer any questions that may arise and visit residential properties to discuss customer requirements.
On the plus side and Isonetric's new service has a more realistic installation cost, however it's still no competition for the far cheaper and versatile ADSL.
The one positively competitive point that the service does have is its ability to support an unlimited data transfer, hence the higher price when compared with other one-way solutions.
Just remember, you’ve still got to pay for the phone line rental and dialup ISP costs on top, it’s not all one ISP. Those with ISDN will no doubt remain stuck firmly in the middle with very little choice. |
Internet Crime Costing Billions!
By:mark.j @ 8:54:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The USA governments’ cyber-security adviser, Howard Schmidt, has stated that those responsible for various forms of online crime (hacking, virus writers etc.) are costing the online world billions with the damage they do.
Speaking at a Longon conference on computer security, the former chief security officer at Microsoft went on to say: "Cyber crime is costing the world economy billions of dollars and it is still on the increase," Schmidt said. "The more we depend on the system, the more we use the system, the more they will exploit it."
From "Bugbear" to "Code Red", Internet communications have been plagued by viruses that can cause instant havoc.
Unwitting victims, including the Pentagon and the C.I.A in Washington and the British parliament, opened the e-mail and systematically spread the corrupted message to every address in their inbox. It forced network administrators to shut down e-mail systems.
Schmidt, Vice President of President Bush's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, insisted the fight against the hackers "is not a losing battle but an ongoing tug of war." But he did concede: "Cyber-related incidents are increasing in number, sophistication, severity and cost."
He called for "closer co-operation industry to industry, government to government and government to industry. We are all part of cyberspace and all have to do our part to protect it."
In the meantime hackers are only helping to give global governments a greater excuse and reason to clamp down on Internet freedom and privacy. |
News - October 14,2002
UK ISPs Prep Broadband Content
By:mark.j @ 1:38:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Despite last weeks report from Jupiter Media, which showed that a large percentage of people wouldn't pay for broadband content, ISPs such as AOL, BT and Freeserve continue to work on commercial portals etc.:
Freeserve and AOL will shortly launch content-rich services, offering users access to photography, music as well as bundling in mobile services such as text messaging.
BT Retail's Angus Porter has described the internet service provider (ISP) model (which offers both access and content) as "constipated" and is hoping its access-only service will attract one million customers by the summer of next year.
He has even suggested that BT's own ISP Openworld might have to abandon access to focus on content services.
Even if a large percentage of people chose to pay for special broadband content, they're hardly all going to signup to every single offer out there. Such a market could easily become saturated. More @ BBC News Online. |
One.Tel's Tweenie Broadband Content
By:mark.j @ 1:27:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One.Tel has today announced that their broadband ADSL offering ISP wing is to team up with the BBC and bring Tweenies, a children’s TV series, to their broadband portal:
Tweenies have first broadband adventure
BBC Worldwide, the main commercial arm of the BBC, and One.Tel, the UK’s leading alternative telecommunications provider, have signed a new deal that will bring young children in the UK a groundbreaking broadband service to enhance the hugely popular Tweenies TV series.
For the first time Tweenies will be made available on demand via a broadband connection, following the signing of the 12-month agreement. The service, which is due to commence in late November will initially offer six hours of Tweenies’ video segments on demand, and can be expanded and updated.
Specially built from existing materials, the Tweenies broadband service reflects the TV series in terms of quality and content. Children will be able to interact with five popular elements – Song Time, Messy Time, Story Time, Telly Time and Tweenies Time – which will include video clips, music, games and quizzes.
Jonathan Crane, BBC Worldwide’s Director of Commercial Broadband and Interactive TV, commenting on the new agreement said; “This new service is exactly the kind of top quality content that broadband needs to drive take-up. Extending the Tweenies brand in this way provides added value to the programme, allowing young children access to video clips of their favourite characters at any time of the day. We are delighted to be launching Tweenies broadband with One.Tel, and we are looking forward to rolling out the service in the UK and other territories, and with other partners around the world.”
“Getting the Tweenies on board with One.Tel is a huge step forward not just for our broadband service, but for the industry as a whole,” said Phil Worms, One.Tel’s head of broadband. “Interactivity lies at the very heart of the internet and the beauty of the Tweenies broadband service is that children can interact with it in a way that television doesn’t allow. I am committed to translating broadband content into services people actually want to use and this is a perfect example of this strategy in action.”
