|
|||
|
|
||
|
News Archive |
||
|
NTL In £5 Million Advertising Campaign  The UK’s cable TV, telephony and Internet company NTL, is pioneering the UK’s move towards residential broadband Internet access with a new £5 million advertising campaign to educate Internet users about the benefits of the high-speed and always-on service.In a recent survey by NTL they found that 69% of the population had not heard the term ‘broadband’ and of the 31% that had, one third thought that it referred to radio. Over half of those who had heard of ‘broadband’ were not aware of any of its benefits. Clearly there is an education job to be done that the new marketing campaign addresses. At the end of last year, NTL had 40,000 Broadband Internet customers, with approximately 13,000 in the UK. NTL’s goal is to have 100,000 UK broadband customers by the end of the year. NTL broadband Internet costs from just £19.99 per month if you buy a cable modem for £149, or £24.99 per month if you rent a cable modem from NTL, for unlimited, always-on Internet access. This compares with £40 per month for BT Openworld which uses ADSL technology. • NTL is also trialing new broadband access services:Jerry Roest, NTL’s Group Managing Director, Broadband, comments, "The widespread availability of broadband access is essential to the next phase of development of the Internet. NTL is at the forefront of the UK’s Internet industry and we’re making it our responsibility to educate users about the benefits of broadband access via cable modem. In America, cable modem is already the technology of choice with over 4.2 million installations. Thus Unsuccessful In Removing Paedophile Newsgroups  According to ZDNet today, Thus has failed in its role to remove known paedophile newsgroups from its servers.Their idea to delete such newsgroups have been branded as “unworkable” with two offending newsgroups still available to the public. Thus, owner of Demon Internet, is playing down criticism, claiming that it has removed 30 newsgroups from its servers in the last seven days, accounting for 90 percent of all paedophile content reported to the company by the IWF (Internet Watch Foundation). "The important thing is to catch perpetrators and while we will never be able to remove all paedophilic content from the Web, at least we are making a start," said Keith Monserrat, director of legal and regulation at Thus.In January alone Thus removed 647 articles from newsgroups following the discovery of illegal material. "While it is impossible for ISPs to stop all illegal content from being published on newsgroups, I believe that there is much that can be done to police what is currently out there; to protect the vulnerable and to increase our vigilance." said director of legal and regulation at Thus, Keith Monserrat. Keith added, "Any initiative that will protect the most innocent in our society must be encouraged”. EXCLUSIVE: ic24 Free Unmetered Offer Extended  The 0800 ‘After 8’ promotion has once again been extended by the Mirror Group owned ISP ic24.Running for more than a year, the 0800 access has been extended month after month despite many other unmetered ISPs closing down or raising monthly subscription fees. Recently the 0800 promotion has only been extended by a couple of weeks at a time sparking fears that it will be ending. However the company has decided that it will be extended for another 2 weeks when they will decide its future. Many customers thought today was going to be the end of the 0800 access after the promotion was only extended by 2 weeks at the end of last January. However ic24 have once again brought relief to its happy users. Completely free 0800 access is available between 8pm and midnight, 7 days a week. All other calls are charged at a local rate. BarrysWorld Rescued By Electronics Boutique  The online gaming company BarrysWorld has today been saved from extinction after they were acquired by the computer software and video games retailer, Electronics Boutique.BarrysWorld was founded as a service for on-line gamers in early 1997 and was run wholly by enthusiasts. In April 2000 venture capital funding was received and the service was rapidly expanded with heavy investment in additional hosting capacity, staffing and marketing. Necessary further funding was not available and, in February of this year, the company entered into voluntary liquidation. This acquisition is a further step in Electronics Boutique’s stated strategy to leverage the inherent strengths of its high street market leadership through measured expansion in other channels. The company is ideally positioned to promote the service through its 300 strong retail chain throughout the UK and also via its existing websites. John Steinbrecher, Chief Executive, said, “This latest announcement further strengthens our position as the UK’s No 1 specialist for computer software and video games. On-line gaming compliments our existing business and we are delighted to be able to bring this additional service to our customers. Up until now customers who purchased products in our stores with on-line gaming capabilities had to go elsewhere to experience this element of play. Electronics Boutique will now be able to provide an all encompassing experience.” Prior to entering into liquidation, BarrysWorld’s home and owned affiliate sites attracted 1.7 million page views a month and 20,000 unique individuals a day. Membership stood at over 50,000 registered customers, increasing by 1,500 individuals and 300 teams a week. Breathe Returns With A New Unmetered Service Breathe’s existing telecoms supplier, Affinity Internet Holdings, has said it will resell BT’s SurfPort FRIACO product to its ISP customers. The original unmetered product, Breathe Freely, offered unmetered access for a one-off fee of £50. Due to financial problems, it was shelved last year much to the dissatisfaction of it customers. Although no launch date has yet been set, Chief executive Shaun Gardener said the new service will be a monthly subscription service costing around £15 per month. Source: ZDNet Visitors Could Be Made To Pay To Use MSN Site  In an article today in The Guardian today it was revealed that Microsoft may soon start charging users of its MSN website.In its concerns over the long-term economic feasibility of free portals on the Internet, MSN may soon charge users up to £60 a year for using their site which will soon benefit from extra services currently being developed by Microsoft. The managing director of Microsoft UK, Neil Holloway, said that for December there were a total of 8.5 million unique visits for the msn.com and msn.co.uk sites. MSN receives 200 million visits every month on a worldwide basis. The article went on to say that by making users pay to receive the service would make it profitable from the beginning. Subscription models for online content sites have not met with much success. The Wall Street Journal and several