Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: January 2015 (82 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for January 2015

Sky Broadband Shield Clarifies UK Adult Internet Filtering Policy

20th Jan 2015 (2 Comments)

UK ISP Sky Broadband has today confirmed that their network-level filtering (Parental Control) services are now “rolling out” to all of their customers, which in Sky Shield’s case means that existing customers will now be given an option about whether or not to disable the filter and if they don’t make a decision then it will be enabled by default.

Direct Save Telecom Claims “Cheapest Advanced Line Rental” with Broadband

20th Jan 2015 (0 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s broadband and phone price war appears to be reaching a new level after ISP Direct Save Telecom announced that their £1.95 per month unlimited broadband package, which also comes with free evening and weekend calls, would now be offered alongside the markets “cheapest advanced line-rental” from the equivalent of just £11 a month (pre-paid at £132 per year).

ISP PlusNet Launch Faster Hub Zero 2704n Broadband Router – Full Specs

20th Jan 2015 (40 Comments)

Low cost ISP PlusNet appears to have quietly introduced a new wireless broadband router for their new customers in the United Kingdom, which is called the Hub Zero (Sagemcom 2704n) and curiously does not come with an integrated VDSL modem for superfast FTTC broadband lines (i.e. you still need to use Openreach’s supplied VDSL modem via a managed install).

UPDATE BT Enable Physical Retransmission G.INP on FTTC Broadband Lines

20th Jan 2015 (25 Comments)

A new report appears to suggest that BTOpenreach has deployed or started to deploy Physical Retransmission (G.INP / ITU G.998.4) technology to improve the performance of their superfast ‘up to’ 40-80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL) broadband lines. Previously G.INP has only formed part of a trial on Openreach’s platform.

London 4G Wireless ISP Relish Says Brits Underestimate Landline Costs

20th Jan 2015 (1 Comment)

Relish, a London-based and focused 4G fixed wireless superfast broadband ISP, has continued to highlight the high cost of landline phone rental by claiming that 30% of UK adults do not know how much they are spending on their landline and estimate their monthly expenditure at £11.39 (well below the £16.77 average of the big ISPs).

Three UK Owner Still in Talks to Potentially Buy O2 from Telefonica

19th Jan 2015 (3 Comments)

The Hong Kong based parent of mobile operator Three UK (Hutchison Whampoa), which before Christmas had initially expressed an interest (here) in buying either ideally EE or perhaps O2, is still in talks to buy Telefonica’s mobile sibling in the United Kingdom and such a deal could be worth as much as £9bn.

EE Incorrectly Charged VAT for Non-EU Mobile Broadband Roaming

19th Jan 2015 (0 Comments)

Approximately 0.5% of EE’s total customer base in the United Kingdom, specifically those who used Mobile Broadband / Mobile Data while roaming outside of Europe between October 2012 and October 2014, will received a credit refund of between £2 and £80 per customer after the operator wrongly charged Value Added Tax (VAT) on their Data Roaming bundle.

All of the UK’s Big ISPs Commit to Voluntary Code to Protect an Open Internet

19th Jan 2015 (5 Comments)

The Broadband Stakeholders Group (BSG), a government policy think-tank, reports that all of the United Kingdom’s “leading” Internet Service Providers (ISP) have, after nearly three years of waiting, finally signed-up to their Voluntary Code of Practice in support of the Open Internet (Net Neutrality).

YouGov Find UK Support for Tougher State Internet Snooping Law is Split

19th Jan 2015 (12 Comments)

A new YouGov survey of 1,647 adults across Great Britain, which was conducted at the end of last week, has indicated that 53% of people support calls for a tougher Internet Snooping law that would log and supply more of your private communications data (e.g. email, website, Skype access logs etc.) to the security services. But happily most oppose the recent calls for a ban on encryption.

UPDATE “Luton” Best and “Hull” Worst, UK Cities for Superfast Broadband

19th Jan 2015 (15 Comments)

The Centre for Cities, which claims to be a non-partisan / independent think-tank that dedicates itself towards understanding and improving city economies, has published its annual 2015 Cities Outlook report to reveal the United Kingdom’s best and worst performing cities across various criteria. One of the criteria they judge is superfast broadband penetration.

Ofcom Open 5G Mobile Broadband Consultation on Spectrum Above 6GHz

16th Jan 2015 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has started a new consultation that seeks feedback on whether radio spectrum bands above 6GHz could be used for the future 5th generation (5G) of ultrafast Mobile Broadband connectivity, which many predict will be able to offer peak / shared performance of up to or beyond 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) by around 2020.

UK Devon and Somerset Broadband Extension Contract Goes to Tender

16th Jan 2015 (2 Comments)

The £94m Connecting Devon and Somerset project in England, which is currently working with BT to make “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+ capable FTTC/P) service available to over 90% of local premises by the end of 2016 and possibly 95% through a new contract, appears to have moved on from its earlier funding woes and prepared a tender.

Remote Scotland Communities Demand Broadband Rollout Clarity

16th Jan 2015 (54 Comments)

Alistair Carmichael, the MP for two of north Scotland’s most remote island communities (Orkney and Shetland) and the UK’s Secretary of State for Scotland, has called upon the Scottish Government and BT to publish a more detailed roll-out plan for the on-going deployment of “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) connectivity on the islands.

Ed Vaizey Dodges Question on 2018 Superfast Broadband Rollout Delay

15th Jan 2015 (17 Comments)

During an interesting exchange in the House of Commons today the Government’s Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, successfully managed to dodge a question about the likelihood of the Government’s 95% superfast broadband (24Mbps+) coverage target, which is due to complete by 2017, seemingly slipping into 2018 or possibly later.

UPDATE ISP Demon Internet Suffers Major Broadband Service Outage

15th Jan 2015 (1 Comment)

The small-ish business focused ISP Demon Internet (remember them? Yep, they’re still going) appears to have suffered a significant outage on their broadband service today, which began at around 8am this morning and is currently preventing customers from being able to connect.

UPDATE FSB Claim Half of Rural Small Businesses Dissatisfied with Broadband

15th Jan 2015 (15 Comments)

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has today warned of a “two-speed digital economy” after it published the results of new research, which found that 49% of rural small businesses are dissatisfied with the quality of their broadband service and this falls away significantly to just 28% for similar firms based in urban areas.

UPD3 Ofcom Propose Not to Cut BT’s FTTC Superfast Broadband Prices for ISPs

15th Jan 2015 (17 Comments)

The national UK telecoms regulator has today revealed the outcome from its recent consultation into whether or not the cost of BT’s superfast broadband Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) lines for rival ISPs needed to be adjusted in order to “maintain a sufficient margin between [their] wholesale and retail superfast broadband charges“.