Net4Nowt :: News Story
The law will mean ISPs will have to retain logs of who sent an Email where at what time (though the content of the Email doesn't need to be stored) and telcos will have to log call information. The logs will have to be retained for 12 to 36 months.
There is already criticism saying that criminals will just use public phones, pay as you go mobile and Email accounts outside Europe, however it's now law.
This will put a big burden on ISPs who will have to find ways to log the data (which increases loading on mail systems) and of course where to store it all. Since 70%+ of mail is SPAM, that could lead to a very watefull log of SPAM messages.
Telcos are in a less difficult position as they already log call data for billing, and generally billing data has to be retained for seven years anyway.
2005/06/10
2005/06/08
BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple Intel move 'could confuse'
BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple Intel move 'could confuse'
Apple's move to Intel is a bold move. IBM/Motorola have had some supply problems with the PowerPC's used in current Macs and IBM has so far been unable to produce a G5 CPU that's cool enough to run in a laptop configuration.
Intel have had their Pentium-M for a while and it's a proven laptop worthy chip. Intel are still the biggest chip manufacturer on the planet, though they are suffering form increased competition.
It's always been rumoured that MacOS X has been available on Intel hardware inside Apple for sometime, and Steve Jobs told the world it was true at the developers conference.
This is a drastic move for Apple, especially with the rest of the world jumping on the PowerPC bandwagon (Xbox360, PSP3 using Cell and Nintendo Evolution), maybe Apple felt that as a "small" player compared to the console giants - Apple developments would be pushed to the side.
With Intel now supporting the x64 architechture and dual-cores, it could be a good move for Apple. Though it will be very interesting to see if Apple go for standard Wintel hardware or will have some Apple proprietry technology so MacOS X will only run on their speicific hardware. It will also be interesting to see if Apple stick with OpenBoot (whihc is actually a decent powerfull mini-OS all to itself - running Forth in the ROM) or move to the generalised PC BIOS. That could be the MacOS X lock-down (though as an open spec, other manufacturers could produce OpenBoot ROMs for their designs).
Apple's move to Intel is a bold move. IBM/Motorola have had some supply problems with the PowerPC's used in current Macs and IBM has so far been unable to produce a G5 CPU that's cool enough to run in a laptop configuration.
Intel have had their Pentium-M for a while and it's a proven laptop worthy chip. Intel are still the biggest chip manufacturer on the planet, though they are suffering form increased competition.
It's always been rumoured that MacOS X has been available on Intel hardware inside Apple for sometime, and Steve Jobs told the world it was true at the developers conference.
This is a drastic move for Apple, especially with the rest of the world jumping on the PowerPC bandwagon (Xbox360, PSP3 using Cell and Nintendo Evolution), maybe Apple felt that as a "small" player compared to the console giants - Apple developments would be pushed to the side.
With Intel now supporting the x64 architechture and dual-cores, it could be a good move for Apple. Though it will be very interesting to see if Apple go for standard Wintel hardware or will have some Apple proprietry technology so MacOS X will only run on their speicific hardware. It will also be interesting to see if Apple stick with OpenBoot (whihc is actually a decent powerfull mini-OS all to itself - running Forth in the ROM) or move to the generalised PC BIOS. That could be the MacOS X lock-down (though as an open spec, other manufacturers could produce OpenBoot ROMs for their designs).
2005/06/07
UK developer quits DVD decrypting - ZDNet UK News
UK developer quits DVD decrypting - ZDNet UK News
There are other systems out there that can do this, but DVD Drecryptor wrapped it all together in a nice Windows program. Mac the Ripper is a similar tool for MacOS X users.
It looks like a big movie company (Sony?) served a writ on the author and he fell foul of the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (the UK's implementation of the European Copyright Directive), which amongst others things disallows breaking of copyright protection schemes.
This happened previously with the DeCSS case in Sweden, but a judge ruled there that the program itself wasn't illegal. Unfortunately it does look the author has given up without a fight.
There are other systems out there that can do this, but DVD Drecryptor wrapped it all together in a nice Windows program. Mac the Ripper is a similar tool for MacOS X users.
It looks like a big movie company (Sony?) served a writ on the author and he fell foul of the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (the UK's implementation of the European Copyright Directive), which amongst others things disallows breaking of copyright protection schemes.
