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World Online Unmetered Provision In Trouble According to Reuters, the main reason is due to the uncertainty over the introduction date of new FRIACO, an unmetered Internet traffic package offered by British Telecom to other telecom/Internet providers. The current FRIACO package is still part metered. "We have to look at how the model is working, at pricing and conditions," said David Watson, Internet telecoms specialist at World Online.The unmetered market has been a bit restless lately. Many ISPs have withdrawn their service including the recent EzeSurf and AltaVista. World Online has been seen as providing a decent Internet connection for a fair price, although it has been dogged by its billing problems. “News” from Btopenworld Rather than attempt to promise a delivery date, the email which was sent is vague including comments such as “we'll be contacting you to confirm your orders and installing your service - be it the single user or multi-user (Ethernet) service - as fast as we possibly can.” and “we should be in touch in the coming weeks”! One of their comments is “In fact, if you were one of the first to sign up, you could be just days away from our phone call or email!” Could be? If you WERE one of the first to sign up surely they could have said that you SHOULD be or even WILL be days away, especially as those that did sign up are no doubt unable to determine where in the list of “100,000” their application stands. Btopenworld appears to be standing still and sending updates such as this is hardly encouraging for the waiting customers. The full text of the email is listed below. “BTopenworld is one of the first ISPs in the world to offer you what amounts to plug and play broadband with our single user - USB - services for homes and businesses, which were launched this week - see press release below. But what I find most exciting about BTopenworld is that it's going to change the way we all think, use and feel about the Internet. The combination of speed, constant availability and enriched content is going to thrill you. That's a promise. I can report that more than 100,000 of you have already registered for BTopenworld and that we'll be contacting you to confirm your orders and installing your service - be it the single user or multi-user (Ethernet) service - as fast as we possibly can. If you meet the requirements for ADSL - i.e. if you live within a suitably equipped BT telephone exchange area - we should be in touch in the coming weeks. You will then be invited to confirm your order for BTopenworld and have the required line test. In fact, if you were one of the first to sign up, you could be just days away from our phone call or email! We've nearly finished contacting those of you who have ordered our multi-user (Ethernet) service. If you have ISDN 2e, Business Highway or Home Highway and are looking to upgrade to BTopenworld, we'll update you soon. If you have any other questions about BTopenworld in the meantime, call Freefone 0800 389 6622 and we'll do our best to help. That's about all from me, except to say that you're important to us. We know you like speed. And we want to provide it sooner rather than later. That's why we're offering everyone who has pre-ordered BTopenworld the chance to win a fast and fabulous MGF 1.8i sports car, or one of 50 Logitech web cams. Best Regards Marc Deschamps Chief Operating Officer Broadband, Btopenworld” Demon Unmetered Service – Update Based on the SurfTime package, the new Premier Connect and Premier Connect Plus services will be made available to BT customers. In an email announcement from Demon they said that they will continue to make considerable investment to ensure that the service will be able to cope with the expected demand. “There have been many headlines in recent days about ISPs failing to deliver unmetered Internet access deals. There are several issues behind the headlines, including the commercial reality of a poorly thought-out business model or an inability of the network to cope with the huge increase of use that this type of service creates.For a table showing the accounts and pricing available, click here. Too Good To Be True...? We have received a few emails recently from agents plugging a new unmetered ISP that they claim will pay you to use their 0800 service. There just has to be a catch somewhere. The company involved is 0800unlimited.com with the service due to go live on 4th December. A sign-up page is available from 1st September. They are paying agents £25 commission for every customer they sign-up as well as ongoing payments while the customer uses the service. They claim the service offers unlimited email accounts and 24MB of webspace with no need to change telephone companies. They also boast that there are no monthly fees, time limits or connection fees. Now how can they afford to pay out £25 for every customer as well as fund the 0800 access? Please be aware of this company until we know more. There appears to be no money involved so that is one good thing, but your personal details are worth something too. Be careful. Mitchell hands in his Resignation Stephanie Himoff, head of business development, has been appointed as acting managing director to guide the company through their current problems until a permanent replacement is found. She joined AltaVista UK as head of business development from CMP Media, where she was director of business development EMEA. Pierre Paperon, the president of AltaVista Europe said in a statement: "The mistakes in our planned internet access service - which we do acknowledge - probably made Andy's departure inevitable, and we support his decision. But I would like to say that we recognise the tremendous drive and enthusiasm that Andy has brought to his work, and the important positive contributions that he has made." British Telecom was partly blamed by 33 year old Mitchell for AltaVista's failure to make good its promise, and said he intended to stay with the company and retained the full confidence of the group's European and US boards. Source: Silicon.com 500 Beta Testers Required For Unmetered Service "These six new packages have attracted considerable interest", commented Chief Executive, Richard Skeels. "Although capacity is not an issue, we would like to use this opportunity to thoroughly test a new interactive membership administration system in advance of the revised launch date." To ensure the Beta test reflects a cross-section of users and their respective Internet access requirements, Sniff Out is balloting existing customers and everyone who has already registered an interest in the Open Road packages through it's website. Those successful in the draw will be notified over the next few days. Linked to BT SurfTime, the six new Open Road Internet access packages offer dial-in access from only 0.5p per minute, Unmetered Off-Peak access for £9.98 per month and 24-hour access from £24.98 per month. Oftel Tackle BT Over Leased Line Prices Internet Service Providers and telecoms operators are connected the the BT network through leased lines (wholesale), and Oftel said UK prices for wholesale leased lines were much higher than in the cheapest European countries and the United States. Oftel Director General David Edmonds said in a statement: "I consider that targeted price regulation of a wholesale leased line service to be provided by BT is likely to be the most appropriate regulatory action, it will ensure that other operators can purchase wholesale leased lines at prices which will enable them to compete effectively." Edmunds also remarked that Oftel was likely to control prices for the next four years, (subject to a consultation on a range of opinions), as annual pricing showed a difference of between 42 percent and more than 100 percent higher than the third cheapest European country, for a 64 kilobits-per-second leased line. The conclusion comes after a nine-month investigation into BT's leased line market and precedes a consultation period, which will finish by the end of November. A spokesman for BT, the UK's largest telecoms operator, said it would be questioning Oftel's investigation. "We've got some concerns about Oftel's market analysis," he said. Claire Gilbert, chairman of the Internet Service Providers Association (Ispa), praised Oftel's decision, saying regulation is long overdue as leased line plays an crucial role in the success of the ISP market. source: Silicon.com. Delays In BT Openworld Service It appears that although BT's long awaited ADSL deal has arrived you could be waiting months before you are able to get it and use it as ZDnet UK reports: BTopenworld has already warned users there could be a waiting list, claiming a shortage of engineers and a backlog of 100,000 pre-subscriptions will mean delays of up to two months before equipment can be installed in homes. The latest in a series of delays claimed that the trials done where