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Ofcom Set to Protect UK Consumers from Unexpected ISP Price Hikes

3rd January, 2013 (6 Comments)

The UK communications regulator has today proposed new options that would allow consumers to exit their existing broadband or phone contract, without penalty, if their ISP introduces “any” price increase during the contract term. Sadly a complete ban on mid-contract price hikes has been ruled out as it wouldn’t be “consistent” with EU law.

Alcatel-Lucent ISP Trials Deliver 130Mbps via VDSL2 Broadband Vectoring

3rd January, 2013 (19 Comments)

Global telecoms firm Alcatel-Lucent last year released the results from its recent ISP trials of VDSL2 Vectoring technology, which revealed that the solution has the potential to push BT’s UK superfast FTTC download speeds up to 130Mbps (Megabits) at around 300m to 600m (metres) from a local street cabinet (possibly hitting 200Mbps with line bonding).

Top 8 UK Fastest Broadband ISPs by Speed for 2012 and 2011 Compared

3rd January, 2013 (7 Comments)

The latest summary of anecdotal consumer broadband ISP speed-test data for December 2012 reveals that the average download speed in the United Kingdom has surged from 7.578Mbps one year ago to 19.374Mbps now (up 156%). The average upload speed also jumped by 101% over the same period from 1.160Mbps to 2.327Mbps.

UK Digital Music Sales Soar Despite Threat from ISP Internet Piracy

2nd January, 2013 (7 Comments)

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which claims to represent the United Kingdom’s music industry, has once again reported “strong growth” from digital music sales during 2012 (e.g. digital album sales were up 14.8% to 30.5m) and that’s despite the perceived threat from internet piracy by broadband ISP consumers.

Survey Finds Rising Broadband ISP Satisfaction But Many Still Unhappy

2nd January, 2013 (0 Comments)

The results from 1,200 consumers to ISPreview.co.uk’s latest reader poll has found that 41.6% of UK based respondents continue to be “unhappy” with their current broadband ISP, with familiar concerns over poor internet speeds and reliability being among the biggest gripes.

Will the Real Fibre Optic Broadband Service Please Stand Up

2nd January, 2013 (31 Comments)

When is a “fibre optic” broadband service not fibre optic? The answer might seem obvious but if so then it’s not something that the industry appears keen to respect. But just what does the term fibre optic actually mean and why are ISPs so eager to use and in some cases abuse it.

Happy New Year 2013 from the ISPreview.co.uk Team

1st January, 2013 (4 Comments)

The ISPreview.co.uk team would just like to wish all of our visitors, specifically those of you whom are hopefully still awake and possibly even sober, a very Happy New Year 2013 :).

Small UK ISP Frustrated at Lack of Public Broadband Funding in Oxfordshire

31st December, 2012 (35 Comments)

Countryside Broadband, a small fixed wireless broadband ISP (WISP) that delivers internet access to a number of rural areas in South Oxfordshire (England, UK), has complained that it is unable to expand the reach of its network because the government’s public funding is only going towards big providers (e.g. BT).

Top 20 UK Local Authorities with the Highest Superfast Broadband Uptake

31st December, 2012 (10 Comments)

Ofcom’s most recent data reveals that superfast broadband (25Mbps+) ISP technology is now available to 65% of homes and businesses in the United Kingdom and yet just 7% of premises have actually adopted it. But where is superfast internet access most popular and why? The city of Portsmouth tops our new list with a take-up of 15.2%.

BT Openreach Cuts Line Rental, FTTC and LLU Prices by £75m for UK ISPs

30th December, 2012 (0 Comments)

BTOpenreach has announced a series of critical price reductions, alongside a couple of expected increases for line transfers and FTTC connection fees, that are intended to slash the charges applied to UK ISPs by approximately £75m per year.

BT Pilot Street Cabinet Only FTTC Superfast Broadband Connections

30th December, 2012 (10 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which manages access to BT’s UK communications network, has announced the first ISP pilot of a new PCP-only (street cabinet) connection method for their 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) based superfast broadband service.

Public WiFi Internet Use at Christmas – Three Times Higher Than 2011

29th December, 2012 (0 Comments)

The Cloud (BSkyB) reports that public wireless internet (hotspot) usage on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day this year was three times higher than 2011. Christmas Eve was the busiest of the three days with wifi traffic up by four times last year’s figure.

Golden Eye Will Expand Piracy Threat Letters to More UK ISP Customers

28th December, 2012 (6 Comments)

Golden Eye International (GEIL), the firm which holds numerous copyrights for UK adult films (Ben Dover) and has recently been targeting O2’s broadband ISP customers with internet piracy settlement letters, has confirmed that it plans to use a recent court win to expand its scheme by tackling copyright infringement on behalf of USA based rights holders.

Hull ISP KC Moves to Fix Copper Broadband Faults Caused by Water Ingress

28th December, 2012 (1 Comment)

One of KC’s engineers in Hull (Yorkshire, England) has developed a “simple and innovative” way to fix broadband problems that are caused when water (damp) seeps into the plastic coating of copper cables, which can disrupt traditional DSL (e.g. ADSL) services by causing corrosion of the phone line.

Allpay Bring Wireless Broadband to More Rural Herefordshire UK Villages

28th December, 2012 (0 Comments)

Allpay Broadband, a Herefordshire (England) focused ISP that specialises in deploying wireless broadband (wifi) services by placing transmitters on top of churches (Broadband Licence for Churches), has expanded its service to reach another new batch of small local villages and towns.

BT Openreach UK Details Ultrafast 220Mbps FTTP Broadband ISP Pilot

27th December, 2012 (13 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which manages access to BT’s national UK communications network, has confirmed that the first technical trial of its new 220Mbps (Megabits per second) Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband product for ISPs will take place between 1st and 28th February 2013.

UPDATE Identifying Slow Speed as a Fault on FTTC Superfast Broadband Lines

27th December, 2012 (2 Comments)

Most people aren’t familiar with the point at which BT identifies slow speeds as a fault on its Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) based superfast broadband ISP network. Did you know that a fault can be declared if the line rate drops by more than 25% over a 14 day continuous period? No? Read on.