For the first time the UK has a DSL service that costs under £20 per month including VAT . It’s planned to start in August and there are a few Terms & Conditions that apply.
Category: Distribution
Distribution
US Telcos don’t like WiFi sharing
The broadband providers in the US have now caught on to the idea that some of their subscribers are freely sharing their Internet connections with other member of the public via WiFi and they don’t like it. These Telcos are sending out cease and desist letters to people who have listed themselves as available WiFi HotSpots on sites such as NYCwireless with threats to cut their Internet connection off if they don’t stop.
I would imagine someone in the Telcos have just woken up to the idea that they could be charging the people currently benefiting from the free service.
I envisage a lot more threatening letters and potentially, in the case of BT in the UK, a change of broadband contract terms that will newly exclude people doing this. O2, BT’s spun-out wireless company, see wireless access as a revenue generator, they don’t want it being given away by their own subscribers.
SDSL service launches in North West England
An SDSL service has been launched in the North West of England by Via Net.works. Importantly the connections are synchronous, they can send and receive at up to 2Mb and the contention ratios are much lower than competing UK ADSL products, coming in at either 5:1 or 10:1 depending on the price of the service. A truly economic alternative to leased-line services.
IBM Makes d-Cinema Moves
IBM have made a move to become involved with digital cinema (otherwise known as e-cinema or d-cinema) partnering with Kodak and bringing the operating system (OS) to the party. There’s been an underground excitement about d-cinema for a couple of years now but it’s been hampered by both the cost of the equipment and primarily by the industries inability to decide who should pay for the equipment.
Neither the cinemas or the distributors what to put their hands in their pockets. The outlets say they don’t have the reserves to be able to afford it as their current margins are squeezed so hard by the distributors. The distributors say they don’t feel they should pay for it, even though I think they have the most to gain from it. One advantage of the indecision is that over the last couple of years the prices of the equipment have dropped substantially.
In a different time I think the people with the most to gain, the advertisers, would have put money in, but their hardly likely to do that currently.
Warchalking is the new WiFi buzz
A current, and useful buzz in the WiFi World is Warchalking. Through a series of symbols that are chalked on the ground or walls, an area can be shown to be covered by various type of wireless networks, enabling people to gain Internet access. Great idea and it appears to be growing fast.
Telewest start 1Mb service
UK cable company Telewest have announced the wide availability of their 1Mb Internet service, following its Scottish trial. Costs vary between £35 and £40 a month. As with all of these services with large sounding performance numbers, I’d be interested to read their Service Level Agreement (SLA) to see if this performance is in any way guaranteed.
Boeing Connexion announce in-flight broadband access
Boeing Connexion announced a three month trial starting in February 2003 with British Airways to provide the non-coach class passengers with Internet access directly from their own laptops and the ability to what streamed video and live TV in their seats. The service to the plane can receive at up to 20Mb/s and transmit at 1Mb/s but this is clearly shared with everyone on-board. It is thought that the charge for the service will be around £20 per flight.
Boeing are throwing a lot behind this service, having recently gained the first FAA certificate for such a service, this long-vaunted idea makes a lot of sense to Boeing as they build/own satellites as well as aircraft. They also made a feature of the service on May 23rd when the visitors to Boeings’ annual investors conference witnessed a live video-conference between Boeing President Scott Carson and System Development Director Ed Laase, while Lasse was speeding through the sky separated horizontally by 1,000 miles, vertically by seven miles.
Liberty make further moves on Telewest
A further move by Liberty sees them gaining additional control over Telewest, this time indirectly. Liberty already owns 25% of Telewest stock and by allegedly buying Telewest’s bonds (debts) not only will they be able to strongly oppose decision they don’t like but they’re buying it at a 40% discount. Another smart move by John Malone’s company.
AOL announced UK broadband pricing
AOL today announced their UK broadband service at 1p short of £35/month. Not only does it cost the consumer £5 more than most of the other offerings, but as they are based outside the EU, they won’t be liable for VAT, so they will pocket the 17.5% extra. AOL defend the higher price by saying there’s going to be some content exclusive for their users. Clearly the whole package will make them considerably more margin per user.
Interestingly, AOL will be offering subscribers a dial-up connection with the broadband subscription. They say it’s to allow their customers to access the Internet when not at home, some of the more-blooded current ADSL users might say it’s to substitute for when the ADSL connection goes down.
XtremeSpectrum announce Ultra-Wide Band compatibility
Only a day after the FCC published its First Report & Order about the public use of UWB (Ultra-Wide Band), XtremeSpectrum announce that they will comply with all items. Very fast work?, or more the fact that they’ve been working with/lobbying the authorities in this area for the last 2-3 years and therefore had a very strong idea what was going to be coming. They feel the manufacturers that will be using their UWB chipset could have their products in the stores this xmas – giving everyone up to 100Mb of very-local wireless access – Bluetooth on speed if you like.