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Tele2 Broadband Competition Against BT As reported at The Register recently, Tele2 already have 600 business users around the country at Reading, Nottingham, Leicester and Leeds. They plan to spread its wireless network to 40 centres around the UK by the end of next year. However the service is limited. Users have to live within line of sight to a base station and need to purchase a receiver for £49.99. The connection is slower than an ADSL connection of 512kbps. Nevertheless, at 150kbps it is still 2.5 times faster than a dial-up connection. For a disillusioned heavy unmetered user who is fed up waiting for ADSL, then this may be for you. Investigation Into Failed ISP’s Accounts BDO Stoy Hayward has now sold the company to Docklands-based telecoms firm E-Tel Ventures for a sum it is keeping secret but which does not cover its estimated £7 million debts. Stoy's Malcolm Cohen said the sale now freed his team to investigate Callnet's complicated financial history, which is understood to include some apparent accounting irregularities. The 0800 Internet service attracted a flood of several hundred thousand subscribers and in April, on the eve of the collapse of Internet mania, chief executive Paul Goodman-Simpson said he was planning to obtain a stock market flotation by reversing into software group Primar-E. But the deal never came off and in August Callnet had to withdraw its free service because it said it could not afford it. It had hoped to draw in subscribers to its premium services, but not enough people bothered to subscribe. Goodman-Simpson quit shortly afterwards. At the beginning of October the company called in the administrators, owing money to its telecoms providers including Cable & Wireless and to its US parent. Callnet's collapse was seen as further proof that providing free, unmetered internet access is not sustainable. Its new owner, privately-owned E-Tel Ventures, will be running the firm's pay-per-minute 0845 number ISP service, with 210,000 subscribers, not the free 0800 service which led to Callnet's collapse. Chief executive David Price taken on all 16 of Callnet's staff, but not its directors, who he says he has never met. Source: Evening Standard 24/7Freecall Address Connection Problems Now the technical director for 24/7Freecall, George Kattapuram, has sent us this statement: Recently the 24-7Freecall service has suffered technical problems resulting in some of our subscribers unable to connect and others being constantly disconnected.If all the connection issues are solved then it will be worth it judging by the recent complaints in the forums. Yet Another Unmetered ISP Changes The Rules One of our visitors has contacted us in disgust after receiving the following email from what he was assured as, “a true 24/7 unmetered connection at 128K ISDN with no cut-offs”. Further to our upgrade, which has been taking place during the past two weeks, we will be able, within the next 7 days, to offer an increased service.The visitor who emailed us has successfully managed to receive a refund due to the Trades Description Act. He was told that the manager who originally promised him a true 24/7 unmetered 128K connection has since been sacked. Madasafish Call In Internet Ghost Buster Following numerous reports from members of unexplained and ghostly happenings, Madasafish asked self-styled American cyber-minister, Rev. Arnold Bumpennichten to come to their aid. The Internet pastor, who holds regular online church services, will attempt to rid Madasafish of its poltergeist by holding a Halloween exorcism service and server blessing ceremony at Internet House, the UK Internet hub where Madasafish's computer technology is located. Among the weird happenings reported so far are mysterious moaning noises on the home page and the ghostly outline of a hood-covered head looming up out of the music news section of the Madasafish portal. Rev Bumpennichten, of the Cyberspace Church of Eternal Light, based in Salem, Massachusetts, said: "This is a first for me - a ghost in the Madasafish machine. I have conducted a number of exorcisms before where unsettled spirits have caused disruption in homes, cars, office blocks and, once, even a fridge. But a possessed service provider would seem to me to be unique." Armed with just a crucifix and a phial of holy water, Rev Bumpennichten said it would take at least two hours to assuage the Madasafish menace and restore peace and harmony once more. When he returns home to the States later this week,Rev Bumpennichten will reinforce the exorcism rites by holding virtual services online and uploading transcripts directly onto the Madasafish servers. A Madasafish spokesperson said: "Inviting in an exorcist has been a last resort, weıve checked out everything we could think of that could cause these ghostly effects but to no avail. Then we checked again and then for a third time. And there's definitely no suggestion whatsoever of hackers having been involved, at least, not any that are flesh and blood." And it is not just Madasafish members who have reported sightings of the poltergeist, Madasafish web editor, Malky Burns has had several chilling encounters with the Madasafish spook. He said: "Iıve never believed in ghosts or spirits - but now Iım not so sure. I often work late at night and on at least three occasions when I've been alone in the office I have felt an eerie presence. First, there is a sudden drop in temperature, then a very faint shuffling noise coming out of nowhere. A strange smell then appears and I get the very strong feeling someone is looking over my shoulder as I sit at my workstation." A Madasafish member who would only speak on condition his identity was kept secret said: "It's four times now that I have experienced bizarre and inexplicable visitations on the Madasafish site. It makes my flesh creep each time. "The first time was three weeks' ago. I logged on and went to the Madasafish home page as usual. I was reading up about Madasafish's ADSL package when I heard a sort of low moaning sound. I thought it came from outside so I looked out the window but couldn't see anyone or anything around. While I was at the window I heard the noise again and realised it was coming from my monitor. "I clicked all over the Madasafish site thinking the noise was a new feature but couldn't find it. I was putting the moaning sound down to interference on my line when there it was again - only much louder this time. I got such a shock I almost fell off my seat. "Since then it has happened on three other occasions. I tried to get another witness but each time I logged on with a friend present it was no go. "But the scariest time, and this is what prompted me to call Madasafish, was when I logged on and went into the music news section. I was happily reading up on all the latest band news when suddenly this face just loomed up out of the text at me. It was horrible. It was this disembodied head covered with some kind of monk-like hood. The features on the face were a bit indistinct but they were a man's alright and I could have sworn he was staring straight at me and grinning maniacally." Following his call to Madasafish, a number of other members reported similar experiences, sparking off a wide ranging probe of the Madasafish network. A security sweep was undertaken but no signs of illegal entry by mortals were uncovered. A sting operation was then set up