pornography sites are among the few exceptions. The decline in online advertising spending has forced leading content sites to look at introducing charges. Hotmail, the free email service used by tens of millions of people worldwide, is likely to remain free but fees could be charged for more specialised services. Children Still At Risk From Online Paedophiles The ISP trade association says that the industry is powerless to prevent paedophiles from using chatrooms that are very popular amongst today’s children. ISPA, was one of the key bodies that helped launch the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in 1996, with the purpose of making the Web a safe place for children to surf. But Nick Lansman, secretary general of ISPA, now says the industry is powerless to deal with the growing problem of paedophiles abusing children through Internet chatrooms.Thus plc, owner of the leading ISP Demon, announced last week that they were to take a more proactive role and will remove known paedophile newsgroups from its servers. Although many fear that this will just make the situation worse with offenders simply using other newsgroups with less conspicuous names. Source: ZDNet BTinternet Tops One Million Customers  BTinternet, today celebrated its one millionth customer registration as new research reveals that it continues to be the second most used Internet service provider in the country.In the latest NOP Bi-Annual Internet User Profile, BTinternet continued to enjoy the second highest usage rates in the country, running ahead of AOL. It is also the only top-three provider to have increased market share during the period June to December 2000. In addition, the study highlights that BT continues to be the second most recognised service provider in Great Britain, with 93% awareness. These key findings reinforce BTinternet's own growth figures, which show that the service provider has successfully doubled its customer base in the last six months, with the signing of its one-millionth registered customer today. This gives BTinternet a total of 1.3 million Internet access customers, which includes 300,000 active unregistered customers and underpins its number two market position. The rise in BTinternet's customer acquisition rate, now averaging at more than 29,000 new customers per week, helped ensure the portal reached this milestone a month ahead of forecasts. Significantly, BTinternet's registered customer base remains weighted toward high-quality unmetered access customers, with more than 60 per cent of registered customers subscribing to one of BTinternet's unmetered access packages. This weighting maintains BTinternet's position as the UK market leader in unmetered Internet access packages. Duncan Ingram, senior vice president of BTopenworld, said: "Hitting our one millionth customer registration is a major milestone for us. On top of that, finding out that BTinternet was the only top-three ISP to grow its market share in the last six months confirms that our breed of ISP, which marries solid content with reliability, is hitting the right note amongst UK consumers. "With the launch of BTinternet Anytime, our new unmetered 24/7 Internet access package, I'm confident we'll see an even higher demand for our services in the following months." BTinternet was dramatically revamped at the beginning of September to come under the BTopenworld brand and to deliver customers the pick of online brands in news, shopping and entertainment. Another contributing factor is BTinternet's new network of high-quality, third-party distribution partners. In the last six months, BTinternet has established distribution deals with many leading UK retailers including Iceland, Nationwide, HMV, Rymans, Northern Electric and, most recently, Toys'R'Us. Combined with the BT Shop fronts, BTinternet CDs are now actively distributed in more than 2,000 retail outlets across the country. Update On 08002go Delays  After many, many expected dates have gone by, the unmetered service from 08002go.com still has not appeared much to the disappointment of those who have pre-registered.Now they are not expected to launch for about another six weeks due to the unexpected demand. Here is the latest word from the company: As you all know, we have been perfecting our Friaco at www.08002go.com with you in mind for some time now.The managing director of 08002go, Dennis Cawley said that the above announcement was recently posted on their site in an effort to keep everyone informed of the delays. He added, “we know our service will be the best and for that reason and that reason alone is why we will not launch until everything is set as near to 100% as possible.” “We have a strict policy that until things are exactly as we want them we will not launch.” 08002go offer 24/7 unmetered access for just £5.83 per month. Currently they have in excess of 894,000 members who have pre-registered for the unmetered service. Cawley added, “we would rather delay our service for a mere six weeks than disappoint one single member.” “We refuse to go the same route as many other failed ISP’s (Remember: Breathe, RHA, Alta Vista, Line One, Liberty Surf and many, many more)” New ISP From Jellypeople Jellypeople.com offers web-users hassle free Internet access, 25MB of webspace for every user, unlimited e-mail addresses and discounted domain name registration. With the simple sign up procedure found on the site, Chief Executive of Jellypeople.com, Alex Goodey, is confident that people will be swayed by the sweetness that Jellypeople will provide. Alex said: "Many web users lost out from the high profile demise of other ISPs in recent months, so we decided to start our own service. "We are confident that we will grow and are committed to move with the times in terms of keeping up with technology - making sure its value for money is proven before we provide untested services that crash and burn." As well as the standard account, they will soon be offering a business option with 75MB of web space which will support PHP, CGI, ASP and MySQL The site is being hosted by Liverpool-based Linix who already run portals for 50 other ISP's with more than 400,000 on-line customers. With a modem ratio below 6:1, users are unlikely to experience busy phone lines often found by users of some of the larger ISP's. Jellypeople.com will have a dedicated IRC (internet Relay Chat) service, in partnership with up and coming IRC systems provider, chat-solutions.net which has bases in North America and the UK. Some of the chat-solutions.net staff will job-share with members of the Jellypeople.com crew as part of a new exchange programme. Jellypeople.com said it will pride itself on customer care. Alex said: "The quality of customer care offered by some of the major ISPs is not always up to scratch. Reliability of connection and customer service is sometimes poor and ultimately puts people off using the free Internet portals." ISPA