Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: December 2013 (87 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for December 2013

Global Broadband Users Hit 670m as UK Comes Top for Fibre Growth

20th Dec 2013 (0 Comments)

The total number of global broadband subscribers in Q3-2013 has grown by 1.8% in the quarter to reach 670 Million (up from just 0.7% added in Q2). But the data also reveals that the UK has a 132.1% annual growth rate for fibre optic based broadband (FTTC/P/H etc.) and that puts us top of the table.

ISP Sky Broadband Launch Wireless Booster and Offer Half Price Service

20th Dec 2013 (2 Comments)

Media and Internet giant Sky Broadband has today made a new Sky Wireless Booster device available for free to their new and existing UK customers. On top of that their standard and fibre unlimited broadband packages are being offered at half price for the first 6-12 months of service.

Ofcom UK Satisfaction Survey Puts TalkTalk Bottom for Broadband

20th Dec 2013 (10 Comments)

The latest survey of consumer satisfaction, which was conducted by the communications regulator with 6,000 respondents between July and September 2013, has found that Sky Broadband and Virgin Media both score the highest (71%) for broadband but TalkTalk is at the bottom on 62%.

Gov Detail UK City Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme Changes

20th Dec 2013 (0 Comments)

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport has today confirmed all of the changes that have been made to its Broadband Connection Vouchers scheme since the autumn trial. The vouchers have been live since earlier this month (here), although there have been a few small changes under the hood.

UPDATE BT Openreach Tweaks Line Rental Prices for UK ISPs

20th Dec 2013 (0 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which manages BT’s national telecoms network in the United Kingdom, has today tweaked the price of its unbundled (LLU MPF / SMPF) and Wholesale Line Rental products for phone and broadband providers. This follows the conclusion of appeals against Ofcom’s 2012 LLU/WLR charge control.

UK ISP PlusNet Opens YouView TV Trials to Unlimited Fibre Customers

20th Dec 2013 (5 Comments)

As expected PlusNet has started to move forward with its plans to launch a YouView (IPTV) based TV product to their UK broadband customers by opening up the closed staff trial to existing customers with an Unlimited Fibre (FTTC) package.

BT Quietly Cuts UK FTTC Infinity 1 Package Usage Allowance to Just 20GB

20th Dec 2013 (6 Comments)

New customers who wish to take BT’s entry-level ‘up to’ 38Mbps superfast broadband (FTTC) package, better known as BTInfinity 1, will be displeased to learn that its monthly usage allowance has been brutally cut from 40GB (GigaBytes) to a meagre 20GB and the standard price of £15 a month is unchanged.

UPDATE Fibre GarDen Name ITS Technology as FTTP Broadband Supplier

19th Dec 2013 (7 Comments)

The community Fibre GarDen (Digital Dales) project, which aims to build a new fibre optic (FTTP) based superfast broadband network to help connect rural homes in Garsdale and Dentdale (Cumbria, England), has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the ITS Technology Group to help build, deliver and manage the service.

UK ISP BT Makes Home Hub 4 Broadband Router Available to Everybody

19th Dec 2013 (12 Comments)

In a curious twist BT has decided to make its Home Hub 4 broadband ISP routers available to non-customers, which means that it can be used with any Internet provider just like a router brought in the shops. But is it worth the £99.99 inc. VAT asking price?

UPDATE ISPs BT, Sky and TalkTalk in Compensation Dispute over LLU Lines

19th Dec 2013 (0 Comments)

Ofcom has today opened two similar but semi-separate disputes that concern BT’s provision of fully unbundled (MPF LLU) phone and broadband lines to TalkTalk and Sky Broadband, which the national telecoms operator is required to offer on “fair and reasonable terms“.

UPDATE BBC Find UK ISP Filters Fail to Block Porn and Catch Legit Websites

19th Dec 2013 (5 Comments)

An investigation by the BBC’s Newsnight programme has unsurprisingly discovered that the new generation of network-level Internet filtering (censorship) technologies, which are being adopted by all of the major broadband ISPs, often catch legitimate websites in their net and can also fail to block porn. Big SHOCK? Nope.

UPD Ofcom UK Propose Faster Line Repairs and Installs from BT Openreach

19th Dec 2013 (3 Comments)

The communications regulator has launched a new consultation on proposals that would require BTOpenreach, the company responsible for maintaining BT’s national UK telecoms and broadband network, to meet better “minimum performance standards“. Faster service installations and repairs could be two of the benefits but it won’t help FTTC/P lines.

BT Enhances FREE Online Cloud Storage Service for Broadband Customers

18th Dec 2013 (6 Comments)

BT has upgraded its secure online Cloud (BTCloud) storage and backup service, which is added free for all of their broadband customers in the United Kingdom (though the storage space varies between packages), to include a number of new features.

UPD Super Switch on Day for the National Broadband Delivery UK Scheme

18th Dec 2013 (36 Comments)

The Government has flushed out a bit of new PR spin today by labelling the 18th December 2013 as “Super Switch on Day“, which apparently marks how the first BT Street Cabinets in a number of local Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) projects have finally gone live with “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) services.

BT Openreach Launch Cable Theft and Damage Report Service for UK ISPs

18th Dec 2013 (9 Comments)

BTOpenreach has announced that its LIVE cable monitoring system, which proactively notifies broadband ISPs and phone operators about Major Service Outage’s on BT’s national UK telecoms network (specifically those that stem from cable damage or theft), is now out of its long trial and has been made available to ISPs.

Rural Shropshire Gains 50Mbps Wireless Broadband from Unitron Network

18th Dec 2013 (6 Comments)

Unitron (Userve Internet), an I.T services company, has spent £50,000 of its own money to develop a new 50Mbps capable superfast broadband wireless network that can cover both urban and rural parts of Shropshire (i.e. mostly around Shrewsbury, Newport and Telford) in England.

UPD Virgin Media UK Bring Cable Network to 2 East Lincolnshire Villages

18th Dec 2013 (0 Comments)

Cable operator Virgin Media, which normally focuses its superfast broadband, TV and phone platform on urban areas, has quietly expanded their network to include two small North East Lincolnshire (England) villages, Stallingborough and Habrough (750 homes), and more could follow.