with the help of a dozen Madasafish users but this too failed. Despite ten simultaneous hauntings being scanned as they happened, Madasafish could categorically rule out human hand being behind the spooky episodes. The only conclusion we were left with was that ghostly spirits were at work. By calling in Rev Bumpennichten on Halloween, traditionally a hot spot for supernatural activity, we hope to be rid of the maniacal Madasafish monk once and for all," said a Madasafish spooksperson. Warning - RHA Bogus Email Here is the mail: Due to technical difficulties in allowing some people free time on our red hot offers we have received numerous complaints in Internet speed and efficiency, so as from next week we are moving our customers on to a faster more reliable server to the beneficiary of you. In order to move you on to our redundant server (the new name for the high-speed server) we will have to verify your username and password and also the user 0800 number because each section of people have different 0800 numbers and we need to put the people with the same 0800 numbers into bands. This then entitles you to receive the new key to the super sonic "redundant" server. So please reply to this email stating your username, password and 0800 number being used. Remember the first replies will be first to benefit from this Internet revolution. Regards, Sam Armenia Please heed this warning, this mail has obviously been designed to accumulate customers passwords and user names. If you have been unfortunate to reply to this mail with your details, please do not hesitate to contact Red Hot Ant about changing your account details immediately. Date Set For Wireless Auction The auction of 42 licences to beam high-speed wireless Internet services to homes and small businesses is expected to raise the government £1billion or more. It has taken on increased importance because of delays in opening BT's local exchanges to competition. But the number of bidders has shrunken to nine after Priority Wireless (UK) dropped out and the government excluded Chorus Communication, an Irish company, for an unspecified breach of rules, the government spokeswoman said. Mobile operator Orange pulled out of the auction earlier in the month, and the government then delayed the start. The remaining bidders include Eircom, Energis and Norweb Telecom, part of United Utilities. The winners will be able to link buildings to their networks using high-frequency radio waves, allowing them to offer broadband Internet services without having to lay fibre-optic cables or install equipment in BT's exchanges. So-called broadband fixed wireless technology is looking more attractive to operators because of the delays and arguments over connecting high-speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) equipment to BT's lines. "Gaining access to BT lines at the local loop level to allow businesses broadband access to e-commerce opportunities is taking longer than many of us would have hoped," Norweb Telecom Managing Director Hugh Logan said in a recent statement. "Broadband wireless access will for many businesses be a perfectly viable alternative... There are also many businesses, often located out of town centres, that are beyond the reach of DSL and therefore which will be best served by radio." Norweb said the auction is expected to raise well over two billion pounds, although some analysts are more conservative. Source: Reuters Oftel Ensures Lower Prices For Consumers Rejecting BT's arguments for a swift end to controls, Oftel said it would maintain a retail price cutting formula due to end next July for at least a further year. It also proposed potentially tougher controls on the prices BT charges rivals for connecting to its network, saying this should lead to other operators offering lower call prices if they passed on their savings. BT said it was disappointed by the proposals, but the stock market was relieved they were not tougher. "Oftel's talking tough in the press release but if you look at the document itself it's far more even-handed for BT," said Investec analyst Chris Godsmark. "I see it as something Oftel's doing to head off any political pressure. Politically it might be difficult to come out and end price controls when it's under pressure over unbundling," he said, referring to disputes over the ending of BT's monopoly on local exchanges. Oftel Director General David Edmonds, who has been accused of being soft on BT, said he did not accept BT's argument that price controls should end because of the extent of retail competition. Source: Reuters Customers Despair With Unmetered Providers Just by having a quick look through our discussion forum and unmetered reviews you can read the nightmare stories from victims of such companies. They are fuming when their ISP has cut back on what they originally paid for or have been thrown off the service altogether. Now the BBC have stated in an article that industry watchdogs such as Oftel or the Office of Fair Trading seem unwilling - or unable - to take up the fight on behalf of net users. The Internet Services Providers Association (ISPA) are reluctant to get involved unless the ISP concerned is a member of their organisation, which is not compulsory. Only the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has taken action over unmetered access. This year it received 167 complaints when NTL failed to deliver what it promised. They also upheld complaints against Freeserve. But all they can do is ask advertisers to stop making false promises, they cannot assist customers to receive compensation. Freeserve were mentioned on Watchdog last night after receiving 238 complaints in the past month regarding ISPs. 67% were about Freeserve, of which 60% were in the past week alone. Here in the UK heavy users spend a lot of money on phone calls, which is the reason for joining an unmetered service in the first place. However, they are being targeted for doing so. In the case of the Freeserve Unlimited plan, 700 customers have been kicked off because they were restricting the service for everyone else. A customer is not going to join an unmetered ISP if they only use it to check their email and check a couple of web sites a few times a week. If the unmetered ISPs were to say at the outset that there is a monthly limit as to how long they can spend online, then we can understand it when a customer has their account closed. But what is happening is the ISP concerned points out a clause that is hidden away in the small print saying they have the right to cancel an account if they “abuse” the service or make "abnormal demands" which affects other users instead of putting in place upgrades to counteract the demand. This is in addition to cut-off periods to prevent users being connected all day long that are already in place with a few ISPs. So what can the customer do when they feel they have wrongly had their account closed? Not a lot I’m afraid. There is the option of the small claims court, which may prove to be expensive. The Court Service web site has information which will assist you. You could also try notifying the local trading standards nearest to the ISP concerned. This can be done by visiting Trading Standards Central and entering their postcode. Visual Depth Unmetered Update For those customers who decided to get out while they could and request a refund, they are working overtime to get the refunds out. The new package, although still