Topic: Demon

Demon, once the largest UK ISP is up for sale by owners Thus.

Founded in 1992 Demon was acquired by the Scottish telecom in 1998 for £6.66 million (a unique number for Demon!) but has suffered in the broadband boom and saw it's profits fall 15 percent last year. It's home broadband business boasts 50,000 users which contrasts to the 180,000 subscribers when bought by Thus, but still managed a profit of £27.7 million.

Analysts put a valuation of £15m to £20m on Demon's domestic business, as Thus plans to retain the small and medium sized business customer base. It's Dutch counterpart, Demon Netherlands, was sold to KPN earlier this year for £47m.

Demon Internet has  launched its new voice over broadband (VoIP) product, which is targeted toward business users, especially SME's.

The unimaginatively named Demon Voice Over Broadband will allow customers to make multiple voice calls simultaneously over their broadband connection  Employees can be allocated their own portable 0845 number which they can use in the office or out on the road via Wi-Fi hotspots. Live statistics are available which also includes the cost of the calls via a dedicated online control panel.

The three products on offer are:-

• Demon Voice Over Broadband  UK
  £2.99 per month plus standard call charges
• Demon Voice over Broadband UK Unlimited
  £9.99 per month plus call charges not included in the plan
• Demon Voice over Broadband  UK & Int Unlimited
  £16.99 per month including UK and key international destinations plus call charges not in the plan

All the products come with a £14.99 set-up fee and calls made to other Demon Voice Over Broadband customers are free of charge.

According to a report on ADSLguide, BSkyB have announced a deal with Demon Internet to host content for their Sky TV portal and website.

This will allow users to have access much improved content which should be available later this year. Reportedly 10 million viewers user Sky's interactive services every month, and the new portal will be available to both users with a traditional set-top box and also via a broadband connection.

Demon Internet have become the latest ISP to offer free upgrades to 2Mbps.

Existing customers will be automatically upgraded to 2Mbps or if it isn't possible to attain 2Mbps because of line conditions they will be upgraded the fastest that their line can support.
The new product will be called the rather original name of  'Home 2000' and will be priced at £19.99 a month. Included in the package is a static IP, free spam filtering and unlimited email addresses.

For a 2Mbps connection this is one of the best deals about at the moment. More information is available from http://www.demon.net

Demon Internet have announced price reductions which will save some users up to £228 over the course of a year, effectively reducing prices by 24%.

The bad news for residential customers is that the savings are only for Demons business customers, but if you are one of the lucky ones you stand to save a tidy sum.

Demon has signed up with Brightmail, in an effort to reduce the ISPs spam levels.

The announcement (visible in our ISP Usenet synchronisation, <a href=http://www.uk-bug.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3530" target="_blank">here) demonstrates Brightmails continue success within the UK ISP market. Brightmail already have a relatively successful history with BTOpenworld.

The service, expected to launch early in 2004 will be free and all Demon customers will be automatically subscribed, with the ability to opt out of the service if required. The Brightmail system requires no configuration on behalf of users, and so is an ideal technology to implement with little or no customer support required from bemused end users - except to to enquire where all the spam has gone !

More information is available <a href=http://www.uk-bug.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3530" target="_blank">here.