This happened previously with the DeCSS case in Sweden, but a judge ruled there that the program itself wasn't illegal. Unfortunately it does look the author has given up without a fight.
2005/06/02
Google Code: Summer of Code
Google Code: Summer of Code
If there are any budding programmers out there, now's your chance to earn some money.
Google are making awards for students to earn some money over the summer by contributing to Open Source efforts. You can either contribute your own ideas/code or help out with ideas submitted by various open source organisations. There's still time for more organisations to get involved too.
If there are any budding programmers out there, now's your chance to earn some money.
Google are making awards for students to earn some money over the summer by contributing to Open Source efforts. You can either contribute your own ideas/code or help out with ideas submitted by various open source organisations. There's still time for more organisations to get involved too.
Internet News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Internet News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Bulldog has announced speed upgrades from 4 to 8Mb/s for some of its offerings. This follows UKOnline (the consumer arm of Easynet) launching a service last November.
Bulldogs pricing starts at £15.50 per month rising to £41.50 pm including unlimted Internet and local and national (UK) calls.
Broadband is starting to reach commodity pricing, though it hasn't yet dropped as far as in France where ADSL2+ has been rolled-out allowing Internet speeds of 18Mb/s and unlimited national calls for less than 30 Euros per month.
Bulldog has announced speed upgrades from 4 to 8Mb/s for some of its offerings. This follows UKOnline (the consumer arm of Easynet) launching a service last November.
Bulldogs pricing starts at £15.50 per month rising to £41.50 pm including unlimted Internet and local and national (UK) calls.
Broadband is starting to reach commodity pricing, though it hasn't yet dropped as far as in France where ADSL2+ has been rolled-out allowing Internet speeds of 18Mb/s and unlimited national calls for less than 30 Euros per month.
UMA Technology : Extending Mobile Services to unlicensed Spectrum
UMA Technology : Extending Mobile Services to unlicensed Spectrum
UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) allows mobile terminals (i.e. phones) to roam on to local networks using technology like Bluetooth or WiFi. In terms of technology it extends the mobile roaming capabilies to cover the Internet.
The site has a full set of specifications available to download (in PDF), though it's not easy reading.
This is what BT are trying to do with "Bluephone", though their trials are meant tohave been too successful to date.
If the technology can be made to work then it should allow the cost of calls to reduce when on a local network, since the mobile operator no longer has to transport the call over the cellular airwaves as the call traffic will be sent over the Internet (which is someone else's infrastructure).
Calling it "UMA" is a bit misleading in the UK (and in fact most of Europe) as there is no unlicensed spectrum. Ofcom still require licenses (as per the Wireless Telegraphy Act) to use any part of the radio spectrum, just that some bands (like 2.4GHz) are license exempt. License exempt spectrum means that if you stick to the license published by Ofcom, you don't need a specific one.
UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) allows mobile terminals (i.e. phones) to roam on to local networks using technology like Bluetooth or WiFi. In terms of technology it extends the mobile roaming capabilies to cover the Internet.
The site has a full set of specifications available to download (in PDF), though it's not easy reading.
This is what BT are trying to do with "Bluephone", though their trials are meant tohave been too successful to date.
If the technology can be made to work then it should allow the cost of calls to reduce when on a local network, since the mobile operator no longer has to transport the call over the cellular airwaves as the call traffic will be sent over the Internet (which is someone else's infrastructure).
Calling it "UMA" is a bit misleading in the UK (and in fact most of Europe) as there is no unlicensed spectrum. Ofcom still require licenses (as per the Wireless Telegraphy Act) to use any part of the radio spectrum, just that some bands (like 2.4GHz) are license exempt. License exempt spectrum means that if you stick to the license published by Ofcom, you don't need a specific one.
2005/05/31
ADSLguide: News Archive
ADSLguide: News Archive
Although VDSL (and now VDSL2) offer substantially higher speeds than ADSL variants (including ADSL2+) it also suffers major distance limitations. VDSL is also not approved for use in the UK.
ADSL allows for distances of several miles whereas VDSL is much better suited to several hundred metres (or at least under 1Km) which gives it very limited coverage from BT local exchanges - even in urban environments.