subject to change depending on negotiations with their supplier, is expected to cost around £8.49 per month for 24/7 unmetered access with no cut-off period. As well as the usual email and Webspace on offer, they are also boasting a 128K connection for the same monthly fee. The statement from Visual Depth went on to say that they are undergoing an office change which will mean that telephone and fax support will not be available while the office is closed between 31st October and 15th November although they can still be reached by email at support@visualdepth.com. They can also be contacted by telephone on 0845 130 7080 before the offices close. AltaVista Abandon Future Unmetered Ventures Back in August AltaVista were forced to admit that their service never even existed after they announced that it had been put on hold. Now AltaVista, under a new managing director in the UK, Stephanie Himoff, has squashed any suggestions that it may try to relaunch the service. It said it will instead focus its attention on rebuilding itself as a comprehensive search platform. Speaking to vnunet.com, Himoff said: "We have definitely abandoned any plans to launch an unmetered Internet service. AltaVista is going back to its roots and will become the search engine of choice for Internet users." Himoff was appointed managing director following Andy Mitchell's resignation at the end of August. Mitchell's departure was said to be inevitable after he admitted making mistakes in the embarrassing failure of AltaVista's unmetered service. According to Himoff, AltaVista will now concentrate on improving the site's "functionality and effectiveness". That’s right guys, stick to your search engine. Source: Vnunet European Parliament In Favour Of Faster LLU The vote was hailed as an "historic decision" by the European Commission, which has been waging war on European incumbents since March when it first presented its proposals for local loop unbundling. The ratification from the European Parliament means the regulation will now become law across member states, including the UK. Any incumbent, including BT, which fails to comply to the European parliament's timetable -- which requires local loops to be unbundled and services from alternative operators rolled out by January 1st, 2001 -- could face legal action. Source: ZDNet The LINX Effect Slows UK Net Traffic The email, which has been forwarded to netimperative.com, explained: “This means that sites in the UK may be slow, or completely unresponsive.” A spokesperson at ISP Pavilion, which was affected from 9am said: “At midday it was apparent that LINX was the source of the problem. The exchange went down and that knocked out multiple ISPs.” Pavilion’s engineers then liased with LINX engineers and apparently took almost two hours to fix the problem. LINX, a telco peering facility which manages UK internet traffic, has over 110 members including the largest UK IP operators, as well as the BBC and AT&T. Source: netimperative.com Virgin Delays ‘Stop-The-Clock’ Unmetered Service Again Launched back in April, the service named Stop-The-Clock was put through a trial with 10,000 existing customers. Now Virgin have said that they will not confirm a date for a full launch saying that they have encountered problems during its trial period. A spokesman was quoted at Vnunet as saying these problems are still being ironed out. "We were hoping to have a full service available in September, but a number of problems encountered in the trial means we will not roll out nationally until we reach a point where the service is robust," said the spokesman, adding that Virgin Net will not commit to a new potential launch date.Virgin Net said they were "looking at a number of options", but would not confirm that the delay was due to the FRIACO delays. KPNQwest 'unsure' over UK ADSL A spokesperson for KPNQwest said: “That evaluation process is still going on. We can’t confirm where we will go into the UK or if we will go into the UK.” NetImperative report that the company is to slash its rollout from 1300 central exchanges to 300 in Europe. They will continue to operate services in exchanges where its equipment has already been installed, where it is already serving key clients or in locations that serve a sizeable business community. The companies tariff agreement that already exists with Colt Telecom - ‘Master Series’- supplies metrofibre network connectivity to KPNQwest’s fibre optic backbone in many European countries. The expansion of this agreement will depend on competitive pricing for wholesale services from other players, but there are certain advantages with Colt. The spokesperson said: “Colt has a presence in the largest number of countries in Europe so there are economies of scale in negotiating large bundles of capacity from Colt.” Colt Telecom confirmed that there had been no formal approach from KPNQwest but said it would be offering wholesale services to other operators, although its main focus would be on gathering SME customers that traditionally cannot afford its dedicated fibre links. NetImperative reports: KPNQwest blames the corporate backtrack on the fact that rolling out DSL in Europe is too much hassle. The spokesperson said: “There is high upfront cost of the network and the cost of having to deal with incumbents and bureaucratic processes.” He added: “The UK is a lot further behind its unbundling process. There may be a quicker way of doing this, using other edge technologies.” A number of other operators have voiced similar thoughts. Earlier this month, GTS confirmed that it will buy wholesale services, Global Crossing, which pulled out of the first tranche of applications for co-location space in the UK, and is rumoured to be considering this route. Similarly, Fibernet is reviewing its options. ADSL - The Wait Continues For ISDN Users Many Home and Highway customers are said to be infuriated and Vnunet reports that one 'irate' reader told them: "I am told by BT that the reason I am delayed is that I am a Home Highway customer and must go to the back of the queue, as analogue phone users are being given preference even if I pre-ordered. So I asked them to remove Home Highway [and] return me to an analogue line so that I could then apply afresh for my ASDL line. No-can-do, they tell me. How fair is this? Is this the way to reward customer loyalty? I am now wondering what will happen if/when I eventually get BT openworld installed - whether I will have to go to the back of the queue when the next technology arrives." BT have said the problem is due to a combination of technical and administrative issues. A method for smoothly transferring ISDN customers to ADSL is still being developed, and won't be ready until early 2001. When contacted by Vnunet.com a BT spokesman said that analogue customers were not receiving priority and apologised that their reader had been told that he must 'go to the back of the queue', and he remarked: "It sounds like it should be a simple process but it isn't, in this country we can't run ADSL over ISDN lines [unlike Germany] and it's not just a case of disabling the ISDN line and installing an ADSL connection. All the billing, order handling and order managing services have to be changed at the same time." "We're working with our suppliers on a new process to enable this transition and we're very disappointed it wasn't ready by September, but the fact is it is still in trials and simply isn't ready