Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: October 2017 (94 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for October 2017

Virgin Media and Plusnet Come Top in 2017 Customer Survey of UK ISPs

31st Oct 2017 (15 Comments)

Comparison site Cable has published the winners of a huge new ISP survey, which interviewed 16,753 UK broadband customers to identify the best providers via five categories (reliability, value for money, customer service, speed and switching). Virgin Media and Plusnet came top.

Openreach Find “broad support” for Large Scale UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

31st Oct 2017 (34 Comments)

After conducting an industry consultation Openreach (BT) has today claimed that ISPs offered “broad support” for their proposal to conduct a “large scale” rollout of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) ultrafast broadband across the UK, which could in theory reach 10 million premises by 2025. But no deal.. yet.

Twisted Light Wireless Optical Broadband Could Make Fibre Optics Obsolete

31st Oct 2017 (5 Comments)

A team of scientists working in the Photonics Research Group at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) has made progress on a way to adapt twisted light across a wireless optical (laser) ultrafast broadband network, which they claim could make traditional fibre optic (FTTH/P) cables “obsolete.”

Openreach Unveil New UK Pricing for FTTP on Demand Ultrafast Broadband

30th Oct 2017 (64 Comments)

Recent talks held between Openreach and ISPs appear to have today resulted in the decision to introduce new wholesale pricing and 12 month contracts for their FTTP on Demand (FTTPoD or FoD) ultrafast broadband products, which can be installed in areas where FTTP isn’t currently available.

Ofcom’s BT Line Rental Cut is a Headache for Optional Broadband ISPs

30th Oct 2017 (20 Comments)

Last week’s agreement between BT and Ofcom to drop the provider’s retail line rental price from £18.99 to £11.99 a month for landline-only customers (here), which could soon be adopted by others, may have created an awkward problem for ISPs that still sell optional broadband services.

Gigaclear CEO – UK Needs National Plan for “Full Fibre” Broadband Rollout

30th Oct 2017 (19 Comments)

The CEO of rural fibre optic ISP Gigaclear, Matthew Hare, has told ISPreview.co.uk as part of a brief interview that the country needs a new “national plan“, which acknowledges and “prioritises” the need to roll-out full fibre (FTTH/P) broadband networks across the whole of the United Kingdom.

UPDATE Gigaclear and West Oxfordshire in New 1Gbps Broadband Rollout Deal

29th Oct 2017 (11 Comments)

Earlier this year Gigaclear “regretfully decided to withdraw” from the West Oxfordshire Superfast Broadband project, which followed a dispute with their supplier ITS Technology Group (here). But the good news is that the ISP has signed a new deal to rollout FTTP broadband to 10,000+ rural premises.

ISP PlusNet Boost Uploads Back to 9.5Mbps on Unlimited Fibre Broadband

27th Oct 2017 (15 Comments)

After unceremoniously cutting the upload speeds of their ‘Unlimited Fibre‘ (up to 38Mbps FTTC download) broadband package from 19.5Mbps to just 1.9Mbps in 2015 (here), Plusnet has now decided to boost their upstream speeds part of the way back ‘up to’ 9.5Mbps.

Ofcom Fines UK ISP Gateway Telecom £150 Per Day for Failure to Respond

27th Oct 2017 (8 Comments)

Telecoms and broadband provider Gateway Telecom (GW Telecom Ltd.) faces a £150 daily penalty for each further day from 20th October 2017 that they fail to comply with Ofcom’s second statutory information request, which relates to the regulator’s probe of the firms number portability.

Openreach Says “copper will run out of steam” and Calls for FTTP Support

26th Oct 2017 (71 Comments)

Openreach’s (BT) Chairman, Mike McTighe, has told the Broadband World Forum that “we are getting to the point where the copper will run out of steam” and there’s a need to focus on “full fibre” (FTTP/H), but he warned that this could only be done with ISP support and “increases in wholesale pricing.”

Ofcom UK to Free 3.6GHz to 3.8GHz Radio Spectrum for 5G Mobile by 2022

26th Oct 2017 (0 Comments)

Ofcom has today started their formal process for making the 3.6GHz to 3.8GHz radio spectrum band available for use by future 5G based Mobile and Mobile Broadband technologies in the United Kingdom, although Mobile Network Operators (MNO) won’t be able to use it nationwide until 2022.

Ofcom Nudge BT to Slash UK Standalone Monthly Line Rental Costs by £7

26th Oct 2017 (15 Comments)

Consumers who take a landline-only phone service from BT will, from 1st April 2018, pay £7 per month less for their line rental following a decision by Ofcom (i.e. £11.99 inc. VAT per month instead of £18.99). The move will benefit up to 1 million of the operator’s customers, especially elderly users.

Churchill Gardens Named Largest FTTH Broadband Estate in Central London

26th Oct 2017 (0 Comments)

Urban focused ISP Community Fibre has claimed that their deployment of 1Gbps capable fibre optic broadband (FTTH/B) to all 1,700 properties on the Churchill Gardens Estate in Pimlico (Westminster) makes it the “largest full fibre-optic estate anywhere” in central London.

Openreach Pause Plans to Test XdB Boost on UK ECI FTTC Broadband Lines

25th Oct 2017 (15 Comments)

Last month we revealed that Openreach were preparing to test a ‘Proof of Concept’ upgrade that could boost the performance of ECI based FTTC (VDSL2) “fibre broadband” lines by adopting a default target downstream noise margin of 3dB (here). However the plan for this test has now been paused.

Superfast Broadband in East Riding Set to Reach 2,200 Extra Premises

25th Oct 2017 (7 Comments)

A reinvestment of £6 million into the on-going Broadband East Riding project in Yorkshire (England) will enable Openreach (BT) to extend their existing FTTC, FTTP and FTTRN rollout of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) in the region to an additional 2,200 homes and businesses.

2017 NextGen Digital Challenge Awards Sees Win for B4RN and Diva Telecom

25th Oct 2017 (0 Comments)

The annual NextGen Digital Challenge Awards were held last night in London, which saw rural FTTH ISP B4RN win the ‘Place Making Award‘ for their efforts in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Meanwhile Diva Telecom scooped the ‘Connected Britain Award‘ for their Eltofts village project.

Tom Hardy Sky Mobile TV Advert Banned for Misleading “free of charge” Claim

25th Oct 2017 (0 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a TV advert for the Sky Mobile service, which featured film actor Tom Hardy, because it was deemed to have misleadingly claimed that customers could swap their old phone for the latest one every 12 months “free of charge“.