Call For Emergency Meeting With Oftel The meeting is open to some 120 members of the ISPA, or most of the UK ISP industry, and is to be attended by ISPA chairman Clare Gilbert, who is also VP and general council at AOL.As well as discussing its fears over the unbundling of the local loop, ISPA will also voice its concerns that Oftel has extended the amount of time allowed for BT to improve its networks to cope with the demand of unmetered access in the UK. The emergency meeting with Oftel is scheduled for next week. Premises Raided In Search For Smuggled Personal Computers The men are suspected of importing millions of pounds worth of computer equipment from another EU country with the intention of selling it on without paying tax.It is reported that the men have been released on police bail after initial interrogation and they will be questioned again at a later date. This is obviously a large fraudulent operation and it makes you wonder how many more like this are active, the temptation being the massive amount of money to be made.... ISPA Calls On Oftel To Learn From Lessons Of FRIACO  ISPA is pleased that after 14 months of uncertainty, OFTEL has finally delivered the ST FRIACO determination to ensure that a wholesale unmetered product for Internet access is available to the industry.Although ISPA welcomes the fact that many ISPs will now be able to buy unmetered products for their consumers from players other than BT, there is concern that it took OFTEL 14 months to reach a FRIACO determination. ISPA believes that the regulatory process designed to prevent abuse by BT of a dominant position and to promote competition in the market place has clearly failed in this case. This is demonstrated by the fact that, in the time it has taken OFTEL to resolve this issue, BT has managed to launch both Surftime and its ISP product Surfport before any wholesale products were in place to enable competitors to offer rival products for consumers and ISPs. The same intervening period saw the collapse of rival unmetered products offered in an environment where ISPs sought to meet consumer demand for unmetered products but were still obliged to pay BT by the minute. ISPA believes the reputation of the industry has been damaged by this process, and regrets that consumers have been disappointed and frustrated. ISPA is also concerned to note that in the determination, OFTEL has extended to 2 years the interim period during which a cap on the number of ports available will apply. While ISPA recognises that the obligation on BT to provide ST FRIACO must be reasonable and technically feasible given the limited capacity at the main exchanges, ISPA hopes BT will meet all reasonable demand for ST FRIACO without limitation after this period, and before if technically possible. If the lessons of the FRIACO process are not learnt, ISPA fears that similar experiences will be suffered under the regulatory processes for DSL. A crisis is brewing - many companies have walked away from unbundling and there are a number of complaints about the allocation process for the BT ADSL wholesale product, which is currently the only DSL product ISPs can buy. The European Commission is also making enquiries of UK companies as to their experience of DSL roll out and unbundling in our market. The ISPA urgently call upon OFTEL to use the powers conferred upon it by legislation to demonstrate that they are able to provide effective regulation for the benefit of consumers and competition, and to bring an end to practices by BT which threaten the development of broadband Britain. EasyNet Announces Results For 2000 EasyNet, the pan-European Telecommunications and Internet Service Provider for corporate users, today also announced losses of £12 million for the year 2000 Commenting on the results, David Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Due to the planned investment in our European operations, the company made an overall loss in line with expectations before tax of £12 million. The company did generate operating profits in the UK and as each of our European businesses mature, we expect they will follow our UK operations by moving into profitability.” “2001 is an exciting prospect for the company as it moves into Local Loop Unbundling by selectively installing equipment into existing telephone exchanges to deliver a range of high speed Internet access products across its own loops. We look forward to another year of managed growth and further strengthening of our underlying business.” During the ISPA Internet Industry Awards earlier this month, EasyNet was announced as the winner of the ‘Best European ISP’ award. Leading ISP Removes Paedophile Newsgroups From Servers Thus plc, owner of the leading ISP Demon brand, has announced that it is to take a more proactive role and will remove known paedophile newsgroups from its servers. Thus will continue to work with organisations across the industry to identify other measures to abolish illegal paedophile content.Thus continually removes articles containing paedophilic content from its servers and in January alone, 647 articles were removed by Thus from newsgroups following the discovery of illegal material. Today's announcement means that not only will the articles be removed, but the known paedophile newsgroups will also be taken down. Thus, a founder member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), is participating with the group to improve the existing processes and is now encouraging the IWF to produce its hit list of known paedophile sites on a monthly basis to enable the offensive newsgroups to be removed quickly. Thus will also be giving the IWF access to its newsfeed which will allow it to identify a wider range of articles and increase its abilities to be more proactive in the discovery and notification of paedophilic content. "While it is impossible for ISPs to stop all illegal content from being published on newsgroups, I believe that there is much that can be done to police what is currently out there; to protect the vulnerable and to increase our vigilance." said director of legal and regulation at Thus, Keith Monserrat. "In the last three months, Thus has removed hundreds of articles that have been deemed by the IWF to be illegal. We have taken the next step in the process which is to remove the known paedophilic newsgroups." Thus will be implementing a number of initiatives that are currently being developed, which are designed to educate parents and teachers about the best way to protect children from harmful content on the Internet. One of the first initiatives to be rolled out will be a UK-wide roadshow around local authorities, giving school representatives and parents the chance to ask Thus's team questions first-hand. Keith continued: "Any initiative that will protect the most innocent in our society must be encouraged and we would welcome the opportunity of working with Children's Charities