Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: January 2016 (86 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for January 2016

Cityfibre Complete Extension of FTTP Broadband Network in Kirklees

20th Jan 2016 (0 Comments)

At the end of 2014 Cityfibre announced their plan to extend an 80km pure metro fibre optic Public Service Network (PSN) in Huddersfield, Kirklees (West Yorkshire, England) to cater for local businesses and happily, after 10 months of construction, the operator has now completed it.

West Somerset Tops New Index of Broadband Digital Deprivation

20th Jan 2016 (12 Comments)

Point Topic has updated their Digital Deprivation Index that attempts to identify which parts of the UK are most likely to struggle with the take-up of superfast broadband (30Mbps+) services, often due to issues such as low income or disability. Sadly West Somerset and Hull come top of the table.

LSE Analyst – BT and EE Merger May Entice Ofcom to Split Openreach

20th Jan 2016 (28 Comments)

A researcher for the London School of Economics (LSE) has warned that the recently approved £12.5bn merger between fixed line telecoms giant BT and mobile operator EE may “change the competitive balance of the UK communications landscape” and challenge Ofcom’s approach to regulation.

UK ISP Sky Broadband Expects Strong Progress in IPv6 Rollout

20th Jan 2016 (0 Comments)

Customers of Sky Broadband will soon start to see the Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) addressing standard being enabled on their connections as the ISP begins to progress beyond last year’s large scale trials, with the final firmware update for Sky’s routers likely to be rolled out during Q1 – Q2 2016.

UK Rural Broadband Satellite Subsidy Scheme Gets Off to a Slow Start

19th Jan 2016 (6 Comments)

Perhaps unsurprisingly the Government’s new Satellite broadband subsidy scheme, which aims to help 300,000 of the most remote rural premises in the United Kingdom (note: Wales has a different scheme) to get a better connection, has got off to a slow start with only £8,400 spent of the £60 million funding.

BT Appoint Howard Watson as CEO of Tech, Service and Operations

19th Jan 2016 (0 Comments)

BT’s Chief Architect and MD of their Global IT Platform, Howard Watson, has today been announced as the man that will take over from Clive Selley as the CEO of their Technology, Service and Operations (TSO) division. Selley has of course recently been promoted (here) to the tricky role of CEO at Openreach.

UK ISPs Mute on Support for New 55Mbps FTTC Broadband Product

19th Jan 2016 (4 Comments)

Some Internet providers appear to have been left confused and uncertain about whether to adopt BTOpenreach’s new Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL) product, which launched last Saturday and offers superfast broadband download speeds of ‘up to’ 55Mbps and uploads of 10Mbps.

UPDATE UK Government – No Consensus on Deploying FTTP Broadband

18th Jan 2016 (54 Comments)

The Central Government has disappointed those calling for ultrafast pure fibre optic broadband connections (FTTH/P) to be rolled out across the United Kingdom by rebuffing the idea as part of its response to a European Commission consultation on connectivity needs post-2020.

BT Boosts Customer Support with 1,000 New UK Based Jobs

18th Jan 2016 (11 Comments)

Last year BT pledged to answer “more than” 80% of its customers’ calls in the United Kingdom by the end of 2016 (here) and today they’ve moved forward with that commitment by announcing the creation of 1,000 permanent UK jobs, which reflect “frontline roles in customer care” to be filled by April 2017.

UK ISP TalkTalk Make “Super Router” Standard for all Broadband Packages

18th Jan 2016 (2 Comments)

Customers of TalkTalk’s home Internet access packages may like to know that the ISP is now supplying their fastest “Super Router” (Huawei HG633) connection hardware with all new broadband packages “at no extra cost“, not just on their “fibre broadband” or Plus TV options.

A Look at the Routers in BT’s 500Mbps UK G.fast Broadband Trial

18th Jan 2016 (24 Comments)

A lot has already been said about BT’s forthcoming 300-500Mbps capable “ultra fast fibre” G.fast (NGA2) broadband technology, which is currently being trialled in parts of Swansea (Wales), Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire) and Gosforth (Newcastle), but not a lot has been seen of the consumer router hardware being tested by Openreach.. until now.

Sky Broadband and Virgin Media Come Top in Ofcom Satisfaction Study

15th Jan 2016 (15 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulatory has today published a new study of consumer satisfaction with fixed line broadband, phone, pay TV and mobile providers, which surveyed thousands of consumers between July and September 2015 to reveal that Sky Broadband is the highest rated of all the big ISPs.

Netflix Finally Clamps Down on VPN Using Broadband Subscribers

15th Jan 2016 (12 Comments)

Internet video streaming giant Netflix has finally followed through on last year’s controversial change to their Terms & Conditions by limiting access for broadband subscribers that make use of Proxy Servers or Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which circumvent regional content restrictions.

What Comes Next – BT and EE Merger Officially Cleared by Regulator

15th Jan 2016 (16 Comments)

As expected the Competition and Markets Authority has today officially approved the £12.5bn merger between national UK fixed line telecoms giant BT and mobile operator EE. But what comes next and how might existing customers or services be impacted.

UPDATE Customers of UK ISP TalkTalk Suffer Dead Phone Lines

14th Jan 2016 (12 Comments)

A large number of customers with a TalkTalk home telephone line have spent most of the day with a malfunctioning service, which seemingly presents no dial tone and often does not allow either incoming or outgoing calls.

Council of Europe Sets Out Net Neutrality Guidelines for Broadband ISPs

14th Jan 2016 (1 Comment)

The Council of Europe has today issued a set of “network neutrality guidelines” that call for mobile and broadband providers to treat Internet traffic equally, without discrimination or restriction, and for member states (e.g. UK) to support this via the “development of national legal frameworks“.

Former BT CEO Ben Verwaayen Confirmed to Join Ofcom’s Board

14th Jan 2016 (6 Comments)

Ofcom has confirmed the appointment of former BT CEO Ben Verwaayen to the position of non-executive director on their board, which comes just ahead of the Strategic Review that will decide whether or not BT should be separated from control of their national UK broadband and phone network.