One.Tel’s broadband portal will be the first online home of the Tweenies, alongside the established MTV live music video content and BBC news, sport and weather. To access the service, One.Tel’s broadband customers simply go to http://www.onetel.net and click on the broadband portal. The Tweenies content appears on the portal as video clips which customers can choose to watch on demand as well as interactive features to bring the Tweenies to life. |
Schools & Colleges Drive Broadband
By:mark.j @ 1:19:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A member of the Broadband Stakeholders Group (BSG) has stated that covering schools and colleges with faster Internet connections is another way to improve broadband coverage and use:
Antony Walker, senior executive of information and communication technology at Intellect, believes the government should provide the funding to give high-speed Internet connections to schools and colleges across the UK.
"If I was part of the government, I'd put most of my eggs in this basket. I'd put a lot of my resources into putting meaningful bandwidth, such as 8Mbps or 32Mbps connections, into schools and educational centres," said Walker on Thursday.
He added that the government should also put a lot of money into the creation of educational content that is specifically designed to make use of a broadband connection.
The other advantage of the above suggestion is that residential houses would also gain from the improved coverage, especially in rural areas. More @ ZDNet. |
Combating Employee E-Mail Abuse
By:mark.j @ 1:13:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] New research from the Work Foundation has found that 75% of employers are working on or have an Internet abuse policy:
Other findings reveal that 66 per cent of respondents monitor website access, 65 per cent monitor incoming email messages and 43 per cent look out for inappropriate words or content.
However, with only 49 per cent of companies telling new recruits about their email policy and one in ten not informing staff their web activity is being watched, it looks like clever Trevor won't be the last to get caught out.
The Web-User item notes that by law employees must be informed if their Internet use is being monitored. It may also be worth remembering that almost 25% of employers would dismiss a worker for company email abuse. |
The UKs Lax CyberCrime Attitude
By:mark.j @ 9:55:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A new survey from Learning Tree International (LTI) has found that despite one third of UK businesses being hacked, 53% never discuss cybercrime at board level:
54 per cent of IT security managers and administrators who took part in the survey said that not enough is being done by their firms to address the threat of cybercrime, despite 34 per cent of those surveyed admitting that their companies had experienced cybercrime.
It's hardly surprising, few businesses would admit to being hacked for fear of loosing customers to a perception of insecurity. More @ Europemedia. |
News - October 13,2002
ISP Review Weekly Update
By:mark.j @ 10:23:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] If you haven't already noticed, we've changed the sites header menu. Sadly it won't technically look good until the words are changed and so please ignore the 'clumped' feel it has now.
We had also changed the colours of the front page title boxes ('Top News' etc.), however I'm very conscious of how an eye focuses on the colours and felt that it was simply too blue. We're now back to using black again.
Surprisingly we're still being held up by one truly consistent bug in the Reader ISP Reviews system, it's the prune database (delete reviews by date) feature. Quite simply, it's not removing reviews. |
BTWholesale ADSL Upgrades
By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide reports that BTWholesale will be upgrading the following local ADSL exchanges next week:
Tuesday 15th October 2002
Birmingham, Ealing, Edinburgh, Kingston
Thursday 17th October 2002
Bletchley, Ilford, Reading, Manchester
Apparently the upgrade will fix some disconnection problems and should occur sometime between 1am and 5am on both dates. |
News - October 12,2002
UKStamp Revamps ISP Services ?
By:Keith @ 3:02:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It would appear that UKStamp have had a makeover of their site and also their services. There are now three services listed on their homepage which are:
24/7 Access
£8.99/month by credit card
Price from £6.99/month with cheque option
24/7 access
Freefone connection
Free email technical support
2 hour default cut off period
10 minute inactive period
Immediate reconnection after default cutoff period
100% refund guarantee
Freefone POP3 email account
£8.99 set up fee
Free technical support
2 Hour Max Per Day
£6.99/month by credit card
Price from £4.99/month with cheque option
24/7 access
2 hour max limit per day (can be used in several sessions)
Freefone connection
Free email technical support
10 minute inactive period
Immediate reconnection after inactive period
100% refund guarantee
Freefone POP3 email account
£6.99 set up fee
Free technical support
Night Surf
Price from £3.59/month by cheque
Access between 1am and 8am
4 hour default cutoff period
Freefone connection
Free email technical support
No inactive period
Immediate reconnection after default cutoff period
100% refund guarantee
Freefone POP3 email account
£3.99 set up fee
Free technical support
According to their FAQ’s page you can only connect from the phone line you enter during signup and also the current contention ratio is 6:1, which seems rather low for an isp that charges so little. There does not seem to be any mention of a maximum usage time on the 24/7 Access package, however at £8.99 we can only guess there must be limits in place. |
Freeserve AnyTime ISP Upgrades
By:mark.j @ 9:11:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One of our readers (Glenn) has kindly let us know of a new update from UK ISP Freeserve, which is upgrading its network capacity to cope with demand and changing its AnyTime dialup number:
The Freeserve AnyTime service has been extremely popular over the past few months and we know that the network you are currently using will very shortly become congested. To avoid any deterioration of service levels we have rolled out new network capacity to all areas of the country, and have significant spare capacity available for use.
