News Categories: General (Default) | Dialup | DSL (ADSL etc.) | Cable/FTTx | Satellite | Wireless | IPTV | VoIP

H2O Networks, which recently announced the building of a new 100Mbps fibre broadband network in Bournemouth using the towns network of underground sewers (news), has clarified that other locations on its original shortlist were "certainly not being ignored".

Speaking to the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, H2O Networks managing director, Elfed Thomas, confirmed that Northampton would be next in line for the network after Bournemouth:


The third of three short-listed towns, Dundee, is also to be included in H2O's future development plans. Council and business officials have welcomed the prospect of a super fast broadband network coming to Northampton.

Virgin Media has partnered up with NETGEAR to offer customized Wireless-G Routers and Adapters with its “M”, “L”, and “XL” cable broadband packages.

Packaged as 'Virgin Media Wireless Routers', NETGEAR’s Wireless-G Router (WGR614) is available for free to new subscribers of “L” and “XL” fiber-optic broadband packages, or for a one-off £40 fee for new subscribers of the “M” package.

NETGEAR’s Wireless-G Router with Built-in ADSL2+ Modem (DG834G) is also available for free for new customers on Virgin Media’s non-cable broadband service through a telephone line. Customers will also be able to purchase respective wireless cards, the NETGEAR Wireless-G PC Card (WG511) and Wireless-G USB 2.0 Adapter (WG111), for £20.

The Wireless-G Router features double-firewall protection (NAT & SPI), WEP, and WPA-PSK wireless security to help shield the network from hacker intrusions, and includes NETGEAR’s Smart Wizard installation software to ensure a user-friendly setup process.

Virgin Media has reported its latest first quarter 2008 results today, which saw the operators broadband subscriber base inch forwards from 3,701,200 at the end of 2007 to 3,781,800 now.

The bulk of this increase came from Virgin's cable based broadband platform, while those on its Virgin.net ADSL side reduced from 287,300 at the end of 2007 to 279,500. This loss of 7,800 subscribers could perhaps be contributed to the horrendous service problems customers experienced on their ADSL platform late last year.


It's still too early to know whether the Phorm controversy will have any appreciable impact upon Virgin's broadband subscription figures. The issue only truly began to rear its ugly head through April and has thus missed impacting Q1. Please see our 'Top 10 ISPs' page for a run down of subscriber figures by provider.

H2O Networks has selected Bournemouth to become the UK's first Fibrecity. The provider will use existing sewers to deploy fibre broadband links around the city, which will deliver speeds of between 50 and 100Mbps.

Work will begin on the deployment of the fibre within the next six months, bringing next generation broadband and connectivity to all homes and businesses in the town:


In addition to the obvious benefits, H2O's network will also introduce video conferencing to help social workers, real time monitoring of traffic using CCTV and link up local schools. Though at present it remains unclear how much this service will cost consumers.

Where the sewers are not viable, H2O Networks will install the cable using its patented BMD (Blown Mini Duct) system. With this method, a small, 20 millimetres wide slot is channelled into the road in order to lay the cable. This is not a civil dig and will cause minimal disruption to the local area. http://www.fibrecity.eu .

Ofcom has today published its third Technology Research Programme report - 'Tomorrow's Wireless World', which typically covers all things wireless. However, hidden deep within the text we found a little snippet of information about land-line broadband services and Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) technology.

Three very specific paragraphs refer to the regulators investigation into the theoretical capacity limits of existing copper networks, which concludes that the upper limit for a FTTC based broadband connection is 50Mbps (we assume using some form of DSL for the home link):


FTTC technology is often promoted as one of several potential next-generation home broadband solutions, which could bring faster speeds directly to your local exchange cabinet. From there some form of DSL would be required to reach your home because the cost of completely replacing this final copper wire is often deemed too prohibitive for full Fibre To The Home (FTTH) deployment.

Ofcom does not state which technology would manage the home link, although we can exclude ADSL2+ as it is only capable of delivering up to 24Mbps. VDSL2+ is a much more likely candidate and capable of the promised rate, albeit only under the most ideal circumstances.

Virgin Media has joined forces with Nortel and Juniper Networks to trial a new 40Gbps (details) infrastructure, which was conducted over a 217 mile span of the operator’s current UK 10G network:


The April 2008 trial involved carrying live 40Gbps wavelength traffic over a 350km span on the Virgin Media optical network using Nortel core optical transmission equipment and Juniper Networks T-series core routers with 40Gbps interfaces.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITFI) has published a global ranking of broadband enabled countries, which balances cost, speed and household penetration figures to find out how well they all did.

