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UPD2 BT Confirm UK Launch Date for 80Mbps Superfast FTTC Broadband Upgrade

12th March, 2012 (53 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which is responsible for providing UK ISPs with equal access to BT’s local and national telecoms and internet infrastructure, has confirmed that its new ‘up to’ 80Mbps (Megabits per second – download speed) superfast Fibre-to-the-Cabinet ( FTTC ) broadband speed upgrade will officially be introduced from “early” April 2012. The maximum upload speeds will also rise to 20Mbps.

UK Concedes that Scotland Did Not Get a Fair Share of Broadband Funds

12th March, 2012 (2 Comments)

The Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Investment, Alex Neil (SNP), claims that the UK’s central government (Westminster) “have now conceded that we did not get our fair share” of funding to assist with the rollout of faster broadband internet access services in rural areas.

Mitchells and Butlers Pubs Gain FREE WiFi Internet from O2 UK

12th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Mitchells & Butlers, a leading operator of restaurants and pubs in the UK, has today signed a new three year agreement with mobile provider O2 for the provision of a free wireless internet (WiFi) service at 1,600 of their outlets around the country. This includes 13 different brands, such as Harvester, Toby Carvery, Vintage Inns, Browns, All Bar One and O’Neill’s.

UK Study Finds Lower Home Broadband Penetration in Unbundled LLU Areas

12th March, 2012 (4 Comments)

New Ofcom (UK telecoms regulator) commissioned research from Imperial College London (ICL) claims to have discovered that the process of freeing up an incumbent operators (e.g. BT) telephone exchange so that rivals can install their own kit inside, which is better known as Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), actually results in “lower penetration levels” (about -2%) for residential broadband access than areas without unbundling (i.e. BT only).

AAISP Identifies another Low Cost IPv6 Capable Broadband Router

12th March, 2012 (2 Comments)

The Director of broadband ISP Andrews & Arnold UK (AAISP), Adrian Kennard, reports that a forthcoming firmware upgrade for the Zoom X7N wireless ADSL2+ modem router should make it work properly with the latest Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) standard and PPPoA. Crucially Zoom’s kit, much like Technicolor’s TG582n, is a low cost router; something the market has been lacking for awhile.

SES Satellite Service Renamed from ASTRA2Connect to SES Broadband

12th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Worldwide satellite operator SES (ASTRA) has renamed its internet service subsidiary ASTRA Broadband Services and their familiar ASTRA2Connect product to SES Broadband Services and SES Broadband respectively. The new names are said to be “in line with SES’ new Corporate Identity“.

PlusNet Calls for More UK Customers to Join its 80Mbps Broadband Trial

12th March, 2012 (5 Comments)

UK ISP PlusNet has said that there are still “plenty of spaces open” on its trial of up to 80Mbps (Megabits per second) Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband technology, which was made available to all residential subscribers last month (currently 100 staff and customers are taking part). Results so far are said to have been “very positive“.

ISP Exwavia Fears UK Government to Fine Rural Farmers for Lack of Broadband

10th March, 2012 (4 Comments)

Welshpool-based ISP Exwavia, which uses wireless (WiFi) technology to deliver broadband internet access speeds of up to 14Mbps (Megabits per second) into isolated parts of rural Wales (UK), has warned that farmers could soon be hit by a new wave of fines and penalties if they do not start using the governments related online services (e.g. Taxation, Electronic Sheep Database etc.).

Golden Eye Tests Broadband ISP Piracy Evidence in UK Court vs O2

9th March, 2012 (6 Comments)

Despite the repeated failure of similar schemes, Golden Eye International, a dubious firm that claims to hold numerous film copyrights and is linked with the UK’s Ben Dover porn brand, has today gone to court in an attempt to extract the customer details for around 9,000 internet connections (IP addresses) from ISP O2 UK (Telefonica). If it wins then thousands of users, specifically those whom it accuses of “illegal” online piracy, could expect to receive threat letters (“speculative invoicing“) that demand payments of £700 to settle the offence.

BT Says UK FTTC Superfast Broadband Can Do 100Mb After EU Said it Can’t

9th March, 2012 (11 Comments)

The Vice President of the European Commission’s (EC) Digital Agenda strategy, Neelie Kroes, suggested in a speech to the Cable Congress of the European Cable Communications Association (Brussels, Germany) yesterday that it was “not possible” for Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology to “really provide 100 Megabits” superfast broadband ISP speeds. Naturally BTOpenreach, which is using the same technology for its national UK rollout, disagrees.

Configuration Change Downs Orange UK Mobile Broadband Network

9th March, 2012 (1 Comment)

Mobile operator Orange UK (Everything Everywhere) has admitted that an unspecified “configuration change” was responsible for yesterdays sporadic national outage of its Mobile Broadband (3G) services. The issue, which lasted most of the day for some customers, did not appear to affect T-Mobile’s shared network and was finally resolved during the early afternoon.

Majority of UK Local Authorities Meet Governments Broadband Deadline

8th March, 2012 (4 Comments)

The UK governments Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has today announced that all but two local authorities (councils) have managed to submit their draft Local Broadband Plans (LBP) on time, which aim to help make superfast broadband (25Mbps+) ISP services available to 90% of the country by 2015 (the last 10% will get at least 2Mbps). In addition 40% of local authority projects have been given the green light to proceed with procurement.

Faster Broadband for Rural UK Villages of Nun Monkton and Moor Monkton

8th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

NYnet, a UK public sector controlled private limited company, has announced that the isolated rural North Yorkshire villages of Nun Monkton and Moor Monkton can now recieve faster broadband internet access. The effort is thanks to a mix funding coming from the community, local businesses, Defra’s Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and CLANNET.

ISP Entanet Tells Ofcom to End UK Mobile Operator Imposed VoIP Blocks

8th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Business ISP Entanet, a UK telecoms and internet supplier, has suggested that the national communications regulator (Ofcom) must “be prepared to step in” and force Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to stop their “anti-competitive practices” (e.g. blocking VoIP traffic) by protecting Net Neutrality (the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal).

BT Expands Trial of White Space Wireless Broadband Technology to Cornwall UK

8th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

BT has confirmed that it plans to expand upon last year’s Cambridge and Isle of Bute based trials (here) of “White Space” (IEEE 802.22) wireless broadband technology, which makes use of the radio spectrum that exists between Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) channels to deliver internet access services, by launching a new commercial scale test in Cornwall to replace its current 4G (Mobile Broadband) trial with Everything Everywhere (Orange UK and T-Mobile).

4G Mobile Broadband Spectrum Auction Could Force UK Rail Coverage

7th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

A new report created by Mott MacDonald for Ofcom has suggested that the much delayed auction of 800MHz and 2.6GHz radio spectrum, which will be used to deploy the next generation of 3G and 4G superfast Mobile Broadband services (e.g. LTE), could boost mobile coverage of the national UK rail network by including an “obligation for rail corridor coverage” in future licenses.

UPD Ofcom UK Makes BT Cut its Wholesale Broadband and Phone Line Prices

7th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

As widely expected the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has today introduced a new round of price cuts (“charge controls“) upon BTOpenreach’s national telephone and broadband lines, which affects services delivered via both BT’s own Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) and rival Local Loop Unbundling ( LLU ) lines. As a result ISPs like Sky Broadband , TalkTalk and Be Broadband should now pay a little less. But will consumers see any benefit?