UK satellite operator
Avanti Communications has managed to sign three contracts for the sale of broadband services, taking it above its target of recruiting 50 service providers before the launch of its HYLAS satellite, which is due to occur before the end of this year. Service details remain scarce, although some sources suggests that HYLAS will be able to deliver a 2Mbps service from just £15 per month, thus meeting the governments universal minimum UK broadband speed target for 2012.
Read Full News..
Telecoms giant BT has warned that the high costs involved with tackling illegal UK file sharing (P2P) could result in customers having to pay an extra £2 per month (£24 per year) on their broadband bills. The ISP fears that "
wafer thin" profit margins within the industry will cause providers to push any extra costs on to users.
Read Full News..
Comparison site
Broadband Expert has revealed the results of a new survey into UK Mobile Broadband speeds, which found that operators are delivering just 24% of the advertised download rate. The average actual download speed just barely managed to creep above 1Mbps, coming in at a measly 1.1Mbps!
Read Full News..
ISP PlusNet ( BT ) has reduced the length of its broadband service contracts from 18 to 12 months. The cancellation policy has also been amended; customers will now only be charged the cost of setting up their account, or for any hardware they have taken if they leave within 12 months of joining, rather than for the outstanding subscription that they owe.
Read Full News..
Solwise, an online broadband and networking equipment retailer, has issued a new update to confirm that they have BT's iPlate device in-stock. The iPlate is a useful plug and play 'bell wire' filter that can help reduce interference on a telephone line, making broadband both faster and more stable. Curiously though, Solwise are advising customers not to "
waste their money" on one.
Read Full News..
The chief executive of Cornwall Council, Kevin Lavery, has revealed that the region will have picked a supplier to develop its new superfast broadband network for the area by the end of this year. Details remain sparse, although speeds of up to 1GBps have been dangled around.
Read Full News..
BT Openreach, which is responsible for ensuring that all rival operators have equality of access to BT's local network (e.g. LLU - local loop unbundling), has issued a new Next Generation Access (NGA) briefing containing early indicative price ranges for their 'up to' 100Mbps Fibre to the Premises ( FTTP ) product pilot at Highams Park, London.
Read Full News..
Fibre optic broadband operator
FibreStream, Ofcom and Hull North MP Diana Johnson have held both a private and public meetings with residents and businesses in Hull to discuss the areas limited broadband ISP competition. Presently
Kingston Communications (KCOM) is still deemed to have Significant Market Power (SMP) in the area and Ofcom's regulatory controls have thus remained in force.
Read Full News..
Popular ISP Be Broadband ( O2 ) has expanded its presence on
Twitter, a social linking website, by launching a new profile that has been designed to help keep its members updated with any network outages, planned or unplanned. This is definitely something we would like to see more UK ISPs doing; at present only a few have recognised how useful the service can be (fewer calls/emails to tech support etc.).
Read Full News..
Troubled Phorm (WebWise), the controversial service that works with ISPs to monitor what websites you visit for use in targeted advertising campaigns, has today published its latest results for the six month period ended 30th June 2009. Despite continuing to lose money, support from UK ISPs and senior executives, the firm remains dubiously upbeat about its prospects.
Read Full News..
The
Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has called on government to start taking real action to solve rural broadband problems, instead of churning out yet more reports. The news coincides with a new set of
European Commission (EC) guidelines for state funding of related projects, which would allow the government to help fund improved services for rural residents where private companies have no plans to invest.
Read Full News..
New research has revealed that 7.7 Million broadband users are being stung with extra charges levied by UK ISPs. This can, on average, costs consumers an additional £44 per year and equates to roughly £340m in additional revenue. Nearly half (47%) of those incurring additional charges did not realise these costs formed part of their contract.
Read Full News..
Mobile operator T-Mobile UK has launched a new take on Pay As you Go (PAYG) Mobile Broadband services -
Pay Up Front. Essentially you pay a one-off fee for either 3 months (£44.03) or 12 months (£146.80) of service, which includes a 2GB monthly data usage allowance and USB Modem (dongle) with changeable covers + Micro SD memory card slot. At the end of your time, just top up and pay for the days you need.
Read Full News..
Local businesses, councillors and MPs for the Welsh town of Cardigan are reportedly up in arms over the slowness of BTs broadband service to the area. Businesses claim to be losing money because, at busy times, the areas speeds become so slow that Internet access feels almost crippled.
Read Full News..
Mobile phone manufacture Nokia has claimed the world’s first official call made on a next generation 4G LTE network yesterday. The call used a real base station and standards-compliant software. With all the talk about Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology being the next generation of Mobile Broadband , offering download speeds of up to and beyond 150Mbps , it can be easy to forget that LTE will handle voice traffic too.
Read Full News..
Troubled Phorm (WebWise), the controversial service that works with UK broadband ISPs to monitor what websites you visit for use in targeted advertising campaigns, has lost its CTO Stratis Scleparis (
list of remaining executives) and removed the bizarre
Stophoulplay PR spin site (replaced with Phorm's FAQ page).
Read Full News..
Ofcom has warned that fraudsters are currently phoning consumers claiming to be from BT or the regulator itself. The caller will claim that the consumer’s telephone line needs digital upgrade work costing £6 and if it isn’t paid within 10 days then the phone line will be cut off. This is a scam and the police have been called in to investigate.
Read Full News..
The
Conservative Party's Shadow Justice Secretary, Dominic Grieve, has launched a new policy paper (‘
Reversing the Rise of the Surveillance State’) that, if elected, would seek to protect the peoples’ right to privacy. The paper includes a pledge to submit government plans for the retention of communications data (i.e. logs of all your email, website and telephone accesses) to the
Information Commissioner (ICO) for a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA).
Read Full News..
UK Music, an umbrella organisation representing the collective interests of the country’s commercial music industry, has given its support to government intervention and a new tougher stance towards tackling illegal file sharing. The gov recently proposed the suspension of "
hard core copyright pirates" from their broadband ISP (
here).
Read Full News..
BT Group has confirmed that the first official commercial rollout of its future fibre optic based 'up to' 40Mbps+
Fibre to the Cabinet ( FTTC ) broadband services will begin in January 2010. The operator hopes to bring the service within reach of 1.5m UK homes and businesses by early summer 2010, rising to 10m (40% of the population) or more by 2012 and at a cost of £1.5bn.
Read Full News..