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FUP at Gio "The ongoing improvements being made to our Internet Access service is part of our effort to improve the service that is offered. Gio Internet has introduced a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) for each of its services. Package - Hours/month - cut off (hrs) 56k/64k Gio Universal - 80 - 1 SurfAccess E/W - 80 - 2 SurfAccess Day - 100 - 2 Twilight - 80 - 2 Gio Unlimited - 160 - 2 Gio Business Day - 100 - 2 Gio Business 24/7 - 200 - 2 128K Gio Ignite - 80/160* - 1 Gio Ignite plus - 200/400* - 2 Gio Ignite Gold - 200/400* - 2 Gio Opium Day - 100/200* - 2 Business 24/7 Stat IP - 200 - 2 Business 24/7 Stat IP 128K - 200/400* - 2 * 128K/64k The above changes will limit excessive usage and allow fairer and consistent level of service to all users. Please note that the above changes are effective immediately. Should customers require any additional information please do not hesitate to email: support@giointernet.com" Whether customers believe the changes to be fair remains to be seen. Consumers have 3.1 Email addresses each! The survey also states that email addresses are changing at the rate of 31% annually, driven by ISP switching, job changes and consumer efforts to avoid SPAM. The email survey, conducted by independent, third-party research firm NFO WorldGroup, concluded that, consequently, the majority of consumers lose touch with personal and professional contacts and with preferred websites. Work email addresses most often changed due to new jobs (41%). Other reasons for an email address change in the workplace included an ISP change (18%), a change of residence (8%), and a name change resulting from a marriage or divorce (6%). Notifying contacts of an email address change is no small task, according to the survey. While the average consumer registers their email address with more than 12 websites, email address changers only notified about six websites of the change, in addition to any personal or professional contacts. And 22% of those who changed an email address did not notify any website about the change. Cable & Wireless Launches Broadband In Guernsey As a Special Introductory Offer, the Cable & Wireless Guernsey Broadband Home 500 ISP service is offered to new customers at £10.00 per month. This Special Introductory Offer, announced on 15th October 2002, will be made available to all our new customers who subscribe during the next three months. However, there was more good news for Guernsey's internet users this week, as C&W announced that, following discussions with the regulator, it had decided to drop the price of line rental to other ISPs from £30 per month to £19.99. Silvermead Prepare New Satellite Broadband Service Silvermead Satellite Broadband will work through existing Sky dishes rather than having to install a new dish, although the company will install a new dish to users who are without Sky. The package also includes unmetered dial-up account to work in conjunction with the broadband service so users have a complete solution for connecting to the Internet. We have been informed that the service will be available very shortly and those interested can browse 'preview' information HERE. Full details of the service are to be released at launch. 'Devilish' Tool Capable Of "System Alert" Spam This was brought to our attention by reader Mike MacNeill, who sent us a screenie of a Windows system alert offering him the university diploma of his dreams with "no required tests, classes, books or interviews," in the classic manner. The scam is the brainchild of an outfit called DirectAdvertiser, and leverages the Windows RPC (Remote Procedure Call) function. I downloaded the demo version and played around for a while. My results may not be entirely accurate because I didn't use the full, $700 version, and because I used it on my own network behind a firewall. However, running Ethereal on the box and trying it out revealed packets destined for ports 135 (DCE/RPC), 137 (NetBIOS name service) and 138 (NetBIOS UDP) on the target. So we have here essentially a NetBIOS attack tool. It's capable of attacking entire IP ranges, but will not (the company says) get past a firewall or provide a hyperlink in the alert to the attacker's commercial Web site. The latter shortcoming is currently being addressed, the company says. According to the report, the quickest way to defeat the possibility of port 135 UDP and TCP being filtered is to turn off Windows Messenger - not the MSN Messenger IM client - providing it is not needed by other applications. SOURCE: The Register Opera Presents Breakthrough That Brings Power Of Internet In Your Pocket In the past, the favourite solution to the problem of scaling Web pages to fit a small screen was to zoom or horizontally scroll, something that has not provided users with a good Internet experience. Alternatively, the industry has experimented with new formats like the wireless application protocol (WAP) and the Japanese iMode. The former (WAP) has largely proved a failure because of the lack of content since most Web sites did not want to support several different formats, and although iMode has managed to avoid some of WAP's problem of lack of content, users have still suffered from the lack of access to the full Internet and their favourite sites. However, with Opera´s Small-Screen Rendering, WAP and iMode will now be made redundant over time as Opera´s engineers have managed to reformat existing HTML Web sites to fit on small screens, making the full Internet now an option mobile phones. Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software ASA commented: "With Small-Screen Rendering bringing the full HTML-enabled Internet to mobiles, we can finally see the promises of high-speed mobile networks materialising as concrete benefits for everyone." "Content providers will save cost by not having to provide several versions of their sites in different formats like those demanded by today's WAP-technology, operators will get a more attractive product, and all users will finally be able to access their favourite Web sites from their small mobile devices." The wireless industry has met Opera's browser technology breakthrough with enthusiasm, and for those who are also enthusiastic about the technology and want to see how Opera´s new reformatting process works, please click HERE. Everywhere! Broadband Satellite Service Accepting Registrations Everywhere! promises to deliver high-speeds regardless of location across the whole of the UK, which is good news for those who do not live in ADSL-enabled areas, although the total cost may be an issue for some users. Although users will be able to download data at speeds up to 1Mbps (average 500kbps/sec) via the satellite connection - upload speeds are dependent on the users existing narrowband dial-up service which is required to work alongside Everywhere! Broadband. Prices start at £19.95 a month and an installation charge of £99 is required. Users will also need existing dial-up access, a satellite dish, a satellite modem, and installation software to complete the process. To register your interest or find out further information, please click HERE. McDonald's Branch Ordered To Shut Down Internet Facility Customers at the Kilmarnock outlet were able to view pornographic images advertising adult sites as children ate just feet away. The branch had four computer screens and customers were given 15 free minutes by purchasing a MegaBreakfast priced at £1.99. The Evening Times says others were charged 50p for 15 minutes. A spokesman for the company said the outlet had been told to shut down the facility. He added: "Until we can find a way of firewalling this facility, it will stay closed. The Internet is a great service for customers but we can't allow it to be abused like this." It is reported that the Kilmarnock McDonald's may be to be the only one in Scotland which has Internet access. SOURCE: Ananova AOL Launches 8.0 And Stops Third-Party Pop-Ups One of the biggest upgrades the content provider has implemented, AOL 8.0 promises to address subscriber issues with unwanted e-mail by offering greater control over incoming mail with a mail sorting feature that lets them choose to view only messages from people they know. The new version also introduces a distinct new online experience for members using broadband connections, and a new premium service, AOL(r) Call Alert, allows narrowband subscribers to know when they receive an incoming telephone call. AOL began a "Sneak Preview" release of the AOL 8.0 software last week, letting members download the new version beginning on Wednesday October 9, and more than 1.5 million members have opted to download the new software to date. Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of America Online, said: "The heart of AOL is our members' online experience, and AOL 8.0 makes it more valuable than ever before." "We've made it easier for people to do what they most want to do - connect to the people and things that matter in their daily lives." Containing more than 100 new and enhanced features that have been designed in response to member feedback, an international rollout of the software will continue over the next few months. The company have also announced that it will no longer accept third-party pop-up advertising or merchandise sales on the flagship AOL service. The announcement was made by Chairman and CEO Jon Miller, who commented: "This new policy will contribute to our most important goal - a better member experience. By ending third-party pop-ups and merchandise sales we are giving our members what they want." The new policy will take effect as the company works through the inventory of ads and merchandise promotions it is already committed to run, and subscribers will notice a significantly reduced volume of pop-ups once the company has fulfilled its current commitments. For those who cannot wait, or for those who are unaware, AOL pop-ups and other forms of advertising can be switched off via Marketing under Preferences - (Customise) - on the AOL toolbar. RedDSL Reduces Monthly Charge Of Broadband Service On top of the reduction RedDSL are still offering free computer games from NovaLogic and regular promotions and competitions from their partners: · Thrustmaster · Hercules · NovaLogic · JoWooD Productions For further information visit www.reddsl.com Swiftsat Launch new Satellite Package The £30 per month system will provide users with up to 1mbps downstream bandwidth enabling them to access broadband content on the internet. The system is currently one-way with information requests being sent by the users current modem connection and receives the information at high speed through their satellite dish. Users will also be able to access free to air digital television channels and digital radio. The product offers unlimited data transfer, and the user will get an average of 400kbps (bursting to 1mbps) download speed which reduces slightly depending on the volume of data downloaded within a calendar month. This offers users who do not download large amounts of data an enhanced browsing experience. The hardware can be purchased for £249 and there is an additional charge of £45 for installation. SwiftSat will attach a 60cm satellite dish to the customers property and run a cable to the users computer. The user can choose USB connectivity or utilise a PCI card. Once the user has then run the intuitive set up software their broadband connection is up and running. The system is available on a 12 month contract. The hardware/installation costs can be paid upfront or there will also be an option to spread the costs throughout the 12 month contract. Isonetric Broadband and SwiftSat are setting up offices with 800 sales staff throughout the UK who will be on hand to answer any questions that may arise and visit residential properties to discuss customer requirements. Waitrose.com Voted Best for Tech Support by Practical Internet Brightview purchased the rights to operate Waitrose.com earlier this year from the UK subsidiary of US telecommunications company XO Communications. Although the acquisition and move to a new technical platform were completed in August, Brightview has been managing the Waitrose.com technical support call centre since March. David Tarsh, Brightview's Chief Marketing Officer, who is responsible for the Waitrose.com call centre, said: "When Brightview did the XO deal, it was very fortunate to acquire many outstanding people, including highly competent technical support, customer services and marketing teams. We set some demanding objectives and asked our new staff to show us what they could do. They have responded significently. We are also grateful to Waitrose for their ongoing commitment to the ISP." In response to a major investment in new technical infrastructure, Brightview's brands have also achieved their highest combined position ever in Internet magazine's league table of the 143 best performing ISPs. In the latest (December) edition, IC24 was 2nd, Freenetname was 3rd, TotalServe was 4th and Madasafish was 12th. On a six-month basis, Brightview had three ISPs in the top 10 and is optimistic about improving this statistic, as platform upgrades took effect in August. David Laurie, Brightview's Chief Executive, said: "These achievements demonstrate Brightview's commitment to the ISP market. We believe that if we focus our efforts on providing our subscribers with a superior on-line experience - highly efficient Email, a fast reliable connection to the Internet and first class technical support - that we will build a successful and enduring business." Colt Telecom Shares Dive The Sunday Times said yesterday that Eliot Associates, an American hedge fund challenging Colt over its ability to repay bond debt between 2005 and 2009, claimed Colt bondholders also can't rely on its profit forecasts. Shares in the firm were trading 22%, or 7p, down at 9.45am, but had recovered by 3p at 12.30pm, capitalising the company at £418.3m. Broadband in Todmorden in doubt In the case of Todmorden, it has until October 22 to convert 150 pre-registrations to firm orders and there are real fears that this deadline might be missed. Failure to convert Todmorden into a broadband area would come as a major embarrassment to BT, which is currently spending £33m to promote broadband in the UK. Amazingly there are reports that BT Openworld are not alone with other ISPs failing to obtain firm orders. THUS extends the LAN to the MAN THUS City Ethernet will initially be available to companies in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Reading, Aberdeen and Glasgow. THUS City Ethernet offers high performance managed data network service for companies wishing to gain the speed and flexibility of their LAN over wider areas. THUS City Ethernet provides customers with services performing up to 1Gbps and includes speeds to match traditional 10Mbps and 100Mbps LAN networks. A cost effective high capacity service with one of the lowest cost per Mbps per Month. Both unprotected and protected circuit options are available, for distances of up to 70km depending on local geography, bypassing local loop issues and providing the highest levels of security and quality of service for the customer. THUS also provides remote diagnostics and maintenance while supporting unlimited applications that operate over the LAN. Tweenies Make it to Broadband - Care of One.Tel For the first time Tweenies will be made available on demand via a broadband connection, following the signing of the 12-month agreement. The service, which is due to commence in late November will initially offer six hours of Tweenies’ video segments on demand, and can be expanded and updated. Specially built from existing materials, the Tweenies broadband service reflects the TV series in terms of quality and content. Children will be able to interact with five popular elements – Song Time, Messy Time, Story Time, Telly Time and Tweenies Time – which will include video clips, music, games and quizzes. Jonathan Crane, BBC Worldwide’s Director of Commercial Broadband and Interactive TV, commenting on the new agreement said; “This new service is exactly the kind of top quality content that broadband needs to drive take-up. Extending the Tweenies brand in this way provides added value to the programme, allowing young children access to video clips of their favourite characters at any time of the day. We are delighted to be launching Tweenies broadband with One.Tel, and we are looking forward to rolling out the service in the UK and other territories, and with other partners around the world.” “Getting the Tweenies on board with One.Tel is a huge step forward not just for our broadband service, but for the industry as a whole,” said Phil Worms, One.Tel’s head of broadband. “Interactivity lies at the very heart of the internet and the beauty of the Tweenies broadband service is that children can interact with it in a way that television doesn’t allow. I am committed to translating broadband content into services people actually want to use and this is a perfect example of this strategy in action.” One.Tel’s broadband portal will be the first online home of the Tweenies, alongside the established MTV live music video content and BBC news, sport and weather. To access the service, One.Tel’s broadband customers simply go to www.onetel.net and click on the broadband portal. The Tweenies content appears on the portal as video clips which customers can choose to watch on demand as well as interactive features to bring the Tweenies to life. Digital Download Day Extended Due To "Phenomenal Success" The event was due to finish yesterday, but organisers have extended the offer until Sunday 13 October. Around 15,000 people an hour besieged the site on 3 October eager to get the free music. A statement on the site says that the "phenomenal success of Digital Download Day in the UK" has made its systems very slow and asks those interested in the offer to pre-register. Organised by 0D2 - the digital music company set up by Peter Gabriel - Digital Download Day allows users to access more than 100,000 tracks by over 6,000 artists. SOURCE:Web-User Bloomley Announce Launch Of ADSL Virtual ISP Service The VISP is a white label solution to enable the delivery of ADSL, Unmetered, Metered (local/national and premium rate) and 0800 prepay services all in once package at one affordable price. Bloomley are currently providing services to a number of UK ISP's and VISP's and, according to the company, future customers will include the music industry, charities, sports clubs, hosting companies and online gaming. Bloomley will also be offering SDSL services to London based businesses via the VISP in