yet. I'm confident it will be ready early next year," It is apparent that BT are currently facing a number of headaches with its home ADSL service. Freechariot Assist The Disabled While the major telecommunications, and ISP companies argue about the direction of Internet access, and unmetered calls, Freechariot decided to stop the bickering over pointless pennies. The company presently offers free unmetered Internet calls and free unmetered local phone calls at all times. National companies use people in the workplace. They have not taken the time to realise that talent and brains exist in abundance within the ranks of homebound women and the disabled. Freechariot has recognised that there is a need to share the possibility of success for the individual within the rank and file of this large section of the UK populace. It offers a chance for the disabled and women at home, to break the barriers and communicate to the world from the comfort of their home at no cost. For the visually impaired, Freechariot is developing a Voicelinx communications portal whereby the use of hand movement is not required. A sensation of misunderstanding might exist in some minds as to why any company would want to do this! The answer is thus. Freechariot believes that everyone should have the right to the information and communication the Internet can provide to all. Disabled users should also have access to the services available in their local area through a free unmetered local phone service. Freechariot is also developing the best online configuration tool for small to medium businesses, which will enable the smooth migration from an ordinary off-line activity to a value-added on-line trading company. This company is really a revolutionary organisation that has much to offer to anyone in the UK, but has special interest, and support, for the massive talent within the ranks of women at home and the disabled. Freechariot is situated in the Docklands campus of the University of East London. Working with Mencap and other partners, Freechariot intends to challenge and surpass the offers of large companies. This company may not have size yet, but it does possess power of vision and direction. New ADSL Packages From Mistral The ISP is promising installation in as little as 7 days, but only for businesses already connected to a BT exchange which is DSL-enabled. Mistral, which is reselling the BT ADSL wholesale product, has been trialling the service for two months with 150 business clients, and says it’s now one of the few ISPs to actually be live with a service. “While some 29 companies claim to offer ADSL, our own research found that only around 10 can accept orders and deliver, and most of them offer a lead time of 30 to 60 days to install,” said Steve Spink, founder and managing director, Mistral. According to Karl Robinson, sales manager, the company is able to deliver in seven days because it has managed to lock-in the necessary level of service with BT. “You need to get a point of contact set up properly [with BT]. 99% of the time you’re not speaking to the right person at BT – they really need to start offering some SLAs [service level agreements]” he said. The company is also planning to offer its own ADSL services, initially within the M25 only, in conjunction with one or both of its partners Energis and Worldcom, as soon as is possible. “ADSL is a cracking technology, and a lot of customers can reduce there WAN costs considerably,” said Spink, explaining that making it available is not a technical problem, but currently too much of a paper chase between BT and resellers. The current Mistal service offers 3 streams: ADSL500 (500kbps downstream) for £105.30 per month; ADSL1000 (1Mbps downstream) for £154.50; and ADSL2000 (2Mbps downstream) for £195.33. All streams offer 250kbps upstream, carry an installation cost of £260 (which includes the router and configuration) and are for a minimum of 12 months. This compares with a typical 2Mbps ISDN cost of around £5000 installation and almost £1700 per month. It also differs quite dramatically from Easynet’s EasyDSL service, which costs from £79 per month for the 500kb/250kb circuit and increases to £119 per month for 2Mb/250kb (excluding VAT and installation). Source: Netimperative.com Oftel's Proposals For Greater Competition Over Local Loop Under proposals published today on shared access, operators will be given the option of providing voice calls and higher bandwidth services (such as fast Internet access, video on demand or high-speed data transfer) or higher bandwidth services only over unbundled loops. Consumers can therefore choose to buy higher bandwidth services from a competing operator while retaining their existing voice service with BT or Kingston Communications. As well as providing greater choice for consumers, Oftel’s proposals will help promote effective competition, leading to better service quality or lower prices. Oftel has also separately approved today technical guidelines on the types of equipment that operators can use to provide a wide range of services to consumers and businesses over unbundled local loops. David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, said, "Allowing two operators to provide different services over one telephone line means customers can choose to keep their existing company for voice calls and buy high-speed services from a competitor.” The consultation document on shared access proposes two technical options for the implementation of shared access. Either the incumbent (BT or Kingston Communications) leases the higher frequency spectrum to other operators, or the competitors take charge of the line and lease back the voice telephony frequency to the incumbent. Oftel believes operators should have a choice of both options. Mr Edmonds also added, “Shared access will also make it easier for competitors to enter the market, as it allows companies to offer DSL services without voice telephony. This will increase choice for consumers, and is why Oftel has welcomed the inclusion of shared access in the European Commission’s proposed regulation on local loop unbundling.” Oftel will determine the price of shared lines and the pricing principles it proposes to use are also set out in the document. Further Details On Cloud Nine Unmetered Packages Cloud Nine MySurftime are offering 3 basic groups of packages: HomeSurf offers various options aimed at home users, home workers, mobile workers, etc. The 24/7 option costs £35.98 per month and is via BT Surftime while the off-peak option costs £21.98 per month.All of the above packages will include a free .co.uk domain name or domain name transfer, unlimited email forwarding or POP3/IMAP4 mailboxes that are user-configured and accessed via mail client or web browser, access to over 35,000 USENET newsgroups and FREE online Help Desk support with backup 24 hour emergency voice/fax line. There will also be no cut-off periods for the Business packages. To find out more information on the products or to register, visit MySurftime Government Threatened Over BT’s ‘Feet Dragging’ On LLU In an interview with The Times, Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner responsible for telecoms, said that Brussels would launch legal action against Britain if BT did not act swiftly to allow rivals access to its “local loop’’ — the wires that link homes and businesses to telephone exchanges. He said it was up to Oftel, the telecoms regulator