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New Broadband Index Ranks 334 UK Areas by Average DL Speed

22nd April, 2020 (16 Comments)

Comparison site Comparethemarket.com has posted an updated analysis of Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2019 data (here), which uses information supplied by UK ISPs to rank 334 local authorities by their average broadband download speed. Naturally Hull (East Yorkshire) tops the list with 131.4Mbps and the biggest annual rise of 54.9Mbps.

ISP Plusnet to Replace Pre-Paid Line Rental Saver Discount UPDATE

21st April, 2020 (2 Comments)

Customers of UK ISP Plusnet may be interested to know that the provider has announced that they’ve removed the option of their annual Line Rental Saver (LRS) discount (i.e. pay for 12 months in advance to save money) from their acquisition journey for new home broadband services.

Gov Climate Advisor Says, Switch UK Road Funding to Broadband

21st April, 2020 (18 Comments)

The CEO of the UK Government’s independent Climate Change Committee (CCC), Chris Stark, has called on MPs to consider switching funding from the £28bn pot for building new roads (intended to help relieve congestion) and instead invest it in helping to roll-out “full fibre” broadband ISP networks across the country.

Virgin Media UK Discounts Standalone Ultrafast Broadband

21st April, 2020 (13 Comments)

UK ISP Virgin Media has discounted the price of their 100Mbps to 350Mbps standalone ultrafast broadband packages for the first 12 months of service (minimum contract term), which now start from just £28 per month (£42 thereafter). On top of that they’ve also removed the £35 one-off setup fee (expected to last until 29th April 2020).

Openreach Moves to Help UK SMEs During COVID-19 Crisis

21st April, 2020 (4 Comments)

The on-going Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis appears to have prompted Openreach (BT) into taking further action to help broadband ISPs and their SME business customers, particularly those firms that have had to temporarily stop trading following the UK Government’s lockdown measures.

TalkTalk Users Struggle to Disable Website Error Replacements UPDATE

20th April, 2020 (25 Comments)

Customers of budget UK ISP TalkTalk are reportedly struggling to opt-out of the broadband provider’s Error Replacement Service (ERS), which is a system that effectively hijacks typographical errors or non-existent domain (NXDOMAIN) requests when searching for a website (i.e. the ISP returns their own list of monetised search results).

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Cityfibre Defer Billing on Gigabit Ethernet Installs for 90 Days

20th April, 2020 (0 Comments)

Full fibre and broadband network builder Cityfibre has informed their wholesale partners (UK ISPs etc.) that, in response to the uncertainty being caused by the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis, they will allow the deferring of billing on new Gigabit Ethernet installations for up to 90 calendar days.

Cloudflare Ignite Consumer ISP Confusion with BGP Safety Test

20th April, 2020 (21 Comments)

Over the past few days we’ve had a small but growing stream of Tweets and Emails from people who have run Cloudflare’s new ‘Is BGP Safe Yet‘ tool and are worried that their UK broadband ISP is “unsafe” because it uses the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and not RPKI. Aside from poor timing with COVID-19, the result can be misleading.

Cityfibre’s 1Gbps FTTH Broadband Goes Live in Northampton UK

20th April, 2020 (18 Comments)

After starting the roll-out in September 2019, it now looks as if Cityfibre’s new £40m and 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband ISP network in the East Midlands (England) town of Northampton, which is initially being supported by Vodafone (and TalkTalk to follow), has finally gone live for their first customers.

COVID-19 – Free Laptops and 4G Broadband for Vulnerable Kids

20th April, 2020 (51 Comments)

The Government has announced that “disadvantaged children” (e.g. those who receive support from a social worker and care leavers) across England are to be given a free tablet or laptop computer and 4G based mobile broadband service, which is intended to help with their education during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis.

BT Wholesale UK Broadband Checker Gets New Lick of Paint

20th April, 2020 (21 Comments)

The BTWholesale Broadband Checker service, which is really intended for network operators and ISPs but has always been used by savvy consumers to check the capability of Openreach based broadband lines, has been given a new lick of paint and is now mobile friendly.

COVID-19 – KCOM Sees UK Broadband Traffic Rise to 160Gbps

18th April, 2020 (4 Comments)

Hull-based UK ISP KCOM, which covers a big chunk of East Yorkshire with their “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband network and growing (here), has revealed that the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis has resulted in a 45% increase over normal levels of online traffic. During peak periods this has hit 160Gbps (Gigabits per second).

Top UK Areas for Remote Working by Broadband Speed and Cost

18th April, 2020 (19 Comments)

A new study from Estate Agent comparison firm GetAgent claims to have identified some of the best and worst UK locations for working from home (WFH), which has become vitally important during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis. Overall Wandsworth in London came top, while the worst location was the Shetland Islands.

Ofcom Updates UK Study of 5G Emissions – Yeah, it’s Still SAFE

17th April, 2020 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has just completed another round of testing that took measurements of the electromagnetic field (EMF) emissions at various 5G mobile sites, which once again found no problems. As before the emissions remain just a “small fraction” of the levels set out in international guidelines.

Virgin Media UK Gives TV Customers 17 More Channels Free

17th April, 2020 (19 Comments)

Broadband ISP Virgin Media UK has today announced that they’re giving their existing Pay TV customers access to a further 17 channels, this time including various popular documentary and entertainment channels, at no extra cost until 16th May 2020 to help keep people occupied during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis.

Vodafone UK Make 200Mbps Entry Level for Gigafast Broadband

17th April, 2020 (9 Comments)

Consumers looking to take one of Vodafone’s new Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) based Gigafast Broadband ISP packages (based off Cityfibre’s £4bn roll-out programme) may like to know that their entry-level tier is now a symmetric speed of 200Mbps – previously 100Mbps – and all for the same price (£28) as before.

Law Firm Claims Virgin Media Data Breach Victims Due £5k Each

17th April, 2020 (37 Comments)

Cable TV and broadband ISP Virgin Media UK appears to be facing the prospect of a “group litigation” (class action) lawsuit from Your Laywers, which claims that the operator’s failure to protect the personal details belonging to 900,000 of their customers could result in each being able to claim £5,000 (c.£4.5bn total).