VDSL has achieved good results for in-building use (i.e. fibre to the building, and then local VDSL connectivity to tennants) and even street cabinet DSLAMs. Unfortunately the only people with fibre to street cabinets are cable providers, which and they tend to use cable modem technology.
Unless BT decide to rewire the uK with fibre to each street cab (which is a very costly exercise), and there's a major change to existing Access Network Frequency Plans (ANFP), VDSL(2) is a white elephant in the UK.
Although VDSL (and now VDSL2) offer substantially higher speeds than ADSL variants (including ADSL2+) it also suffers major distance limitations. VDSL is also not approved for use in the UK.
ADSL allows for distances of several miles whereas VDSL is much better suited to several hundred metres (or at least under 1Km) which gives it very limited coverage from BT local exchanges - even in urban environments.
VDSL has achieved good results for in-building use (i.e. fibre to the building, and then local VDSL connectivity to tennants) and even street cabinet DSLAMs. Unfortunately the only people with fibre to street cabinets are cable providers, which and they tend to use cable modem technology.
Unless BT decide to rewire the uK with fibre to each street cab (which is a very costly exercise), and there's a major change to existing Access Network Frequency Plans (ANFP), VDSL(2) is a white elephant in the UK.
2005/05/24
Ofcom rings the changes with new London code - vnunet.com
Ofcom rings the changes with new London code - vnunet.com
London's getting a new phone number, the old inner London (020 7) and outer London (020 8) snobbery will have to go - there's a new kid in town and that's "3" (or really 020 3). Hopefully no relation to the 3G network of the same name.
Ofcom is releasing the number after June 1st, both for businesses and home users.
Though no existing users have to change, it's likely some will, and there'll be confusion as to what 020 3 means. So much so that Ofcom are featuring 4,000 adverts on the London Underground and leafleting public buildings.
020 3 will also different in that they will not reflect geographic location. This will allow another 10 million London numbers.
London's getting a new phone number, the old inner London (020 7) and outer London (020 8) snobbery will have to go - there's a new kid in town and that's "3" (or really 020 3). Hopefully no relation to the 3G network of the same name.
Ofcom is releasing the number after June 1st, both for businesses and home users.
Though no existing users have to change, it's likely some will, and there'll be confusion as to what 020 3 means. So much so that Ofcom are featuring 4,000 adverts on the London Underground and leafleting public buildings.
020 3 will also different in that they will not reflect geographic location. This will allow another 10 million London numbers.
ElectricNews.net:News:Tech giants fight wireless patent
ElectricNews.net:News:Tech giants fight wireless patent
This could be bad news for Wireless networks if it goes through. It seems that Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation filed some patents for Wireless LAN technolody sometime after 1989 when ther research was carried out, and was awarded the patent in 1996.
Various companies, including Dell, HP, Apple, Microsoft, Netgear and Intel, have initiated legal action to have the patent overturned or they could be liable for patent infringment and have to pay fees to CSIRO.
Is this another Xerox looking for license fees (from Apple for their WIMP interface) long after the horse has bolted.
This could be bad news for Wireless networks if it goes through. It seems that Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation filed some patents for Wireless LAN technolody sometime after 1989 when ther research was carried out, and was awarded the patent in 1996.
Various companies, including Dell, HP, Apple, Microsoft, Netgear and Intel, have initiated legal action to have the patent overturned or they could be liable for patent infringment and have to pay fees to CSIRO.
Is this another Xerox looking for license fees (from Apple for their WIMP interface) long after the horse has bolted.
Microsoft plugs in major VoIP push - vnunet.com
Microsoft plugs in major VoIP push - vnunet.com
Microsoft has been quietly adopting VoIP (and specifically SIP) for several years. Windows XP has been VoIP enabled for some time and Windows Messenger included a VoIP stack since version 4.7 or thereabouts.
Microsoft are going to fire their big guns with Live Communications Server 2005 and have announed parterships with companies in the IP PBX space like Siemens and Alcatel.
Though Instant Messaging (IM) and real-time collaboration tools can be of great benefit, business users tend to like using real phones (rather than PC based softphones) to make actual calls.
Though Microsoft will make a big song and dance, most people will still want a real phone on their desk.
Microsoft has been quietly adopting VoIP (and specifically SIP) for several years. Windows XP has been VoIP enabled for some time and Windows Messenger included a VoIP stack since version 4.7 or thereabouts.