November and launch a White-label prepaid Internet access cards service shortly after. Buffer Overflow Vulnerability Found In Outlook Express To allow for verification of the authenticity of mail messages, Microsoft Outlook Express supports digital signing of messages through S/MIME. A buffer overrun vulnerability lies in the code that generates the warning message when a particular error condition associated with digital signatures occurs. By creating a digitally signed email and editing it to introduce specific data, then sending it to another user, an attacker could cause either of two effects to occur if the recipient opened or previewed it. In the less serious case, the attacker could cause the mail client to fail. If this happened, the recipient could resume normal operation by restarting the mail client and deleting the offending mail. In the more serious case, the attacker could cause the mail client to run code of their choice on the user’s machine. Such code could take any desired action, limited only by the permissions of the recipient on the machine. This vulnerability could only affect messages that are signed using S/MIME and sent to an Outlook Express user. Users of Microsoft Outlook products are not affected by this vulnerability. Users should download the patch available HERE Please note that the fix for this issue was included in Windows XP Service Pack 1, and in Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1. Microsoft Outlook is a different product than Microsoft Outlook Express, and is not affected by the vulnerability. £10,000 Grand Prize Up For Grabs For Ultimate Student Gamer Heats will be held at universities far and wide during the autumn term finishing with a grand final in London in December. Local heats will be held in Scream pubs across the country during October, November and December, and the ultimate prize of £10,000 will be awarded to the student who can beat off all opposition. The competition is only open to Scream Yellow Card Members only and places are limited for each heat. For further information, please click HERE. Vigilant ADSL Guide Discover Gio's "Cheap" Copyright Breach We have also noticed that Gio's terms and conditions and acceptable use policy look very similar to those of Pipex [T&C / AUP] insofar as they involve using the clipboard copy/paste functions followed search & replace. Ironically, Gio's AUP "specifies the actions prohibited by the Public IP Exchange Limited" (for those of you who don't know.. that's what PIPEX stands for) and clause 4.4 of their ADSL terms state "All fees are subject to change from time to time in the event that the Carrier increases its fees to PIPEX". David Rickards (MD, Pipex) isn't surprised: "Given [Gio's] broadband prices, it looks like they cannot afford their own lawyers! On a serious note, this is not something a professional company would do and we will be discussing this clear copyright breach with our lawyers." As previously reported on 7 October, Gio Internet is currently supplying the lowest priced* ADSL service by implementing a reduction in the price to £17.99 incl. VAT per month. Although Gio claim that they are able to offer broadband at a low profit margin because their range of business services will be used to subsidise the cost of access, it remains to be seen if the ISP can retain a continuous high-speed service by offering the "cheapest" prices. With regard to the copyright breach, as co-founder of ADSL Guide Sebastien Lahtinen questions - "a bit like leaving your business card at a bank during a robbery?" ADSL Guide Screenshots: Gio Terms, Gio AUP, Pipex AUP *As far as net4Nowt are aware, Gio Internet offers the lowest priced ADSL service compared to other providers offering a similar service. If any of our readers know of a provider who is giving a cheaper (similar ADSL) deal, we would be interested to know. BTopenworld Confesses To "Oversight" In Todmorden "Trigger Level" Orders According to the report, ISPs should convert the registrations into orders within 6 weeks and Todmorden, in West Yorkshire, hit its trigger levels four weeks ago. However, there is less than two weeks left, and BTopenworld has not processed any of the Todmorden orders which could have a detrimental effect on the conversion of the exchange. One reader, who feels very disappointed with BTopenworld's failure to deal with his enquiries about the issue, told The Register: "We have until the 22nd of Oct to convert 150 pre-registrations to firm orders. I say 'we' because it feels like BT don't want to take orders." "I have called BT many times to try to order the service. First few times I was assured that BTopenworld would be contacting me." "Finally after another three phone calls I have just managed to explain the procedure to BT's call centre that the service is not yet in Todmorden, that we have hit our threshold and I need to place a firm order to ensure we get the service." It is reported that BTopenworld has still failed to take the order or respond to the above enquiries and a BTopenworld spokesman admitted that the ISP's helpdesk "didn't know what the process is" to deal with the orders. Describing the failure as an "oversight," the spokesman confidently assured The Register that BTopenworld would contact those who pre-registered this week to see if they are still interested in signing up. SOURCE: The Register Nildram Broadband ISP Migration Trial To End The trial - which covers all broadband enabled areas and includes all existing BT IPStream Home & Office and BT IPStream 500 customers - has resulted in number of migrations to Nildram in recent months and Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's marketing manager comments: "The Migration Trial has been a great success for us as it has given second and third generation broadband users the opportunity to upgrade their broadband service by transferring to Nildram in a cost effective, straightforward, way." "We would, however, like to see more broadband ISPs actively participate as we believe broadband consumers should have the freedom to transfer if they believe that their existing service is falling short." As an additional bonus, Nildram have dropped the minimum contract period for their USB service from 12 months down to only 3, so broadband users who currently have the BT Engineer installed service with another ISP can convert to the Nildram service at a special rate of £29.99 and a three-month contract. During the trail period the administration fee is waived, but when the service is formally released on October 28th the administration fee will be £35 plus VAT - so it's worth getting a Migration Order in quickly in order to avoid having to pay this fee. Any customers wishing to transfer to Nildram will need to check that their existing provider is also on the trial. Net4Nowt "Link To Us" Banner Competition For a bit of fun we would like to invite Net4Nowt visitors to see if they can get the creative juices flowing. Do you have the creativity and ability to design an appealing banner advert for us? All entries will be displayed on Net4Nowt and the winners will see their design activly used to promote Net4Nowt and credit for their design will be placed on the site. Banners can be designs in any of three sizes: Size A – 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels tall Size B - 120 pixels wide by 60 pixels tall Size C - 120 pixels wide by 120 pixels tall File size should be less than 20K in .gif, .jpg or .swf file format. The closing date for entries is 31 October 2002 and the judges decision is final. Entries should be sent to peter@net4nowt.com Aramiska Broadband Connectivity Selected for 450 Yorks and Humberside SME's solutions integrator Premier Learning Systems, have selected Aramiska to deliver satellite broadband services for the Business InSight Proof of Concept project. This initiative launched by Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire and Humberside forms part of the Government's plans to bring broadband 'always on' Internet access to the UK. The delivery of satellite broadband is crucial to connect both urban and rural SMEs, many of which do not have the infrastructure to support terrestrial broadband, to the latest e-business applications such as video conferencing, e-learning and e-commerce. As part of this £3.1 million 'Proof of Concept' project, 450 selected regional SMEs will be introduced to the benefits that broadband and e-business can deliver through the deployment of an online Business InSight Communication Hub, powered by Oracle iLearning. This will be further supported with innovative online e-business teaching tools and case studies that highlight the benefits of real life e-business applications. Aramiska partnered with Premier Learning Systems to supply their managed broadband service for the project, and were selected ahead of a shortlist of contenders. "The uptake of broadband has been slow. Through Business InSight, we are working to meet the business needs of SMEs in the region by improving their understanding of broadband and the range of services it can deliver," said RF Brooks, e-Region Manager at Yorkshire Forward. "We believe the true value of broadband rests with the improved communication and increased business efficiency it will deliver to the SME community. By working with industry leaders like Aramiska, Premier Learning Systems and Oracle, we are