to help make this happen." Oftel Issues Terms and Conditions For LLU  Oftel has today published a determination setting out certain terms and conditions of the contracts between BT and operators for local loop unbundling. This is a further key element in providing a clear framework for local loop unbundling.David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications said, "Operators and BT agreed many of the conditions within the contract themselves, but where they were unable to agree I have stepped in to set the terms and conditions." The determination sets out the terms and conditions under which BT supplies unbundled local loops and ensures that the contract terms are fair and reasonable. The determination includes the following measures: • if operators do not need all the space they order, they will be able to trade space in exchanges with each other, rather than returning it to BT;David Edmonds stated, "Oftel’s determination provides operators with added confidence to proceed with local loop unbundling in the knowledge that the terms and conditions within their contracts are fair.” He added, "Operators are now placing firm orders for unbundled loops.” BT and the operators have been given until 30th April to agree service levels and how compensation for breaching them will be paid. If there is still disagreement, Oftel may step in to decide what these levels should be. iomart Hits One Thousand ADSL Customers  The iomart Group plc is today pleased to announce that it has acquired its 1,000th (ADSL) customer, making the integrated telecommunications and internet services company one of the leading DSL providers in the UK.iomart launched its ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) services in July last year. The Glasgow and London-based company which is behind the successful Jings and Madasafish unmetered ISPs, were the first to market their business-class CopperBurst ADSL product in the UK after successfully taking part in early proving trials of the new high speed internet connection technology. Commenting on the news, iomart Director of Broadband Services, Phil Worms said: "Whilst a 1000 customers does not sound a great number, given the difficulties associated with deploying such a new technology as ADSL, we are delighted to have achieved this milestone. We have invested heavily in both marketing and customer service, and I believe that we will begin to reap the benefits of this investment over the next 12 months. The successful deployment of DSL is a key plank in iomart's overall ASP strategy of providing both the access and the end user applications such as Thinkmail, iomart's newly launched outsourced e-mail product. The experience that we have gained these past few months leaves us well placed to become one of the UK's largest DSL providers." For business, ADSL is a faster and cheaper option to either ISDN or leased lines and opens the way to a raft of high-speed DSL-based business applications currently under development by iomart. BTinternet Abandons Off-Peak Option  The Register has reported that BTinternet is to abandon its off-peak package and offer its round the clock service to customers instead.From the end of March the £9.99 off-peak tariff will cease to exist. BT claims users will be better off using the packages. The rationalisation means that some 100,000 Net users who were using their credit cards to pay £9.99 a month for unmetered off peak Net access will now be transferred to BTinternet's Anytime flat-rate 24/7 unmetered access and charged via their phone bill.BT also claim that it will only affect 5% of its users – around 5,000 people. For those customers who work full-time, it will mean an unnecessary rise in the cost of the subscription for something they won’t use anyway. Will you be affected? Is so please leave your comments. UK Government Lauches Citizens Portal New life has been given to the revamped website that offers a substantial amount of news and information providing convenient, 24-hour access to the Government at your fingertips. As a one-stop service, the public can get hold of information relating to many issues such as training opportunities or business support, and transactional services such as registering a birth will be rolled out in the coming weeks. The site has been developed in partnership with British Telecom and beholds some very appealing features such as a "LifeEvents" area focused on keypoints of life, and the "Citizen Space" that is designed to make information about government plans more easily available. Kable.Net reports that programme director Bob Evans commented: "We've listened to what people have said, and we've changed the basic look of the site and the various sections. If you take the citizen space section, for example which enables people to have their say, we've changed it to make it more accessible."The website is reported as being part of a £1billion UK online drive to make Government services more accessible to suit people's needs. You can take a look by clicking here. It certainly looks an interesting site and if it progresses the way intended then I think it will become the place to go when dealing with many life issues. Terrorism Law To Be Faced By 'Hackers.' The Terrorism Act extends the definition of those covered by its provisions and includes London-based terror groups who plan attacks outside the UK as well as any group that threatens or plans serious violence in Britain.However, the measure has attracted much opposition. The leader of the Muslim parliament, Dr Ghayasauddin Siddiqui, said many British Asians would feel intimidated by the new laws. Pakistanis campaigning for self-determination in Kashmir would feel they were being discriminated against, he said, adding that there had to be a distinction drawn between freedom fighters and terrorists so that people could feel sure they would not be intimidated for acting to end human rights abuses.The opposition Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Simon Hughes, claims: "If you are a trade union leader calling for a strike at a hospital, you would effectively be caught by the legislation," he said. I think more opposition is yet to come to the fore ...... what are your thoughts? Telewest: Major Theft Interrupts Internet and Interactive Services The Electronic Telegraph reports that early Friday morning, the thieves managed to steal or strip components from 23 of Telewest's vital business computers. The crime took place at Telewest's network centre in Basildon which in turn interrupted Internet/Interactive services for those customers in Kent and Essex. "The equipment that was stolen ran our high-speed internet and interactive element of our digital television service in the south east region," said a spokesman. "We acted as quickly as possible to get a service running again. We apologise to customers and are investigating the incident with the police."There has been a more frequent spate of 'server computer' thefts from I.T. companies and City institutions within the last year, including one from Deutsche Bank in November. It has been reported that during the last eight months a total of eleven men have been arrested in connection with a spate of thefts estimated to be worth more than a staggering £15m. It seems that thefts of this type are becoming big business - nothing is safe nowadays. What will be the next item for a theif to make a profit from?.... Trinity Mirror In Possible Sale Of ic24 It appears that the much liked ic24 could soon be up for sale.In The Guardian today, it was revealed that Trinity Mirror, the company behind the successful ISP, have been having preliminary discussions on its sale. The talks are part of a wider strategic review at the company, formed from the merger of regional newspaper firm Trinity and the Mirror Group 18 months ago.ic24 provides a free 0845 service as well as a completely free 0800 ‘After 8’ promotion which has been successfully extended month after month but looks like it may eventually end at the end of February. Apple Mac Users Now Supported By BTopenworld  BTopenworld has today announced the launch of the Home500 product for Macintosh. Following a successful trial of the drivers from supplier BT Ignite, BTopenworld is now the UK's first commercial service to offer Mac users broadband access using unique USB Plug & Play technologyThe ADSL service offers users always-on, high-speed broadband Internet access (initially at up to 10 times faster than conventional modems). The installation process is simple and fast, requiring work at the exchange and in the home, and the package comes complete with a USB modem and the required cabling. BTopenworld also provides end-to-end customer service, including a technical helpdesk charged at local call-rates. The Home500 product for Macintosh is available now priced at GBP 39.99 per month (inc.VAT) with an installation charge of GBP 150 (inc.VAT). A business version is also available, priced at GBP 39.99 per month (exc.VAT) with an installation charge of GBP 150 (exc.VAT). In conjunction with BT's business ASP, Ignite Application Services, the service also offers users two portals featuring a range of rich content and interactive applications designed for the home user and small business market. Marc Deschamps, Chief Operating Officer of BTopenworld, said: "We are delighted that Macintosh users are now able to make use of the BTopenworld USB broadband service. Macintosh users have sophisticated needs and broadband technology will now allow them use the Internet to its full capability. Transferring big graphics files, downloading software packages, streaming video and other such things are now viable, allowing Mac users to work more effectively and efficiently. " The minimum recommended Mac computer specification for the BTopenworld Business 500 product is as follows: Power PC 601 or equivalent, 32mb memory, 2-speed CD-ROM drive, Video Driver, 800x600 display, 256 colours, 100mb free disc space, Operating system 8.1 or higher, Open Transport version 1.3 networking software, 10 base T network adapter with RJ45 connector. BTopenworld broadband products are currently subject to geographic availability and minimum computer specifications. For further details or to download the necessary drivers, visit BTopenworld. More Unmetered ISPs On The Way Both LineOne and Virgin have said that they will be bringing out new unmetered packages within the first half of this year. LineOne, which pulled its old unmetered service last July saying that costs were four times higher than expected, said it would launch a new service based on BT’s SurfPort24 FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) product in the late Spring.Just which FRIACO product the ISPs will opt for, we do not know. But both options will be examined to see which will allow them to offer a competitive service. Last week Oftel announced that BT had to offer competitors the wholesale product ST FRIACO (Single Tandem Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) from 26th February. So far only WorldCom has said that they are to provide a service to its ISPs based on the new product. Source: Netimperative.com Unmetered Access From Tiny Computers – UPDATE  Last week it was revealed that Tiny Computers are to launch a new unmetered Internet provider service based on FRIACO.Although T:SURF PLUS will not be launched until April, pre-registrations are now available. The service is being seen as great news for its 650,000 subscribers. The new service offers unmetered Internet access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for monthly payment of £14.99. Tiny are clients of Affinity Internet who recently announced that they will be buying SurfPort24 for resale to smaller ISPs. Oftel Scraps Unbundling Of BT Network News of the dramatic decision from the telecoms regulator, Oftel, came today in an article in The Sunday Telegraph and follows decisions from many of BT’s rivals to pull out because of the costs. The decision to abort the "bow wave" programme, under which BT was obliged to open up tranches of local exchanges to rivals progressively, marks a further blow to the Government's hopes of bringing competition in high speed internet access and other broadband services to homes and businesses throughout the UK.You can read the story in full here. E-Minister Confused Over Broadband During the Government’s Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee meeting, Hewitt was questioned by the Labour MP John Maxton over the subject of broadband: Maxton: Can you tell me what is your definition of "broadband"?After a brief interval the discussion continued: Chairman: We adjourned in the middle of an answer by Patricia Hewitt and I understand she would like to complete her answer, which seems only fair.Oh dear. If it wasn’t important it would actually be funny. But Ms Hewitt is the Government’s E-Minister who doesn’t know her bits from her bytes. Source: The Register WorldCom Takes Advantage Of New FRIACO Product  It has emerged today that WorldCom plans to provide a wholesale unmetered access package to its ISP customers following the recent announcement this week by Oftel.ST FRIACO (Single Tandem Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) will allow operators to provide unmetered access which will force BT to charge them a flat rate for traffic taken from the home, via the local exchange to BT’s regional exchanges or tandem layer and onto the operators’ networks. WorldCom, which claims to have requested the move some 18 months ago, stated that it would be offering a wholesale package to ISPs in the near future. Phil Reynolds, UK director of regulatory affairs at WorldCom, said: “We welcome the final resolution. The UK now has the prospect of sustainable competition in unmetered access.” Operators have been waiting for the determination