The BB4MK members are after any news regarding the NTL trial outcome.

1, There's concern that there's no mention of the NTL trail on MKWEB. / The council have gone quiet.
2, Will NTL "go for it"?
3, How much will the service cost?

Would you kindly give a recap that I can issue in this week's newsletter.

MKC reply:

1. The site was recently updated with news about the trial www.mkweb.co.uk/broadband

2. NTL will give us no indication about when the decision will be taken other than by the 31st July. If they do decide not to proceed then a notice period will be issued to the current trialists.

3. If it does go live it will have the same rates as the NTL: cable modem offering for the different bandwidths. www.ntlhome.co.uk/ntl_internet/index.asp

Final Pilot installations scheduled.

NTL: have informed us that they will be making a last push to install outstanding triallists that have previously applied and have line of site to the Linford Wood mast. As the pilot is drawing to an end engineers will only be available for one week commencing 24th May.

NTL: will be contacting people direct to try and arrange appointments. If you are one of the selected triallists then please make every effort to be available as this will be your last opportunity.

NEWS ON WIRELESS BROADBAND PILOT AND BOW BRICKHILL INSTALLATION

The wireless broadband pilot is proving to be a huge success in trials from the Linford Wood transmitters. Feedback from triallists connected to the service has been exceptionally good and there have been very few problems. Over the next few weeks ntl will continue to connect up triallists with a proven successful line of sight to Linford Wood. The momentum of the project is being maintained.

News in relation to Bow Brickhill is less good, however, since the provision of broadband services from transmitters at the Bow Brickhill Tower is taking longer than previously anticipated. Contractual difficulties have been encountered with Crown Castle International – the owners of the Bow Brickhill Tower and the total costs of establishing the equipment are now greater than previously planned. The Council and ntl have determined that the existing business and technical data obtained from the broadband services delivered via Linford Wood and the extensive surveys undertaken across MK will provide sufficient information to enable a full business case judgement to be made. We therefore feel it is prudent to acknowledge that the projected further works at Bow Brickhill are now not anticipated to complete until after a commercial roll out decision (due in July 2004) has been made.

We realise that this will be a disappointment to many potential triallists, and a positive decision to undertake a commercial roll-out cannot be predicted at this stage – but it is the fervent wish of the Council and ntl that, if truly viable, the service will be rolled out across MK.

If a decision is made to roll out a commercial service, existing triallists will remain connected free of charge, until the opening of the live service. Many potential triallists have been successful in recent line of sight tests. Should the service go live, these triallists can expect to be amongst the first to be connected.


Steven Jewell
MKC Head of I.T.

• Awaiting a first line of sight check (will be complete by end of March 2004) with successful applicants being connected thereafter (in April)
   
• A second line of sight test has already been undertaken for your property and others in your area against Bow Brickhill and other possible transmission points. Those with a successful line of sight to Bow Brickhill to be installed in early to mid April
   
• Awaiting second line of sight test against new transmitters at Bow Brickhill and other possible transmission points – work to be completed by the end of April 2004 (with connection as soon a possible thereafter)
   
• Failed all line of sight tests – against all likely/possible transmission points
   
• Connected successfully to the wireless network

We will confirm your individual status against these categories, as far as we are able, during April. In the meantime should you wish to raise individual queries with us or perhaps be removed from our list, please contact us on 01908 254144 or via email at broadbandtrial@milton-keynes.gov.uk

We are pleased to be able to report that we are already successfully connecting up many pilot members based upon the equipment installed at Linford Wood and anticipate that this will rapidly increase in April after new transmission equipment is made live at Bow Brickhill.

Therefore if you have previously received correspondence advising you that your property had failed line of sight checks to Linford Wood, please do not feel that this is the final position as we will be progressively rechecking any such premises where there is likelihood that the new equipment will offer a successful connection. Please also note the current trial has been extended until the end of June. This will enable us to ensure that good line of sight is maintained in the summer when the trees are in leaf.

In order to keep you generally informed of progress with the trial and to invite feedback we have created web pages at www.mkweb.co.uk/broadband in which a forum for comments is provided.

We also wish to advise that the Council is running a workshop on broadband service availability issues on 24th March 2004 between 7 and 10 pm in the Council Chamber at the Civic Offices. An outline of the agenda has been posted on www.mkweb.co.uk/broadband ."

Feedback from the trialists is very good. Only 4% of trialists have had to ask for support. This metric is excellent.

Installs have all been for 100% reliable signal. Any marginal locations - rejected.

More high spots envisaged.

Applicants wanted NOW.

If you have not applied - apply.

If you have applied and not returned your application forms - return them.

If you have applied and been rejected.. you will be re-tested.

If in doubt - apply.

See the official web site.

For instance I run a local news server which uploads newsgroups of interest in the early hours everyday. With an fast 'always on' connection this is no longer necessary as I can now access remote news servers in real time without tying up the telephone, so news reading is more up to date and I'm not restricted to pre-configured newsgroups.

The Firewall logs are incredible. Total number of firewall hits so far today are 4189 (from midnight to 21:41hrs), mostly from W32.Blaster.Worm infected Windows machines probing port 135. I would recommend that NTL connected Windows computers should have a fully updated operating system and use antivirus software and a firewall. (Or like me use Linux and a firewall)

I run Debian Linux on this computer and upgraded the software yesterday. This required a download of 95MB of data. This was completed in about 20 minutes at approx 70KB/sec. (The equivalent analogue modem would have taken
about 19 hours).

In general I am well impressed with NTLs' offering. Apart from the e-mail service, which I have already worked round, the system seems robust and a big improvement on what my current ISP (Demon) can provide.

Secondly we are paying ntl for successful installations - so abortive attempts is not a cost that falls back on the Council.

I will advise that we fully anticipated a high level of fails due to line of sight problems. Our expectation was that the success ratio would be around 60/40 (60% successful for properties tested for line of sight). We and ntl are continuing to learn from the piloting process - hence the running of a pilot. Our success rates are (in our judgement) very acceptable and it may well be the case that further investigative work will be undertaken regarding unsuccessful sites.

Overall both we and ntl are very pleased with the project progress and I remain very positive about future outcomes.

Steven Jewell
Head of I.T.
Milton Keynes Council
Tel 01908 254141

John