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Gigaclear Opens New Local HQ and Warehouse in Swindon UK

12th January, 2021 (2 Comments)

Rural focused FTTP broadband ISP Gigaclear, which aims to cover 500,000 UK properties with their full fibre network by the end of 2023 (here), has boosted its deployment plans by opening a new office and warehousing facility in Swindon – designed to support its HQ, act as a central distribution hub, and supply its workforce.

Virgin Media UK Launch Plume Powered Intelligent WiFi Plus

12th January, 2021 (35 Comments)

Broadband ISP Virgin Media UK has today launched a new service called Intelligent Wi-Fi Plus, which combines improvements to the firmware of their HUB 3.0 and 4.0 routers with Plume‘s smart home Mesh WiFi system in order to deliver improved wireless connectivity around your home. Some customers will get this “at no extra cost“.

NETGEAR Launches One of the First WiFi 6E Wireless Routers

11th January, 2021 (16 Comments)

A number of router manufacturers are looking to launch devices based off the new WiFi 6E standard this year, which adds support for the new 6GHz band to the 802.11ax standard. One of the first out of the gate is NETGEAR’s Nighthawk RAXE500 AXE11000 kit, which promises theoretical wireless speeds of 10.8Gbps and WPA3 security.

Zen Internet UK Reveals 900Mbps Broadband Price on Cityfibre

11th January, 2021 (35 Comments)

ISP Zen Internet, which late last year confirmed that would soon begin offering broadband services on part of Cityfibre’s new alternative UK Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network (here), has today revealed that they intend to charge just £40 per month for the top unlimited 900Mbps package.

EE, BT Mobile and Plusnet Mobile to Zero Rate BBC Bitesize Data

11th January, 2021 (24 Comments)

Mobile customers of BT, Plusnet and EE have today been told that the operators will remove mobile data (mobile broadband) charges for BBC Bitesize content by the end of January 2021. The move forms part of BT’s new “Lockdown Learning” scheme (here), which was kicked off last week to help struggling school children.

Cityfibre Begin £40m FTTP Broadband Rollout in Medway, Kent

11th January, 2021 (3 Comments)

Cityfibre has today started the £40m rollout of a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network to cover “almost every home and business” in the conurbation and unitary authority of Medway in Kent (England), which has a population of around 280,000.

Vodafone and O2 Agree Deal to Monetise UK Mobile Mast Sites

11th January, 2021 (8 Comments)

In an unsurprising development, mobile operators O2 (Telefonica) and Vodafone, which have a 50:50 network sharing agreement via Cornerstone (CTIL), have today moved to jointly commercialise their existing UK mast and tower sites as part of a new long-term Master Services Agreement (MSA).

New Record as Speed of 1Pbps Hit in Multi-Mode Optical Fibre

11th January, 2021 (7 Comments)

An international team of researchers from Japan, the USA and France has managed to achieve a world record data transmission speed of 1 Petabit per second (or 1,000,000 Gigabits) in a single-core multi-mode optical fibre cable, which is 2.5 times faster than the previous record of 0.4Pbps.

O2 UK Expects to Add SMS Support to WiFi Calling in 2021

11th January, 2021 (8 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 (Telefonica UK) has informed ISPreview.co.uk that, after a long wait, they intend to join the other primary operators by adding the ability to send and receive text (SMS) messages via Wi-Fi Calling, which they’re aiming to introduce “later this year.”

A Look at Openreach’s Future 4 Port ONT for FTTP Broadband UPDATE

9th January, 2021 (54 Comments)

At present if you order a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP line on Openreach’s UK network then you’re likely to end up with a single port Optical Network Terminal (ONT) installed on your inside wall (example), but a new 4 port ONT is coming this summer 2021 and we’ve been given a sneak peak.

BT Does U-turn to Offer Unlimited Mobile Data to UK School Kids

8th January, 2021 (21 Comments)

A couple of days ago BT and EE pledged to help support children’s education in the UK during the COVID-19 lockdown by giving 20GB of free mobile data (mobile broadband) per month to “disadvantaged families” (here), but now they’ve decided to boost this to “unlimited” and there’s more..

Hyperoptic Deploy 1Gb Fibre to Social Housing in Southampton

8th January, 2021 (2 Comments)

UK ISP Hyperoptic, which builds 1Gbps capable “full fibre” (FTTP/B) broadband networks to large residential (MDU) or office buildings, has today announced that thousands of Southampton City Council tenants in Hampshire now have access to their network thanks to a new supply agreement. More will soon follow.

PAC Warns UK Gov Failures Mean Rural Gigabit Broadband Delays

8th January, 2021 (29 Comments)

A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has identified a “litany” of failures in the Government’s (DCMS) £5bn Gigabit Broadband Programme (F20), which it warns will result in “business and homes in rural areas” being “locked out of gigabit broadband for years to come.”

O2 UK Offers 40GB of Free Mobile Data to Disadvantaged Pupils

7th January, 2021 (8 Comments)

Mobile network operator O2 (Telefonica UK) has confirmed that they will also be providing 40GB of free data (mobile broadband) a month to enable disadvantaged pupils in years 3 to 11 to continue their learning from home during the latest COVID-19 related national lockdown.

2020 H2 – UK Cover of Gigabit Broadband Reaches 37.4 Percent

7th January, 2021 (29 Comments)

The latest independent study of UK broadband coverage for H2 2020 has estimated that “full fibre” (FTTP) ISP networks have now increased their reach to 19.2% of premises (up from 14.8% in H1), while 37.4% are within reach of “gigabit” speeds (up from 22.1%) and 64.3% can get 100Mbps+ (up from 61.7%).

EXFO to Help Openreach Test and Monitor their FTTP Network

7th January, 2021 (6 Comments)

A competitive tender process has resulted in Openreach choosing the monitoring and analytics firm EXFO to supply optical test heads and test access switching, as well as monitoring, to help support the rollout of their 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the UK.

Switching Study Claims 5 Million UK People Overpay for Broadband

7th January, 2021 (19 Comments)

A new survey of 3,000 UK adults has estimated that around 5.38 million households who are out of contract with their current fixed broadband ISP have been discouraged from switching provider due to a lack of confidence in the process, which it’s claimed could result in related users “overpaying” to the tune of £804m (total).