Microsoft are going to fire their big guns with Live Communications Server 2005 and have announed parterships with companies in the IP PBX space like Siemens and Alcatel.
Though Instant Messaging (IM) and real-time collaboration tools can be of great benefit, business users tend to like using real phones (rather than PC based softphones) to make actual calls.
Though Microsoft will make a big song and dance, most people will still want a real phone on their desk.
BitTorrent drops its trackers - ZDNet UK News
BitTorrent drops its trackers - ZDNet UK News
Trackers have been the flaw of BitTorrent, whereby a website has to maintain a copy of the tracker which maintains state about where a torrent is. Recently the record and motion picture associations have just gone for major sites (like SuprNova) that host the trackers.
Now BitTorrent is trackerless and doesn't need to store trackers in single sites that can be closed down.
Already there are BitTorrent clients available supporting the new protocol (search for Azuerus as an example of a multi-platform Java version).
Trackers have been the flaw of BitTorrent, whereby a website has to maintain a copy of the tracker which maintains state about where a torrent is. Recently the record and motion picture associations have just gone for major sites (like SuprNova) that host the trackers.
Now BitTorrent is trackerless and doesn't need to store trackers in single sites that can be closed down.
Already there are BitTorrent clients available supporting the new protocol (search for Azuerus as an example of a multi-platform Java version).
2005/05/19
BBC trials broadband broadcasting - silicon.com
BBC trials broadband broadcasting - silicon.com
Things are moving in the right direction. The Beeb are putting up various TV programmes so they can be downloaded and viewed up to 7 days after they've aired on TV. They've already done this successfully with radio programmes.
They say they're going to use a P2P system, so content is exchanged between users (BitTorrent?) but it will be DRM'ed such that only BBC license fee payers can use it (in the UK you need a license to watch any kind of broadcast TV). The license fees generate about £2.5bn annually for them.
If it all works, it might make PVR's a thing of the past ...
Things are moving in the right direction. The Beeb are putting up various TV programmes so they can be downloaded and viewed up to 7 days after they've aired on TV. They've already done this successfully with radio programmes.
They say they're going to use a P2P system, so content is exchanged between users (BitTorrent?) but it will be DRM'ed such that only BBC license fee payers can use it (in the UK you need a license to watch any kind of broadcast TV). The license fees generate about £2.5bn annually for them.
If it all works, it might make PVR's a thing of the past ...
2005/05/18
Skype Supernodes
Imagine a normal broadband user, they've installed Skype on their PC and are happily chatting away. It's likely they're behind a NATted connection. They're probably talking to another user behind a NATted connection. In the IP world this makes life particularly difficult, so how do Skype get around it?
The answer is to use a man-in-the-middle who isn't NATted (I think what Skype call a Supernode).
So if 1st NATted user (a) calls 2nd NATted user (b) all their traffic goes through non-NATted user (c) who has twice the traffic going through their connection. Skype will actually try to put lots of connections through (c).
So if you're on a high bandwidth connection not using NAT and running Skype - you'll probably find it's not just your Skype calls you're handling. The traffic is encrypted, so the you cant actually intercept the voice traffic, but your bandwidth might diminish radipdly.
The answer is to use a man-in-the-middle who isn't NATted (I think what Skype call a Supernode).
So if 1st NATted user (a) calls 2nd NATted user (b) all their traffic goes through non-NATted user (c) who has twice the traffic going through their connection. Skype will actually try to put lots of connections through (c).
So if you're on a high bandwidth connection not using NAT and running Skype - you'll probably find it's not just your Skype calls you're handling. The traffic is encrypted, so the you cant actually intercept the voice traffic, but your bandwidth might diminish radipdly.
2005/05/17
Qinetiq to police the airwaves - Network IT Week
Qinetiq to police the airwaves - Network IT Week
It looks like Ofcom are going to get serious about spectrum pollution. They currently have very limited resource in monitoring and then actually doing something about radio interference.
They do go after pirates, but a lot of time is spent investigating industrial EMI that interferes with local services (i.e. say industrial relays arcing that splat over commercial radio).
One thing Ofcom hasn't really addressed is interference in the WiFi bands, either by people using high gain antennae (so putting out more than the allowed EIRP) or using frequencies they're not meant to (or without going through the proper licensing regime), the Quinetiq deal should allow them to police these band much more effectively.