opening a door of opportunity for local companies to embrace new technology, grow their business and increase the ICT skills within their organisation." BT Openworld Demonstrate in Maplin Maplin, the electronics retailer, will offer broadband demonstrations and education in-store to potential business users. Businesses will have the opportunity to see broadband in action, and discuss technical and installation requirements with trained Maplin staff. With more than 65 retail stores and in excess of 400,000 customers in the UK, Maplin will provide a significant high street presence for BT Openworld. Maplin already supplies internet connectivity hardware off-the-shelf, and BT Openworld's business portfolio will complement this offering. BT - Could Do Better (Again!) Nine out of ten of the communications professionals believe BT is still not doing enough to deliver broadband in the UK and eight out of ten people said the Government should intervene to make universal access to broadband services a reality. AOL via iTV? AOL, the UK's second largest ISP, would offer e-mail and instant chat from one AOL-enabled SkyActive TV user to another. Other services from its web portal might appear on its iTV offering. Government Report Concludes UK Gov Could do More The Department of Trade and Industry report conducted by Brunel University says an aggressive roll out of broadband services in schools and across the public sector is needed to spur further demand. South Korea is the world's most highly penetrated broadband market with nearly 14 connections per 100 inhabitants. This week the UK passed the one million broadband connections milestone, equating to a household penetration of close to four per cent. The report warns against simple comparisons between the successful adoption of broadband in South Korea and other countries arguing there are distinct cultural and demographic reasons behind the high take-up in Korea, not least the country's dense population which has lowered the costs of rolling out a broadband network. SOURCE: FT Telewest Customers Upgrade to 1mbps Service "We firmly believe that there is substantial demand for broadband packages that are faster than 512kbps, as long as the pricing is right," Chad Raube, head of Internet services at Telewest Broadband, told ZDNet UK News on Wednesday. One reason behind the popularity of Telewest's 1Mbps service is that it costs just £35 per month to users who also sign up for digital TV and telephone services. This is £10 more than Telewest's basic 512kbps product, and only £5 more than 512kbps broadband from Freeserve or BTopenworld, whose service is based on BT Wholesale's ADSL product. Industry Expert Warns Power Users Not To Be Complacent Robin Koffler, Managing Director - Commercial at power solutions expert Advance Galatrek advises that any businesses choosing to ignore the effect that darker days and colder temperatures have on the power chain do so at their peril. 'It's easy for businesses to become smug about their power requirements during the summer, after all, temperatures are moderate and daylight hours long. These factors combine to minimise the impact that environmental influences have on power consumption. All this changes as we move into autumn and winter, however. As the nights draw in, energy usage increases exponentially which, combined with an increased demand from domestic users, conspires to worsen the quality of the mains power supplied to offices, factories, retail premises and public sector facilities,' says Koffler. 'Greater peak demand means more pressure on our electricity generating facilities. This, in turn, compromises the quality of the power supply,' he states. 'As a simple rule, an increase in the number of Megawatts supplied will result in a greater incidence of power outages and quality related problems, such as sags, surges, spikes and brownouts. The effect is compounded because industry and commerce consume more power for longer in the darker months. This, in turn, increases the length of time that they are exposed to likely power quality shortfalls.' 'And colder, darker days are not the only factors that commerce, industry and the public sector must contend with. Because the autumn and winter seasons bring their share of adverse weather, these unpredictable external influences can have severe consequences for companies that rely on continuous high quality power for their processes,' argues Koffler. 'Storms and general bad weather have a serious effect on our power distribution system, causing disruption through flooding, high winds and lightning. Any of these factors in isolation can cause power problems, but bring them all together, and you're left with complete chaos.' 'Companies have to take very seriously the possibility of losing productivity through power cuts and supply variations. If they don't they will be unprepared for the inevitable,' says Koffler. 'And, when it does happen, unless that have made proper contingencies, their production, stock control, payroll and administrative back office systems will crash. This will waste staff time and, more than likely, result in data loss and corruption that will need manual rectification,' he cautions. 'Just as bad is the effect of a sustained series of power surges and spikes on critical electronic components such as computers, servers, phone systems and other comms devices. To guard against the dramatic reduction in lifespan caused to these items, companies should install voltage spike & surge protection devices to combat both external lightning, grid-induced surges and internally generated spikes,' Koffler warns. Summing up, Koffler added that no-one can outwit Mother Nature and provision can be made for what autumn and winter will bring in the form of implementing decent uninterruptible power systems. 'This will enable businesses to guarantee continuity regardless of what happens to the weather, while concentrating your staff resources and budgets on maximising profit,' concluded Koffler. NWDA Distribute £72m To Promote Broadband In North West According to the North West Development Agency, only a meagre three per cent of the population in Greater Manchester have signed up to broadband services despite this type of access being available to ninety-seven per cent in the area. The NWDA will distribute £72m government funding over the next three years to promote the benefits of broadband and help to get rural communities online. Kevin Morley, Head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at NWDA explained: “We currently have 25 to 30 bids for the fund. We have already approved five bids which are being undertaken at the moment, but these are focused on connectivity and we need to focus on content. “The nature of broadband as a product means that content is a big issue. Without content, a consumer is not going to just want faster access to what they can now and it will not be a draw for most people. The money will also be used to connect Cumbria to the broadband network - necessary because `telecoms companies do not see the area as economically viable. Each broadband user has to be within 5.5 miles of a broadband-enabled telephone exchange and in a rural community the numbers just don’t add up. According to the report, the Government are also setting up regional broadband units in mid November. Another target is to get all council services online, as well as connecting hospitals and schools. SOURCE: Manchester Online UK Should Consider Fibre For Next Generation Broadband Services Says PacketFront CEO According to Mr Thunman, there are few projects in the UK concerning the creation of fibre networks to the home or businesses compared to other parts of the world: He described today's obsession with xDSL and cable broadband services as myopic claiming that the UK is only focusing on the short term. Said Mr Thunman: "The infrastructure in place today is not a long-term solution. We need to start talking about building fibre networks. "In the UK, 'broadband' is commonly used to refer to any 'always-on' communications technology that operates faster than 1Mbps – even the heavily promoted ADSL only goes up to 2Mbps. "PacketFront argues that this type of bandwidth is totally inadequate for achieving the technological leadership posited by 'Broadband Britain'." Thunman called on central and regional Government to fund the roll-out of fibre networks and warned that unless the UK took this seriously, it would hit a ceiling and be left behind in the information revolution. PacketFront is an IP networking company that develops and markets purpose-built solutions for True Broadband Networks. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden. SOURCE: The Register BT Complains To ASA About NTL And Telewest Broadband Press Advertisements The advertisement was headlined "Hmmm?" and featured a table that compared the advertisers' "home" package with the complainants' standard Internet service and AOL's standard Internet service. The advertisement stated: "Get Broadband Internet for only £14.99 a month when you take our Telephone and Digital TV service for just £27.99 a month*. Broadband Internet is twice the speed - not twice the price. - You pay one fixed fee of £14.99 a month - there are no call charges - you're always connected, as soon as you turn on your computer; You can surf and talk at the same time until 31st May we are offering half price installation; - You can make national calls at local rates. - We have the most popular sports and movie channels on Sky. So do you want to double the speed of your Internet, for less than you might pay for a slower dial up service? Tricky isn't it?" The complainants objected that the comparison was misleading and unfair, because the stated comparison misleadingly omitted to include the mandatory cost of the advertisers' line rental and secondly, they provided a telephone line and a faster broadband service for less than did the advertisers. However, the first complaint of "the stated comparison misleadingly omitted to include the mandatory cost of the advertisers' line rental" was not upheld by the ASA . The Authority acknowledged that, although it was excluded from the basic cost of their 128k broadband Internet service and therefore from the comparison, the compulsory cost of telephone line rental was included in customers' monthly charge for the advertisers' Telephone and Digital TV service, which was part of the combined package. The second complaint of "they provided a telephone line and a faster broadband service for less than did the advertisers" was upheld though, despite the advertisers arguing that they compared the rental cost of their and the complainants' similarly priced Internet services. The ASA considered that, because it both compared the prices of Internet services and referred to the advantages of broadband but excluded from the comparison the complainants' broadband Internet service, which was faster than the advertised broadband service and cost less to rent than the advertisers' combined package, the advertisement was misleading. The Authority asked the advertisers not to repeat the approach and advised them to consult the Committee of Advertising Practice Copy Advice team before they advertised a price comparison again. In a separate issue, BT again objected to a different national press advertisement for a broadband Internet service trial by Telewest. The advertisement stated: "Try high speed blueyonder broadband Internet for three months for less than BT flat-rate dial-up. The next three months will go very quickly. Blueyonder's 3 month trial means you could be motoring around the Internet nearly ten times faster for just £13.48 a month, less than you pay now for clunky old dial-up. After that, it's still only £29.99 a month (or £25 with another Telewest product*). Should you decide before the three months is up that blueyonder is just too fast then we'll cancel your trial and refund your installation fee in full. Demand the Fasternet ...". The small print at the foot of the advertisement stated "... Terms and conditions of trial: £50 installation applies (£75 if Network Interface Card required). *Customers are required to commit to a minimum 12-month service period at £13.48 for the first 3 months, and £25 per month thereafter (based on customer subscribing to another Telewest service otherwise £29.99 per month). Service may be terminated early if notice received within 3 month trial. Installation will be refunded upon return of modem. Customer required to pay in full for month in which notice of termination is given. If termination is not requested during 3 month trial period customer will be committed to 12 month contract ..." The complainants challenged whether the promotion was clear and fair, because it compared the advertisers' promotional price with the complainants' non-promotional price and did not take into account the advertisers higher installation costs. The complaint was not upheld by the ASA who considered that, because the complainants had not introduced their special offer until after the advertisers' promotion had finished, and because the refundable installation fee was stated clearly in the terms and conditions of the offer, the offer was not misleading. North Yorkshire County Council Invests in Broadband Network MLL Telecom is providing the broadband network to NYCC as part of a managed service, with Alcatel as its technology partner. The initiative will immediately benefit from Alcatel's leadership in broadband technologies and experience gained from many broadband rollouts worldwide. The agreement is part of an initiative that will connect council offices, schools and libraries as well as other public bodies across England's largest county. The project is designed to improve the user experience and efficiency of local public services as well as make rural broadband affordable to many of the county's 25,000 small-medium size enterprises. NYCC sees broadband as crucial to the success of the North Yorkshire economy, public services and the drive to raise people's skills and knowledge. Bringing broadband to North Yorkshire will help local businesses to become more competitive, open up opportunities for online learning and help deliver services more effectively. ADSL Provider Targets Gamers Computer gaming will also feature at www.reddsl.com, RedDSL have teamed up with a number of leading games publishers and hardware manufacturers to provide monthly promotions and incentives for those subscribing to RedDSL. Partners include: · Thrustmaster · Hercules · Novalogic · JoWooD Productions Packages all inclusive of a fixed IP address start from as little as £29.99 inc VAT. There are also a variety of business packages available that will enable companies to increase productivity and streamline their telecom budgets. Richard Seear, spokesperson for RedDSL commented "We are keen to show that upgrading means fun, we are surrounded by technical data, most of us don't want to know how the engine works we simply want to know what it will do for us. We aim to make it clear that by upgrading you can talk and surf at the same time, download movies, listen to music and play games on-line, these are facts that people understand and warm to". The RedDSL website is at: www.reddsl.com Wisesurfer Launch ADSL and SDSL coming soon The ADSL Home500 service is launched at a rate of £19.50+VAT per month with a £60+VAT activation fee for the first 5000 subscribers based on a monthly contract. Wisesurfer also offer a full range of business ADSL services. Wisesurfer have Unmetered services starting at £7.99 a month for light residential use with 128k Business class services with fixed IP priced at £43.99 a month. All services come with defined usage agreements and at low contentions. Currently these sevices are offered to customers with a BT telephone line only, in November all services will be open to those with an NTL telephone line. Within the next few weeks Wisesurfer will commence SDSL services in the London area, pricing for these services will be announced within the next few days. AOL Broadband Product Launched The company also announced that the AOL service in the UK has surpassed the two million member mark, driven by the success of its flat-rate product and marketing campaigns. This milestone represents a doubling of AOL's member base in less than two years. AOL Broadband, which has a one-off charge of £85 for the modem pack, gives includes Parental Controls and freephone customer helpline, including technical support. Karen Thomson, chief executive of AOL UK, said: "We know from having two million members that the majority of UK consumers want more than just a basic broadband Internet connection. They want a full range of content, fun, entertainment, communication tools, ease-of-use and quality service in a single, simple package. Right now, AOL Broadband is the only option with all those attributes - and today we have also taken price out of the buying equation." Over the next two years, AOL's broadband strategy includes the development of additional broadband-specific functionality and unique content, with the goal of providing UK consumers with the best all-round service in the high-speed online services market. The AOL Broadband service is available to around 65pc of UK households, wherever there is a DSL-broadband enabled exchange. The telephone number checker on http://www.aol.co.uk/broadband can show if a household is able to get the service. AOL Broadband operates at up to 512kbps (kilobits per second), which exceeds the UK Government's definition of a broadband service as one with a minimum data speed of 384kbps. UK Broadband hits 1,000,000 The telecoms regulator Oftel says the number of broadband subscribers has trebled since the beginning of the year, with an estimated 20,000 households and businesses connecting every week. Mr Timms said: "This is great news for the UK. Today's figures show that people are beginning to really appreciate the benefits of broadband. "This milestone is not all we have to celebrate. Thanks to thriving competition we can boast some of the lowest prices in the world. "It took five years for the UK to see a million people using mobile phones. At this pace, the UK is well on its way to being the most extensive and competitive market for broadband in the world." Business Serve Offer Free 'Business' Broadband Trial “In general UK businesses, especially smaller businesses are unwilling to pay over £2,000 per year, charged by some ISP’s for something which they can’t experience before they buy – no matter how big the brand” “For anyone tempted by Broadband, this is a no lose situation as the trial won’t cost a penny, they can then take advantage of some of the most inexpensive rates around – coupled with the outstanding customer service for which we’re known.” The free trial is open to any business which orders a 20:1 ADSL solution, including hardware, from Business Serve’s Broadband for Business service. More details are available HERE. Pipex Apologise For Poor Service Dear PIPEX Xtreme Customer The PIPEX Xtreme ADSL service has recently been operating with reliability and stability levels far below what PIPEX consider acceptable. I’m sure that, as a customer, you too are far from happy with the current situation. Following a week of continuing service interruptions and failures I wanted to write this open letter to explain the situation as it currently stands and to indicate where we go from here. Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Cook and I am PIPEX’s Director of Technology, Systems and Services. My responsibilities to PIPEX, and to you as a customer include providing a stable, reliable and scalable network, dependable services and a high standard of technical support. As part of our commitment to providing the highest possible standard of ADSL connection at a value for money price, PIPEX laid out a strategy at the beginning of 2002 to deliver a scalable, leading edge ADSL delivery network. As you may have read at the time, this plan included the purchase of two Redback SMS 10000 units to terminate our BT Central L2TP ADSL links. Redback have been established in this market for many years and have hundreds of ISP customers around the world like PIPEX operating their equipment satisfactorily. The total investment by PIPEX in this new network has been several million pounds, which we hope demonstrates our commitment to this new service and our desire to retain you as our customer. The FULL statement can be read by clicking HERE. Powergen Follow BTOpenworld's Lead And Implement 150 Hour Limit Below is a cut down version of the email sent out to our member outlining the revised policy, and personal information has been edited for security reasons. I am pleased to inform you about two improvements we will be making to our Internet Access service over the coming weeks. These changes are part of our ongoing aim to continually improve the service we offer to our customers. The first is implementation of a Fair Usage Policy. Like other ISPs, we have found that a small number of our users are taking advantage of the unmetered internet access offers, and this results in a large number of busy signals at peak hours. The Fair Usage Policy limits excessive usage and will be implemented to maintain a fair and consistent level of service for all subscribers. It will also reduce congestion at peak hours. The second is a set of improvements to our Customer Service and Billing operations. The aim of these improvements is to answer customer queries more quickly and efficiently on email and on the telephone. As the first step in this process, we will be trialling revised opening hours for customer support. The Customer Service and Billing team will now both be available Monday to Friday from 9am to 8pm. In addition, we are also working to ensure better availability of information and customer support outside the core helpdesk hours. Over the next few weeks and months, we will be setting up some key Customer Self-Care tools which will be available on the telephone IVR system for you to complete a variety of queries and requests. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we are working hard on our systems which track the progress of customer queries. You should see an improvement in our response times to answer calls, and to get back to you with any outstanding questions. These changes are reflected in the revised Terms and Conditions below. Please note that these terms are effective immediately. Kind Regards, Powergen Customer Services The Terms and Conditions were listed in full - the revised Fair Usage Policy is taken directly from the T&C's as written in the email: CHARGES Your monthly subscription for this Internet access package is £13.99 to be paid in advance. This will allow you 24x7 access to the Internet (subject to these Terms & Conditions). FAIR-USE POLICY This access package is not designed as an "always on" service. Like most Internet services it uses technology that is shared and therefore excessive use by users can severely affect the service offered to others. In order to ensure a fair service for all users a "Fair Usage Policy" is adopted. This operates in two ways: Your Internet connection will be automatically disconnected if no activity is monitored on your connection for 10 minutes and after 2 hours of continuous connection regardless of activity. If you use software or other methods to counteract cut-off measures we reserve the right to terminate your subscription. This product is designed to allow access to the Internet for up to 150 hours per month on average. You may exceed 150 hours per month on occasions, but if you do so frequently we may require you to desist or register for a more suitable product. Unlike BTopenworld, Powergen are allowing their users to go over the 150 hours occasionally, although a users perception of "occasionally" and Powergen's perception may be two entirely different things, which could cause more confusion. Do you think that the unmetered restrictions implemented by BT and Powergen are a ploy to drive heavy users to broadband, or are they actually trying to make it 'fair use' for all? If it is a broadband push, the problem is that current restrictions actually make it "unfair" for those who cannot get high-speed services within their area which will no doubt cause more discontent amongst subscribers. It is expected that others will follow, but the big question is, when most users have migrated to broadband, will the 'Fair Usage Policy' be revised again to limit high-speed access? Only time will tell... Nildram Take Number One Spot In September Speed Tests Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's marketing manager commented: "We are very pleased with the result as it confirms our position as one of the highest performing Broadband Providers in the UK and is a direct result of the investment we have made in our infrastructure and the expertise of the team that manage it." The tests are completely impartial and are a result of customers from the main Broadband providers testing their connection speed via the ADSL Guide test site over the period and submitting the results. Further information about the (top 10) speed test results for the month of September can be found HERE. Gio Launch Broadband for £17.99 Until End of Year Gio Internet, one of the UK's fastest growing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) today announced that it will cut the price of its ADSL broadband to £17.99 per month from £24.95 per month for a limited period from today to the end of 2002. Gio claim the price makes Gio Internet the cheapest UK provider of ADSL broadband for business and home users. Denham Broadband Team Launch New Web Site Just a quick note to let you all know that our new website has been launched today. The old one was really a temporary measure and had long exceeded its life expectancy. I hope you find the new site easy to use and informative. We are accepting registrations as of today on a ‘first come first connected’ basis for once the service is up and running. If you’re desperate to get the broadband experience get your name on the list as soon as possible. It may take weeks to get up to date with the installations after the launch! See the ‘sign up’ link on our new site. If you’re already an experienced Internet user and really can’t wait to get high speed access you can sign up for our testing program. Just go through the sign up procedure on the website and choose ‘I want to be involved in the testing phase’. You will receive greatly discounted access during the testing phase and, of course, get the service a month or so before the full launch. All we ask in exchange is for a little feedback about any problems you experience. Please only apply for this if you have a working knowledge of the Internet as very little customer support will be available during this phase! We will be around to help you get set up though. According to the team, the current estimated launch date for testing is 20th November. For more information, please click here. ADSL Lite Packages Are Nightmare For ISPs And Portals The ADSL Lite products, which separate access from content, 'make sense' for incumbent telco's, but for portals struggling to offer content together with services and ISPs, it could be hazardous. With the exceptions of T-Online and Wanadoo, European incumbents' ISP or portal offerings have struggled to create unique selling propositions or to generate profits, the report claimed. "ADSL Lite dooms second-tier ISPs and portals like Tiscali and Supanet," said Forrester. "The incumbents' lower retail access prices, powerful bundling potential of internet access with telephony, and superior IT services skills will be too much to handle."It pointed out that Terra Lycos' portal is losing money, and that its ADSL offering has been eclipsed by that of its parent Telefónica. The report stated that entry-level broadband prices must drop below €30 (£19) a month to entice the mass market. ADSL Lite has lowered the cost of entry for telcos, tapping into new price-sensitive market