November 26, 2002 - November 28, 2002
News - November 28,2002
BTs 500,000th ADSL Customer!
By:mark.j @ 2:42:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BT has today officially succeeded in connecting 500,000 broadband ADSL lines through its wholesale division and associated ISP connections:
The 500,000th customer was a mobile phone outlet in Barking, called Future AC. Its broadband will be supplied by Easynet, one of almost 200 ISPs that resell BT's wholesale ADSL products.
BT's chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, committed BT to achieving one million ADSL customers by next summer -- a target that the telco is expected to hit.
Alison Ritchie, BT's new chief broadband officer, said in a statement that hitting the 500,000 mark showed BT was making good progress towards the one million target.
More @ ZDNet. |
4G Broadband Wireless By 2003!?
By:mark.j @ 2:39:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The next broadband wireless mobile phone standard, 4G, could launch as early as mid-2003 if a new study from Visant, 3G Alternatives: 3G vs. Wi-Fi vs. 4G, is to be believed:
Visant forecasts that 4G (i.e IP-based cellular systems) could be deployed as early as mid-2003. These offer lower cost and/or higher perfomance than 3G alternatives, Visant says.
It anticipates that 4G cellular systems will account for 14 per cent of total mobile wireless data revenues in 2007, with 4G carriers winning 50 million subscribers the end of that year. 4G infrastructure sales should reach $5.3 billion annually in 2007.
We seriously doubt that publicly available 4G could become a reality for at least another two years, although even that would be too soon. Introducing 4G before 3G has even had a chance is a dangerous gamble. More @ The Register. |
Freedom2Surf Launches Reseller Portal
By:mark.j @ 1:25:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP Freedom2Surf has today announced the launch of its new portal for resellers and customers, which allows individuals to help sell the ISPs various Internet access services:
Freedom2Surf Launches New Online Reseller Portal
Freedom2Surf, (http://www.freedom2surf.net) has today announced that it has launched a new online portal for resellers and customers. The new site will, for the first time, give resellers the freedom to manage all their customer accounts online as well as giving individual customers the ability to make changes to their internet services from Freedom2Surf, 24-hours a day.
Freedom2Surf currently has over 25 UK resellers who offer the company's advanced ADSL, ISDN and dial-up Internet access products to both businesses and home users. Freedom2Surf also resells advanced IP-VPN infrastructure and web hosting services for the large corporate and SME market.
The new Members Area has been updated with a series of advanced account management features. Resellers can quickly and easily log on to the site and view details of existing customers as well as create new accounts completely online. To help resellers streamline their billing, the Members Area provides information on unpaid invoices as well as billing and payment options for individual customers. The site also includes details of the total number of services a reseller has purchased from Freedom2Surf and the billing details for these services.
Individual customers who have either purchased from Freedom2Surf directly or via resellers will also be given access to the new Members Area allowing them to:
- View new and previous invoices
- Change payment and credit card options
- Update contact and address details
- Create new email addresses
- Use 'Quick Purchase Links' to buy additional Freedom2Surf services
Chris Panayis, Managing Director of Freedom2Surf commented, "The launch of the new Members Area is part of our commitment to customer service and gives our customers as much freedom over their Internet experience as possible. Through the site resellers will be able to take control of their business with Freedom2Surf as well providing their customers with a direct method of managing their accounts." |
Nildrams Football Association Deal
By:mark.j @ 1:21:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP Nildream has today issued a new press release announcing their new agreement with the Football Association. The deal will see Nildram providing broadband ADSL and unmetered Internet access services to the FA:
Nildram, one of the UK's leading providers of Broadband ADSL Internet access, have announced their selection by the Football Association to provide Broadband and Flat Rate Dial Access to the Internet.
Internet access for Football Association officials is crucial to the operation of the game in the UK, so the choice of Internet Service Provider was a crucial one. The decision to use Nildram as their Internet Service Provider was made after evaluating a number of companies, as well as monitoring customer feedback in popular forums such as the ADSL Guide. As a result of this, the decision to use Nildram was based upon the performance and reliability of the service, combined with the high levels of customer care exhibited by the company.