As more of the spectrum is liberalised, it will allow for more flexible use and increased applications, however it will also lead to more people using it improperly.
Maybe this will give Ofcom the bite to police properly, rather than just barking occasionally.
It looks like Ofcom are going to get serious about spectrum pollution. They currently have very limited resource in monitoring and then actually doing something about radio interference.
They do go after pirates, but a lot of time is spent investigating industrial EMI that interferes with local services (i.e. say industrial relays arcing that splat over commercial radio).
One thing Ofcom hasn't really addressed is interference in the WiFi bands, either by people using high gain antennae (so putting out more than the allowed EIRP) or using frequencies they're not meant to (or without going through the proper licensing regime), the Quinetiq deal should allow them to police these band much more effectively.
As more of the spectrum is liberalised, it will allow for more flexible use and increased applications, however it will also lead to more people using it improperly.
Maybe this will give Ofcom the bite to police properly, rather than just barking occasionally.
2005/05/16
BT faces fresh competition from AOL in UK fixed-line telecoms mkt - report - Forbes.com
BT faces fresh competition from AOL in UK fixed-line telecoms mkt - report - Forbes.com
AOL are tempting residential away from BT. Unlimited national and local calls for £7.99 pm (these don't tend to include non-geographic numbers like 0844, 0845, 0870 etc, and mobile, premium rate and international numbers which will incur per minute charges).
The business models for flat rate services can work out on average, but copying US models is dangerous since termination charges can largely be avoided there. In Europe termination charges are the norm, which means if users actually make lots of calls or long duration calls - the service could work out unprofitable.
In the UK BT still has the bulk of connections into homes (over 85% of the copper into premises is owned by BT), so they charge other delicious for the priviledge of originating or terminating these calls (i.e. if a AOL subscriber is using AOL's carrier preselect service, when they dial out it has to get from a BT line to AOL and BT charge for that hop, the same for getting a call back to the subscriber). BT still get the line rental, but the CPS provider gets the call traffic.
In order to minimise the number of hops across BT's network you want to connect to as many BT exchanges as possible so hopefully it's only an internal (exchange) hop. However this is generally unfeasable as there are 5,600 digital local exchanges (BT) in the UK. So large providers like THUS, C&W, Energis and possible Carphone Warehouse connect to about 700+ which means that you're never more than 1 hop away.
The "hop" rates are determined by Ofcom (taking a daytime call for termination, BT will charge between about .25p for a local exchange to 1.02p for a "double-tandem long" hop - per minute, origination is about .27p for local exchange to 1.03p per minute). The telco will then put their own margin on top of. In fact they're likely to offer a blended rate, which will average the price to any UK geographic number.
Since AOL have as yet no UK specific telephony infrastructure, it's likely they're buying the service from someone else.
In future they've said they're going to offer a wholesale line rental (WLR) service, whereby they take-over the line from BT and the user no longer gets a BT "blue-bill" at all. However WLR still has issues and isn't that competetive (the operator has to pay BT near enough £10 per month). That may well change with Ofcom pressure.
AOL are also moving into LLU (local loop unbundling) in which case they can offer voice services directly either using traditional means or using VoDSL (which could be VoIP).
It's going to be an interesting time ahead, though voice will soon just be a give-away to complement other services.
AOL are tempting residential away from BT. Unlimited national and local calls for £7.99 pm (these don't tend to include non-geographic numbers like 0844, 0845, 0870 etc, and mobile, premium rate and international numbers which will incur per minute charges).
The business models for flat rate services can work out on average, but copying US models is dangerous since termination charges can largely be avoided there. In Europe termination charges are the norm, which means if users actually make lots of calls or long duration calls - the service could work out unprofitable.
In the UK BT still has the bulk of connections into homes (over 85% of the copper into premises is owned by BT), so they charge other delicious for the priviledge of originating or terminating these calls (i.e. if a AOL subscriber is using AOL's carrier preselect service, when they dial out it has to get from a BT line to AOL and BT charge for that hop, the same for getting a call back to the subscriber). BT still get the line rental, but the CPS provider gets the call traffic.