not sufficient enough for the system to be adequately tested as there had not been enough people doing the trial. BT have been accused by the critics of deliberately causing a delay in the ADSL roll out to protect its ISDN business. BTopenworld is a separate company from its parent telco and BT is obliged to offer ADSL to any ISP that wants it. Easynet, Supanet, Madasafish and Demon have all committed to roll out ADSL services imminently. Demon has accused BT of being anti-competitive by offering openworld ADSL at a preferential rate. The original dealdine for ADSL was March, and there has been a total of four delays since this period. With all the recent events with narrowband access, it is hoped that ADSL prices will fall enough to bring a mass-market demand and eventually overtake narrowband access. Maybe ADSL could be utilised and become popular if only we could get it in the first place..... Refund Struggle For Ex-EzeSurf Customers Since Thursday last week, EzeSurf customer services have been telling their customers that they will not be closing, but are just suffering from “technical problems” and will be back in a few days. Although their connection supplier Energis confirmed that they no longer provide an 0800 service for EzeSurf, they denied to comment on exactly why. Now the head of EzeSurf, Matt Bryson, have made an announcement saying that due to an error they had not been billed correctly for services received and had accrued a debt of over £2 million. EzeSurf were only given a matter of days to pay the bill which ultimately led to the downfall of the unmetered service. Now some customers do not feel too bitter as in the beginning they only paid a subscription of £39 and have probably saved more that that in phone calls. However only days before EzeSurf went down, they re-launched the service and knocked up the fee to £75. Because at the time they were providing a decent connection, many signed up to EzeSurf expecting the same level of service. Now they face a losing battle trying to claim their money back. All we can suggest is they contact their credit card company and hope for the best. If they never managed to receive a service from EzeSurf, they should be successful with their claim for a refund, otherwise it could be impossible. All credit card companies are entitled to refund your account if it is proved that you never received any goods/services. To read the full announcement from Matt Bryson, click here as it now appears that the EzeSurf site has now closed down. Ezesurf cease to exist According to an article on at http://www.ispreview.co.uk : "Matt just called the office. Ezesurf has been liquidated." Seems everyone's fears have been realised. In the past few days, no-one has connected to the service, and a notice about an 'official statement' has remained on the homepage. As for the shareholders and their certificates - they remain elusive too. IGClick To Cater For AltaVista Customers IGClick are joining the ranks with their sales pitch: We are fully aware that there are many free ISP followers out there that have lost their accounts with free ISPs that have turned their backs on them and need to find an ISP that will look after them as they expect. IGCLICK aims to be that ISP.We are not aware of any real complaints from our visitors, but as usual, always read the comment pages and discussion forums before you decide on any unmetered ISP. Visual Depth Investigated In Depth Taking nearly three months and covering eight pages, the article goes on to describe in full detail their findings. They claim that Visual Depth have been reselling the EzeSurf package without their knowledge and charging an inflated price for the same product. All the evidence that has been put together by ISPreview can be found in the article which makes interesting reading. Even more interesting would be a response from Visual Depth themselves. The full article can be found here. Vispa Switches To High Speed Priced at £45.00 a month, all packages are equipped ready to go solution which include 512k Downstream/256k Upstream, unlimited POP3 email addresses, 15MB of webspace for personal or business use with FrontPage extensions as well as a full 51,000 newsgroup feed. Vispa Connect ADSL Home version is the introduction package of a range of ADSL based solutions from Vispa Internet Limited. Two weeks ago Vispa Internet launched it's business based solutions with up to 2MB Downstream speeds and prices more aggressive than other main stream Internet Service Providers. Martin Pitt, Managing Director of Vispa Internet said "I strongly feel that offering more aggressive pricing will be warmly excepted by business owners around the country. ADSL offers businesses a 24-hour a day connection to the Internet allowing customer relations to become more effective and professional". If you live within the following areas, your telephone exchanges were upgraded to ADSL this week and now ready to work with Vispa Connect ADSL: Aberdeen, Aldershot, Bradwell Abbey, Cambridge Central, Cannonbury, Chingford, Chiswick, Dean, Earls Court, Ewell, Horsham, Low Fell, Lower Holloway, Maida Vale, Mary Hill, Muswell Hill, Parsons Green, Pudsey, Shenley Church End, Shepherds Bush, Sloan, Stockport, Surbiton, Twickenham and Woking.For further details, check out the website at Vispa. New Launch of BT Openworld/ADSL The service is to be offered at £39.99 per month and along with the usual internet applications, subscribers will be able to view movies and film clips as well as download music. Meanwhile, BT's film and video on demand service is thought to be more than a year away from being available online. Although the system still incorporates the use of existing copper wire, the software driving the transfer of information is many times faster, and BT is claiming that their Openworld Service is up to 10 times faster than rival packages. BT has spent more than £250 million on the technology and this move will certainly apply pressure on ISP rivals like Freeserve and Telewest. Although it can only be recieved by 35% of the country at present, more than 100,000 people have expressed an interest in the service which was announced in May, and BT are confidant that Openworld will be available to around half of the UK by the end of the year. For the single computer (USB) home service you will need: 1. BT standard phone line and account 2. A PC with the following is recommended: Pentium 200Mhz 32 Mb RAM 16 bit sound card 4-speed CD ROM player Video card/display capable of 800x600, 256 colours SVGA monitor 150MB free on hard drive Windows 98 An available USB socket For more information on BT Openworld Click here. RedHotAnt Users Happy With Recent Upgrade Many of our visitors has contacted us praising the recent upgrades: "Redhotant connection really has got better! wow! Chances of getting into any of these free ISPs is a lot easier with ISDN than using my 56k. Faster redials I guess."RedHotAnt have said on their site that their promised upgrade to improve overall capacity by 50% has now been installed, which will also improve peak-time connections. It has been a long time coming, but has pleased many users. I hope that this news article will too as it has been pointed out that we don’t always publish news stories when an ISP is doing well. Net4nowt Popularity Surge In the last six days alone Net4nowt have been contacted by BBC Radio 5 Live, the BBC One O'clock news team, featured in The Guardian and on BBC Online and mentioned on the Jimmy Young show. A Net4nowt spokesperson commenting on the popularity of the site said "It is great to be a focal point of the Internet Service Provision industry and we are currently looking forward to developing our site further in coming months. Our July hit count has already been exceeded and we still have 5 days in the month remaining. We really are grateful to the users and supporters of the site who are making it the success it is". Net4nowt first appeared in 1999, following the increase in free Internet Service Providers, to assist consumers in their choice of provider. Altavista - message from Andy Mitchell This has led to AltaVista's CEO, Rod Schrock, appearing on TV saying the service was being used by umpteen thousand happy customers. Which TV station and when is not disclosed. But someone somewhere has a transcript - or the tape - of Schrock (unknowingly, so Mitchell says) giving misleading information about AltaVista's unmetered Net access service in the UK. Mitchelle accepts full responsibilty for misleading everyone and here is a transcript of the message from Andy Mitchell as appeared on The Register : Message from Andy Mitchell I apologise to all who feel let down by AltaVista's decision to put our unmetered Internet service on hold. I have made mistakes throughout this episode, especially in terms of my poor communication with you, and I apologise for any confusion or inconvenience. AltaVista is passionate about the importance