for months, in order to work out their unmetered strategy after the first FRIACO iteration was rejected in the summer last year. At the time, BT offered unmetered charges to operators from the home to the local exchanges and not up to the regional exchanges – an option that was seen to be uneconomical. As a result, a number of unmetered access packages, offered by ISPs including breathe.com, Line One, Virgin.net, LibertySurf, ntl and World Online - were withdrawn. Source: Netimperative.com Cloud Nine Comments On WebPort  This week seen BT Ignite announce a pricing structure that will hopefully assist smaller ISPs compete on an even keel with bigger companies.Called WebPort, the product will allow smaller ISPs like Cloud Nine to purchase fewer ports and thus provide their services to its customers. Although according to Cloud Nine’s Operations Director, John Parr, WebPort is still not the perfect solution and describes the move to WebPort as a “retrograde step”. They fail to grasp the single concept that large and small ISPs compete together - the only thing that distinguishes ISPs from each other is the quality of service which in many cases means performance and that means bandwidth control. This is just a way of getting everyone using BT's shared bandwidth - again on a "one size fits all" basis! That is essentially the problem we have with aggregation options!Cloud Nine have made a complaint to the watchdog Oftel over the unmetered wholesale product SurfPort24 from BT. They claim that it prevents small to medium sized ISPs from competing in the unmetered Internet access market. EU Amends Law Against Internet Copyright Piracy However, UK Internet.com reports that yesterday saw the European Parliament approve a number of amendments to European copyright law to bring it into line with Internet and information society developments. The EU legislation, which comes hot on the heels of this week's Napster ruling in the US, has been drafted to take account of new technologies such as file-sharing as well as international obligations arising from World Intellectual Property Organisation treaties adopted by the EU in 1996.Also reported is the Parliament's aim to shorten the implementation of the amendments by six months so that the revised law comes into force at the same time as the EU electronic commerce directive. Wireless Products Can Benefit From Free Antivirus Download PC-cillin for Wireless will offer protection for operating systems such as Palm OS, Windows CE, and Symbian EPOC. PC-cillin (for Wireless) is available for free download for a limited time and is combined with free product support. UK Internet.com reports: The company stated that PC-cillin for Wireless, which resides on the device after download, protects users against hackers who may be attempting to exploit any security weaknesses found in these mobile platforms. Devices are becoming increasingly vulnerable to threats including viruses, Trojan horses, and worms. Susceptibility is increasing in direct proportion to the growing complexity and functionality of these devices, according to industry analysts. Common functions such as email, Web browsing, and receiving information via beaming and synching are creating increasing points of vulnerability in the devices.PC-cillin for Wireless can work in the background of your platform and also offers a familiar user interface for the operating system you have in use. The software also allows the user to scan on demand and free virus file updates are easily found as users will be notified in advance. Trend Micro stated that they developed the application with a minimal footprint to use the limited memory of these devices efficiently. The product can be downloaded by clicking here. A good deal for wireless users, for those of you who have hand-held devices etc, do you think you will use it? Unmetered Access From Tiny Computers One of the UK’s largest PC manufacturers, Tiny Computers, have today confirmed that they are to launch a new unmetered Internet access service from April this year.Based on the FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) wholesale product from BT, pre-registration for the service will be available from next week. No further details have been released as Tiny are keeping tight-lipped about the new service. However Tiny are a client of Affinity Internet who recently announced that they will be buying SurfPort24 for resale to smaller ISPs. Whether Affinity Internet will be providing the Internet access for Tiny, we will have to wait for an announcement nearer the time. Source: Netimperative.com Oftel Announces New FRIACO Details  The government watchdog Oftel has today confirmed details of the new unmetered Internet access arrangement known as ST FRIACO (Single Tandem Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination).BT will be required to offer other operators the new wholesale unmetered Internet access product from 26th February. Oftel says that ST FRIACO will provide greater choice for consumers. Under the new arrangements, operators will be able to offer consumers unmetered Internet access by connecting with BT’s network at its main regional exchanges for a flat rate annual fee. ST FRIACO is a significant addition to the current FRIACO product which Oftel has required BT to provide since June 2000. The current FRIACO product conveys Internet calls to BT's local exchanges. ST FRIACO conveys them across BT's network to the operator’s own telephone network. Increasing the range of wholesale products available to operators should boost competition in the provision of unmetered access. It will mean that a greater number of consumers will be able to get unmetered Internet access more cheaply and easily than before. Announcing the proposals, David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications said today, "As the Internet has become increasingly popular, demand for unmetered Internet access has grown. Oftel has taken a series of actions to enable other operators to compete effectively with BT to supply unmetered Internet access to consumers. "30% of UK homes now have access to the Internet with a third of these using some form of unmetered access. Oftel’s latest benchmarking study shows that prices for residential Internet users have fallen by over 40%.” Operators will be able to compete more effectively with BT and each other in offering a greater variety of unmetered Internet access services, some of which might not otherwise be available to consumers. Oftel recognises that, in the short term, capacity at the main exchanges will be limited. Therefore the decision includes measures to ensure that BT's network is able to handle the anticipated increased amounts of Internet traffic and that capacity is used as efficiently as possible. BT will also be required to take steps to ensure that all reasonable demand for ST FRIACO can be met without limitation from February 2003. Under