The link below will provide you with the dial-up number you should be using to access this new network capacity, and will give you instructions on how to swap. It only takes a couple of minutes and all you need is your home telephone number.
So to ensure that your Freeserve AnyTime service continues to deliver the highest levels of reliability and speed, please click the link and follow the on-screen instructions.
http://www.freeserve.com/time/anytime/friaco/ |
Nildram On BTs ADSL Pre-Registrations
By:mark.j @ 9:03:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP Nildram has issued a press release touting their support for BTs broadband ADSL pre-registration scheme, which, to the amazement of the public, some ISPs (Cough.. BTOpenworld, AOL and Freeserve etc.) appear to be neglecting:
Broadband Exchange Pre-Registration Scheme - Nildram drive the next stage…
Nildram, one of the leading providers of Broadband Access services in the UK, have today provided an update on the second stage of the recently launched Broadband Exchange Pre-Registration scheme.
The first stage of this scheme for each exchange has been gathering pre-registrations from each area and Nildram have been actively working with a number of local campaign sites in order to drive this forward.
With the first exchanges on the scheme hitting their pre-set ‘trigger’ levels the process has moved to the second stage, where ISPs have to generate enough Advance Orders to establish commercial viability before BT commence work on the particular exchange to enable Broadband ADSL connections. There is a limited time window of six weeks on each exchange to submit advance orders to BT Wholesale.
With this in mind, Nildram created an advance order area of their GetADSL website to facilitate the processing of advance orders at http://www.getadsl.co.uk/advance-order/ and have been passing these onto BT Wholesale on a daily basis. With a number of the larger ISPs seemingly unable to process advance orders, Nildram are able to accept advance orders for any exchange that has been confirmed by BT as having hit it’s trigger level – even where a potential Broadband user has not already pre-registered with Nildram.
So, if you want to get your local exchange Broadband enabled and not having any luck with your current ISP, pay the Nildram website a visit and make sure your advance order counts!
Iain Ogilvie, Nildram’s marketing manager comments: “We have been keen to promote this scheme and have been pleased to see the first exchanges hit their trigger level – a tribute to the hard work put in by volunteers on a large number of local campaigns. The advance order stage of the process is a critical component in making this work for individual exchanges and it is a pity that a number of the better-known ISPs have been unable to process these orders, especially given the time critical nature of this phase. Nildram has been a Broadband ADSL supplier from the very moment BT released it and have built up a wealth of knowledge on the delivery and support of their Broadband services, not only are we actively helping to make Broadband become a reality, we are also one of the highest performing Broadband providers in the UK!”
Further information: http://www.getadsl.co.uk |
News - October 11,2002
ISP Bloomley UK Launch ADSL Service
By:mark.j @ 2:41:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Cambridge based UK ISP Bloomley UK Ltd. has today announced the launch of their own broadband virtual ADSL ISP service:
Bloomley UK Ltd Announce ADSL Virtual ISP Service
With the ever increasing demand for ADSL services in the UK Bloomley have put in place a service to enable organisations from ISP's to charities to deliver branded Internet Access solutions in their own name.
The VISP is a white label solution to enable the delivery of ADSL, Unmetered, Metered (local/national and premium rate) and 0800 prepay services all in once package at one affordable price. With the Bloomley providing a fully managed outsourced service could not be easier, within 1 week any organisation can be live and selling services to customers and driving a valued new revenue stream.
Bloomley are currently providing services to a number of UK ISP's and VISP's. Future customers will include the music industry, charities, sports clubs, hosting companies and online gaming.