niches and fighting stiff competition from cable companies. Forrester praised BT's new service at £27 as being nicely positioned against NTL's offering at £25 per month. The report said that the best way for ISPs and portals to differentiate would be to unleash the communication potential of user-generated content, which it valued at a potential €85 (£53) per user in 2007. According to the report, Forrester added that cable companies need to open up their platforms to external ISPs and begin to adopt and implement wholesale TV services for telcos. SOURCE:Vnunet PC World Launch Promotional ADSL Package Keith Hawkins, Freeserve Managing Director of Marketing said, “This is by far the best true broadband price deal in the UK. Other companies have only been able to match the new Freeserve price offer by offering an inferior product, half the speed of Freeserve broadband which offers Internet up to ten times faster than a standard dial up connection.” “More exciting Broadband offers from Freeserve are planned in the near future,” he added. The £19.99 offer is for the first six months of a customer’s broadband contract, after which the standard monthly subscription of £29.99 is payable. The offer is initially available across PC World’s eMachine range until October 22nd. Freeserve also confirmed today that it is extending its free connection offer for broadband til the end of the year. This means that customers who sign up to broadband in the normal way, whether in Dixons Group Stores, on the phone or online, will get a saving of £64.99 when joining Freeserve Broadband. BT 'Anytime' or BT 'Sometime'? Of course, the BT publicity machine states that only 5% or surfers are impacted by the change. Fair enough if your not one of these 5%. However, have the other 95% considered they are now getting 150 hours a month internet access for their money instead of the previous 720 hours? If you wish to still get 720 hours unmetered access you could of course take out 5 BT Openworld subscriptions, at £9.99 a time - a five fold price increase. Of course, bandwidth hogs have had their day on dial up services and despite press releases to the contrary other ISPs are sure to follow BT's lead over coming months. Why? The ISPs now want and need consumers to migrate to the more expensive ADSL services and what better way than by making near 'always on' dial-up' access (i.e. 4 hour cut offs, but access as many times as your like) a thing of the past. While we say a big thumbs down to BT this week, it is a thumbs up to Tiscali who will today begin a new internet price war with a 256K package below £20 a month. The move is likely to be followed by market leader Freeserve, which is expected to launch a £19.99 six-month promotional offer for customers who also buy a computer from retailer PC World. Tiscali is pricing its service at £19.99 including VAT. There is also a £50 activation fee and a £65 charge for the relevant modem. It is good to see some of the main players offering cut price broadband instead of the inconsistent smaller players who seem to be failing at providing a quality service at a cut price. Have your say at: http://64.21.178.185/showthread.php?s=8a91a0add3f8664141fc13882be4d644&threadid=8886 Broadband Price War: Less than £20 from Main Providers Tiscali is pricing its service at £19.99 including VAT. There is also a £50 activation fee and a £65 charge for the relevant modem. Free Installation for any ADSL customer from V21 The notice sent to customers follows: Welcome to the world of unlimited FAST ADSL internet access from V21 You have been selected to receive your ADSL product at priority speed and benefit from a special offer if you sign up to broadband within the next 7 days with V21. You will not only receive 'Always On' ADSL at an award winning price of £19.99 per month but V21 will also pay the £59.99 to BT on your behalf for the connection needed. That's right FREE line connection !!! All you need to do is click the link below and you are one step closer to never being cut off the internet again.....never having to pay large phone bills again or never worrying about how long you've spent online surfing, gaming or even downloading huge files, music or films. Our service is unrestricted and currently the cheapest in the UK. All you will need to spend is £79.99 for your super fast ADSL modem. There's no need to change your line and get another one...ADSL will still run the internet at the same time you are talking to friends on the telephone ! WHY WAIT ?? Order today and not only will we courier out to your home or office your new ADSL modem free of charge, but we will also contact BT on your behalf to get your telephone line enabled. You could be surfing at 512kps within 10 days That's about 10 times faster than the fastest modems around... http://www.v21.co.uk Ozzies have sympathy for UK Bandwidth Ristrictions In an article headed "Phwoaah Guvnor! UK ISP does a Telstra" (http://whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm/488) the site reports on Kingston Telecommunications recently capping its broadband service to 700MB download per day. Although 700MB per day is pretty good (more than what Optus@Home offers), it would be most unfortunate if users did need to download something larger than 700MB as the ISP switches you off on the 701st megabyte. Tiscali Danish Staff Cut by Half 50% More Ports at Fast 24 NEW PORTS: We have just agreed with providers of the 08089996356 number to increase the number of ports available by almost 50%. This (we hope) will vastly improve the level of service available on this, and indirectly the 08089933225 number. The new ports are due to be added on the morning of Friday 4th October (this Friday). We still aim to crack down on those users abusing the service once realtime accounting information becomes available. IMPROVED BACKUP PROCEEDURE FOR WEB SERVERS: Because it has not been our policy to offer a formal back-up of our customers websites, but to leave this in hands of our customers, we did not hold an up to date off server backup of all websites in that area. Therefore, though we have restored in excess of 90% of all websites (and in excess of 95% of all web forwardings that were present on that server), we would ask that you visit your web site and, if required, re-upload any missing or outdated files (using the username, password, and ftp host that you originally used) to your website. If you find that your web forwarding is not working, please send an email to priority@larkinternet.com , detailing your domain name, customer name and where the site should be forwarding. As a result of this episode, we have now decided to instigate an off-server backup proceedure for customers websites. This new facility, which is planned to become operational on Monday 7th October, will provide a daily backup of your website, or forwarding, when this site is held on one of our Linux Web Servers. The provision of this new backup service does not mean that you should not keep a backup of your own website, and is not intended as a guarantee that we will be able to recover a backup of your website in the event of any future hardware or software failure. However, we sincerely hope that the inconvenience which resulted from Sunday's hardware failure will not occur again. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused during this recent event, and the 08089996356 congestion. Thus Ahead of Schedule on Profitability Stakes A recent press release stated: Expected highlights of the second quarter's financial performance include: Cash outflow before financing of approximately £5 million compared to £15.8 million for the same period last year and £5.9 million in quarter one EBITDA of at least £5.5 million compared to negative £4.8 million for the same period last year and up from £4.5 million in quarter one Second quarter sales of circa £72 million, up approximately 12% year on year and compared to £71.0 million in quarter one; and Net debt of approximately £11 million. Looking ahead to the full year, THUS anticipates: Revenue growth in the region of 13% to 18%. Commodity data and telecoms services have continued to be subject to what the Company believes is unsustainable pricing, led by distressed competitors. In contrast, THUS has focused on higher margin business. This decision will affect headline revenue growth for the full year but is expected to contribute to an increase in EBITDA margin to between 7% and 10% EBITDA of between £20 million and £30 million, in line with previous expectations. Forward momentum on EBITDA is expected as a result of additional cost of sales benefits from reduced reliance on other operators and improved traffic routing, as well as process improvements and operating cost efficiencies from property rationalisation measures undertaken last year Full year capital expenditure of approximately £45 million, in line with customer growth Cash outflow before financing of less than £35 million compared to £86.3 million last year; and A peak funding requirement of less than £60 million, well within the parameters of the £90 million bank facility. Commenting on today's announcement, William Allan, Chief Executive said: 'We are encouraged by trading in the second quarter, with positive momentum in all our key sectors. Business services sales have increased over quarter one for both telecommunication and Internet services. Compared to the first quarter our bid pipeline has strengthened with a number of new contracts in data and telecoms, and contact centres. 