of reducing the high cost of Internet access in the UK. Many studies have documented this as the single greatest obstacle deterring people from spending time online. We remain steadfast in our championing of the need for low-cost Internet access in Britain. From the day we developed the concept of unmetered UK Internet access provided by AltaVista, we have been working hard to deliver it. However, we developed serious concerns about our initial Internet service provider's ability to supply a satisfactory service due to technical issues and business principles that had arisen. We worked fast to find an alternative supplier, and explored other ways to launch a low-cost service. We supported MCI WorldCom in its lobbying of Oftel to secure open-market access to flat rate interconnect bandwidth - a campaign which eventually led to Oftel's ruling on Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination, called FRIACO, which is the UK telecom-pricing regime for flat-rate Internet access. At the end of June, we had been prepared to start rolling out the service to 30,000 customers per month. However, we became concerned about FRIACO, on which delivery of the unmetered service depended. We couldn't risk launching a service until fully unmetered FRIACO lines were widely available. Subsequently, we decided not to take subscription fees if there was a danger that we might have to cancel the service. I made the decision to delay the rollout and, subsequently, put on hold the service. I am remiss in not informing you (or my management) earlier about this situation. In fact, regrettably, during a television interview AltaVista's CEO erroneously referred to an estimated number of users expected to have been signed up for the service based on our capacity and projection for the service roll out at that time. He, too, understood that our service was operating. Like other organizations (sic)that have bailed out before us, we see no way at this time to provide a competitive product. The FRIACO issue has left the marketplace in disarray, and the UK is more dependent than ever on Oftel to level the playing field. We will continue to lobby and bring pressure to bear on all interested and influencing parties, until a truly unmetered access service is available across the UK. In the meantime, I will be focusing our efforts on our world-leading search engine, to ensure that customers get the quality service they expect from AltaVista. Kind Regards Andy Mitchell Managing Director AltaVista UK There has been so many news articles about Altavista and the unmetered deal in the last couple of weeks, that as a consumer we are bound to question the sincerity of the company along with whether there are any other hidden factors within Altavista's framework. It certainly beings doubt in the mind of what we are expected to beleive reagarding this whole fiasco...... Freeserve in Joint Venture talks Under the deal, the telecommunications firm working with Freeserve may take an equity stake in Freeserve, which is part owned by electrical retailer Dixons. The company's shares rose as much as 4.6 percent on Friday and closed 2.5 percent up at 269-1/2 pence on the news. Freeserve has about 2 million users and its links with Dixons mean its services can be bundled in new PCs and digital devices in more than 1,000 high street stores. This approach has been instrumental in turning it into Britain's largest ISP. Unmetered Access In A Shambles We were informed that they had left a message announcing on their Customer Service number saying that they had gone into liquidation and would not be offering any refunds. After talking to EzeSurf, they tell us that their voice mail service had been hacked by an ex-employee and many fictitious outgoing messages were left. They confirmed that they have been having “technical problems” and either couldn’t or wouldn’t elaborate further. There are many rumours flying around. One in particular, which was flatly denied by EzeSurf, is the fact that Energis no longer provide their 0800 connection and they are quickly looking elsewhere for an alternative. EzeSurf have said that users have been experiencing problems with their Internet connection for a while and was just the beginning of the difficulties. On their website it read that: “Ezesurf will be making an official statement within the next 48 hours, until then we will not be accepting any more registrations”. The unmetered service went down yesterday which sparked controversy amongst its users. A few were told that it was just a technical hitch and would be back to normal with a few hours. I hope I am proved wrong about this, but the future of EzeSurf does not look too rosy. There are too many rumours doing their rounds, and what about the shares. Has anyone received anything about this because we are unaware of anyone who has? All this comes in the same week as the shock announcement from AltaVista saying that their much-hyped service will not be launched after all. Originally announced way back in March, AltaVista were the first to publicise such an unmetered service. Now they blame BT for the way in which the telecoms market operates, instead of having a sound business plan. Not long ago we also seen the demise of CallNet, breathe and LineOne just to name a few. Many of the unmetered ISPs remaining have been the subject of complaints, RedHotAnt being one of many. FRIACO is alleged to be on its way, which will ease the situation although it will not be available to everyone in the UK. Unmetered Access Gets Oftel Backing If this is true, then the recent news on Revolution UK looks to be quite promising: - OFTEL has pledged to support the development of unmetered internet access for consumers and it brings immediate releif to the fickle situation of the UK unmetered fiasco. The director general of telecommunications, David Edmonds has remarked "It is disappointing to see AltaVista withdraw from the market, but competition is developing and other companies are already offering unmetered services to consumers." He also said that market conditions for ISPs had now changed. "AltaVista chose to launch its product in advance of wholesale products being available,” he said. “On 26 May, I issued a direction requiring BT to provide an unmetered wholesale product to other operators. This allows other operators and ISPs to have access to BT's local network on a wholesale basis to offer unmetered internet access." An industry-funded website that offers small businesses practical advice on the potential of modern telcoms, aptly named Telecoms Advice, is to receive the support of OFTEL also, as reported on Revolution UK. Surftime an Embarrassment for BT? Controversy has surrounded BT's surftime since they announced it in December last year. BT's flagship could now be proving to be an embarrassment to them as two of the ISP's that have signed up are already related to BT, and there is only five ISP's using surftime in total since June this year - Freeserve, BT Internet and BT Click, Plusnet, and, more recently, Demon Internet. Despite these indications, BT have commented that they are pleased with the results so far, a BT spokesman said: "We only launched it in June, and July and August are traditionally holidays." Adam Daum, an analyst with research firm GartnerGroup is surprised BT is happy with the numbers. "It is not a very impressive figure. If you do the sums, that represents a spend of £100 per user," he says. "Many ISPs have held back from signing up because it is not a true unmetered service and they want the real thing.." BT and others criticise Altavista With regard to Altavista’s announcement in March that they would launch an unmetered service BT said, “The Altavista claims stand reality on its head. We had no discussions with them prior to their announcement. They appear to have promised to launch a product with no network provider set up, no sustainable business case and no customers”. BT added “AltaVista is standing reality on its head as it tries to wriggle away from the consequences of its ill-considered marketing hype” Oftel added their voice to the criticism of Altavista saying “AltaVista chose to launch their product in March, in advance of wholesale products being available. It is up to AltaVista, as other commercial companies, to make sure that before they launch a product they have a sound business plan to support it”. Another free ISP, 24-7 Freecall also criticised Altavista. “The damage that Alta Vista may have done to the industry and in particular to ISPs is much more real. The sad fact is that Alta Vista are blaming BT for their troubles. Certainly BT are no angels but they have recently become the whipping boys for any ISP that seems to be experiencing problems.” It seems that generally Altavista are trying to wriggle out of a situation that they brought upon themselves. A cynical onlooker could suggest that Altavista jumped the gun in the hope that they would get a