In addition to their Broadband services, Nildram will also be supplying a Flat Rate Dial Access service to FA staff and officials.
Ian Dimmock, IT Support Manager at the Football Associated commented: "Secure, reliable Internet access for the Football Association is a 'mission critical' requirement. Our choice of ISP was made after a great deal of research into what was available and, critically, how well individual services performed, both in terms of speed and customer support. Nildram were clear leaders in both areas and we are very pleased with the decision we have made."
Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's Marketing Manager comments: "We are particularly pleased to have been selected by such a prestigious organisation as the Football Association, especially as their decision was made after a great deal of research into the provision of Broadband Access. It just goes to show that the largest ISPs are not necessarily the best - it's the quality of the service that should be a major consideration when choosing a Broadband provider"
Full details of the Nildram Broadband ADSL portfolio can be found on their ADSL specific web site at: http://www.getadsl.co.uk
The Football Association website can be found at http://www.thefa.com |
New Broadband Wireless Trial
By:mark.j @ 1:17:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has put £200,000 forward to help fund trials of a new 'long range' broadband wireless technology for the Tendring District:
Initially, the trial involves 30 users but there are plans to extend the project to cover Colchester, Ipswich and parts of Suffolk. The three-month trial is due to begin in the spring and local businesses and residents are currently being recruited to take part in the scheme.
The technology involved is a long-range wireless broadband system and is understood to be the first of its kind in the UK. A similar system is up and running in Dallas, Texas.
Using wireless broadcast technology, each mast has a range of up to 25 miles and can deliver speeds of up to 1.5Mbps.
The Register reports that no official pricing has been set, yet trialists have reported pricing in the region of £15 per month and £200 for the hardware and setup.
A second trial is planned for the North West later on in 2003, however it'll be 2004 before there's any kind of national roll-out. |
Education Sector Boosts Broadband
By:mark.j @ 10:06:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The growing demand for newer broadband Internet access technologies is apparently generating good business as universities and colleges upgrade to multifaceted IP networks:
Systems integrator Logical UK has completed a network upgrade at the Bolton Institute of Higher Education as the organisation replaces its legacy network.
Darragh Richardson, director of marketing at Logical UK, explained that the network has lead to an increase in demand as organisations attempt to harness the benefits of broadband connections received through the SuperJANET (Joint Academic Network) national educational network.
"It is in the interest of big educational organisations to build big internal networks to take advantage of the broadband connection provided by SuperJANET," he said.
More @ VNUNet. |
Micromundi ISP Disappearance Update
By:mark.j @ 9:53:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] We can't 100% vouch for this; however one of our readers was finally able to get a reply out of Micro, the computer group whom also operate Micromundi.
Apparently Micromundi was upgrading its whole Internet system and had asked Demon Internet to transfer their tags (tags help ID the host for a domain name).
However for some unknown reason Demon stopped this process, leaving the service in a state of disarray. Legal action is being considered and Demon keeping saying it'll be fixed and yet never seem to resolve it.
The problem continues.. |
O2 Plans UK Broadband Wi-Fi?
By:mark.j @ 9:43:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] O2, one of the UKs key mobile phone operators, is planning to launch its own unique set of broadband wireless Wi-Fi hotspots within the UK after tests in Ireland are completed:
Simon Gordon, spokesman for O2, told ZDNet UK News that Ireland was a test bed for O2's commercial Wi-Fi plans. "We are currently reviewing our opportunities in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, where we also operate. There are a number of possible plans, but nothing has been determined yet," Gordon said.
It is understood that O2 will deploy between 15 and 20 hot spots in Ireland. The bulk will probably be located in Dublin, at places such as hotels and train stations. Once the hot spots are up and running, sometime early next year, O2's Irish customers should be able to buy contracts that include access to Wi-Fi as well as to GSM and GPRS services.
The move makes O2 the second of the UK's mobile phone operators to announce a move into Wi-Fi, after T-Mobile -- which is involved in trials with Starbucks.