the Direction published today by Oftel: • BT must supply a wholesale unmetered Internet access product to carry other operators’ traffic from the customer’s home, via BT’s network to the point of inter-connection with the other operators network. In the short term, this requirement will be subject to certain measures to avoid overloading BT’s main regional exchanges.David Edmonds added, "In requiring BT to provide operators with ST FRIACO, I have taken account of concerns that capacity on BT’s network may be scarce in the short term. "Initially, BT and the other operators will be required to co-operate to make the best use of existing capacity. This will allow consumers to start benefiting from the service and give BT time to make the necessary changes to its network so it can offer the product on an unlimited basis as soon as possible.” In addition, Oftel will work with the industry to establish a new interconnection regime for Internet traffic carried over dedicated IP networks which are generally considered as more efficient at carrying Internet traffic than existing voice networks. Family Friendly Unmetered ISP To Launch  May 3rd will see the launch of a family-safe Internet Service Provider, www.V21.co.uk. V21 is unique in that it does not allow access to any adult material and therefore makes it the perfect ISP for families. V21's team of 'cyber nannies' constantly monitor the ISP for adult material, guaranteeing peace of mind for parents who cannot keep an eye on their children's internet activities all of the time.Unlike search engines that have family-friendly switches that only work when searching through that engine, V21 overwrites Internet Explorer to omit all adult material at all times and from all sources. The family-safe V21 browser includes the V21 search engine, Vmail - a free email service accessible from any computer - and chat rooms. As one would expect, V21 monitors all input and output on these systems to ensure that adult material remains inaccessible. Steve Kaye, Director of V21, said: 'In an age when the internet is being bombarded with more and more adult material, V21 makes the Internet safe for families again. We are the first of our kind and will make the net a safer place for families and schools alike' The v21 package costs just £14.99 a month and includes free unmetered access 24 hours a day. To sign up, visit www.v21.co.uk or call 0870 442 9600. BT Steps In To Help Smaller ISPs Until now, smaller ISPs including Cloud Nine, Totalise and FastNet Communications have complained that SurfPort24 is too expensive because it will force them to buy a minimum of 1500 ports from BT in order to provide an unmetered access package – a cost of £2.88m per year.Cloud Nine and FastNet have complained to the watchdog Oftel over the situation. How they feel about the latest announcement from BT Ignite, we will have to wait and see while they mull over the details. No doubt they will make an announcement soon. Although another ISP that was mentioned in the article, V21 , also appears to be signed up to BT’s SurfPort24. It seems that this new ISP will be launching on May 3rd. Source: Netimperative.com Update: Sniff Out’s FRIACO Based Service Delayed  Originally due for launch on Valentine’s Day, the new SmartTime unmetered product from Sniff Out has been briefly delayed while they await details on BT’s local exchanges.Here is the email they are sending to customers who have registered an interest in SmartTime: Thank you for your interest in our new SmartTime unmetered package, designed to offer high quality Internet access with no lengthy contracts and no hidden charges.Sniff Out are already aware of which areas of the country have FRIACO, they just need to know which local exchanges are enabled. Although they do not expect this to take more than a couple of weeks. EXCLUSIVE: ic24 Free Unmetered Offer Extended The Mirror Group owned ISP ic24, has yet again extended their 0800 ‘After 8’ promotion.Running for more than a year, the 0800 access has been extended month after month despite many other unmetered ISPs closing down or raising monthly subscription fees. The 'After 8' offer has been extended for another 2 weeks until the end of the month when the company will again decide what will happen. Many customers, thought today was going to be the end of the 0800 access after the promotion was only extended by 2 weeks at the end of last month. However ic24 have once again brought relief to its users. Completely free 0800 access is available between 8pm and midnight, 7 days a week. All other calls are charged at a local rate. Affinity To Offer Wholesale Unmetered Access  Affinity Internet has announced that it will provide a wholesale unmetered package which will allow 150 UK ISPs to launch unmetered access packages.Based on BT Ignite’s SurfPort24 product, Affinity Internet will have five unmetered products available to its 150 client including the like of Tiny Computers, Powergen and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The business and consumer products are based on BTnet SurfPort24, a managed service that grooms traffic from the local exchanges onto BT’s Colossus IP network and onto the ISP or carrier network, allowing the ISP to offer a more flexible unmetered service than the currently available Surftime package from BT Retail.BT have already been accused of trying to remove competition by making SurfPort24 too expensive for smaller ISPs to compete. SP24 went live last month and is being gradually rolled out. BT expects it to be available nationally by April. Sniff Out were also due to launch their new SmartTime product offering 24/7 access for £13.99 per month. However it appears to be delayed slightly because they have not yet received adequate information on which exchanges have been enabled. Source: Netimperative.com Orange: Free Wap Offer To Be Extended Launched in November last year, the free WAP access offer is available for consumers of Orange's Talk Plan, Everyday 50, Just Talk and Orange Value Promise. The original closure date of the free offer was the end of February 2001 and now the extension means that Orange subscribers will benefit until the end of May this year. Free access is limited to access only via a registered Orange phone and customers must use the preset Orange Wap dial-up numbers (0973100500 or 0973100501). SMEs Forced To Pay More For Net Access It appears that maybe as many as 10,000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could be forced to change to higher priced business tariffs.According to Silicon.com today, BTinternet are “simplifying” some of its Internet products but in doing so it will inevitably increase the costs for online businesses. According to a source close to the situation, part of the 'simplification' involves cutting off a range of corporate services, including an unmetered service, from 15 March, and forcing users onto one pay-as-you-go