Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: November 2018 (103 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for November 2018

Openreach Airborne Drone Reconnects Rural Hamlet After Landslide UPDATE

30th Nov 2018 (16 Comments)

A serious landslide, which cut-off the rural hamlet of Kinloch Hourn in the West Highlands (Scotland) from broadband and phone services, has been reconnected after Openreach (BT) used one of their airborne drones to fly a new cable over the safety exclusion zone, around the landslide, and to the base of the Quoich Dam.

Zayo Upgrades and Expands Long Haul 500km Fibre Ring in the UK

30th Nov 2018 (0 Comments)

The Zayo Group has announced that over the next 12 months they intend to upgrade and expand their existing long haul fibre optic ring network in the UK, which will improve its capacity, coverage and should provide access to the country’s latest subsea cable crossings in both the Irish and North Seas.

ISP Cloud M Fined £55K by Ofcom for Number Porting Shenanigans

30th Nov 2018 (3 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has fined business phone and broadband ISP Cloud M £50,000 for refusing to let one of its customers (a small business) take their phone number with them when they wanted to switch provider. A £5K fine was also imposed after they failed to provide accurate and complete info. by the deadline.

More Broadband Routers Exposed to NSA Based UPnP Exploit

30th Nov 2018 (3 Comments)

A new report from internet content network Akamai has warned that broadband routers from many different manufacturers (e.g. Asus, NETGEAR, D-Link, Ubiquiti etc.), specifically those that haven’t patched some old Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) vulnerabilities, are being targeted in order to spread the EternalBlue malware.

Scottish Borders Review Recommends Changes to Boost Broadband

30th Nov 2018 (7 Comments)

The Scottish Borders Council has published a review examining the impact of the £8.4m in public investment that went into improving the local reach of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+). This finds that the Openreach (BT) roll-out “possibly” delivered value for money, but there were “major problems with the quality of the coverage.”

KCOM Launch 900Mbps Broadband, Lower Prices and Unlimited Data

30th Nov 2018 (18 Comments)

The incumbent ISP for Hull (East Riding of Yorkshire), KCOM, has moved to address consumer concerns by refreshing their fibre optic (FTTP/C) “Lightstream” broadband packages to offer more unlimited data options (as opposed to old fashioned capped allowances), cheaper prices and a new 900Mbps tier.

Fears Grow of More Job Losses at UK ISP Origin Broadband

29th Nov 2018 (5 Comments)

Over the past couple of weeks a number of sources have contacted ISPreview.co.uk to alleged that Doncaster-based budget ISP Origin Broadband may be in the process of conducting a new redundancy consultation, which it’s claimed could result in the further loss of around 20 to 30 jobs.

BT Nears 2020 Target of Running on 100% Renewable Energy Globally

29th Nov 2018 (11 Comments)

Telecoms giant BT Group has today signed two new energy deals, primarily on behalf of sibling mobile operator EE, which will mean that 96% of their global operations are now powered by renewable electricity (up from 81% last year).

Ofcom UK Impose Cost Cap on Calls to 118 Directory Enquiries

28th Nov 2018 (10 Comments)

The high cost of contacting 118 numbers (Directory Enquires), which can sometimes reach up to £20 for an average 90-second call, is not a new concern but Ofcom has now finally decided to clampdown on the problem by imposing a cap on the cost of calling such services (effective from 1st April 2019).

BT Publish WiFi Speedtests for New Smart Hub 2 Router vs Rival ISPs

28th Nov 2018 (47 Comments)

BT has complemented the launch of their new Smart Hub 2 router (here) by publishing an updated study of WiFi speedtests, which pitted their kit against routers from TalkTalk, EE, Virgin Media, Sky Broadband and Plusnet. Unsurprisingly the UK ISP claims to provid “better wi-fi coverage” than all of them.

By 2024 Smartphones Will Consume 21GB+ of Mobile Data on Average

27th Nov 2018 (13 Comments)

The latest biannual mobility report from Ericsson has revealed that the world is home to a total of 7.9 billion mobile subscriptions and this will hit 8.9 billion by 2024. Over the same period the amount of monthly mobile data (3G, 4G and 5G) traffic consumed by a Smartphone user will rise from 5.6 GigaBytes today to 21GB.

Chamber Lid Removal Proves Tricky for Spectrum Internet FTTP Team

27th Nov 2018 (20 Comments)

A team of engineers working for UK ISP Spectrum Internet, which has been busy installing their own “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband network across parts of South Wales and the South West of England, recently ended up biting off a little more than they could chew while trying to open up a corroded underground chamber.

B4RN Suspends New EIS Investments into its UK FTTH Rollout

27th Nov 2018 (3 Comments)

The B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) project, which is deploying a community built and funded 1Gbps “full fibre” (FTTH) rural broadband network to homes in several counties, have taken the hopefully temporary decision not to process new EIS1 forms (Enterprise Investment Scheme) for investments made into the ISP.

Delays Confirmed for Gigaclear’s FTTP Broadband Rollout in Essex UK

27th Nov 2018 (4 Comments)

The Superfast Essex (SFE) project has now confirmed that they too have been affected by Gigaclear’s civil engineering delays, which means that the ISP’s planned roll-out of a 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the UK county will now complete in July 2020 instead of December 2019.

BT Launch New Smart Hub 2 Broadband Router and Complete Wi-Fi UPDATE

26th Nov 2018 (57 Comments)

After several months of trials UK ISP BT will tomorrow morning announce the launch of their new Smart Hub 2 (SH2) wireless ultrafast broadband router, which is complemented by a “coverage guarantee” to deliver strong WiFi signals across your home via the new “Complete Wi-Fi” solution.

Three UK Boosting EU Data Roaming Allowance from 15GB to 19GB

26th Nov 2018 (11 Comments)

Mobile operator Three UK has begun issuing a new text message to customers, which informs those who like to roam around the EU that the existing 15GB “fair use data limit” on 3G and 4G (mobile broadband) services will be increased to 19GB from 28th December 2018 “at no extra charge“.

Car Crash Leaves Norfolk UK Village Without Broadband for 2 Weeks

26th Nov 2018 (5 Comments)

A number of homes in the South Norfolk village of Marlingford were left without fixed line broadband and phone access for over two weeks after a car (Mini Cooper) crashed into one of Openreach’s (BT) local telegraph poles on 6th November, causing significant damage to both the pole and its underground cables.