huge database of potential customers in advance of services like Surftime, FRIACO and FRIACO2 becoming a reality. A less cynical onlooker could suggest that Altavista’s announcement in March pushed the whole unmetered debate into the spotlight, urging other ISP’s to react. BT’s final word on the subject? “I think we’ll join the rest of the industry in laughing at them”! Exclusive: Totalise talk to N4N about their recent unmetered deal In an exclusive interview to find out if they think the new package will be successful, Kaz Garnett, the Marketing Director of Totalise said: "Although we are latecomers into the unmetered market, we wanted to first analyze the situation, so we could provide the consumer with a realistic and sustainable package." The key features of the 2 year package include: 24x7 Unmetered Internet access from 1st January 2001 (or sooner) *100 hours access per month, anytime of day, until 1st January 2001 E-commerce linked rebates against the entire package cost 1,250 shares in Totalise plc (value at 9th August £368) After 12 months a further 140 shares if you have not sold any of the original 1,250 Unlimited email 24x365 Freephone technical support Cost - £200.00 + VAT (2years) Given the volatility of dot com stocks, the importance of the issue of shares in Totalise PLC would inevitably be considered by the prospective consumer. In response to this, Kaz Garnett added: "We have been trading for a year now - obviously we have no control over the price of shares, and, given the current value, we believe this to be a fair offer" Recent weeks have seen the infrastructure of some ISPs that offered unmetered access decline and become unviable. Many other ISPs are currently having difficulty coping with the demand of unmetered and are also failing to provide a good level of service to consumers. It seems that Totalise have certainly considered the factors of the recent events as Kaz Garnett identified: "Our new unmetered package allows the user a substantial limit of 100 hours per month online time. We feel that this is adequate for the average user, and they are also able to use their time whenever they choose as there are no peak/off-peak restrictions." At the moment there are believed to be over 1,000 users of this service, and many more have recently subscribed. After the 1st January 2001 (or sooner), the package will allow existing customers full 24/7 unmetered access with no per month limit on hours used while connected to the internet. *From this interview it would appear that Totalise have carefully structured their new unmetered offering to enable its ongoing viability. They believe they have clear, well laid out plans on how they will proceed in the future, and because all the factors have been taken into consideration, they believe it should ensure success. Of course, only the future will tell if this is realistic or missplaced optimism. The interview with Kaz Garnett, the Marketing Director of Totalise, took place on Tuesday 22nd August. AltavistaUK - Unmetered not viable The company admits that the unmetered access package, slated to go live in June, was no longer viable, claiming that it was defeated by the economics of the UK telephone market. Prior to the service being switched on, 500,000 people registered their interest and they are currently being advised to take a look at one of the other offers available from Altavista. Unfortunately these other offers are no where near as appealing to the customer as they either restrict online time, or users have to pay normal telephone charges for access. Altavista place most of the blame on BT for its now unviable service. The managing director of AltaVista UK, Andy Michell had this to say in his prepared statement: "AltaVista access is the symptom, not the cause. We are reliant on the provision of flat rate circuits from BT, direct to the end user, to be able to offer a service that is sustainable, quality-focused, and economically viable. To date BT has failed to make this possible and its continuing delays make it difficult to plan a solution." It seems that although surfers pay next to nothing, ISPs have to pay British Telecom the full telephone bill for providing their network. However, a new charging facility will be brought in later this year known as Friaco (for flat rate access call origination). This method of charging allows ISPs to only pay costs for the number of lines they take from BT instead of being charged for the amount of traffic flowing over them. "Until the flat rate circuits are available in mass market quantities, neither we, nor anyone else, will be able to offer an affordable or economically viable service," said an Altavista spokesman. This will certainly put an end to the mystery surrounding Altavista over the last few weeks as to whether their proposed unmetered service was just a myth. Source: Silicon.com Freeserveplus on the horizon The business and multi user service will be designed to connect to a network,and the minimum requirements are: BT standard phone line and account A Freeserve account A PC encorporating either Windows 98/98SE/2000 A Pentium 166Mhz processor 32Mb of RAM A 16 bit sound card 4xCD-ROM drive A 10baseT Ethernet Card A DirectX/Direct Draw compatible video/graphics card The home user service has minimum requirements of: A BT standard phone line and account A Freeserve account A PC encorporating either Windows 98/98SE/2000 A Pentium 166 Mhz processor 32Mb System memory A 16bit soundcard 4x CD-ROM drive An available USB port DirectX/Direct Draw compatible video/graphics card The home user package may offer download speeds of approx. 512Kbps, and upload speeds of approx.256Kbps, and those small businesses that are without LANs are expected to sign up for the home user service. Connection will rely upon the location of the prospective Freeserve consumer who would need to be within a 2.5 radius of a BT exchange that is enabled for ADSL usage. At this time the service is only available in Greater London, the West midlands,Manchester/Liverpool area, and Glasgow. The price of the service for business is a flate rate fee of around £99.99 per month, and the home service is to be priced at around £40.00 per month. Source Silicon.com Update: 20th August 10.00pm There are three levels of service, all with monthly flat fees: 512Kbs connection - £99.99 (excl. VAT) 1Mbs connection - £139.99 (excl. VAT) 2Mbs connection - £189.99 (excl. VAT) The once-only installation of Freeserveplus costs £260.00 (excl. VAT) including all the hardware and software you require for high speed access. To find out more about this offer visit the URL below http://195.92.248.233/ADSL/CFMcode/fsbs_home.cfm Oftel moves to set maximum price for local loop access It emerged yesterday that ISPs will have to pay no more than £107 for each high-speed DSL line - and this figure may fall following further Oftel investigation. There will also be a one-off connection charge of £145. Oftel will now conduct a full analysis of how BT arrived at these charges to determine if they are acceptable - the results of which will be published in October. A final directive will be issued in December when the first operators will be given access to the local loop. Although the UK telecoms regulator has accepted these prices, it rejected a number of other proposals BT made for additional charges. ISPs and telcos are expected to give a more detailed response to the guidelines in the next few days. Source: www.silicon.com UK ISP may be expelled from LINX LINX is the country's main internet gateway to global networking, and it is seen as a breach of the company's rules to discuss in public their proceedures for membership application. The mystery UK Isp has been condemned by a LINX spokeswoman for revealing the friction regarding opposition to Microsoft's application. She also stated to Vnunet that the LINX did not intend to take the matter lightly, and that the leak is a serious breach of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) which all members must sign. It was reported last week that some UK Isp's would oppose Microsoft's application for its MSN service provider to join LINX. The only way a membership can be denied, is if the applicant did not meet LINX's rules on technical requirements. During the next quarterly member's meeting (21/22 August) and providing the culprit has been identified, the council can give the Isp 30 days notice of exclusion as set out in the MOU. The LINX spokeswoman commented : "This was not just a breach of the MOU, it was a breach of everybody's fundamental right to a confidential vote held under a due democratic process. This is the first time this has occurred and the very least that will happen is that we will formalise our disciplinary procedures at the next members' meeting. Although it will be very difficult to identify the ISP responsible, Linx is very much a community and we would hope to identify them by next week's meeting. Expulsion