ADSL is a simple commodity, the VISP enables any organisation to monetise their database, bundle content with access to effectively charge for content.
Bloomley will also be offering SDSL services to London based businesses via the VISP in November and launch a White-label prepaid internet access cards service shortly after. |
UK Domain - .net.uk - Doomed?
By:mark.j @ 2:34:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A subcommittee of Nominet's Policy Advisory Board (PAB) has concluded that the .net.uk domain should be scrapped, possibly even before Christmas.
Those already using the second level domain would keep it until their next renewal date, although not everybody remains convinced:
Subcommittee chairman Clive Feather remains sceptical. "Just because that was the case with .net [the top-level domain], that doesn't mean it's right," he told us.
There are currently only about 540 .net.uk domains. The largest number registered in one month was just 29 in May 1997. Last month (September 2002) there were five. This compares to around 50,000 .co.uk domains registered per month.
Nevertheless, one PAB member (who was not present at the subcommittee meeting) has argued forcefully that the .net.uk can be made to work. Mr Feather told us he has just sent out emails to arrange a new subcommittee meeting. That meeting will produce a report for the next PAB meeting on 4 December 2002.
The Register highlights an issue of on-going discussion; we'll have to wait until December to know more about the future of .net.uk. |
New ISP Review Poll (Survey)
By:mark.j @ 1:26:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's that time again, we're changing our front page poll (survey) to a new one, which asks, "Should ISPs often breaking advertising (ASA) rules be fined?"
The results from our previous poll are as follows:
How well do you understand Internet Jargon (e.g. DSL)?
Very well - 40.7%
I know it all! - 28.9%
Average - 17.2%
Not so well - 6.9%
I know nothing! - 6%
Total Votes = 986
We wanted to find out just how knowledgeable our readers were toward Internet jargon and not surprisingly some 70% believed themselves to be very well versed.
Of the remaining groups, 17% had a passing familiarity and 13% either didn't know anything or understood very little. |
Half Of Europe Online By 2007
By:mark.j @ 1:15:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The latest 'European Online' survey from Jupiter Media has found that half of the entire EU population will be online by 2007.
However the survey has also raised questions regarding the future of commercial content, apparently 40% of respondents wouldn't pay for content:
Jupiter Media's European Online survey revealed that by the end of 2002 only 10% of Europeans will have paid for content online.
Of those prepared to put their online hand in pocket, 23% would be willing to pay for music, 17% for video and, a perhaps surprisingly high, 16% for news and archives.
Less surprising is that of the £140m spent on online content this year, nearly half was on pornography.
More @ BBC News Online. |
UK edNET ISP Suffers DDoS Attack
By:mark.j @ 10:12:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Earlier this year UK ISP edNET came under distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, yet sadly the service has once again been taken offline by the same thing.
Indeed despite the service saying otherwise, they still appear to be off the air again today:
The attack started yesterday morning, and continued throughout the day, continuing until late afternoon today. Residual problems still remain. EdNET's customer status page said that the attack was minor but customers tell us that they have lost service because of the attack.
edNET experienced a "minor denial of service attack" aimed at its webserver, an edNET problem ticketstates. "We have already filtered this attack and have contacted our upstream transit providers to have the attack filtered from their networks as well."
The Register notes that this is the third such attack inside one year, although we wouldn't call it minor! |
Wisesurfer ISP - Broadband Reselling
By:mark.j @ 9:58:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The recently launched UK unmetered dialup and broadband ADSL offering ISP, Wisesurfer, has today issued a new press release announcing their broadband reseller package:
Earn money from Broadband!!
Wisesurfer today announce a simple solution for anyone wanting to make money from the Broadband revolution.
Ayone can sell ADSL services, they sell themselves, so why not make it your business or a simple sideline to generate extra cash.
To become a reseller could not be easier - a small investment is required, you will then be supplied with the materials required to sell our services. For every sale you make you earn money which is paid in record time. So whether you are a student or a stripper, if you can find potential ADSL buyers (and lets face it they are everywhere!) you can make money today!