service.For the full story check out Silicon.com ADSL Service Unusable Claim BTopenworld Users In an exclusive today over at ZDNet, BTopenworld users are claiming that the high-speed ADSL service has become virtually unusable.Openworld admitted Tuesday customers have had "problems connecting and downloading Web pages" over the last week due to incorrect software on a server. The problems meant that users paying £39.99 a month for an always-on, high-speed ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) connection had to make up to 40 attempts to connect to openworld's network.According to the article, engineers from BTopenworld said that the problem was partly due to the rapid growth of the ISP. On Sunday an engineer wrote to a technical support newslist, "There appears to have been a volumetric problem caused by the rapid increase in new broadband users”. Maybe if BTopenworld were not given preferential treatment over other ISPs, they wouldn’t have any such problems. The Register also has a piece about the ADSL drivers for the Mac. Apparently the drivers will still not be widely available until later this month, although they are available now but only on a first come, first served trial basis. BTOpenworld To Cut 200 Jobs According to The Guardian today, BT will be cutting around 200 jobs at their BTOpenworld broadband division.Staff were told of the cuts in the business at the end of last week. The spokesman said those leaving BTopenworld would be offered jobs elsewhere within the wider group.BT has been accused of dragging its feet over the unbundling of the local loop. There has also been a threat of legal action from AOL and Freeserve after it was discovered that BTOpenworld are receiving preferential treatment when it came to connecting customers to the new ADSL high-speed Internet service. BTOpenworld sustained an operating loss of £107m on turnover of £68m during the third quarter. The BT group is also coming under increasing pressure to reduce its £30bn debt. PlusNet In Unmetered “Fair Use” Mockery  In what we first thought was just a wind-up until we checked it out, PlusNet have really gone too far this time by making an announcement on what they consider to be abuse of their SurfTime accounts:Following on from the events of the last week or so and feedback we have received from our customers we have produced a guide to what we consider to be fair and reasonable use of our Surftime account types. The guidance is separated by account type and is intended to give an indication and does not set precise parameters.I kid you not, this is genuine. I am lost for words. Just 2 hours a day for a 24/7 unmetered service is considered fair? After today PlusNet will be considered to be the laughing stock of the unmetered Internet market. I always thought they were a respectable ISP for the small business, how wrong I was. UPDATE: It now appears that PlusNet have started to boot off users despite this statement from the MD, Lee Strafford: " No customers have been cut off . We have emailed around 500 customers, informing them that their usage profile is unacceptable and have asked them to change or move onto a different service." PlusNet Statement On SurfTime/FRIACO Two weeks ago 1,100 PlusNet users were booted off the SurfTime based unmetered service which resulted in outrage among their customers both in our discussion forums and at PlusNet.Now the managing director of PlusNet, Lee Strafford, has recently posted a statement explaining the situation in more detail: PeopleThe whole PlusNet affair has prompted me to leave and look for another ISP. Yet ever since the customers were booted off, myself and many others have had difficulties logging on to the unmetered service. Hopefully with the introduction of FRIACO, all of PlusNet’s worries will be behind them. Oftel: Consumer Demand Continues To Grow The extent of consumer take up of new telecom services is highlighted in new research published today by Oftel.The research shows that: • 7.5 million homes now have Internet access with 2.3 million homes – nearly one third – using some form of unmetered access. The majority of Internet users are satisfied with their Internet service and the choices available to them in this market.Commenting on the research, David Edmonds Director General of Telecommunications said today, "Demand for modern telecommunications services such as mobile phones and Internet access continues to grow. These dramatic changes illustrate the success of Oftel’s policy of promoting competition to increase the availability of choice and keener prices to consumers. "Today’s household has a range of communications services – mobile phones, unmetered Internet access and a digital television – with high speed ADSL services becoming increasingly popular. "Oftel’s goal to encourage competition and choice means UK consumers enjoy some of the cheapest prices in Europe for many today’s modern communications services. However, a significant proportion of consumers aren’t aware of the full range of choices available to them. This reinforces the need for Oftel’s continued commitment to industry initiatives such as www.phonebills.org.uk which provide consumers with information about the suppliers in their area and the potential savings they could make" The results are based upon a survey of 2,100 UK adults who were interviewed in November 2000. New Labour Scrap 'Broadband Britain' Election Pledge It was confirmed last week by BTOpenworld CE, Andy Green, that at the end of last year, BTopenworld had installed 12,000 ADSL subscribers and that it was adding customers at a rate of between 1,000 and 2,000 customers a week since January 1st. Although AOL claim that they are only allotted 20 installations a day and Freeserve are given only 13 a day. In one sense, Labour has been lucky in the timing of the DSL argument - with the election most likely in May, Tony Blair et al have already started outlining their election stances. A few weeks later and the Tories could have been beating the government with a broadband stick right up to polling day. Xspertise Trustmark To Show Credibility Of UK ISPs ZDNet UK reports that Comptia's global marketing director, Michael Booth said, "There's huge worldwide growth in the service provider industry, but analysts predict many of them will fail because of poor service." He said that there was no vendor-neutral standard, at present, adding that Microsoft and IBM provided certification only related to their own providers. "Consistent standards are needed," he said. Comptia is working closely with UK-based standards assessment company Clicksure to develop what it expects to become an internationally recognised auditing standard. Phil Hendey, Clicksure's chief marketing officer, said, "Our expertise is in developing standards and measuring objectively; Comptia assesses needs and develops the system credibility while we act as the engine room." He added th | ||