is certainly one option." Meanwhile, Microsoft's application to join the London Internet Exchange (LINX) has been accepted after a two-day extension to the usual three-day question and answer period on each applicant's technical infrastructure. Red Hot Ant Users Outraged At Poor Service Ross Manuell, systems and network administrator at an NHS Trust in the South East of England reported "As far as I am concerned, redhotant is breaking new records in providing a crappy service. I signed up in March of this year when the service went live, since then I have been able to connect precisely eight times. My record is 173 redials before getting a connection, but I know of people - some of whom I work with - that have broken the 200 barrier." Redhotant have placed a message on their homepage stating that they are still waiting for MCI Worlcom, their telecommunications provider, to deliver additional lines to its modem racks. Although Redhotant admit that their service is not without its problems, this message seems to indicate that they are passing the buck to MCI Worldcom. UK PR Manager at MCI Worldcom, Charlotte Steele said: "MCI Worldcom is working with the customer in question to resolve any issues we have with them." Nicholas Lansman, secretary general at ISPA, the Internet watchdog, remarked: "We have had a couple of complaints about the service, but because the company isn't registered with us there is nothing we can do. There seems to be a growing problem with real ISPs as opposed to virtual ones. Sometimes the virtual ISPs are so desperate to gain market share, they offer incredible deals that they cannot always commit to." This means that the ISPA are unable to act on behalf of the many outraged customers of Redhotant. Also, as reported by uk internet, redhotants contact address given out on their website, JAK Group Ltd, based in Cheriton, Kent, appears to be misleading to consumers. There are no records of such a company at that address, it is the location of the companies server farm. Further investigation also revealed that there is another address for the JAK Group, listed within their T&C agreement, this time for Finchley Road, London. Again, no such company is listed under directory enquiries. UK internet reported that 'attempting to get comment from Redhotant proved troublesome' and they also find it a mystery why redhotant would put the full postal address on its website as contact details. It turns out that the correct address is in Cheriton, Kent, but listed as JAK Productions. This address also shows up in their Terms and Conditions, but it is somewhat 'hidden' from easy view. BT's Ignite to begin trials of SSDL Although ADSL provides high-speed data transfer downstream, but is slower upstream, SDSL can offer the same speed in both directions. For those businesses wanting to host their own website, and wanting to use voice over IP for voice calls between office branches this service may provide a useful alternative. On offer there will be two types of service; BT Datastream Symmetric, which connects end users to BT's broadband network and is suitable for those Providers with at least 150 end users. BT Broadband point-to-point private circuits, which connect end users to each other via BT's broadband network is the other type to be offered. In an exclusive interview with Vnunet, broadband product marketing manager at Ignite, Neil Armstrong said: "We know there is a lot of latent demand for leased line access among small businesses and believe these products bring symmetric services into their price range." BT is advertising for 23 service providers, large corporates and telcos to join the trial. Large corporate companies will be offered wholesale SDSL, and the service will also be offered by third-party service providers and telcos. BT will equip 12 exchanges in areas densely populated by businesses for the purpose of the trial of around 300 end users. Armstrong added that SDSL would not create an impact on BT's ISDN or ADSL businesses: "It certainly isn't a replacement to ADSL, it is merely another weapon in our armoury. I certainly don't see it having a significant effect on ISDN at all. We do see a significant amount of new business generally, but expect some migration from traditional leased line," he said. BT sees the SDSL as a key enabler of voice over IP, and there will be a significant savings made on circuit calls by using SDSL for those companies routing internal traffic between branches. Three different data speeds will be on offer: - 500Kbps, 1Mbps and 2Mbps (which will run at closer to 1.9Mbps). If you require further information about broadband services from BT, then Click here Alta Vista swamped with messages about their invisible unmetered service. "Does your unmetered internet service actually exist?" Mitchell, who returns home from holiday next week, will hopefully to respond to the torrent of messages, and he should be able to shed light on the intentions of Alta Vista regarding the unmetered promise. Alta Vista hit the headlines six months ago by pioneering to provide a £59 per year service for internet access, replacing any internet call charges and promising to bring umetered access to the consumer. So what is happening? - Apparently, only Mitchell has the answer to why AltaVista's £59 a year unmetered service is currently unavailable. There is a claim on Alta Vista's website that they are offering the service "to those people who have already expressed an interest". Yet, a nationwide search first launched by internet sites such as The Register and ISP Review, and recently joined today by the national press, has failed to find any users of the service. Vnunet have been unable to access any more information either after making several calls to the Alta Vista's press office in the last two weeks. The company is unable to confirm whether their service has actually started, and has also been unable to provide any evidence of users on the unmetered service. An Alta Vista spokeswoman repeatedly informed Vnunet "We can't give any information or say how many people are using the system. Only Andy Mitchell can comment." Following the problems faced by many unmetered ISPs including Line One, Breathe and NTL who launched in response to AltaVista's initial announcement, the mystery that surrounds the service has prompted new speculation that Alta Vista could have changed their original plans. Steve Rawlinson, systems manager at Claranet, the ISP that provides the connectivity for AltaVista, clarified today that there are no technical problems with the service. "We can categorically say that there are no technical issues and everything is working. We speak to AltaVista everyday and they are happy with the service," Although this certainly rules out the recent speculation that Alta vista were experiencing technical problems, any arrangements, technical details or agreements that Claranet has with AltaVista were not revealed. "We have signed an extremely stringent confidentiality contract with AltaVista and I am not allowed to provide any further information," said Rawlinson. The service was supposed to start on the 30th June, as Alta vista announced at the start of June that users would need to pay a start-up fee of £59 (including VAT). John Pluther, a chief executive for Freeserve, added at a conference held last month "The only thing [AltaVista] has said so far is that the price would go up. Not bad for a product that hasn't hit the market yet." The recent e-mail was sent to users who had expressed an interest in the service from Alta Vista reads: "To ensure the quality of this service, AltaVista has elected to rollout this service in a controlled manner. We will provide the service to as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring that your online experience is a good one." Alta vista also mentioned that they are offering users two additional metered access services - Altavista Net on Demand, and Freetime 20, both being in conjunction with Claranet, to keep up with the overwhelming demand for the AltaVista Unlimited Unmetered Access service. AltaVista's Unmetered Service - does it exist? When AltaVista announced its service it was projected to have 120000 customers in its first month with 90000 a month signing up after that, however The Daily Mail says that AltaVista is now refusing to say how many active users it has. The big question really is whether there are any customers able to use the service at all, or if AltaVista have merely used the announcement to gain extra hits on their site. At The Register an appeal was recently launched to find AltaVista customers but none have come forward. Alan Stevens of the Consumers’ Association said last night “The AltaVista service does not seem to exist. Thousands of people have signed up for this deal but so far, it doesn’t look like they’ve enjoyed a single minute of surfing. It’s very very unsatisfactory” Internet Magazine, which monitors the