If you want to make money call us today on 0870 757 2114 or email us on contact@wisesurfer.com
Be wise, pay less - Wisesurfer!
http://www.wisesurfer.com
It’s a cunning idea and one tried by others before, although such systems can also cause problems with SPAM when some customers go one step too far. |
UK CAN Match The Best - Broadband
By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A new report from Brunel University and the DTI has suggested that the UK does indeed have the ability to match the success of broadband leaders like South Korea:
Commenting on the study, Professor Ray Paul, Dean of the Faculty of Technology and Information Systems at Brunel, said: "In about five years, Korea has become a world leader. The UK government's target to be at the forefront of broadband can be achieved - success could be as quick."
There have been a number of factors that have contributed to the broadband boom in Korea, including population density, government planning and gaming habits.
Professor Paul added: "This is a story of government planning but it wasn't just about giving money away."
Unfortunately many others feel exactly the opposite and believe that the UK would be hard pressed to turn itself into a broadband leader by 2005, we'll just have to wait and see. More @ Silicon. |
AOL ISP Hits v8 While UK Users Wait
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] AOL is finally ready to release the eight revision of its client side software. It’s believed that AOL v8 needs to offer more than the usual updates to impress the ISPs customers, not least by taking better advantage of broadband:
The upgrade has been touted as "the most important product introduction" by AOL chief executive Jonathan Miller. AOL executives have been hyping version 8.0 as the foundation of a new strategy of offering exclusive programming and services. Executives have compared AOL's new strategic focus on its programming to the business models of television networks and premium cable channels such as Home Box Office.
Sadly AOL users in the UK will have to wait a little longer as has been custom for many years now, more @ ZDNet. |
BTO Fails Own DSL Pre-Registration Test
By:mark.j @ 9:36:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's only natural to think that UK ISP BTOpenworld would be the first to properly track and use BTs broadband ADSL pre-registration system, yet sadly that isn't the case.
BTO has admitted that the orders for one of the first exchanges to hit its pre-registration trigger level, Todmorden, have so far not been processed!:
Four weeks ago Todmorden in West Yorkshire became the first area to hit its trigger level. ISPs then had six weeks to convert those registrations into firm orders.
However, with less than two weeks to go its been revealed that BTopenworld has failed to process any of its orders - a move which could mean that the Todmorden exchange is not converted to DSL despite more than registrations of interest.
A spokesman for BTopenworld admitted that the ISP's helpdesk "didn't know what the process is" to take these orders. He described this as an "oversight".
It's long been feared that ISP incompetence could be a potential weak point in the system, yet few would have thought BTOpenworld could have been among them, especially given its relation to BT. More @ The Register. |
BT Sees Returning Customers
By:mark.j @ 9:23:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Communications Management Association's (CMA) annual survey has found that more and more people are switching back to BTs services, which are apparently considered to be 'safe'. However all that glistens is not gold..:
The survey reports that BT is now the key fixed telecoms supplier for 79 per cent of companies, up from 74 per cent last year.
Two-thirds of companies said a strong BT was essential to their communications strategy in the short to medium term. And three-quarters said they wanted a "safe pair of hands" to provide their services.
BT also improved its customer base in internet services. According to the survey 35 per cent of companies rate BT as their main supplier for online services this year, compared to 29 per cent last year.
Of course BTs ego boosting news wasn't all good, the CMA still found that no supplier is providing the quality of service that customers are asking for.
Not only that, but 87% of companies said BT still hasn't done enough to speed up the roll-out of broadband. More @ VNUNet. |
BTO, MS, Intel & Sony - ADSL Fastlaners
By:mark.j @ 9:16:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenworld, Microsoft, Intel and Sony have all teamed up to supply six UK families with PCs and a broadband ADSL connection.
Hardly a major undertaking for such large corporations =), but that's not even the half of it:
The idea is that the lucky households take part in a month-long 'Broadband Challenge', during November, and share their progress with the world via - no surprises - the web.
To enter the challenge, anyone can go along to http://www.fastlaners.com and complete a survey, the results of which will handily be revealed at the start of next month.
The selected families will be expected to complete various online tasks, such as compiling and sending photo albums, and share their experiences in "a series of personal video diaries".
It’s an interesting notion, but that’s just about all we can say; more @ Silicon. |
Gio Responds - PIPEX T&C Plagiarism
By:mark.j @ 9:09:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UK ISP Gio Internet has today given its response to yesterday’s accusation that they had copied another ISPs (PIPEX) Terms & Conditions etc.
They simply said it was "a mistake", yet unfortunately Gio then went on to say something that many would find harder to swallow than concrete and stated, "Someone put the wrong file up."
Obviously a highly believable situation; more @ The Register. |
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