Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: August 2020 (107 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for August 2020

Virgin Media and Openreach See UK Internet Traffic Surge for Call of Duty UPDATE

6th Aug 2020 (13 Comments)

Broadband ISP Virgin Media has revealed that Wednesday’s release of the new Call of Duty: Warzone Season 5 patch saw internet traffic over their network spike to 60% higher than the same time last week. During peak time (8pm to 10pm) there was also a 20% uplift in traffic. Openreach (BT) and TalkTalk were also hit.

Vodafone Switches-on First Live UK OpenRAN Site and Tests uCPE

6th Aug 2020 (1 Comment)

Vodafone has just become the first UK mobile operator to switch-on a live 4G Open Radio Access Network (OpenRAN) site, which could help to cut the cost of building new networks by standardising the design and functionality of hardware and software. Separately they’ve also tested Universal Customer Premises Equipment (uCPE).

Gigaclear UK Launch Summer Sale on Rural FTTP Broadband

6th Aug 2020 (8 Comments)

Full fibre ISP Gigaclear has announced that new customers in rural areas covered by their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network can now benefit from a significant discount on their first 18 months of service, which has been introduced as part of their special Summer Sale until 14th August.

Uncertainty and Inadequate Broadband Impacts London SMEs UPDATE

6th Aug 2020 (5 Comments)

London UK broadband ISP CommunityFibre has published the results from a new 3Gem Research survey of 500 SMEs in the city, which among other things found that 85% of businesses don’t know how fast their broadband speed needs to be to thrive and a third upgraded their service during COVID-19 due to “inadequate speed / connection.”

Virgin Media UK Move to Fix 20Mbps Speed Cap on IPv6 Tunnels

6th Aug 2020 (23 Comments)

Broadband ISP Virgin Media is finally moving to develop a fix for a long-running, albeit quite technically niche problem, which severely throttles IPv4 internet traffic – often reducing download speeds to under 20Mbps – when the data packets carry Protocol 41 (i.e. the IPv6 encapsulation / tunnel protocol).

Pine Media’s Sheffield FTTP Broadband Build to Hit 50K Premises

6th Aug 2020 (7 Comments)

UK ISP Pine Media have announced that they plan to include an additional 20,000 premises into their roll-out of gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband technology in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield, which will see their total coverage reach 50,000.

New £900m Getting Building Fund Brings Broadband Boost to England UPDATE

5th Aug 2020 (0 Comments)

The UK government’s new £900m Getting Building Fund (GBF), which seeks to help create new jobs, skills and infrastructure across England in order to aid the recovery from COVID-19, has announced its allocations to various regions. A few of the projects also include funding for new gigabit broadband and “full fibre” networks.

ISP TalkTalk to Increase Prices for Some UK Call and TV Boosts

5th Aug 2020 (0 Comments)

Customers of low cost broadband ISP TalkTalk have started to spot that some of the pages on the provider’s website are pointing to future price rises, which are due to be introduced from 1st October 2020. The good news (unless they affect you) is that these only apply to optional (paid) boosts and call charges.

Delays Hit Speed Regrades on Openreach FTTP Broadband Lines

5th Aug 2020 (40 Comments)

A seemingly growing number of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP customers, at various UK providers, have over the past few weeks reported that requests to upgrade (regrade) their service to a faster tier are being delayed. The finger of blame is being cast toward BT’s Wholesale division.

Ofcom UK Ponders Personalised Broadband and Mobile Pricing

4th Aug 2020 (24 Comments)

The UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, has launched a new discussion document that explores the potential impact of “personalised pricing” on broadband ISP, phone and mobile services (i.e. when providers adopt the ability to set different prices for different customers, based on individual characteristics).

ISP Giganet Launch New Gigabit Broadband Wing for UK Homes UPDATE

4th Aug 2020 (24 Comments)

UK ISP Giganet (M12 Solutions) has today launched a new residential division – Giganet Home. At the same time they’ve also expanded the availability of their Openreach based and 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband services to homes across the UK (initially it was only available to properties in Salisbury).

ISP Sky Broadband UK Preps Firmware to Fix VoIP Timing Bug

4th Aug 2020 (6 Comments)

A recent update to Sky Broadband’s latest SR203/204 Sky Hub wireless router appears to have caused a bug for the ISP’s VoIP using customers, which results in a 1 hour time difference on DECT handsets that can sometimes prevent calls from reaching the customer. But a fix is coming, even if we don’t know when.

Update on R100 Progress in Scotland and Possible Voucher Delay

4th Aug 2020 (8 Comments)

The Scottish Government has issued a small update on the progress of their £600m R100 (Reaching 100%) project with BT, which is working to extend “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) coverage. The good news is that the first Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) build is about to begin, but the voucher scheme may be delayed.

Virgin Media Records Strong Quarterly UK Broadband Growth

4th Aug 2020 (12 Comments)

Broadband and TV provider Virgin Media (Liberty Global) has today published their Q2 2020 results, which saw them add +39,200 new UK internet customers in the quarter (up from +8,200 last quarter) to total 5,318,400. At the same time their network coverage grew by 93,000 premises (unchanged).

Virgin Media Bring 1Gb Broadband to Leeds, Bradford, Glasgow

4th Aug 2020 (35 Comments)

Cable broadband ISP Virgin Media UK claims to have today become the UK’s “largest gigabit broadband network” after switching-on their DOCSIS 3.1 network upgrade in Leeds, Bradford, Glasgow and surrounding areas, which means that a total 3.6 million premises can now access their top Gig1 service (1104Mbps download and 52Mbps upload).

Survey Claims 33% of UK Suffered Bad Internet During Lockdown

3rd Aug 2020 (12 Comments)

A new telecoms experience study from Quadient, which is based on an Opinium survey of 2,000 adults conducted during June 2020, has found that 33% of UK consumers suffered from a “bad internet connection” during lockdown (COVID-19). A reminder, perhaps, of the need to invest in reliable and resilient networks.

Ofcom UK Aim Next 5G Mobile Spectrum Auction at January 2021

3rd Aug 2020 (9 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today confirmed that their much delayed auction of the 700MHz and 3.6-3.8GHz radio spectrum bands, which could boost new 5G mobile network coverage and mobile broadband speeds further into the Gigabit (1000Mbps+) territory, will not now take its first bids until January 2021.