performance of Internet providers, says AltaVista has refused to take part in its monthly trials since it launched the service. AltaVista’s only comment to The Daily Mail was to say that the only person qualified to comment on the situation was director Andy Mitchell, who is on holiday until next week. Obviously we here at Net4Nowt would be delighted to hear any feedback, be it negative or positive, from anyone who is surfing using the unmetered AltaVista service. FreeChariot - true unmetered service? In an email to The Times they said "The biggest lie seem to be the focus of articles like yours on only the so-called big fish in the industry." FreeChariot claimed that the reason the "big fish" floundered was that they "spend too much on advertising, pay too much for overblown number of personnel and burn up cash on irrelevant infrastructure and buildings." They went on to attack AltaVista saying that people have been left hanging on "waiting for the service like waiting for a bus that will never arrive." FreeChariot then go on to outline their service. "Freechariot is a FREE Internet communications provider, started in June with a firm target. The target is to peg the level of membership at 30,000 for the first 6 months so as to let the network be reasonably tested before progressing with more membership intake." They list their current services as: *Free unmetered Internet calls - No call charges to the net. *Free unlimited and unmetered local weekend telephone calls *Free shares in the company. *Web Mail *Access to your email messages by phone *Voice access to certain areas of our site, for use while on the move. *Savings on telephone calls *Free easycontact numbers *Free publication of your articles. In future they hope to offer: *"SightLinx", total voice Internet access on the move for easy access to mail, services (such as restaurant, gyms, clubs, dating etc) and information - beneficial to visually impaired surfers, the dyslexic and those on the move - available in the next 6 months. *WAP and GPRS enabled site. *Anti-fraud on-line payment system. *Full free unmetered local off-peak voice calls. *Expansion to Europe and multi-lingual cross boundary site access and services. The Net4Nowt feedback on this service is generally good and most people seem impressed by the prompt response of customer services when there is a problem. Perhaps this service is worth giving a try, although you may have to be quick if they are going to stick with their 30000 limit... Who is to blame for the unmetered fiasco? Consumer groups are arguing the fact that the small print laid out in the terms and conditions presented by some ISPs gives them no moral right to let users down. With both LineOne and CallNet ditching their unmetered access, and Breathe becoming breathless with their seemingly 'heavy' users, customers are becoming more outraged and are feeling let down. Some other ISPs which include NTL, AltaVista and Redhotant have recently been accused of false advertising. Alan Stevens the head of digital services at the Consumers' Association says "We've received a lot of complaints from consumers who have signed up for services which they expected to last for a little bit longer than a few months, some have signed up for a service that doesn't actually exist -- as in AltaVista's case -- others have had issues about not being able to get on because of jammed lines." He carries on to describe the situation as "very, very unsatisfactory" and he is asking consumers to read the small print on their contracts to check ISPs have the right to cancel services without notice. "Legally they may be in the right but not in a moral sense," he says. Oftel is being blamed by The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) who are also warning consumers not to be taken in by free offers. "The market has become more and more competitive and each company is trying its best to capture market share. They are making fabulous offers and consumers have to ask is it too good to be true," says an ISPA spokesman. Although Oftel admits it too has received complaints, they are unwilling to accept any responsibility. "It is for companies to devise sustainable business models, we can't intervene," says a spokesman. "We point out to consumers that companies can change their terms and conditions. People can always try alternative providers." A spokesman for The Campaign for Unmetered Access CUT lies much of the blame at BT's door because they believe that the unmetered dream was always going to be a nightmare while service providers still paid BT for leasing telephone lines. "You had a mad situation where ISPs were offering unmetered services but not wanting people to use them too much," he says. "As users we are sick of the industry continually underestimating how much we want these products." The CUT believes there is light at the end of the tunnel. "BT is now in the process of talking about viable unmetered products -- principally Friaco -- and that was unthinkable six months ago." So, whilst bearing this in mind we are still no nearer to knowing just who is to blame....... Ezesurf improves unmetered offering Now named SurfSaver Power, they have added a few bells and whistles to the service. Originally users bought 60 shares for £39 and received 24/7 access with speeds upto 64K ISDN. Two accounts were needed for 128K ISDN. The package now is users purchase 150 shares for only £75 which are worth £97.50. This entitles them to a 128K ISDN including a free ISDN installation and a free domain name. Here is a list of what the new package includes: Free .co.uk domainTo sign-up to the new package, users need to register an 0845 account then ring 0870 444 2144 (national rate call). Your account will then be instantly activated. After reading your comments you are happy with their service, also it works out at less than £6.25 per month for 24/7 access. Latest situation on CallNet0800 unmetered service The unmetered deal ends on 5th September and will be replaced with the CallNet1p package. You will still be billed for the telephone calls used as well as 1p per minute for off-peak access and 2p peak-rate. If current customers sign-up before 5th September, then you will not have to pay the £9.99 registration fee. In addition, they will be giving the first 100 existing customers to register a £5 credit to their new CallNet1p account. The main problem appears to be is what is going to happen with the 4 x £5 vouchers which customers have received that are used towards their CallNet telephone bill. Very few people have even received a bill to allow them to use the vouchers. Customer services told us that they will be sending out bills this month. Any unused vouchers can be used towards their new CallNet1p account. For customers who do not want to join the new Internet service can get the vouchers refunded if they send them to the following address: Customer Billing DepartmentFor further details you contact their customer services department on 0800 279 7290. British ISPs shun MS The members share Internet traffic with one another in a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-your-back type of agreement and some of the 109 members are under the impression that MS does not have the interests of the British Internet community at heart. Early indications show that MS may not be welcomed with open arms as expected, and tomorrow MS will know whether or not their application has been sucessful. A spokeswoman at LINX refused to comment on MS' application, and MS itself was unavailable for comment at the time of the press release. NTLworld still has huge waiting list It would seem that their customers are unhappy with the delays involved however. The continued delays for some people receiving their umetered access have resulted in 154 complaints to the UK advertising watchdog. The Advertising Standards Authority says that this is a record level of complaints for an advert that does not fall into the ‘taste and decency’ category. Vnunet quote a spokeswoman for NTL as saying "We needed to be sensible in signing customers up, to protect the network and ensure a quality of service to existing users. The service itself has been very successful and feedback has been extremely positive. We are the only operator who is staying with the free access model," and NTL say that they will resume an "aggressive promotion of the service in September" NTLworld is free for NTL cable customers as part of their TV/phone package. BT customers pay a one-off £10 fee for a dialler box and must make £10 worth of voice calls minimum per month. There is a 2-hour cut-off. BT facing FRIACO compensation claim Zone Corporation claim that BT promised them an unmetered wholesale charge via their ill-fated FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) scheme. Shortly before the service was due to go live in June BT informed Zone that the offer was the ‘hybrid’ version which includes a metered charge. Zone