which has faced mounting criticism, to make sure that BT complied with an EU law forcing national incumbents to open their networks from January 1. That is in spite of signs that BT will struggle to offer access on more than a trial basis. In a clear threat, Mr Liikanen said: “Everybody knows what the position is and I want to be very clear about this. We must look to see if the regulation is being properly complied with. If there are delays which are not reasonable and if work is not being done in good faith, then we will take our position. “The process begins on January 1, when the incumbent companies must publish their reference prices (the amount it will cost to gain access to local networks). If they do not do this then we will start infringement procedures and, in the worst-case scenarios, we will take countries to court.” He said the regulation, which is aimed at boosting Internet usage by lowering the cost of local calls, left Oftel with no alternative: “Oftel must be very strong and rigorous and BT must be very cooperative.” Although acknowledging that BT faces a technical challenge before it can offer competitors access, he said it should be in a position to begin doing this by the European Commission’s deadline. “It is technically complicated and there will be problems,” said the Commissioner. “But with goodwill it should be possible to move fast.” Source: The Times Authentication Problems With The Ant Since they changed the dial-up number last week, users have been having experiencing problems connecting to the Internet. They get the error message saying that their password is incorrect. The old number (0808 1050003) was replaced last week with the new number, 0808 1050010. They also issued a second number (0800 015 9969) which is still being tested, but may be of use. RedHotAnt have updated their status page saying that the current problems are "intermittent" and that engineers are “working to resolve this issue and we hope to have the problem fixed as soon as possible” Is their any RedHotAnt user able to connect with the "intermittent" problem? Energis provides £7.5m vote of confidence in Freeserve Energis have decided to exercise an option which entitles the company to acquire the shares at 150p. On Friday shares in Freeserve dropped to a year's low of 160p. When Freeserve floated Energis was granted an option to acquire a further 2 per cent stake in the Dixons spin-off over the next four years. The shares have to be acquired in 0.5 per cent chunks and Energis can only exercise the option once a year, during November. Energis may be thinking that someone is still going to bid for Freeserve. Freeserve shares have been to a high of 920p, valuing the company at £9.3bn, but at 160p the company is now worth just £1.6bn. Energis currently holds a 3.72 per cent stake in Freeserve and carries all of the service provider's internet access calls. Internet users face £5m bill due to BT error Up to a million users of internet services managed by BT on behalf of other firms have unwittingly been getting free calls. Now the customers, possibly including those whose internet access is provided by W H Smith and Tesco, are being hit with big backdated bills. A BT spokesman yesterday blamed the problem on a "computer glitch". Calls to some numbers that begin with the 0845 code and are usually used for internet access were read by BT's computers as free 0800 numbers. The company refused to disclose the scale of the problem but admitted that it affected "tens of thousands of customers" using 0845 codes, followed by the number six or seven. BT have not stated which internet service providers that it manages carry the codes. BT said that even where customers are not charged for access they still pay for the calls to the internet at two pence a minute and would have to pay for any backlog. It has been estimated that, on average, customers affected by the glitch have run up unpaid bills of £50. For every 100,000 users that would cost BT £5 million. SOURCE: Telegraph BT Pricing Shake-Up in Doubt Oftel's worries could lead to the stalling of British Telecom's plans to scrap per-second charges for off-peak local phone calls - the most radical change to BT's pricing announced in years. In private, the regulator is understood to be worried that one of British Telecom's proposed packages, due to be made available on December 1, could be construed as anti-competitive. The concern focuses on BT's Talk and Surf Together tariff, which for a single £17.99 monthly fee includes unlimited off peak local voice and internet calls. This package is expected to be particularly popular, because it links a cheap internet tariff with an affordable phone deal for heavy users. BT is particularly exposed because, unusually, Oftel has not given BT the green light before the company announced its new tariffs. BT had been forced into unveiling the new packages a week early because details of the tariffs had leaked to the media. Although Oftel does not have to formally approve any price changes proposed by BT, Oftel must investigate complaints raised by other telecoms companies about any new BT packages. The regulator has a duty to ensure that BT does not try to use its near monopoly of domestic telephone connections to gain a dominant position in a related market. Source: Telegraph Freeserve slips off the top list Its fall was the result of a reshuffle of the index by FTSE International following the demergers of gas provider BG Group and cruise group P&O. More To Benefit From 'Always-On' Wireless Access The Government intends to make licences for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services at 3.4GHz and 10GHz available next year. Ms Hewitt said: "This Government has set a target of making the UK the best place in the world to do business electronically. Rolling out Fixed Wireless Access services is vital to achieving this goal.” "These two tranches of spectrum could complement the services offered by the 28GHz spectrum (Broadband Fixed Wireless Access), bringing these services to more of the UK, benefiting small businesses, homes and teleworkers. We will now be exploring the market and technological opportunities for these wave bands." The Radiocommunications Agency and its advisors (W S Atkins Management Consultants, Schema and Denton Wilde Sapte) will put initial views to industry at a meeting of the Fixed Wireless Access Consultative Committee on the 25th October 2000. Unmetered Access Not To Be Sniffed At Designed specifically for people wanting fully featured, reliable Internet access, the 'AnyTime' 24 hour unmetered offering costs only £24.98 per month. It is one of 6 new options which include unmetered Off Peak access ('TimeOut') at £9.98 per month, and a pay-by-the-minute SurfTime offering ('à la Carte') with rates from just 0.5p per minute. Non BT consumers plus occasional users can choose the 'DialPlus' option for 2p per min during the day and 1p per min at evenings and weekends.As Sniff Out stated, the new Talk & Surf Together packages announced by BT will make SurfTime the first choice for consumers. However, the likes of World Online have told us that they will be making an announcement soon with their own unmetered calls scheme that will “show up BT”. LibertySurf Respond To Claims Of Users Being “Kicked Off” In response to the comments from this article, LibertySurf have issued us with this statement: In response to recent complaints from Liberty Surf customers that have been published, we would like to be clear that we are not kicking customers off the system and that we will honour our commitments to all our existing users who are abiding by the contract set out in the terms and conditions. EcosseTel Sign FRIACO Contract With ViaTel The first ten cities to be covered are as follows: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Bradford, Wolverhampton, Glasgow and Edinburgh. These cities are expected to be operational by the end of October. The rest of the U.K. will be covered on a roll out basis commencing with South East England and Central Scotland. Kevin McGillivray, Sales Director for EcosseTel commented: "Pre-registrations for our two access packages have been strong, showing that the interest we predicted in unmetered access to be well founded. As our company gets into its fifth year of operations we feel that FRIACO unmetered access is going to be the way forward." EcosseTel are initially offering two different FRIACO packages; Vroom2 which is a basic 'bare bones' surfing package for residential users initially priced at £49.99 per year and B-com Xtra which is aimed at business users giving ISDN connectivity and 'bells and whistles' at £14.99 a month. Further details can be found at http://www.ecossetel.net. EcosseTel's plans for a small share offering on OFEX are also well advanced with plans to publish a prospectus later this year. Freeserve Withhold New Sign-ups This is what they have said on their website: Freeserve is aware that some members in certain parts of the country have experienced some busy tones when trying to get online. We have taken a number of steps to restore this service to its usual high quality. These measures have included adding further capacity to our network, and the removal of some users who were placing abnormal demands on the network. PlusNet ADSL – Not A Permanent Connection However according to ZDNet, the ISP PlusNet has admitted that their customers may find themselves disconnected if they hog the bandwidth by downloading for more than three hours. It overcome this, PlusNet's ADSL service has a daily bandwidth allocation per customer of 500MB. This would allow users around 2.7 hours of downloads. In its terms and conditions, PlusNet reserves the right to charge users who exceed this limit a higher monthly charge. "This would include applications such as transmitting or receiving live video, live audio or other similar traffic demands across the network," reads the statement.PlusNet were quoted as saying "It is not designed as a permanent connection, more a fast one." BT Confirm Local Pricing Overhaul While they quietly brought in the line rental increase from £9.25 to £9.99 per month, they plan to make a song and dance with their next wave of advertisements. This time for their new unlimited local off-peak phone calls. All the proposed changes will come in from 1st December, and are subject to satisfying regulatory conditions. The first hour of each voice call is unmetered, then 1p per minute applies for the rest of the off-peak period, but there is no minimum charge. It does not apply to Lo-call (e.g 0845) numbers or Internet calls. BT claim that more than 99% of local evening and weekend phone calls are less than 1-hour long. BT will launch its new consumer offers under the banner of "choices from BT Together". The four choices available to consumers will be: - The existing BT Together package, for £11.99 a month (including line rental).Angus Porter, managing director of BT's consumer division, said: "This move changes the face of BT's charging in this country. It reflects the impact of the Internet as well as a need to simplify the different packages we have introduced over recent years whilst maintaining customer choice. He continued: "In research, customers have given these new packages a big thumbs-up, once they realised we were serious. For example, they think that the ability to make as many local phone calls as they like at evenings and weekends by paying just £5 on top of their standard line rental of £9.99 represents great value for money. We feel this major move by BT is a step in the right direction for unmetered calls in the UK, but to be on a par with the US, BT will have to provide unmetered calls at any time of the day, not just at off-peak times. Unmetered Wap Access from Breathe This should be welcome news for those that utilise the Wap Service, as Wap calls can cost up to 35p per minute on some networks -and are often criticised for being expensive because surfing is often slow and most content cannot be read offline. Curently providing an unmetered internet service to nearly 50,000 PC users, Breathe has said that 'an unlimited number of mobile phone customers can register for 24x7 freephone Wap access'. Unfotunately, this service will only be available to Orange and One 2 One users, because the other UK operators charge for 0800 calls. In addition to this offer, Breathe is also offering a free Wap-enabled Nokia 7110 mobile phone to users who take out a 12-month contract through its website with Vodafone or Orange. This is aimed at those who do not have a Wap-enabled phone, although Vodafone users still would not be able to use the free Wap calls. Chief operating officer at Breathe, Sean Gardner, said the free calls offer has been signing up 30 to 40 people every 15 minutes since it began yesterday. Source: Uk Internet.com Oftel Warning To ISPs The attachment of prefix numbers to the ISPs dial-up services - permanent carrier pre-selection system (PCPS) - is used by many ISPs to gain additional revenue from British Telecom. The consumer also benefits from more competitive carrier rates, as the prefix numbers automatically re-route the end-user's telephone calls onto different networks without the need for the user to manually add the prefix number themselves. Oftel commissioned Albera Networks to research BT's proposals for implementing PCPS. Albera's report said that BT's projected costing model was actually quite reasonable, but suggested that the system should be reviewed after it is rolled out this December. According to the report, "no individual cost component is unreasonable", but it does have "observations to make about some individual cost elements". Namely, Albera reckons that BT could slice a further 8 per cent off the pence per minute costing model. The need for Oftel to step in will only arise if BT and the rival carriers are unable to agree on the cost proposals. A full downloadable report can be found on Oftel's website here. Please Note: This is in pdf format. You will need acrobat reader to view the file or other similar software. Further Details On BT’s Unmetered Calls Tariff Now The Register has further details on the long awaited, although yet unannounced, package to bring us in line with the US. The documents reveal that BT Talk Together will cost £14.99 a month and includes line rental plus an unlimited number of local evening and weekend phone calls, as well as discounted national and international calls.BT are still remaining tight-lipped about the new tariff, but have already been beaten to the post by the likes of Freechariot. They have announced a similar scheme for £12.99 + VAT per month but offers unmetered local calls at all times. Jings! A New Scottish ISP For The Modern Scot Launching the new ISP service today, Jings! head, Angus MacSween explains: "Jings! is Scotland's free ISP based in Glasgow. We are