The results placed the UK in 13th position, with an average 'subscriber per household' figure of 0.55 and download speeds touching 2.6Mbps. The typical lowest monthly cost per Mb (Megabit) was also $1.24 (£0.62). This result also meant that the UK came two places above the USA at 15th:

Virgin Media has faced staunch criticism over its vague stance on Phorm ever since the controversial advertising company first revealed that it had, "signed agreements to deploy its technology with three major UK ISPs: British Telecom, Talk Talk and Virgin Media."

However, a new update to the operators Webwise (Phorm) Information Page seeks to clarify their position once and for all, albeit still leaving the door open to Phorm’s adoption:


Meanwhile The Register points out that this statement would appear to conflict with one made by Phorm's own CEO, Kent Ertugrul, on 10th April: "We announced exclusive agreements with three major UK ISPs – BT, Talk Talk and Virgin Media, which represent nearly 70 per cent of the UK internet market, to adopt our online advertising platform, the Open Internet Exchange (OIX), and a consumer internet feature, Webwise."

Cable Forum's Alexander Hanff has made public his dissertation on a legal analysis of BT's secret Phorm trials, which took place during 2006 and again in 2007. Hanff has carefully analysed the relevant EU and UK laws, statutes and directives to find that, "fundamental legal requirements were not met."

Hanff goes on to conclude that BT's covert trials were illegal under criminal law and unlawful under common law, pointing towards the need for relevant public authorities to, "officially investigate the matter in the interests of public justice.":


The full 26 page long paper can be downloaded and read in .PDF form here:
http://www.paladine.org.uk/phorm_paper.pdf

Virgin Media today announced a new partnership with the BBC to launch iPlayer onto its platform, making its 3.5 million TV customers the first in the UK to get the popular service via a TV platform.

Viewers using BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media will be able to watch full screen pictures at full quality on their television set without the need for downloading. The service had previously only been available from the BBC as a downloadable P2P based client or streamed through their website:


The move may also ease some of the strain being placed on Virgin Media's broadband network, which in recent weeks has caused some high profile controversy (Related iPlayer News).

We are a nation of 'speed freaks' according to a broadband comparison site. Based on over 92,000 broadband speed tests captured in March 2008, download speed seems to be the primary factor in deciding broadband customer satisfaction. The top three fastest broadband providers were also the three highest rated.

O2 topped the rankings, with an average speed of 6.41Mbps and customer rating of 3.82 out of 5, second and third for both speed and rating were Be and Virgin Media respectively. Tesco paled in comparison with an average download speed of 1.42Mb and average customer rating of just 2.86 out of 5 making it the slowest ISP in this study.


Typically the correlation between an ISPs ability to deliver high speeds and their resultant ratings is an obvious conclusion since speed is often a reflection of network quality. However, results from other reputable smaller providers, such as IDNet, Zen, NewNet, Fast.co.uk and so forth do not appear to have been included. In addition, both O2 and Be use the same network.

The data shows that the average speed of UK broadband connections is just 3.18Mbps, yet most ISPs advertise speeds of up to 8Mbps and beyond. Both Ofcom and consumer groups are hoping for tougher rules on advertised broadband speeds in the near future, with proposals due soon. More @ Top-10-Broadband.

Ofcom's chief executive, Ed Richards, has told a session of MP's at the Commons Culture, Media & Sport and Business and Enterprise committee that the BBC should not be forced to help fund the networking costs of ISPs. He also warned providers that the way in which broadband speeds were advertised would need to be cleaned up within weeks or risk the introduction of tougher rules.

Tiscali and Virgin Media have frequently warned of higher prices and or greater service restrictions unless the BBC made contributions to the cost of allowing customers to view iPlayer (IPTV) style content (news) over their networks.

The Guardian quotes Richards as saying that getting the BBC to help pay ISPs for the content distribution was one possible solution.. "[But] it is not necessarily the only way it can happen and it is not necessarily the way we would anticipate it will happen. I am not convinced myself that the right answer to that is to get the BBC to pay for the iPlayer."

Instead he warned that the more sensible option would be for ISPs to make the necessary investments themselves, which could in turn cause prices to rise. It's certainly a sentiment that we'd agree with. Some ISPs have simply become victims of their own budget priced model, which can already result in poor performance.