say that this made their 08002go service unviable and wants compensation for advertising and other related costs. The recent withdrawal of unmetered access by some ISP’s would seem to support Zone Corporation’s claim that the service would not be viable, although at this time their site is still up and claiming that the service goes live 21st August with a free introductory week to enable you to ‘try before you buy’. Freeserve hits new market low Freeserve share prices fell today to a record low. They are a long way from their peak price of 978p seen in March at the peak of the dot com share frenzy. There has been speculation for some time that T-Online would make a bid for Freeserve as part of their plan to expand in Britain, Italy and Spain. They currently have six million subscribers in Germany, Austria and France, and report that they will begin operating in Switzerland by the end of the year. Perhaps as part of T-Online’s plan to move in on the British ISP market they could begin by translating t-online.co.uk into English? Netscape(AOL) in lawsuit for spying accusations Netscape's SmartDownload feature, inherited by AOL as part of its acquisition of Netscape in 1998, is at the centre of the issue. Whenever users download items from the web, the software works automatically and is used to help users download files from the internet. "Netscape is using SmartDownload to eavesdrop," the lawsuit claims. "It is using SmartDownload to intercept and send to defendants information about a communication to which defendants are not party." Christopher Specht, the first plaintiff of the lawsuit, claims that SmartDownload captures and transmits 'uniquely identifiable information' back to Netscape whenever software is downloaded by Netscape users. Specht also runs various websites that contain downloadable files for Netscape and other users. An attorney at law firm Abbey, Gardy and Squitieri, Joshua Rubin, has confirmed that the complaint has been amended to include three more individuals, and is acting on behalf of the plaintiffs. The lawsuit is seeking an order to prohibit Netscape from gathering information about the software that is downloaded by users. It is also seeking a class action status on behalf of everyone who maintains websites containing downloadable files. Although it has been confirmed that SmartDownload is included in Netscape by An AOL spokesman, he said that it is used only for technology support purposes. "We've never used or accessed any information about SmartDownload users or files and we plan to take it [SmartDownload] out of future versions of the product." Netscape was unavailable for comment. Totalise announce details of unmetered service For a one-off fee of £235, Totalise Telecom customers will receive 2 years of unmetered access. Although not 24/7 access to begin with, customers will receive 100 hours per month that can be used at any time of the day until 1st January 2001. Any time over the 100 hours and users will be charged at 2p per minute towards their Totalise Telecom account. Access is also subject to a 1-hour cut-off. From next year or possibly sooner, customers will then be able to access the Internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The one-off fee consists of a £50 set-up charge and a £150 fee for the Totalise Unmetered Access Services. Also included with the Internet access, users will receive 1,250 shares plus another 140 shares after a year if you are still a shareholder. Our initial reaction is that the package appears to be a bit expensive, although there are e-commerce linked rebates where users can earn extra access. For example, for taking out a mobile phone contract through Totalise Telecom you will receive a 3-month rebate. New FRIACO package in deadlock The Register today reported that the subject is still ongoing with the service which was originally due for launch within a matter of weeks. That was in May. Since then, there has been a series of stumbling blocks over accepting the proposals, not least over pricing and technical issues.For further details explaining FRIACO, click here to visit CUT’s FRIACO FAQ. New email service from PlusNet Research for PlusNet revealed that nearly 10% of Internet users who wanted to change their ISP wouldn't, because they were worried about changing email addresses. Home users are often reluctant to switch to a new address because they don't want to miss out on all the gossip from far-flung friends. Many even claim they would swap ISPs today if they could guarantee they wouldn't lose touch with family, friends and business associates. PlusNet's new 'smart service' means that subscribers can now access any of their existing email addresses after they switch ISPs and thus elevate their email concerns. PlusNet Managing Director, Lee Strafford, said, "It's about freedom of choice. Users have felt handcuffed to their ISPs because their email identity is so important to them. There are too many providers out there letting their customers down with their service. These same ISPs rely on the fact that people are reluctant to switch and therefore don't feel the need to improve service. Now, for the first time, subscribers have the ability to dip into their old accounts - wherever these may be - and monitor any mail that is still being delivered.” Sounds a bit like the free service from Twigger which is available to everyone. AOL in unmetered service trial Netimperative.com today reported that AOL has been carrying out a random test with 500 customers. We still do not know when the service will be made available to everyone else, but version 6 is due for release next month and could form part of that. Initially costing £19.99, they have now dropped the price down to £14.99. Telewest's Blueyonder service to be cut down in price When compared to the £39.99 a month for BT's high speed ADSL package, this move can be taken as the first sign that an internet price war has recently spread to the high speed connections market. Offering cheap and free access has not yet proved itself to be viable, as many internet service providers have found that they are unable to deliver what they promise to the customer. As a result of problems with the roll-out of its digital television service, Telewest's share price has gone down in the last few weeks, and it continues to be beset with problems with both the Blueyonder service and its fixed priced unlimited access. The Blueyonder access has only attracted around 1,000 customers to date because consumers are not willing to pay such high prices for high-speed internet access as the research from industry regulator Oftel has found. The price-cut will be welcomed by Oftel, as a recent survey by them found that £13.00 per month is the most consumers wish to pay for a high-speed internet access. Telewest's Blueyonder service can enable the consumer to download web pages up to nine-times faster than the speed of dial-up services. As both the Blueyonder service and the BT service can promise a permanent 24/7 internet connection, and allow the phone line to say free, the relaunch of Blueyonder arrives as BT prepares to step up marketing of its ADSL high speed service. Philip Jansen, who is the managing director of Telewest's consumer division, believes that they now offer the cheapest broadband service in the UK, and he says in his statement, "This will encourage more people to access a faster, better service and to get much more out of their use of the Internet," It will be interesting to see whether BT will soon follow in their footsteps..... UK Two Years Behind US With Internet There are indications that the internet patterns adopted in the in the UK are almost matching the US identically - but the UK are still two years behind. While men have been the earliest to adopt the internet, women are quickly catching up, so much so that 31 per cent of women in the UK are a part of the internet online community. Although the early adopters are made up of the 25 to 45 age group, more of the older generation, parents, and a good mixture of men and women are building up this community. The study has also shown that one of the main differences between the US and the UK is the lack of unmetered access in the UK. This has not only been found to be the biggest stumbling block between the two, but it would also take the longest time to rectify. Bearing this in mind, Mintel have still predicted that online sales in the UK would rise from £1.2bn to £5.4bn by 2005. It has been noted too that online grocery sales are stronger in the UK which has been built up by strong competition between Tesco and Sainsburys. This can be seen as positive, but author of the study, Neil Mason, said slow delivery is still seen as a major hindrance. He remarked: "A lot of retailers want to get on web pages but fail to address the fulfilment side. We find that people who have had a bad initial web experience are unlikely to go back," However, he did add