In order to minimise the number of hops across BT's network you want to connect to as many BT exchanges as possible so hopefully it's only an internal (exchange) hop. However this is generally unfeasable as there are 5,600 digital local exchanges (BT) in the UK. So large providers like THUS, C&W, Energis and possible Carphone Warehouse connect to about 700+ which means that you're never more than 1 hop away.
The "hop" rates are determined by Ofcom (taking a daytime call for termination, BT will charge between about .25p for a local exchange to 1.02p for a "double-tandem long" hop - per minute, origination is about .27p for local exchange to 1.03p per minute). The telco will then put their own margin on top of. In fact they're likely to offer a blended rate, which will average the price to any UK geographic number.
Since AOL have as yet no UK specific telephony infrastructure, it's likely they're buying the service from someone else.
In future they've said they're going to offer a wholesale line rental (WLR) service, whereby they take-over the line from BT and the user no longer gets a BT "blue-bill" at all. However WLR still has issues and isn't that competetive (the operator has to pay BT near enough £10 per month). That may well change with Ofcom pressure.
AOL are also moving into LLU (local loop unbundling) in which case they can offer voice services directly either using traditional means or using VoDSL (which could be VoIP).
It's going to be an interesting time ahead, though voice will soon just be a give-away to complement other services.
Vonage - The Broadband Phone Company
Vonage - The Broadband Phone Company
The Vonage (Linksys) router and phone adapter arrived (it's a combined unit) with an "Internet" Ethernet connection, 3 LAN Ethernet connections and 2 phone sockets. The configuration is quite simple, but you have to be carefull, initially you can only configure the unit from the LAN ports which are set to a 192.168 private address.
Since there was already a DSL router there was no need to configure the Linksys router section (it's a shame they don't bridge between LAN and Internet - there seems no way to do it), which wastes the 3 LAN ports. Once the Internet side had a valid IP address it "just worked".
Plugging in a standard BT phone with CLI display worked too and you could instantly make phone calls (the units are sent out pre-configured to work with your Vonage account). The phone even showed a voicemail indicator when there waiting voicemail at Vonage. Very cute. Unfortunately it wouldn't go away, even when the voicemail was deleted.
After a bit more fiddling and allowing incoming traffic to the unit (through the firewall), the voicemail indicator worked properly too.
Vonage have done an excellent job making the system easy to use and functional.
It's relatively cheap at £9.99 per month for the residential service which includes unlimited UK local and national calls (you do have to pay for non-geographic/mobile and international calls). Calls to other Vonage customers are always free.
Sound quality at the user end seems to be pretty well near toll-grade quality, however other users (on PSTN or Vonage) complained of some echo. That could be because the upstream bandwith of UK ADSL is only 256Kb/s which could be the bottleneck of the call, while downstream is 2Mb/s. Of course most ADSL customers in the UK will be on 512Kb/s downstream and 256Kb/s upstream.
VoIP is starting to make a dent in the regular UK telephony market and the dent is soon going to be a gaping hole. Anyone relying on voice minutes for a business, isn't going to last long. When BT's 21CN comes on-line that will change things forever as the PSTN disappears and everyting is VoIP, but change is already occuring and if BT's promised QoS on DSL does happen, VoIP will rapidly take-over all UK telephony.
Some LLU entrants are already offering VoIP as part of their services (even though the end-user may not be aware of it), it makes sense to do so as it only costs about 40% to build packet networks rather than legacy TDM networks.
The migration to VoIP does introduce interesting challenges, like how to make money? More and more services are being bundled in, and the cost to transport packets from A to B or A to C is pretty well identical, so calls will no longer be charged by destination or even duration. Only time will tell.
The Vonage (Linksys) router and phone adapter arrived (it's a combined unit) with an "Internet" Ethernet connection, 3 LAN Ethernet connections and 2 phone sockets. The configuration is quite simple, but you have to be carefull, initially you can only configure the unit from the LAN ports which are set to a 192.168 private address.
Since there was already a DSL router there was no need to configure the Linksys router section (it's a shame they don't bridge between LAN and Internet - there seems no way to do it), which wastes the 3 LAN ports. Once the Internet side had a valid IP address it "just worked".
Plugging in a standard BT phone with CLI display worked too and you could instantly make phone calls (the units are sent out pre-configured to work with your Vonage account). The phone even showed a voicemail indicator when there waiting voicemail at Vonage. Very cute. Unfortunately it wouldn't go away, even when the voicemail was deleted.