The ZDNet item suggests that BTOpenzone plans to work with O2 on the project, so much for splitting up the operations. |
BTs ADSL Demand Tracker A Shambles
By:mark.j @ 9:35:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Lee Stoneman, the man behind a local broadband campaign group for Worle (Weston Super Mare) - Broadband Worle, has described BT's ADSL pre-registration scheme as a "shambles":
Three weeks after reaching its trigger point of 400 registrations, fewer that 15% of the registrations have been chased up. If 75% of the registrations aren't secured by December 18th, then Worle will have failed in its bid to get ADSL.
Said Lee: "I'm extremely concerned that our exchange might not get broadband. I'm also concerned that other exchanges might not get it too." Part of the problem appears to be the confusion surrounding the scheme. He's been told by BT that three ISPs account for around 85% of all the pre-registrations at Worle.
Snag is, these ISPs don't appear to be contacting those who've registered their interest to see if they still want broadband. Indeed, BT is so concerned it is also investigating the matter but won't say which ISPs are to blame.
The Register highlights a common and growing concern surrounding BTs broadband ADSL pre-registration system; some ISPs simply don't chase the registrations.
Perhaps now would be a good time for BT to employ some transparency into the process and issue a formal set of rules? Is it really so hard to do? Don’t ISPs want more customers? |
Destructive New E-Mail Virus - Winevar
By:mark.j @ 9:27:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] It's beginning to look as if the latest e-mail worm (virus) on the block, Winevar, could be the new nasty to watch out for; so say Internet security experts from Trend Micro:
It propagates using its own Simple Mail Transfer Protocol engine and sends emails to addresses it gathers from infected systems.
It employs a known exploit that automatically executes its attachment without a careless click on the part of the recipient. The worm is also capable of preventing installed antivirus protections from working.
The email arrives with 'N`4' in the subject line and two attachments - one a GIF, the other a TXT file - with random number values.
The Ananova item doesn't go into much statistical detail, although others have suggested that its spread is beginning to pick up. Now would be as good a time as any to update those anti-virus checkers. |
BT Shouldn't Be Broken Up
By:mark.j @ 9:21:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Julian Hewett, a chief analyst at the research firm Ovum, has put forward the case for BT NOT being broken up:
The reasoning is that a split would improve competition - especially for broadband data services - and free different units to compete without conflicts of interest. BT, in the UK, has frowned upon any suggestion it should be broken up.
Ovum says there are several reasons why there shouldn't be a separate local loop business, which it terms 'Loopco', and a network-oriented business, or 'Netco':
- Competitive carriers, who today buy wholesale DSL service from incumbents, would have to deal with two bodies, leading to further complication
- Netco would have an advantage over competitive carriers, with its network edge equipment already co-located in exchanges
- Defining Loopco would be difficult, as would where Loopco begins and ends relative to Netco
The Silicon item reports that the better solution is to continue / increase regulation. |
News - November 27,2002
New Broadband Wireless ISP - Modality
By:mark.j @ 2:42:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Yet another new broadband wireless ISP has just informed us of their existence. Modality Wireless plan to launch limited coverage in the Bolton area come January 2003; they will offer the following symmetrical (same speed in both directions) services:
Residential Services - inc. costs
£150 set-up, 30:1 contention
256k £16.99
512k £26.99
1024k £44.99
2Mb £79.99
Business Services - inc. costs
£150 set-up, 20:1 contention
256k £39.99
512k £69.99
1024k £99.99
2Mb £139.99
All prices for single PC setup and subject to VAT
Target January 2003 launch
Symmetrical Bandwidth
5:1 and 1:1 contention services planned
Clearly the services are more than competitive with similar fixed line broadband ADSL options, it’s a pity they don’t offer wider coverage, at least not to start with. |
Ignorant Businesses Avoid Broadband
By:mark.j @ 2:33:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Research published by Intellect, an IT and telecoms trade union, found lack of awareness, not price or availability, to be the key handicap to increased broadband uptake among businesses:
Earlier this month Intellect surveyed 400 SMEs from its membership, two-thirds of which already had broadband. This survey found evidence that broadband is bringing widespread benefits to UK companies.