on a mission to 'wire' Scotland by providing the finest Internet platform around. Our vision is to create an online Scotland - a truly digital nation that reflects the interests of modern Scots and contemporary life." Jings! is the latest offering of Glasgow based integrated telecommunications and internet services company, iomart Group plc who are also behind the already well established lifestyle and multimedia ISP, Madasafish. As well as the standard dial up access package, Jings! will also be offering ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) access. There are also two flat rate monthly fee unmetered access options. Jings! Unmetered Lite for unmetered net access calls during evenings and weekends for £11.99 per month. Also Jings! Unmetered Total for 24/7 unmetered access for £27.99 per month. Exclaims MacSween: "We pledge to be faster and friendlier than your average ISP. We run our own network with superfast connectivity. And we run our own state of the art support centre. No one tells Jings! what to do, except our members." LibertySurf Kicks Out Abusers From the comments received from visitors, it appears that there service just can not cope and are quoting their terms and conditions when challenged. The Internet service has been virtually unusable for the past week and has caused many of our visitors to complain. ”I'm a user of the off-peak Internet service from LibertySurf. For the past SIX days, the ISP has been completely down - engaged tones, etc.”While this is bad news for LibertySurf customers, it is becoming common practice for unmetered ISPs who cannot sustain the service. Back in July Breathe removed over 500 users from its unmetered service. Redhotant dialup change Redhotant write: “Dear User, Important change to our Dial-up Numbers After extensive testing of the new 0808 dial up number and the continued connectivity and authentication problems on our existing 0808 dial up number, we are now advising all customers to change the number used to access the RedHotAnt network. The old number in question, 0808 1050003 is being replaced with the new number, 0808 1050010. We also have a secondary number that users may try, but please note this number is still in its final testing stage, although many of our users have reported it to be perfectly acceptable. The secondary dial up number is 0800 015 9969. Regards RedHotAnt” Breathe Freely With 0800 WAP Service Until the end on November, Orange and One2One users will receive the totally free 0800 WAP. Vodafone and BTCellnet charge national rates for 0800 numbers. Philip May, Breathe senior VP, conceded that: “We will have to see what the reaction of the major mobile telcos will be, but the main thing is that we are not trying to dictate to users what they can use. I don’t see why a service should be totally dependent on a network.”Source: Netimperative.com Plug Pulled On 0800unlimited This is a message from the Company who registered the series of 0800unlimited domain names for our clients "0800 Net.com"Obviously Fastweb have been busy dealing with enquires concerning the company and are making it clear that they have nothing to do with 0800unlimited. The ISP was originally going to go live on 4th December with their totally free unmetered service. Not only were they going to pay agents £25 commission for each new customer, but they also boasted no cut-off period or fees of any kind. Company Challenges ‘Freedom Of Speech’ Censorship According to ZDNet today, the managing director claims that this is in breach of “article Ten of the newly enacted Human Rights Act - the right to freedom of expression” Under the current law, ISPs are considered to be legally responsible for the content of every Web site they host and can be sued along with the sites' owners. "It is not fair that we should face financial ruin because one of our clients has used their Web site to publish something defamatory, but nor is it fair for us to censor their Web site because we believe it is defamatory. After all, it may turn out to be true," said Morris. "It is not our job to decide what is fair comment."If the company is successful in their challenge of the present law, then it could have far-reaching consequences. Earlier in the year the ISP Demon were forced to pay UK scientist Laurence Godfrey £15,000 plus cover court costs of around £250,000 because of libellous comments made about him on a Demon server. Oftel Chief To Be Quizzed Over Local Loop Delays Many major players in the broadband market have criticised the current situation with BT, and have complained to Oftel who appear to be dragging their feet over taking any action. According to the Sunday Observer, major competitors have made their case to the Number Ten Policy Unit and to the DTI in a bid to sidestep Oftel and put an end to the delays. New Broadband Service For SMEs Known as blueyonder workwise, it will offer a 512Kbps downstream connection for single PCs or LANs. It is priced at £125 per month with an installation fee of £295. As reported at Netimperative.com, Telewest will be providing services which will appeal to SMEs. By bringing CobWeb on board, Telewest is able to include services to help get businesses online, including website building tools, and domain name and search engine registration services. BTopenworld Denies BT Subsidy Claims ISP Demon Internet filed a complaint to Oftel about the discrepancy in pricing for BT’s consumer product in mid July. At the time BTopenworld’s residential service product, providing 500Kbps upstream and 250Kbps downstream, had been priced at £39.99 per month, with a £150 installation fee (inclusive of VAT). BT Ignite, its Internet and broadband services division, had priced its IPStream 500 product, which provides the IP transport layer on which service providers can add content and applications for the residential market, at around £41.125 including VAT, with a £150 connection charge. Many operators including Iomart and Thus have signed up for the wholesale product but suspect BT of actually subsidising its own ISP.The head of product marketing at BTopenworld, Chris Simmons, strongly denied that they are being subsidised and said if they have a complaint then they should take it up with Oftel. Oftel are still investigating Demon’s claim regarding broadband wholesale pricing and have yet to make a decision. Demon In BT Surftime Launch Demon Premier Connect and Premier Connect Plus are schemes that give access to our services via telephone numbers which are eligible for reduced charges and BT Surftime discounts.Further details can be found on their website at http://www.demon.net/premierconnect/ Dot-net courses from Micrososft Hopefully, at the end of the month, more details from Microsoft will be revealed for courses on XML, BizTalk, Commerce Server and software integration. Microsoft will spend the money towards creating deployment know-how for enterprise software products such as Exchange 2000 and SQL Server 2000 among IT staff, developers and channel partners. The report says: Individuals can take courses subsidised under Microsoft's Certified Technical Education Centres (CTEC) scheme. The development of support skills is crucial to the success of any software platform and that applies especially to Microsoft.Net, a complex project that requires a high level of integration between programs. Microsoft said it will not repeat the PR fiasco of Windows 2000 when NT 4.0-certified experts were forced to