'As stated at quarter one, we remain cautious on the general economic outlook and the pricing behaviour of some distressed competitors. Nevertheless, our consistent focus on quality revenue coupled with tight control of our cost base provides resilience and ability to scale our resources to meet customer demand to generate positive cash flow faster than originally planned. 'Over the last two years, our focus on quality revenue growth has generated stronger EBITDA and cash flow. In addition, despite the turbulence in the telecommunication market, we have strengthened our balance sheet whilst improving our portfolio of services and service innovation capability. We will maintain our focus on margins and cash flow which together with our steady growth in customers and quality services, we believe, will deliver long term value to our customers and shareholders.' Freedom2Surf Launch Broadband In A Box Freedom2Surf's Broadband in a Box is available for £135 plus VAT, and users then pay a fixed monthly fee of £22.50 including VAT for high-speed access. The box includes an ADSL modem and two microfilters, simple instructions on how to get online and 20 free email addresses and 20mb of free webspace is also included in the package. Broadband in a Box will be available from the end of October and users can order the product by visiting Freedom2Surf or by calling 01727 811530. Please note that a BT line is required and the offer is subject to availability. Free Music Offered For One Week As Part Of Initiative To Combat Digital Piracy Carried by portals including Freeserve, MSN, Tiscali, Ministry of Sound and HMV, the initiative will run for just under a week, and users will be able to download £5 worth of tracks for free according to a report by Reuters. Consumers must register on one of the six participating sites which include MSN, Tiscali and HMV to get the free fiver's worth of music. Westlife, Coldplay Kylie Minogue and Elvis Presley are among the 6,000 artists from the 100,000 or so tracks being made available as part of the offer which begins tomorrow. SOURCE: Reuters AOL Games' First Play Promises Exclusive Premier Access For Gamers Jupiter Research reports that it is the number one activity on the Internet, with more than 4 billion minutes of activity per month - more than retail, news, travel, auctions, sports or personal finance. The new programming initiative that will feature exclusive premiere access to the most anticipated online games and video game demos before they are available to the public. Electronic Arts' Need For Speed (Top Speed) will be the first game and it is the only online game where players can race Porsche's first sport utility vehicle, the Cayenne. In addition to featuring exclusive premiere access to hot online games, AOL Games' First Play will also offer access to unique interactive assets before they are released, including playable demos of video games and "first look" video content such as game play movies and game images. The program will also include pre-ordering incentives for upcoming game releases including discounts, premiums and early delivery. Kevin Conroy, SVP and General Manager, AOL Entertainment commented: "Games are tremendously popular online, and we are thrilled to offer consumers the first chance to play some of the best new online games and video game demos before they are available anywhere else as part of our new AOL Games' First Play program." "Our exclusive premiere of the game Top Speed - the latest online game offering from one of EA's most popular series' Need for Speed - is a great way to kick off First Play." "As we have done with AOL Music's First Listen, which gives music fans exclusive advance access to the hottest songs and videos, with First Play, we are providing gamers the opportunity to experience the most anticipated new titles first, before they are available anywhere else." Available only online, Need for Speed (Top Speed) uses advanced technology to deliver unprecedented graphics and gameplay over the Internet. Billed as the fastest game online, Need for Speed (TS) lets players go from 0-60 m.p.h. with just a few clicks of their mouse. Players can race three different Porsche automobiles including the Cayenne Turbo and earn tokens by completing each circuit under a specified time. As part of the Need for Speed (TS) First Play, AOL Games will also be showing a video demo and screen shot slide show of EA's soon-to-be-released Need For Speed - Hot Pursuit 2 game for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube and PC. C2 Internet Launch SDSL Services This joint solution gives around fifty exchanges at this time that can provide the service, BT and Bulldog in London and Fibrenet at various places around the country. With more exchanges due to have SDSL capability added. SDSL is a Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line, which means you get the same bandwidth in both directions. Combine this with good SLAs and a QoS that approach or meet leased line standards and the target market of small businesses is obvious. The range of SDSL is dependant on the product used, but ranges of up to 5.5km over the copper loop are possible, BT estimate the 2Mbps service will run out to around 1.6km and 256kbps out to 3.9km. Contention ratios are 1:1, 5:1 and 10:1 and the price range starts around £105/month for a 256kbps line and £430/month for a 2Mbps line on the BT products. According to the report, FibreNet offer a 2Mbps line - 1:1 contention - which is priced from £767 per month to £971. SOURCE: ADSL Guide Steve Case Promises Get Hands Dirty In A Bid To Revive AOL Speaking in public for the first time since allegations of improper accounting arose earlier this year, he admitted "a lack of leadership" at the heart of AOL had hurt the online division in the months following its merger with Time Warner. He said the company's emphasis on aggressive financial targets in the year following the merger between Time Warner and AOL had led to a focus on short-term profits at the expense of serving AOL's members. But he added that the company's new management, including the chief executive of AOL Time Warner, Richard Parsons, and the new AOL boss, Jonathan Miller, were rectifying these problems and taking steps to revive AOL. However Mr Case has faced criticism from AOL Time Warner director and CNN founder Ted Turner, and some 'angry' shareholders want him to resign because of the recent downturn in the company's share price according to the report. SOURCE: Guardian Unlimited We Will Not Restrict Our Unmetered Services Say Other ISPs As we confirmed yesterday, BTopenworld will be capping its unmetered AnyTime service and introduce a 150-hour a month limit for subscribers from November. Fears among users are that BTopenworld has given other unmetered ISPs food for thought, and it has already been suggested within the industry that these providers will implement similar restrictions in the future. No doubt the industry will watch with interest to see if there is any fallout from BTopenworld's decision to introduce an ever-decreasing limit for Net users. But right now the UK's major ISPs are happy to stand by and watch. Representatives of AOL UK, Freeserve and Tiscali all said their outfits had no plans to introduce such strict limits. And doubts were expressed over the ability of BTopenworld improve its financial standing through the introduction of user caps. After all, that is one of the major reasons why the ISP - affectionately called BTopenwound because it leaks so much money - introduced this cash-saving initiative. While some subscribers seem to be accepting the changes to the service, many others are unhappy with the cap and feel that the price is too high and some have suggested that the cap is a ploy to push heavy users to broadband, as one of our members comments: "I think it is because they want to 'persuade' the heavier users onto broadband. That would also fit-in with the expensive broadband advertising campaign that they are currently running." However, it is tough luck for the people who live in an area where broadband isn't available." If you are an AnyTime subscriber will you stay with BTopenworld or have you already decided to leave? Do you feel the restrictions are a smokescreen to push heavy users to high-speed services, or is BTopenworld taking the correct course of action to ensure a quality service for all? Thoughts please... SOURCE: The Register Growing Number Of Computers Affected By Bugbear Worm This mass-mailing worm attempts to send itself to email addresses found on an infected system. Once the virus is run, it will attempt to disable various security products, including many forms of anti-virus and personal firewall protection. It will also attempt to install a backdoor trojan that can capture what the user types, including sensitive information such as passwords. Message subject lines are random in nature, and may be different to the attachment name. It is common for the attachment name to contain a double-extension (ie. .doc.pif), but this may not display on all systems. For further information, you can read McAfee's advisory including details on possible message subject lines by clicking HERE. Text to Voice Service Launched | ||