Eighty-two percent of broadband-enabled companies surveyed said they thought that the technology had improved their internal processes, 64 percent felt it had improved the way they work with external partners, and 50 percent believed it has improved their customer-facing processes.
Some 72 percent of SMEs without broadband surveyed said they hadn't upgraded because they were happy with their current service, and 14 percent said they couldn't see the value in broadband.
The ZDNet item reports that roughly 44% of companies without broadband have no plans to upgrade. Apparently just 14% sighted lack of availability as their key reason for not upgrading. |
UK Broadbands True Selling Point
By:mark.j @ 1:48:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] What's the greatest attraction for people adopting broadband Internet access? Speed? Content? - NO.
New research carried out by the Work Foundation think-tank has found that not having to worry about the cost of spending too much time online is of most importance:
Researchers looked into how ordinary people in small businesses and households in and around London and Leeds use broadband. They found that people did not really care about the speed at which ADSL and cable allowed them to download websites and files.
Instead broadband was actually slowing down surfer's interaction with the net. "People are not doing things that require speed, so that is something of a red herring as a selling point," said James Crabtree, one of the authors of the report, which was conducted by as part of the i-Society project by the Work Foundation.
Broadband has removed the phobia of spending too much time online.
While don’t doubt the above comments, yet we do still believe that speed is a factor, especially given the huge number involved with UK P2P file-sharing and multiplayer gaming. More @ BBC News Online. |
BTOpenzone & Telia - Roaming Wi-Fi
By:mark.j @ 1:37:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] BTOpenzone, BTs broadband wireless (Wi-Fi) LAN hotspot offering ISP service, has teamed up with Sweden's Telia to allow roaming access between the two networks:
The agreement with BT Openzone allows customers with Telia HomeRun subscriptions to use BT Openzone's wireless network at hotspots including those in selected hotels and conference centres around the UK. BT Openzone's subscribers, in turn, gain access to 480 sites where Telia offers its HomeRun wireless broadband service.
BT Openzone says it offers wireless broadband service at 37 selected hotspots in the UK, but expects to be able to offer 70 hotspots by year-end, 400 by June 2003, and 4,000 by 2005.
The Europemedia item reports that Telias service is available at more than 480 locations in the Nordic region and other countries. |
Ericsson Touts Ethernet Broadband - again
By:mark.j @ 1:32:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Not for the first time, Ericsson has once again touted the use of Ethernet (fibre) based broadband connections over ADSL or Cable Modem technologies etc.:
However, few people have the necessary fibre-optics to their home or office, and service providers have so far based their networks on the rival ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) protocol.
On Monday, the company will launch a set of products, which it hopes will smooth the way towards the all-Ethernet network, saving service providers money and letting them reach a much larger group of users at a lower cost, says Ericsson.
"Operators are getting closer to a decision point," said Peter Linder, technical director of broadband access at Ericsson. "Will they continue the traditional rollout of ATM-based ADSL, or will they move to public Ethernet?" It's a rhetorical question: Linder is also vice president of marketing at the Ethernet in the First Mile Association, a group which promotes the all-Ethernet network, so there is little doubt where he is coming from.
Unfortunately Ericsson may have to face the stark reality that both BT and the government, crucial forces in such a decision, have shown a great deal of reluctance toward switching to fibre so soon after getting ADSL off the ground. More @ ZDNet. |
MS Preps UK X-Box Live Online Trial
By:mark.j @ 1:27:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Microsoft is inviting UK owners of its X-Box games console to help test its new online multiplayer X-Box Live service:
The online gaming service lets Xbox owners challenge friends over broadband internet connections. The UK Test Drive begins on 30 November and runs for three months. The full commercial launch is scheduled for March.
Those interested will need to buy a special starter pack from the Xbox UK website. The £39.99 kits include the software needed to hook up and a headset that allows gamers to chat while playing.
Participants will also receive a 12-month subscription to the service, beginning when it officially launches next year.
Those with a chipped (hacked) X-Box or without a broadband connection need not apply as the service may not be accessible to you. More @ Ananova. |
BTO ISP Blocks Personal Mail Servers
By:mark.j @ 1:22:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] UK ISP BTOpenworld has apparently changed their terms and conditions (T&Cs) to block customers from running their own personal SMTP mail servers using dynamic IPs:
In a note on its email guidance page, BT Openworld said it has blocked port 25 for all dynamic IP customers.
That was implemented for dial up customers on Monday, for ADSL Home customers yesterday, and will be implemented for ADSL Business tomorrow.
The only exception will be Business ADSL services with static IP options, and Satellite services. Completely coincidentally, these services cost you a little more.
The Inquirer notes that BTOpenworld hasn't bothered to officially tell any of its customers about this change (is that allowed?). |
ITC Slaps BTO For Dialup ISP Advert
By:mark.j @ 10:01:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Net4Nowt has spotted an overlooked news item on The Media Guardian, which shows BTOpenworld as being slapped yet again for one of its ISP adverts.
Apparently the ITC (TV Watchdog) banned a BTOpenworld advert promoting unlimited access to the Internet, which has been branded as misleading:
The ads, for BT's Openworld Anytime package, showed customers describing the benefits of the service with one saying, "because we're not worried about the cost we just use it any time".
Viewers complained to the independent television commission after BT changed the terms of the service, limiting the amount of internet access to 150 hours a month, which is an average of five hours a day.
Upholding the complaints, the ITC said the ad "strongly implied you could access the internet and surf for long periods without the worry of call charges".
Curiously BT said that the ads had been taken off the air on September 22nd, a week before the terms and conditions were changed. |
UK Micromundi ISP Disappears
By:mark.j @ 9:50:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The little known UK ISP Micromundi appears to have vanished after sending its customers an announcement reguarding an important e-mail and server upgrade.
E-Mail, dialup and the ISPs website are all down and have been so for two weeks now! No warning was given that the ISP would be down for such a length of time and several concerned customers have contacted us to highlight this.
If anybody knows anything more then please let us know, thanks. |
HomeChoice ISP Preps New Services
By:mark.j @ 9:43:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] HomeChoice, the Video Networks (VN) backed Video-on-Demand (VoD) offering broadband xDSL ISP, is apparently planning to replace their existing service with something new. One of our readers provided a good summary:
Irrespective of whatever package its existing customers were on they must now choose between a 1Mb download / 96k upload service for £35 a month + the majority of the VOD content or they will have their subscriptions cancelled on Christmas Eve.
This follows a lengthy period of trialling a 512k service which will not be offered as a separate product as it is not scalable with the 1Mb service. Customers in the trial area also have the option of 115k offering + majority of VOD content for £26.
For a select few taking part on the trial they are being offered 6 months free connection if they are still customers on 30 March 2003.
Whilst the 1Mb offering and price is good value for money, by their own figures 20% of their customers are being shafted and will have to seek an alternative ISP.
The news forums at http://www.ukmeetingpoint.co.uk/hc has further information. |
Internet Collapse Could Be Possible
By:mark.j @ 9:32:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Worrying new research carried out by a trio of scientists from Ohio State University has found that the Internet is still very vulnerable to attack and could collapse if hit in the right way:
If an attack or disaster destroyed the major nodes of the internet, the network itself could begin to unravel, warn the scientists who carried out the simulations. The virtual attacks showed that the net would keep going in major cities, but outlying areas and smaller towns would gradually be cut off.
The researchers warn that the net has become more vulnerable as it has become more commercialised and key net cables are concentrated in the hands of fewer organisations.
"If you destroyed a major internet hub, you would also destroy all the links that are connected to it," said Morton O'Kelly, Professor of Geography at Ohio State University. "It would have ripple effects throughout the internet"
The BBC News Online item quotes the scientists as suggesting that the ability for networks to re-route, re-connect and have redundancy is clearly important for the survival of the Internet. |
Vulture Capitalist ISP Supports Mac/Linux
By:mark.j @ 9:22:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Registers Vulture Capitalist ISP (VCISP.NET) wing has today corrected a small mistake and confirmed that they do indeed support access for Mac and Linux computer users:
It appears at first sight that running Windows is a prerequisite for signing up with VCISP.NET. Not so. This apparent outrage is due to some poorly-written copy for which we take full responsibility. We apologise for the confusion and in particular to those readers who wrote expressing angry dismay that the Reg had effectively dissed its hardcore tekkie readership.
VCISP.NET can be accessed from Macs and Linux. Have a look at our technical support page where users can find information for a number of operating systems, including setting up a Mac dialup account, and some basic settings for use with other operating systems, including Linux.
Mac customers signing up to VCISP.NET will have the benefit of our ISP's technical phone support for OSes up to and including 9x (not yet for OSX - we're working on it, promise). There is no such support for Linux, but hey, you'd be letting yourself down if you needed it, wouldn't you? |
Kingston Comms (KC) Narrow Losses
By:mark.j @ 9:17:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The regional telecoms and ISP group, Kingston Communications (KC), has reported a pre-tax loss of £13.1m for the 6 months to 30th September 2002, an improvement of £4.4m on last year:
As well as taking action on its cost base, it also boosted sales by around 12% to £165m. Core earnings - not including interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation deductions - almost doubled to £18.7m, and it expects growth to continue in line with market expectations.
Kingston trimmed spending during the period, reducing operating losses by around half to £8.6m. It expects to spend no more than £55m in the full year.
For those less aware, Kingston Communications covers the Hull area, which is one of the few UK places that BT doesn't have full control over. More @ netimperative.info . |
ASA Slaps Clara.net - No 24/7 Support
By:mark.j @ 9:04:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against one of Clara.net's adverts. Apparently the UK ISPs promotion of 24/7 customer support, which in reality didn’t operate as described, caused the complaint to be upheld:
Complaint:
Objection to a magazine advertisement, for an Internet Service Provider, that was headed "Pick your web host wisely" and claimed "... Claranet guarantees you 24/7 support ...". The complainant challenged the claim.
Adjudication:
Complaint upheld
The advertisers said that, although the claim applied to the advertised "clarahost" product, they did not offer 24/7 support across their entire product range; they said they would stop using the claim until they could do so. They said some customers did not receive 24/7 support but their staff were on standby through a pager service and available at any time to give support.
The Authority noted the complainant did not get support in the evenings or at the weekend and had received a recorded voicemail message telling him to e-mail his problem, which had not been responded to for three days.
The Authority noted the advertisers did not show that all clarahost customers received 24/7 support and they did not comment on the complainant's assertion that his service did not get support in the evenings or at weekends. The Authority welcomed the advertisers' decision to remove the claim until they offered 24/7 support across their whole range of clarahost products.
One wonders how many other UK ISPs could fall by the side of exactly the same promotion? |
News - November 26,2002
Telewests Latest Broadband Promotion
By:mark.j @ 1:47:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The UKs second largest cable operator, Telewest, has teamed up with Internet Exchange, the UK's largest chain of Internet stores, to better promote its broadband cable modem (blueyonder) ISP services:
Internet Exchange and Telewest Broadband sign cross-platform marketing deal Internet Exchange, the UK's largest chain of Internet stores, and cable communications company Telewest Broadband have signed a cross-platform deal to promote blueyonder broadband.
The agreement will run from November 2002 until April 2003, and will run initially across Internet Exchange stores in London, Birmingham, Bristol and Newcastle.
blueyonder will also be placed in the Internet Exchange portal homepage, and banners will be displayed as part of the browser interface, using proprietary Niagra software technology.
The campaign will include in-store PCs being branded with blueyonder materials and supported by additional POS materials. Internet Exchange staff have been trained to answer consumer questions about blueyonder, to perform postcode checks to determine service availability and will also be wearing branded clothing.
The deal includes a special launch promotion of half-price installation for all Internet Exchange customers.
James Farquharson, CEO of Internet Exchange said : "This campaign is a great fit for both partners. Internet Exchange has the unique ability to form a personal relationship with customers, and to actively influence their behaviour online. This extends to swaying their choice of ISP at home, and facilitating the installation process. We are also perfectly placed to answer customers' questions and highlight the USPs of blueyonder at the point of purchase."