upgrade skills to Windows 2000 or lose their NT-certified status by the end of 2001. Clare Curtis, skills manager at Microsoft commented: "We're encouraging people to upgrade their skills but there will be no retirement of current skills announced, it's about supplementing existing skills. The Windows NT retirement plan was an attempt to kick out the number of pirate courses that led to doubt over the value of the NT qualification." E-Tel purchases Callnet No one at Callnet or UK-based E-Tel was available for comment by press time although it's understood that E-Tel is looking to merge Callnet's ISP with its own ASP services. The Register reveals: Last month Callnet called in administrators, BDO Stoy Hayward, to find a buyer for the ISP business. Callnet's other significant interest - it's text-based information and email service for TVs - M@ilTV - had already be split from the company. Callnet decided to stop providing unmetered internet access in August. Email Libel Ruling - A landmark This case is unique as it is seen as a landmark ruling, being the first involving anonymous email libel to come before the civil courts in the UK. The emails falsely accused deputy managing director Brian Corfe of having an affair, failing to support a son that he had fathered, and of making death threats. They had been written under the name Christina Realtor. At the time that the emails were sent, Frankl, who was working for Thames Water, denied writing them. Sitting at the High Court, Justice Alliott, ruled that Frankl was the author of the emails in question. Expert evidence traced the emails back, via the IP address, to a laptop used by a member of Thames Water staff in Turkey the Judge said. The hunt for Frankl included disclosure orders being issued against ISP CompuServe and Microsoft to force them to handover account information. reports: The judge awarded Takenaka, which had been accused in the emails of hypocrisy, double standards and callousness, £1000 libel damages, and Corfe £25,000 for what he said were much graver libels. Frankl was given 28 days to pay the damages and refused permission to appeal. Rupert Earle, at top internet lawyer Theodore Goddard, said the judgement "sent a clear message that anonymous emailers run the risk of being made to pay the price for their cowardice and subterfuge". Trading Standards Investigate Connect25 Now uk.internet.com have revealed that Connect25 are being investigated by trading standards officers. The controversial ISP Connect25, which was registered as a company only in July and trades from an accommodation address, has yet to launch its service, but has been cashing cheques from would-be users.Connect25 are offering 24/7 unmetered access for just £25 a year. Natalie Rossa claimed in the article that letters have been sent to all 1,500 customers that have so far registered for the service saying that they will be online by the end of October. Connect25 have set-up a registration telephone helpline for users. It is 0702 111 3530. Free ISP Offers Unmetered Local Calls Freechariot will offer free local phone calls at all times for a monthly line rental of £12.99 plus VAT which replaces the normal BT line rental. A one-off registration fee of £15 plus VAT is also required. There are no monthly call commitments to qualify, and you also receive 2 hours of free Internet calls every month which is ideal for light users. Additional time is charged at 1p per minute. As with BT, non-geographical calls that include 0845 numbers, are not included in the free calls offer. From December BT will be providing unmetered local calls for a monthly fee of £20 which also includes line rental. World Online Confirms ADSL Service The cost of the 24/7 service went up by around £10 per month and a 100 hour monthly limit was imposed which hit heavy users. Now from December they can be permanently connected at lightening speeds for £39.99 per month. According to Netimperative.com, the service will at first be available to existing customers and rolled out to other exchanges when BT installs the necessary equipment. Demon Responds To Their Liability for User Postings The report says: DigiGuide is owned by Gipsy Media, and it wasn't too chuffed when Andy posted comments on its Web site saying that the company hadn't been completely honest over the add-on TimeSink "advertising solution". Basically, TimeSink (from Conducent) is another one of these programs that uses IP information to build profiles. This has become a big issue recently, with people crying "privacy invasion" left, right and centre. Mr Mabbett said that the use of TimeSink hadn't been fully explained to those upgrading to the latest version of DigiGuide. As Gipsy Media was understandably not too happy about this they started removing Andy's comments. Eventually, Andy was informed by staff member Russ Freeman: "Your attitude is unwelcome on Gipsy Media web sites, your rights to access our web sites and our products is now revoked. Make the visit to read this your last and make no more posts." Freeman, feels that he is getting a raw deal from the "antagonistic little sod", and says: "We have solved the problems - as soon as possible - but he still went around calling everyone a liar. I don't think that's very fair." Things escalated even further when several days later Andy posted a message on a different newsgroup accusing Gipsy Media of being dishonest. Demon Internet, who is Andy's ISP, received an official complaint asking them to take a look at Andy's so-called defamatory postings. Gipsy Media won't say it was them that complained. Andy may also be pulled up for abusing copyright because he continued to use text from Gipsy's forum to make points on other newsgroups and his own Web site. This is all getting out of hand you say. Well, Andy has also received warning from Demon that he should "not publish such material in future using [his] Demon service". Although all this may seem heavy handed, after a similar incident last year, you can't really blame Demon. They are obviously going to take precautions after being forced to pay UK scientist Laurence Godfrey £15,000 plus cover court costs of around £250,000 because of libellous comments made about him on a Demon server. The Register asked Russ Freeman whether this fact prompted him to complain about Mabbett's behaviour. He replied no. "I don't particularly follow the news and I hadn't followed this case about Godfrey. I don't really care what someone else has done, if someone is copying our content then you would complain." Details On Visual Depth Unmetered Offering They have provided details of their proposed unmetered Internet package which is expected to be priced around £8.49 per month for 24/7 access. First of all, a thank you to those of you that are waiting for our new service. We hope to offer this to you very shortly. Those that have requested refunds shall receive the refund within 30 days.Sounds like a good deal to us, but what are your thoughts on joining considering their previous track record? Freeserve Takeover Speculation On The Cards Again An American investment bank JP Morgan, last night forecasted that the ISP could be taken over for around 300p a share which would value the company at £3bn. Jamie Wood, an internet analyst at JP Morgan, said he expected Freeserve and Dixons to be open to new talks to merge Freeserve with another pan-European ISP or portal, or a British telecommunications or media company. | ||