The Internet has continued to expand and grow, pumping out ever higher quality content, yet by comparison most providers have gotten cheaper, due in part to an aggressive level of market competition and lower unbundled (LLU) network costs. However, the balance may now have swung too far in the wrong direction; sooner or later somebody will have to blink.

However, Richards stressed that some ISPs would probably still attempt to do deals with specific content distributors and in return offer customers "content-led tariff models". Virgin Media's CEO recently hit the headlines when he colourfully proposed something similar (original news).

Meanwhile, speaking about the separate issue of Next Generation network funding, Ofcom's chairman, Lord Currie, warned against the use of public funds to help in its deployment: "I would have thought the cost here is very considerable and I would have thought it was probably an unnecessary use of public funds."

Sadly this is a somewhat narrow perspective to have and fails to recognise the pace at which online content and consumer demand is changing. The debate continues.

The latest research from Point-Topic has revealed that just 8% of consumers in the UK feel perfectly safe using their computer at home. More worryingly, fewer people are now taking action to protect themselves:


Becoming complacent about such things can far too frequently lead to problems from cyber crime to theft of personal data and or your computer being remotely hijacked. Nobody should ever assume that the limited protection afforded by modern Internet browsers, ISPs and operating systems is enough.

Mercifully people have become more aware of phishing and social engineering attacks, where a user is persuaded to infect themselves by clicking on a link leading to sites with malicious code or tricked into handing over personal data.

Point-Topic also revealed that the number of standalone broadband users in the UK decreased by 11% in the 12 months to January 2008, preferring instead to signup with a bundled product (e.g. dual, triple or quad play voice, mobile, TV and broadband bundles).

The European Commission's (EC) latest i2010 report, which is part of a digital strategy for growth, has revealed that 250m of the EU's half a billion citizens regularly go online and 80% of broadband subscribers use a DSL (ADSL etc.) technology to do so.

Growth in broadband penetration continued in 2007 but large gaps remain between countries. In January 2008, there were an estimated total of 99 million broadband lines in the EU, an increase of 23.8% over the preceding year. This represents an average broadband take-up of 20% of the EU population.

Denmark (35.6%), Finland (34.6%), the Netherlands (34.2%) and Sweden (31.2%) top the EU league with penetration rates above 30%, and maintain their position as world leaders well ahead of Korea, the US or Japan. It's worth pointing out that the UK places fifth on 25.7%.

Naturally prices of broadband access tend to be cheaper in the most developed countries and more expensive in the least. For instance, the least expensive offer for broadband with a nominal download speed of 1Mbps was priced at €49 (inc. VAT) in Slovakia, while consumers in the Netherlands were charged €14 for a product with similar speeds. By comparison the UK came a few places behind the Netherlands with an average price of roughly €22.

Figures for the national coverage of DSL networks also hide a gap between rural and urban areas in several countries. Deployment costs largely depend on a country’s topography and population density, and full coverage remains a challenge in a number of countries. Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Italy, Poland, Lithuania and Germany show a large gap between coverage in urban and rural areas.

On average, at EU25 level, 94% of the population in urban areas are able to subscribe to a DSL connection, as against 72% of the rural population. The UK places fourth in this chart too, with roughly 95% rural coverage and 99% urban.

The average rate of download speeds that European citizens subscribe to are slow compared to other regions. Average EU speeds are about 1Mbps with limited upload speeds. For the EU as a whole, the percentage of subscribers to cable modem and xDSL products with speeds below 1Mbps is declining, while the percentage of subscribers with access to speeds between 1 and 2Mbps has risen from 23% to 32%.

Nevertheless, the 512Kbps to 1Mbps range remains the most common (34% of subscribers), closely followed by the 1–2 Mbps bracket. Only a small fraction of European subscribers have broadband speeds above 2Mbps, and access speeds above 8 Mbps are still marginal (5% of cable modem and DSL subscribers). Fast connections, such as fibre (FTTx) are used by only 1.2% of European subscribers concentrated in a handful of countries. It's worth pointing out that the speed data is only as recent as December 2006, making it of little use.

Virgin Media customers living in Preston, Wigan, Blackpool, Camden, Dalston, Enfield and Haringey will shortly become test subjects for an adjustment to the operator’s broadband (cable) traffic management policy.