David Hobday, deputy managing director, Telewest Broadband, said "Our research shows that blueyonder broadband has an 80% market share, where consumers have a head to head choice of blueyonder vs ADSL.*
We're keen to bring our blueyonder internet service to consumers on the high street to make getting connected to broadband as easy as possible and what better new partner than Internet Exchange." |
UK Government Hit By 6,500 Net Attacks
By:mark.j @ 1:43:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Astonishingly the UK government has today reported having to fight off more than 6,500 malicious attacks toward their Internet sites and servers within the last year:
The Cabinet Office was subject to 1,167 digital attacks last month alone, out of 5,857 during the course of the year.
But Cabinet Office minister Douglas Alexander said: "None of these resulted in compromise, loss or damage to any information held on the systems."
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has detected 564 attacks so far this year, with 34 in October alone. It said: "These attacks were all stopped by our existing security measures."
The VNUNet item reports that there has been next to no attack related damage to any government departments, yet the figure is still quite shocking. |
Circumventing UK ISPs – E-Mail For Life
By:mark.j @ 1:35:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] NetBenefits Jonathan Robinson has today sent us a brief press release highlighting the growing concern about UK ISPs that change their customer e-mail addresses and suggested an alternative, your own e-mail domain:
It has recently been reported that BT Openworld could be discontinuing with the btopenworld.com domain name for their ISP dial up clients. Potentially this would mean that all their subscribers would be required to change their email addresses from @btopenworld.com to @btinternet.com.
Jonathan Robinson from NetBenefit says that even though this has been denied by BT, it highlights an important issue: ISPs do change names, merge and re-brand. Earlier this year for instance, one of the UKs largest ISPs, Freeserve, merged with Wanadoo and were considering consolidating the companies under the Wanadoo brand name. Once again this could have caused big headaches for their dial up subscribers, who may be required to change their email addresses.
The inconvenience of having to change email addresses is often cited as one of the key reasons for not wanting to change ISPs.
Jonathan claims that most people don't realise there is a simple solution available for around £30 p/a which means they can have a professional, ISP independent email address that is theirs to own for life. This means they will never have to change their email address again. By registering your very own domain name with a company such as NetBenefit, you receive free email forwarding allowing you to create as many as 10 unique email addresses and you can simply forward them to your accounts with your current ISP.
So even if you have no current requirement for a website, you should still considering registering a unique domain name for yourself or your business and using this name for a life-long email address. A co.uk domain name costs only £25p/a plus VAT with top-level domain (TLDs) names such as .com, .info or .biz available for £35 p/a plus VAT.
It's worth pointing out that contrary to the above; most UK ISPs would avoid changing their e-mail domain name as it can seriously damage customer confidence.
In the past year only a handful (Tele2, netAxis etc.) have done so and even then they haven't necessarily changed e-mail domains as well. It's rare, but it does happen. |
UK Surfers Love Online Shopping
By:mark.j @ 1:27:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] In case you had any doubt, the latest research out of Nielsen//NetRatings shows that 7 out of 10 (70%) UK surfers browsing online for products or services during Q3-2002 went on to make a purchase:
"E-commerce continues to gain momentum in many countries, as the adult population has increasingly browsed for and purchased products online in the past six months," said Richard Goosey, international chief of measurement science, NetRatings. "In Q3, the UK was well ahead of all other internet markets in the rate at which its browsers converted to purchasers, with a nine point lead over Sweden, the country with the second-highest conversion rate. But internet shopping attracted a higher percentage of the total Swedish internet audience in Q3, with 42 per cent of Swedes with internet access browsing online."
"Internet shoppers in the UK and Australia have an inherent advantage in that their English-speaking populations can easily access and use the large US eCommerce providers," Goosey said. "As a result, not only are the current conversion rates high for those markets, but they’ve also shown healthy growth over the same quarter last year, at nine and six per cent respectively."
