Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: August 2013 (96 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for August 2013

UK Map Suggests Superfast Broadband Coverage Still on Target for 2015

22nd Aug 2013 (12 Comments)

Telecoms analyst Point Topic has today published a new report on broadband coverage across the United Kingdom, which predicts that superfast (30Mbps+) availability could hit 90.8% by the end of 2015. ISPreview.co.uk has also been able to obtain an exclusive map that splits the presence of fibre FTTx and cable (DOCSIS) networks.

Worcestershire UK Allow BT to Overlap Existing Superfast Broadband Network

22nd Aug 2013 (11 Comments)

The Worcestershire County Council (WCC), which recently signed a state aid supported £20.75m deal with BT to make “high-speed fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) available to 90% of local premises by mid-2016 (here), has warned that it could use some of the money to overbuild an existing superfast wireless broadband network.

UK ISP Sky Broadband Says No Need to Fear SessionCam Snooping

22nd Aug 2013 (11 Comments)

Sky Broadband has moved to reassure people after some of their customers noticed that the third-party SessionCam service appeared to be monitoring private activity upon sensitive parts of the ISPs online account management (My Sky) pages, such as the page for entering payment details.

Satellite ISP Uses Crowd Funding to Solve Broadband Notspots in Scotland

21st Aug 2013 (0 Comments)

Ayrshire-based ISP Internet Anywhere, which claims to be Scotland’s largest reseller of Eutelsat’s up to 20Mbps capable Tooway based satellite broadband services, has become one of the first businesses to make use of a new crowd-funding platform that could help to plug the country’s remaining internet notspots and slowspots.

UPD Virgin Media is Official UK Broadband ISP Partner for Sonys PS4 Launch

21st Aug 2013 (33 Comments)

Sony has announced that its forthcoming PlayStation 4 (PS4) video games console, which is officially confirmed to arrive in the United Kingdom on 29th November 2013, has chosen broadband provider Virgin Media to be its main ISP partner. Rumours of a new 200Mbps product are also floating around.

UPDATE Virgin Media UK Warns of 1st October 2013 Broadband Price Hike

20th Aug 2013 (43 Comments)

Customers of Virgin Media’s superfast 30Mbps and legacy 20Mbps cable broadband packages have been advised that the monthly price they pay will, effective from 1st October 2013, rise by an extra £2.50 a month.

Analyst Predicts EU Superfast Broadband Coverage to Miss its 2020 Target

20th Aug 2013 (26 Comments)

A new study has claimed that Europe will fail to make superfast broadband (30Mbps+) ISP speeds available to 100% of households by 2020. But it will achieve 90% coverage and most of that will be due to the mass adoption of hybrid-fibre (e.g. FTTC and cable) technologies that combine fibre optic with existing copper or coax cables.

Softer Blow for BT as Ofcom UK Revise its Wholesale Broadband Price Cuts

20th Aug 2013 (2 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today issued a correction to its original July 2013 proposal (here) that would force BT into reducing the cost of their fixed line wholesale broadband services (WLR, SMPF, MPF) to ISPs. The changes represent only a small price difference of a few pence to a few pounds but then the original proposal wasn’t huge either.

Can the UK Government Prevent Abusive or Threatening Comments Online

20th Aug 2013 (9 Comments)

Only weeks after the government put in place a stricter policy to nudge big broadband ISPs into censoring access to “adult” internet content (here) and it’s now positioning for a fight against the online worlds next biggest perceived evil.. swearing and trolls. Easier said than done.

UPDATE ISP Sky Broadband Confirms O2 UK and BE Migration Timetable

19th Aug 2013 (13 Comments)

Sky Broadband (BSkyB) have quietly updated their FAQ pages with more information about the forthcoming migration of O2 UK and BE Broadband fixed line ISP customers, which was previously expected to begin during the “autumn“. We now know that this process will start in October 2013 and should end sooner than expected.

UK ISP Aquiss Offers FREE FTTC Fibre Broadband Installations

19th Aug 2013 (9 Comments)

Shropshire-based ISP Aquiss has begun offering free installation alongside their superfast unlimited “fibre” (FTTC) broadband packages, which will save new customers £96 inc. VAT off the normal retail price. A second discount is also added if you take their phone (line rental) service.

BT Make Final Adjustments for Faster FTTC Broadband Vectoring Trial

19th Aug 2013 (28 Comments)

BTOpenreach has advised ISPreview.co.uk that their first trial of VDSL Vectoring (ITU-T G.993.5) technology, which could make even faster speeds available to more people on BT’s superfast (‘up to’ 80Mbps) hybrid-fibre (FTTC) broadband network, has been delayed a little but should now begin “within the next few weeks“.

Scotlands North Isles Could Build a Faster Community Broadband Network

17th Aug 2013 (13 Comments)

Broadband connectivity on Shetland might be gradually improving, thanks to a new undersea fibre optic link and investment, but many residents of the smaller surrounding islands (Yell, Unst and Fetlar) continue to suffer from slow connectivity (sub-1Mbps) and BT has yet to clarify its commitment. The solution could be a new community initiative.

UPDATE AAISP UK Migrate O2 Wholesale Lines to TalkTalk After SKY Concern

17th Aug 2013 (8 Comments)

Business ISP Andrews and Arnold (AAISP) has confirmed that they’ve started moving “a lot of” BE/O2 Wholesale broadband lines over to their other back-haul carrier (TalkTalk Wholesale), which has primarily been caused by a loss of customers and related “uncertainty over the Sky take over“.

UPD4 Crippling Debt Forces South Yorkshire UK Digital Region Network to Shut

15th Aug 2013 (51 Comments)

As feared the £100m+ Digital Region broadband network, which acted as an alternative to BT and delivered superfast broadband services to 80% of premises in South Yorkshire (England), has finally fallen under a growing weight of debt and announced its closure.

Open Rights Group UK Pushes for ISP Website Blocking Orders to be Public

15th Aug 2013 (8 Comments)

The Open Rights Group has applied to have a procedural judge (a ‘Master’) in the UK High Court investigate their request for the court orders (injunctions), those related to website blocking, to be made public. Rights Holders use these when forcing big ISPs to censor specific websites (e.g. Fenopy, H33t and Kickass Torrents).

UK ISP TalkTalk Offers FTTC to New Lines and Half Price Broadband

15th Aug 2013 (5 Comments)

Internet provider TalkTalk has advised that its “Superpowered Fibre Broadband” (FTTC) service can now be taken alongside a new phone line or migration via one engineer installation and one go live date, which follows the July 2013 trial. The ISP has also launched its new half-price offers, which slashes the cost of fibre and standard broadband.