Under the Existing Policy customers would only be affected if they downloaded an "unusually large amount" during peak times (4pm till 9pm). However, an official statement posted to Thinkbroadband's forum (here) suggests that the new policy would add two additional time periods:


The time periods are not cumulative, meaning that if you download too much in one period then it wouldn’t be carried over into the next. Those found to be downloading too much on the M and L packages will find their speeds dropped to 1Mbps downstream and 128Kbps upstream, while XL customers would be reduced to 5Mbps downstream and 192Kbps upstream.

Ofcom has today published proposals to promote next generation broadband networks for new housing and office developments. It also announced a survey of UK infrastructure to examine the scope for extending these networks elsewhere.

The regulator is seeking to encourage competition and investment in super-fast broadband capable of delivering speeds 'up to' 100Mbps. The proposals themselves are designed to:


Meanwhile Ofcom's survey will look at the UK’s existing underground telecoms infrastructure and the potential for its use in a fibre (FTTx) broadband roll-out:


It is estimated that around 246,000 new residential and business premises are being built each year. A number of new build developments are already being fitted with fibre-based networks, including Ebbsfleet in Kent. The consultation, which closes on 25th June 2008, can be found at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/newbuild/

Virgin Media has been forced to backtrack after a recent outburst by its CEO, Neil Berkett, labelled net neutrality "a load of b****cks" before proceeding to say that it was doing deals to improve access to some content providers (original news).

Clearly Berkett left his PR skills at home that day and the clean up work has now been left to one of Virgin's spokesmen, who states that the operator does not intend to restrict access to content providers that do not pay:


We suspect that Virgin's statement to The Register will do little to dampen fears that the ISP may one day adopt targeted restrictions directed at specific content providers. Either way, the statement certainly reads a lot better than Berkett's interpretation. Personally speaking, many of us would rather pay a little extra for unhindered access but not everybody, choice should be paramount.

The latest study of 41,230 broadband connections over February and March 2008 from comparison site 'Broadband-Expert' has revealed that consumers typically receive just 48% of the advertised download speed.

The average speed achieved in the 16Mbps+ category was a relatively low 8.6Mbps (45% of the quoted maximum). By comparison customers on 2Mbps packages achieved on average 1.8Mbps (88%) and customers on 8Mbps achieved 3.4Mbps (43%).

The average speeds achieved by broadband users varied hugely between providers and packages. In the 2Mbps category top performers were Virgin Media’s cable service, Talk Talk and UK Online, all of which achieved slightly more than the advertised maximum 2Mbps speed. Even the lowest performers Tiscali, Pipex and Toucan achieved 68%, 70% and 73% respectively.

The biggest variations were in the 8Mbps category where O2 and Be achieved 73% and 68% of advertised speeds, compared to just 26% for Toucan and 29% for both Virgin Media’s ADSL service and Eclipse.

The fastest actual speed achieved in the 16Mbps+ category was Virgin Media’s cable service with an average of 10.4Mbps or 52% of the 20Mbps quoted top speed. The only other ISP to deliver more than 50% of the advertised maximum speed was UK Online which achieved 62% of the 16Mbps quoted top speed, delivering an average of 9.99Mbps.

The Scotsman reports that residents of the Lothians who are unable to access broadband should be able to do so soon. The Scottish Government's Broadband for Scotland programme aims to have the problem resolved by the end of this year:


Meanwhile Ceredigion Council (Wales) has launch a new "notspot" survey to gauge how many residents have access to broadband. BBC News Online offers the following quote from Mark Elliott, assistant director of the council's corporate performance:


British Telecom (BT) notes that 99% of people in Wales should be able to access broadband, although that remaining 1% must not be ignored. Likewise it's worth remembering that many of those with access may only be able to surf at slower speeds.

Virgin Media’s new CEO, Neil Berkett, has given a controversial interview to the Royal Television Society’s magazine in which he exclaims that "this net neutrality thing is a load of b****cks". He also confirmed that the operator was in the process of doing deals with specific content providers that would see customers able to access them at a faster rate.

Berkett then proceeded to threaten the BBC's iPlayer (IPTV) service and others like it from public broadcasters with traffic restrictions unless they helped contribute towards its costs. His comments mimic a similar outburst from Tiscali last week (here).

There is a distinct difference between imposing general traffic shaping/management upon your network and accepting cash from individual organisations in return for performance favours. We presume, given their stance on iPlayer, that this would thus result in other IPTV/Music services being restricted unless payments were made.

Virgin certainly isn’t going to win themselves any favours here, having already suffered a backlash over their vague stance on the Phorm system. We don’t like where all this is going.

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