The Europemedia item notes that the same survey also found that the number of people worldwide with access to the Internet via a home PC increased from 553m in Q2 2002 to 563m in Q3 2002.
Europe accounts for 23% of the world’s Internet population, behind the USA's 30% and ahead of Asia's 13%. |
New Anti-Virus Measure Discovered
By:mark.j @ 9:52:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] A researcher working at the Hewlett-Packard (HP) laboratories in Bristol (UK), Matthew Williamson, has developed a new anti-virus method that could help slow the growing infection rate:
It works by limiting the number of connections at any one time from an infected computer. This has the effect of throttling the spread of the virus, giving technicians time to spot and eliminate the bug.
He took a novel approach to the problem of computer viruses. Instead of trying to find a way to kill a virus, he looked at how to prevent it from infecting other computers.
"When your machine gets an e-mail virus, it sends lots and lots of e-mail messages at a much higher rate than you would normally send them," he explained. "So if I put a limit on the rate of e-mail messages that you can send in every 10 minutes, then a virus trying to send 100 or 200 messages will very quickly get delayed."
It certainly sounds incredibly simple, yet how many of us have such a limit on our existing e-mail clients? The good news is that such a measure would be easy to implement and indeed some software may already have it. More @ BBC News Online. |
BT Trials NW London Broadband VoD
By:mark.j @ 9:45:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] One of the UKs few broadband video-on-demand (VoD) providers, Video Networks, has teamed up with BT to run a six month trial of the technology in north west London:
The trial will see the service offered across bundled wholesale parts of the BT network, in order "to find a commercially attractive solution for the distribution of services."
This comes about due to the large losses Video Networks have so far incurred via their business model, which sees BT charging them a great deal more for the carriage of their service than they can charge users.
More @ Europemedia. |
Freeserve ISP Launches Charity Auction
By:mark.j @ 9:41:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] The French Wanadoo backed UK ISP Freeserve has launched a Christmas charity auction in conjunction with charity UK Youth:
Up for grabs are parts in a Guy Ritchie film, a Schumacher-signed Ferrari F1 shirt and a behind-the-scenes tour of a BBC covered sports event with John Inverdale. It runs until 9 December.
The ZDNet item reports that proceeds will go to supporting voluntary youth work and educational opportunities. |
Net Spending Damaged By Fraud Fears
By:mark.j @ 9:37:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] Online Internet shopping may once again be about to soar, however the government claims that fear of fraud is still preventing sales reaching their potential levels:
Although UK consumers are more confident about online shopping than at this time last year, fears about revealing personal information, credit card fraud and bogus companies remain major factors, a Mori poll commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry suggests.
Consumer minister Melanie Johnson will on Tuesday tell shoppers that online retail can be safe if they follow a few simple rules. She is expected to advise consumers to use websites they know or that have been recommended, obtain suppliers' telephone numbers or postal addresses and keep copies of order forms or e-mails.
Shoppers should also check their "cooling off" rights and remember the law protects them against card fraud, the DTI says.
Fraud has been an all too common online factor of fear for some years now, although so far the fear has failed to out way the need. More @ BBC News Online. |
Alcatel ADSL Exchange HW Upgrades
By:mark.j @ 9:30:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] ADSLGuide is reporting that Alcatels first generation local exchange DSLAMs are to be upgraded by BT. The upgrades will take roughly 15 minutes each and should, "increase overall network performance and remove some intermittent problems."
The upgrades will take place between 8th and 17th December 2002. ADSLGuide also updates on the progress of BTs broadband ADSL demand tracker, although some of it has been reported before. |
Local Councils Lack Broadband Funds
By:mark.j @ 9:24:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE] According to a new report by Socitm, a public sector IT body, roughly 60% of local authorities claim that a lack of funds is the main barrier to them using broadband:
Some 34 percent named the absence of local service providers as the main problem.
This report follows the prime minister's pledge of £1bn to link health and education services via broadband, effectively using public money to extend the UK's broadband infrastructure.
The VNUNet item suggests that the government’s £1bn pledge isn't likely to be enough to cover all of the countries local councils (440 of them). |
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