After a bit more fiddling and allowing incoming traffic to the unit (through the firewall), the voicemail indicator worked properly too.
Vonage have done an excellent job making the system easy to use and functional.
It's relatively cheap at £9.99 per month for the residential service which includes unlimited UK local and national calls (you do have to pay for non-geographic/mobile and international calls). Calls to other Vonage customers are always free.
Sound quality at the user end seems to be pretty well near toll-grade quality, however other users (on PSTN or Vonage) complained of some echo. That could be because the upstream bandwith of UK ADSL is only 256Kb/s which could be the bottleneck of the call, while downstream is 2Mb/s. Of course most ADSL customers in the UK will be on 512Kb/s downstream and 256Kb/s upstream.
VoIP is starting to make a dent in the regular UK telephony market and the dent is soon going to be a gaping hole. Anyone relying on voice minutes for a business, isn't going to last long. When BT's 21CN comes on-line that will change things forever as the PSTN disappears and everyting is VoIP, but change is already occuring and if BT's promised QoS on DSL does happen, VoIP will rapidly take-over all UK telephony.
Some LLU entrants are already offering VoIP as part of their services (even though the end-user may not be aware of it), it makes sense to do so as it only costs about 40% to build packet networks rather than legacy TDM networks.
The migration to VoIP does introduce interesting challenges, like how to make money? More and more services are being bundled in, and the cost to transport packets from A to B or A to C is pretty well identical, so calls will no longer be charged by destination or even duration. Only time will tell.
D-Link G604T ADSL router
I've been having problems with the router, which turned out to be my fault. The configuration for the firewall and rules is non-intuative.
I had enabled the firewall (which stops things like smurf attacks, SYN flooding etc), but there are some check-boxes to let services in like ftp or telnet. That should have given the game away, in that ALL incoming traffic is blocked unless you specifically let things through (which is a good default). It's not stated anywhere though. Then there's another page called "filters" and this is where you set-up the services you want let through.
Anyway once I'd decided the services to let through, everything worked fine and downloads worked at full-speed.
It seems previously I'd mucked with the rules sufficiently that the router was getting confused and downloads were initially starting very fast, but then crawling to a few K/s.
I still like the D-link router, and hopefully some new firmware will support things like QoS (so I can prioritise my VoIP traffic) and better filter/firewall rules.
I had enabled the firewall (which stops things like smurf attacks, SYN flooding etc), but there are some check-boxes to let services in like ftp or telnet. That should have given the game away, in that ALL incoming traffic is blocked unless you specifically let things through (which is a good default). It's not stated anywhere though. Then there's another page called "filters" and this is where you set-up the services you want let through.
Anyway once I'd decided the services to let through, everything worked fine and downloads worked at full-speed.
It seems previously I'd mucked with the rules sufficiently that the router was getting confused and downloads were initially starting very fast, but then crawling to a few K/s.
I still like the D-link router, and hopefully some new firmware will support things like QoS (so I can prioritise my VoIP traffic) and better filter/firewall rules.
Ofcom Website | Powerline Telecoms
Ofcom Website | Powerline Telecoms
Powerline Telecoms, or broadband over powerlines has had relatively poor success in the UK and in Europe in general. It has found a home in places like the Australian outback. Looking at Ofcom's reports you can see why.
In short it looks like using powerlines for backhaul is bad, though there aren't any formal UK (or even EU) specifications the FCC have published emission standards as have the Germans, and the backhaul trials way exceed both of them.
However using broadband over powerlines into homes faired much better, with good results and very low emissions. So as long as the power company can get a decent connection into the electricity substation, it looks like they can safely get broadband into the home.
It wont work in built-up areas (like London) as multiple substations serve premises, so they'd interfere with each other, but then urban areas have probably got DSL or cable. Where it does work is in rural areas where one substation serves lots of premises (well multiple) and they are unlikely to have existing broadband services.
Powerline Telecoms, or broadband over powerlines has had relatively poor success in the UK and in Europe in general. It has found a home in places like the Australian outback. Looking at Ofcom's reports you can see why.
