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First Projects in Wales Benefit from £10m Local Broadband Fund UPDATE

13th January, 2021 (4 Comments)

The Welsh Government (WG) has today named the first projects to benefit from their new £10 million Local Broadband Fund (LBF), which aims to help bring “fast and reliable broadband” ISP networks (often FTTP powered) to some of the country’s most poorly served rural communities.

Study Claims UK Gov’s Digital Inclusion Strategy Missed Targets

13th January, 2021 (0 Comments)

A Rouge Media study has found that the UK Government may have failed the targets set in their 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy, which among other things aimed to reduce the number of people offline by 25% every 2 years (and by the end of 2020, everyone who can be digitally capable, will be). But only a 16% fall was achieved.

Australia Sets New Distance Record for 1Gbps Speed via 5G mmW UPDATE

13th January, 2021 (2 Comments)

The nbn™ Fixed Wireless network in Australia has just set what appears to be a new “world record” after it reached a broadband speed of “close” to 1Gbps (1000Mbps) via 5G mobile technology in a millimetre-wave (mmWave) band, using about 400MHz of spectrum bandwidth, over a distance of 7.3km.

Broadband ISP Plusnet UK to Stop Taking YouView TV Orders

13th January, 2021 (21 Comments)

Budget broadband ISP Plusnet, which is part of the BT Group, has announced that they will “no longer be taking orders” for their YouView (IPTV) powered Pay TV box and service from 19th January 2021, although some customers are already reporting difficulties in adding the service to their package.

9 New 5G Tech and OpenRAN Trials Secure £28m of UK Funding

13th January, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Government has unveiled an additional nine UK technology trials under the 5G Create scheme, which reflects a total investment of £28.3m to help test various new 5G based broadband and wireless technologies and use cases. The biggest winner this time around seems to be Open Radio Access Networks (OpenRAN).

Bundle of optical fibers with lights in the ends. Blue background.

Full Fibre Coverage Checker Live for N.Ireland’s Project Stratum

12th January, 2021 (0 Comments)

The Northern Ireland Executive (DfE) has today announced that a new address level postcode checker is now available, which enables people to check eligibility and availability for when the new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network will reach them under the £165m Project Stratum rollout.

Three UK Hikes Standard Charges for PAYG Mobile Customers UPDATE

12th January, 2021 (65 Comments)

Customers of Three UK’s Pay As You Go (PAYG) plans look set to be hit with a significant price increase on their standard rates for calls, text messages (SMS) and data usage (mobile broadband), which will be introduced from 16th February 2021. EU roaming and international rates will also be hit.

Virgin Media UK Gifts Free Mobile Data and TV Channels to Customers

12th January, 2021 (21 Comments)

Some customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media are being offered a set of freebies to help keep them connected and entertained during the latest COVID-19 lockdown, which covers a range of things from the addition of extra Pay TV and on-demand content (at no extra cost) to free mobile data, minutes and texts.

London ISP Community Fibre Launch New Home Phone Service

12th January, 2021 (8 Comments)

London focused broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which is currently rolling out a 3Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to a good chunk of the UK’s capital city, has today launched a new IP-based (VoIP) Home Phone service to optionally accompany their internet access packages.

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.