that UK internet users still have a "certain amount of resistance" about purchasing goods online, as they are very wary about using thier credit cards over the web. This has to be an indication to the relevant sources to question online security, and make it more secure for the customer. CallNet0800 ends next month – and that’s official Originally launched in November last year, CallNet have been providing 24/7 unmetered access in exchange for its customers routing their calls through their phone service. Now they have emailed their customer saying that the present access will be replaced by a 1p per minute service. CallNet who also provide the service through 4uNet (Phones4u) and F1 Racing, will be waiving the £9.99 registration fee for existing customers. Also as an incentive they will be giving the first 100 existing customers to register a £5 credit to their new CallNet1p account, if they sign-up before 5th Spetember. Customers can register here for the new service. The CallNet1p service, as the name suggests, offers Internet access at 1p per minute. Except during peak times when it will cost 2p per minute. CallNet has blamed the “changes in the telecommunications industry” and the “rapid development of the Internet culture in the United Kingdom” for the demise of the unmetered service. In other words, they could not cope with the demand as well as the costs involved. CallNet appear to be going backwards with their new access package. However they did say that they will be launching a range of unmetered access services later in the Autumn. A promise from UK ISP's to set up self-regulatory body In a bid to avoid any expensive legal wrangles like the ones that have been recently fought by Yahoo, Demon and AOL, the blueprint for a 'best practice' framework for self-regulation in the industry has been laid down by UK Internet hub Linx. Keith Mitchell, executive chairman of Linx, told UK Internet.com "ISPs are becoming the dumping ground for what is wrong on the Internet." Teams dedicated to deal with legal problems about the content on sites hosted by their servers have been forced to roll out by some ISP's. Linx have also said that the design of its self-regulation framework could possibly form a foundation that should establish international Internet regulation guidelines. Keith Mitchell also added "Self-regulation is the only way to address Internet issues." ISP's are liable for any defamatory material hosted on their servers, found a recent European legal precedent. Mitchell also said "We are trying to improve the co-ordination between international ISPs over Internet abuse cases. We will look at everything from spamming to hacking attacks," Large companies such as the BBC, BT Internet, Compuserve, Easynet and NTL Internet are just a few among the supporting membership of 109 service providers, the membership base also stems into Europe and will include Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom. The end is nigh for CallNet0800 We have known about this for a while but we were trying to get a response from CallNet themselves. No such luck there I am afraid. There was a piece in the August issue of Practical Internet magazine which said that because CallNet0800 have been flooded with complaints, they will be scrapping its freephone service. Instead, they are expected to introduce a 1p per minute service from this summer and three unmetered pay services in October. As yet no price details have been revealed. It obviously looks like they cannot afford to keep the service going if it is not commercially viable. It would have been more polite to hear something from themselves first. Visual Depth investigations completed There have been some startling similarities between the two ISPs, which has long been the subject of speculation. Here is just a short quote from ISPreview: Please take note that at this point VD agreed the issues existed by saying it was a 'Security Problem' (indeed). As I said recently, "we're not trying to find out IF the rumours are true, we're trying to find out why they ARE true.". We're not sure what the network is today, but if you haven't changed your details or account with them since the start then it should still be the same.For the full report plus a recent news update, you will have to visit ISPreview. Since the report was published, Visual Depth have stated that they will make a full announcement by the end of September. World Online merger being considered by Tiscali It is reported that World online has around 1.6 billion euros (970 million pounds ) left in the bank after its floatation in March, and, as Tiscali has ambitions to become a pan-European Internet Service Company, together they could put this money to use. Only last month World Online said that they would acquire telecom licences in new countries, move out of Web content creation, and build their own pan-Euro network. Tiscali also announced earlier this year that they would build a pan-European fibre-optic Internet network that will link France, Belgium, Italy,Germany,Spain, Switzerland and The Czech Republic, at a cost of 150 million euros. Analyst William Laurent at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) said "Geographically and financially a merger between the two makes sense." Before any deal of this kind can materlialise, the Swiss Sandoz family, World Online's main shareholders who own around 43 percent of the stock, would have to give the green light for the merger. Even though both companies only lead in a few countries, and have few market shares in other countries, the combined total of active subscribers if the companies merged would almost be nearing the six million that is already boasted by Europe's largest Internet Service Provider, T-Online, the Deutsche Telecom unit which floated in April. This would mean that a merger of Tiscali-WorldOnline would ensure they become Europe's second largest Internet Service Provider, even overtaking AOL Europe which has 3.8 million subscribers. Although Tiscali (2.3 subscribers) and World Online(2.4 million subscribers) claim to have almost the same number of subscribers , and both offer free Internet Access, the valuations of these two companies show that the issue of subscriber numbers is only one part of the story. Tiscali's market capitalisation of 8.7bn euros is nearly three times higher than World Online's 2.96bn euros, and whilst this difference may point out Tiscali's strengths, it can also be seen to outline World Online's weaknesses. It is no longer the case that free Internet service providers can receive most of their income from sharing telephone connection fees with Telecom Providers, because Telco's now offer unmetered Internet surfing at a fixed price. To make themselves less dependant on Telecom Providers, Tiscali strategically announced that they would build their own network which would also allow them to offer a better quality of service. AOL bows down to customer’s demands A couple of emails have arrived here at net4nowt.com saying that as of midnight Thursday, they have been offering 24/7 unmetered access for £14.99 reduced from the original price of £19.99. One such email says that they have been ringing up AOL billing for the past three months threatening to leave for another ISP that offers unmetered access. For the past two months, AOL has paid their subscription and asked them to wait. “They told me the service was available as from yesterday. They also said that they could only sign up 1500 customers in each 24-hour period. However, they said I was a good customer as I had been with them for many years and said they would add me to the service from midnight tonight.”We have been in touch with AOL on a few occasions trying to find out information. However, all they would tell us is that their 1p per minute access will be replaced soon with an unmetered service. Although they have not received any details themselves, they could tell me that an official announcement will be made within the next few weeks. Unmetered announcement from Totalise The Marketing Director, Kaz Garnett said, “As you will have seen in the press recently, many packages have fallen by the wayside as they were commercially unviable. It has taken us some time to develop a package that is sustainable and offers the service you have come to know and expect from us. We are sure Totalise Telecom users will be more than pleased when they receive our email next week.” Priority for the new unmetered service will be given to Totalise Telecom customers. Telewest in broadband price-cut The Chief Executive Adam Singer has confirmed the rumours and that an announcement could be made on Monday. Just how much the price reduction is going to be, we do not know. The Register reported last month that they were expected to knock a third of the price. At the moment the broadband service costs £50 per month with an installation fee of £50. ic24 planning new unmetered Internet package? | ||