Home » UK ISP News Archive » Monthly Archives: August 2024 (131 Posts Found)

ISP News Archives for August 2024

Scotland Partly Pauses R100 Gigabit Broadband Voucher Applications

6th Aug 2024 (1 Comment)

The Scottish Government (SG) has confirmed to ISPreview that they will be introducing a “temporary pause” on Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) applications for gigabit-capable projects covering multiple premises, which is intended to ensure the “best use of public funds” and to help “deliver an optimised roll out schedule“.

Mobile Operator Three UK Adopts New Price Hikes Policy

6th Aug 2024 (16 Comments)

Mobile network operator Three UK has today followed BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone and TalkTalk by introducing a new pricing policy that aligns with Ofcom’s new guidance banning inflation-linked annual telecoms price rises (i.e. annual price increases will in the future be outlined in “pounds and pence”).

Sky TV Launching Sky Sports+ Across UK on Thursday 8th August

5th Aug 2024 (11 Comments)

Sky UK (Sky Glass, Sky Stream etc.) has today announced the expected launch of their new Sky Sports+ service, which will become available nationwide from Thursday 8th August 2024. Sky Sports+ is to be included with Sky Sports “at no extra cost” and brings a bunch of new features and content.

Broadband ISP Andrews and Arnold UK Finally Adopt Unlimited Data

5th Aug 2024 (32 Comments)

The day has finally come when UK ISP Andrews & Arnold (AAISP), which have long been one of the few remaining fixed line broadband providers’ to only offer plans with capped data allowances (albeit very big ones), has finally adopted packages that come “without a usage cap” (aka – unlimited, although they don’t describe it like that).

EE and Sky Removing Netflix Basic Plan from UK TV Packages

5th Aug 2024 (6 Comments)

In an unsurprising development, both Sky TV (Sky Broadband) and EE (BT) have now confirmed their separate plans for withdrawing the old Netflix Basic (£7.99) plan from their various bundles. The move follows on from last year’s decision (here) by the video streaming giant to replace Basics with their “Standard with adverts” plan.

Three UK Expand Free Community 5G Broadband and Tablets Scheme

5th Aug 2024 (0 Comments)

Mobile operator Three UK has expanded their Connected Communities programme, which offers “free high-speed broadband, smart tablets and digital training sessions“, to include the Carrbridge Youth Centre in Birkenhead. The scheme has already launched across four youth groups in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester.

switch broadband ISP direction sign illustration

Survey Claims 71% of UK Broadband Users Find Changing ISP Tedious UPDATE

5th Aug 2024 (12 Comments)

A new survey of over 1,000 adults across the UK, which was conducted by research and consulting firm Cavell, claims to have found that the majority of UK consumers (71%) still find the process of changing broadband ISP to be frustrating, complicated or intimidating. Just 28% said they found it “easy“.

Virgin Media UK Gift TV Customers “Free” Access to Premier Sports

5th Aug 2024 (0 Comments)

Customers of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2), specifically those who take their Pay TV services (i.e. TV 360, STREAM or v6 box platforms), may like to know that the provider is offering TV customers who don’t currently subscribe to Premier Sports “free access to the channels for the whole of August”.

RootMetrics Benchmark Names EE BEST UK Mobile Network for H1 2024

5th Aug 2024 (13 Comments)

Mobile benchmarking firm RootMetrics (Ookla) has today published their H1 2024 study of UK mobile networks (calls, texts etc.) and mobile broadband performance, which once again sees EE (BT) come top against rivals at Vodafone, Three UK and O2 (Virgin Media). EE also “edged past” Three UK to deliver the “best 5G experience“.

B4RN Join UK Gov Charter to Protect Vulnerable Home Phone Users

5th Aug 2024 (0 Comments)

Rural focused alternative UK broadband network B4RN, which is a community benefit ISP that has rolled out a 10Gbps speed full fibre network to 25,000 premises (inc. 13,000+ customers), has joined the government’s charter for protecting vulnerable people from harm during the upgrade to digital (IP / VoIP based) phone lines.

Three UK Discounts 5G Home Broadband to £22 with First 6 Months at £11

4th Aug 2024 (0 Comments)

New customers looking to take one of Three UK’s unlimited 5G or 4G based Home Broadband packages may like to know that the operator has just discounted them from £24 to £22 per month on a 24-month term. In addition, you can also get the first six months of service at half price for just £11 (oddly, this only shows up when going to the checkout).

Pound sterling broadband voucher by 123rf (100296328)

Welsh Government Suspends ABC Broadband Voucher Scheme

3rd Aug 2024 (3 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has chosen to “pause” their long-running Access Broadband Cymru (ABC) grant scheme, which offered funding to help rural homes get a faster broadband service installed in areas of slow connectivity. But given the greater focus on gigabit-capable connections, ABC was starting to look a bit dated.

Competition Watchdog Delays Three UK and Vodafone Merger Decision

2nd Aug 2024 (32 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will need an additional 8 weeks to reach a conclusion on their Phase 2 investigation of the proposed mega-merger (here) between mobile operators Three UK and Vodafone. As a result, the deadline has been extended from 18th September 2024 to 7th December 2024.

Broadband ISP Aquiss Introduce Multi Gigabit UK CityFibre Plans for Businesses

2nd Aug 2024 (9 Comments)

Shropshire-based UK ISP Aquiss has today announced that they’ve expanded their range of CityFibre based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) packages by introducing symmetric speeds of up to 2.5Gbps for business customers (they already had some of these for residential subscribers).

Opensignal Ranks Largest 14 UK Broadband ISPs by Reliability

2nd Aug 2024 (6 Comments)

Benchmarking firm Opensignal has today published a complementary study to their recent research into the differences in broadband reliability across countries (here), which reveals the ISPs that deliver the strongest and poorest “broadband reliability experience” in the UK. Suffice to say that it’s a good day for Virgin Media and altnets.

Broadband Infrastructure Company Ltd Wound Up After Court Order

2nd Aug 2024 (0 Comments)

The Broadband Infrastructure Company Ltd (formerly British Fibre Networks), which was once part of the i4 Technology Group, has been ordered to wind up its UK operations by the courts. The development comes after the company, which was previously run by CEO Elfed Thomas, found itself being hit by challenges from former staff over unpaid wages.

Engineers Over Fibre Chamber Openreach 2022

Network Operators Call for Fairer Pricing to Access Openreach’s UK Infrastructure UPDATE4

2nd Aug 2024 (39 Comments)

A new “PIA Coalition” of alternative UK broadband networks, including nexfibre, AllPoints Fibre, CommunityFibre, Gigaclear, Netomnia and Brsk, has been setup and is calling on market regulator Ofcom to “ensure a level playing field for access” to Openreach’s passive infrastructure (existing cable ducts and poles) in its upcoming Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR).