Eurobites: Vodafone 'enriches' the error messageEurobites: Vodafone 'enriches' the error message

Vodafone has come up with a new service which, it says, will help users better understand those mysterious error messages that crop up when browsing the Internet and usually offer little clue about the actual nature of the problem. In a test, the operator was able to offer up two types of "enriched error messages," one via a dedicated blocking page that can be embedded in an actual browser and the other a standalone generic text which describes the problem in greater detail than a standard, bare-bones error message. Vodafone has presented its ideas to the wider web boffins' community via the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which develops standards that are often adopted by users, operators and equipment vendors.

One might assume that it's none of their business anyway, what with the UK having bailed out of the European Union and all, but it seems EU antitrust regulators have no problem with the proposed merger of UK mobile operators Vodafone and Three, at least according to a Reuters report that cites a European Commission filing. The deal probably faces a closer examination from the UK's Competition and Standards Authority, which has been lobbied by labor unions, among others, to oppose the merger. If it went ahead, the merger would see the number of UK mobile network operators reduce from four to three and the creation of the country's largest mobile player. (See Eurobites: UK labor union lambasts Vodafone-Three merger and Vodafone, Three merger will struggle to win over watchdogs.)

Openreach, the semi-autonomous network access arm of BT, is planning to launch an alternative digital service for people in areas of the UK where there is no fiber-based broadband network available. The move comes ahead of the Openreach-led switch from analog to digital landlines nationwide by December 2025. The Single Order Transitional Access Product (SOTAP), as it is called, is able to provide broadband and IP-based phone services over the existing copper line running to a customer's premises. Phone services are optional and will be provided "over the top" of the copper line via VoIP products.

Nokia, working with Network Hero, has deployed a nationwide IP core and transport offering for LigaT, a regional Portuguese ISP. The new, 400GE-capable infrastructure allows LigaT to connect its sites from different cities for the delivery of its Internet services. Nokia's 7750 Service Router (SR) and 7250 Interconnect Router (IXR) systems are at the heart of the upgrade.

UK mobile operator EE is launching its first Game Day this coming Sunday (November 5), which it bills as an "annual celebration of gaming culture." It's a mix of the virtual and the real, with gamers taking part in a sort of mixed-reality treasure hunt for 13 EE "game chests" secreted in 11 UK cities. Each chest contains gaming gear to the value of £1,000 (US$1,228).