In short it looks like using powerlines for backhaul is bad, though there aren't any formal UK (or even EU) specifications the FCC have published emission standards as have the Germans, and the backhaul trials way exceed both of them.
However using broadband over powerlines into homes faired much better, with good results and very low emissions. So as long as the power company can get a decent connection into the electricity substation, it looks like they can safely get broadband into the home.
It wont work in built-up areas (like London) as multiple substations serve premises, so they'd interfere with each other, but then urban areas have probably got DSL or cable. Where it does work is in rural areas where one substation serves lots of premises (well multiple) and they are unlikely to have existing broadband services.
2005/05/12
Marconi - the death bell rings
BT announced the vendors who were going to supply kit for their 21CN network (well that should be 21C network, but hey), Marconi wasn't one of them and it has hit them hard, it's unlikely they'll survive in their current state.
A certain Italian must be turning in his grave at the state of his company and how it's fallen from its former glory (walk down the Strand and admire the Marconi building).
Access - Fujitsu and Huawei.
Metro - Alcatel, Cisco and Siemens.
Core - Cisco and Lucent.
Softswitching - Ericsson.
Optical Transmission - Ciena and Huawei.
It's quite suprising that Marconi didn't get the Softswitch business as BT already use Marconi System X digital exchanges and the Marconi softswitch is functionaly (to the user) quite similar, BT will have a big learning curve for an Ericsson platform.
What some people may be suprised about is the selection of Huawei who are a new Chinese entrant making some very good and cost effective kit, they are snapping after Cisco's business and winning it (some people are pronouncing their name as "Who Are We"). In Europe their systems are starting to appear in all sorts of networks (mainly large carriers and ISPs), but their showroom in China is meant to be the size of a football field and they have product to hit ALL ends of the telecoms and Internet sectors including mobile, customer kit, wireless etc. Chinese programmers are still very cheap, India is going to be out of business soon, and they produce good code.
Maybe Huawei will buy Marconi and save them?
A certain Italian must be turning in his grave at the state of his company and how it's fallen from its former glory (walk down the Strand and admire the Marconi building).
Access - Fujitsu and Huawei.
Metro - Alcatel, Cisco and Siemens.
Core - Cisco and Lucent.
Softswitching - Ericsson.
Optical Transmission - Ciena and Huawei.
It's quite suprising that Marconi didn't get the Softswitch business as BT already use Marconi System X digital exchanges and the Marconi softswitch is functionaly (to the user) quite similar, BT will have a big learning curve for an Ericsson platform.
What some people may be suprised about is the selection of Huawei who are a new Chinese entrant making some very good and cost effective kit, they are snapping after Cisco's business and winning it (some people are pronouncing their name as "Who Are We"). In Europe their systems are starting to appear in all sorts of networks (mainly large carriers and ISPs), but their showroom in China is meant to be the size of a football field and they have product to hit ALL ends of the telecoms and Internet sectors including mobile, customer kit, wireless etc. Chinese programmers are still very cheap, India is going to be out of business soon, and they produce good code.
Maybe Huawei will buy Marconi and save them?
iPods everywhere
For my sins, this week has involved daily tube travel (the subway for non-brits) which generally isn't a joyous activity.
Hoping to avoid as much of the journey as possible I drowned out the world with new in-earphones and turned on the iPod (to read on a newspaper stall that iPods are making people deaf).
It seems lots of other people have exactly the same idea. However what's interesting is that of all the people with things stuck in their ears, I'd estimate at least 2/3rds of them are using iPods. That's a lot of people. Some of course may be cheating and be using iPods earphones with something else (most people do have their iPods hidden in bags or jackets - though there's quite a few shuffles visible).
Apple really have made an impact in the portable music world, it will be interesting to see if someone manages to knock them from their pedestal.
Hoping to avoid as much of the journey as possible I drowned out the world with new in-earphones and turned on the iPod (to read on a newspaper stall that iPods are making people deaf).
It seems lots of other people have exactly the same idea. However what's interesting is that of all the people with things stuck in their ears, I'd estimate at least 2/3rds of them are using iPods. That's a lot of people. Some of course may be cheating and be using iPods earphones with something else (most people do have their iPods hidden in bags or jackets - though there's quite a few shuffles visible).
Apple really have made an impact in the portable music world, it will be interesting to see if someone manages to knock them from their pedestal.
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