Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: July 2014 (115 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for July 2014

Three UK inTouch App Goes Live as Mobile Data Usage Climbs

31st Jul 2014 (18 Comments)

Mobile operator Three UK has announced that their new App (Three inTouch), which allows customers to talk or text using their existing allowances via a WiFi based wireless Internet connection, is now live. In addition, the operator has revealed stats for data usage on its 3G and 4G based Mobile Broadband network.

Virgin Media Discounts UK Cable Broadband Prices for 12 Months

31st Jul 2014 (0 Comments)

Cable operator Virgin Media has tweaked the price of their superfast broadband services and related TV, phone and mobile bundles to be discounted for a full 12 months (previously the cheaper price period only lasted for 6 months), which can save you between £60 and £180 a year off the primary Big Bundle costs.

EE Extends 4G Mobile Broadband Network to 21 Additional UK Towns

31st Jul 2014 (9 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (4GEE) has today announced that their LTE based “superfast” 4G network has reached another 21 towns, which takes the total to 250 towns and cities (including 2,500 villages and small towns) or 73% of the UK population. Saltash, a town of 15,000 people in Cornwall, is one of the latest additions.

UPDATE BT Reach 7.4m Broadband Customers as FTTrn Pilot Hits London

31st Jul 2014 (23 Comments)

BT has today published their latest Q2-2014 (calendar) results and confirmed that its retail broadband base suffered a slowing of growth (+104k in Q2 vs +170k in Q1-2014) to total 7,385,000 customers. The operator has also revealed a new trial of superfast broadband FTTrn technology in London and confirmed that its FTTC network now reaches 20 million UK homes and businesses (premises passed).

UK ISP Primus Saver Unveils New Unlimited Broadband Bundles

30th Jul 2014 (0 Comments)

Budget Internet and phone provider Primus Saver, which last week confirmed plans to scrap their old packages due to low uptake (here), has taken the wraps off their new unlimited broadband package bundles (expected to be introduced on 1st August 2014).

Wales Makes it Easier for Homes to Get Access Broadband Cymru Grants

30th Jul 2014 (0 Comments)

The Welsh Government‘s Access Broadband Cymru (ABC) scheme, which offers grants worth up to £1,000 per premise in areas which have “slow broadband connections” (i.e. sub-2Mbps), has in an attempt to correct for earlier criticisms been opened up to more homes and businesses (including those in areas that could already benefit from Superfast Cymru investment with BT).

Complaints Mire 950Mbps Sky Broadband FTTH Trial in Basingstoke UK

30th Jul 2014 (50 Comments)

Sky Broadband’s 12 month trial of a new 950Mbps (Megabits per second) capable GPON based Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) network in the town of Basingstoke (Hampshire, England) has been hit by complaints from locals who object to the installation of new telegraph poles, which are apparently deemed unsightly by residents of Hackwood Road.

Wireless ISP County Broadband Helped by £200K from Colchester Council

30th Jul 2014 (2 Comments)

Wireless ISP County Broadband has secured £200,000 worth of funding from the Colchester Borough Council and the new investment will be used to help serve local businesses, but sadly not homes, with access to superfast broadband speeds of greater than 30Mbps (Megabits per second).

BT Openreach Publishes Very Basic UK Key Performance Indicators

30th Jul 2014 (1 Comment)

BTOpenreach, as part of its new commitments to Ofcom, has this week moved to make more information available about the performance of their work to maintain BT’s national UK telecoms and broadband network (e.g. repair and new service installation appointment times etc.), although it’s all very basic.

Shetland Islands Suffer Another SHEFA2 Fibre Optic Cable Break

30th Jul 2014 (0 Comments)

The Shetland Islands, which reside someway north of Scotland, have once again suffered a serious break in their main SHEFA-2 (Faroese Telecom) submarine (subsea) fibre optic cable, which links the remote communities broadband and phones services with the UK mainland.

BT’s Struggle to Honour 9 Month UK Student Broadband Contracts

30th Jul 2014 (9 Comments)

Last summer’s attempt by BT’s consumer division to attract student customers onto its broadband packages by offering a shorter 9 month contract may have backfired after the operator initially failed to honour its commitment and instead charged those whom attempted to leave for additional months, often including a £30 exit fee and £55 HomeHub charge.

Wales UK Confirms Next 66 Locations for BT Fibre Broadband by June 2015

30th Jul 2014 (7 Comments)

The Superfast Cymru scheme, which is working to make faster broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps available to 96% of premises in Wales by the end of spring 2016, has today announced the next 66 new locations across 10 local authority areas that will be enabled for “high speed fibre” (FTTC) by BT in time for June 2015.

HotelWiFiTest Site Begins Predicting WiFi Speeds for Most Major Hotels

29th Jul 2014 (3 Comments)

The HotelWiFiTest website has added a seemingly clever new feature that claims to predict the wireless Internet (WiFi) speed you will receive in most major hotels around the world, which can be used alongside data collected from existing speedtests to help people pick a hotel that suits their needs. But there may be trouble ahead..

UK ISP PlusNet Win Good Housekeeping Award.. for Broadband, Obviously

29th Jul 2014 (1 Comment)

In a strange twist of almost completely unrelated industries a recent edition of Good Housekeeping Magazine has awarded PlusNet’s broadband and phone service the ‘Reader Recommended‘ award after 82% of surveyed readers with the ISP said they would definitely or probably recommend them to a friend.

UK Consumers Benefit from Balanced and Affordable Broadband

29th Jul 2014 (6 Comments)

The United Kingdom has one of the world’s most aggressively competitive broadband ISP markets and a new report from Point Topic helps to put this into some context by showing how we compare with other major countries and the variance of our tariffs. In terms of entry-level tariffs, we are ranked 7th in the world, albeit behind some odd front runners including Sudan, India and Belarus etc.

Shropshire Unable to Solve Broadband Funding Woes via Growth Fund

29th Jul 2014 (12 Comments)

The Shropshire County Council (SCC) has been dealt another blow in its on-going attempts to secure £11.38m of funding to extend their coverage of superfast broadband to 95%+ by 2017 after the UK Government refused to allow the council to match the funding allocation by drawing on £7.5m set aside via the new Local Growth Deals.

Boris Promises 5G Mobile and Faster Broadband in London City by 2020

28th Jul 2014 (6 Comments)

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will this week announce the UK capital city’s long term infrastructure investment plan to 2050 and predicted that the “world’s first” major deployment of future 5G based Mobile Broadband technology will also be rolled out there by 2020. Obviously.