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Ofcom Names Participants for its UK White Space Wireless Broadband Trial

2nd October, 2013 (2 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today named around 20 organisations, which include the likes of BT, Neul and Microsoft, that will be taking part in its 6 month pilot of White Space (IEEE 802.22) wireless broadband technology; this intelligently harnesses the unused spectrum gaps that exist between Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) channels.

East Coast Trains Reveal £2.2m On-Board WiFi Wireless Internet Upgrade

2nd October, 2013 (3 Comments)

Yorkshire-based train operator East Coast has today announced a new investment of £2.2 million that will be used to upgrade the wireless (wifi) Internet access services on-board each of its 44 trains in order to improve service speeds and reliability.

UK Top 7 Fastest Fixed Line Home Broadband ISPs for September 2013

2nd October, 2013 (24 Comments)

The latest anecdotal September 2013 study of big fixed line broadband ISP performance in the United Kingdom from Broadband.co.uk has reported that the average download speed is now 16.907Mbps (down from 17.512Mbps in August), which falls to 2.804Mbps for the average upload speed (down from 2.894Mbps).

Hull ISP KC Set to Achieve EU Target of Universal 30Mbps Broadband by 2020

1st October, 2013 (6 Comments)

The incumbent telecoms provider for Hull and East Yorkshire in England, KC, has told ISPreview.co.uk that they will “strive to meet the more ambitious 2020 goals” set by Europe (i.e. 100% of households should have access to superfast broadband speeds of at least 30Mbps) and most of this will be delivered via true fibre optic (FTTH/P) connectivity.

Tesco Offer FREE UK Broadband for a Year with Internet Enabled Devices

1st October, 2013 (8 Comments)

Tesco has launched a new promotion that gives customers 12 months of free unlimited broadband connectivity when they buy “any device that connects to the Internet” through the supermarket chain, such as laptops, tablets (e.g. Tescos new Hudl tablet), smartphones, Smart TV’s and games consoles etc.

PlayStation 4 Game Downloads Could Threaten Unlimited Broadband Models

1st October, 2013 (28 Comments)

The next generation of video game consoles, such as Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4, are already set to give unlimited broadband ISPs in the United Kingdom a headache due to their new streaming services. But that’s only half the story and those wishing to download games will soon be gobbling in excess of 50GB (GigaBytes) per title.

Network Rail UK Set to Roll Out Faster Mobile Broadband and Fibre Network

1st October, 2013 (6 Comments)

The Government’s Department for Transport has said it plans to make a new generation of “high speed” Mobile Broadband based Internet access services available to 70% of train commuters by 2019, which will focus on eradicating the existing networks many mobile signal “not spots” and boost customer speeds up to 50Mbps.

Business ISP Vaioni UK Secures GBP500k of Investment

1st October, 2013 (0 Comments)

Manchester-based communications provider Vaioni has become the first to benefit from the Greater Manchester Loan Fund, which has put a significant investment of £500,000 into the ISP to help fuel its future growth.

151 New Areas in Wales UK to Get Hybrid Fibre Broadband by Spring 2015

30th September, 2013 (2 Comments)

The Welsh Government has today announced that another 151 towns and villages in Wales will get access to BT’s fibre broadband (FTTC/P) network by spring 2015 (covering 206,000 premises). The new areas join 120 communities that have already been announced (here) for upgrades by spring 2014.

ISP PlusNet Reports Huge Increase in UK Online Video Gaming Traffic

30th September, 2013 (2 Comments)

Internet access provider PlusNet has revealed some interesting statistics about broadband bandwidth usage and online video gaming on its network. Apparently traffic for online gaming has risen by 50% in the last 12 months and that’s after a slight decrease was recorded between 2011 and 2012.

Bath and North East Someset UK Finally Detail Superfast Broadband Plan

30th September, 2013 (0 Comments)

It might have taken the best part of a year to design but the Bath & North East Somerset Council, which in 2011 briefly rejected funding from the Broadband Delivery UK project (here), appears to have finally put together a plan for deploying superfast broadband and opening access to the public fibre optic network.

Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire UK Publish Broadband Rollout Map

30th September, 2013 (0 Comments)

The CSW Broadband project, a partnership of eight local authorities which aims to ensure that BT’s fibre optic based broadband (FTTC/P) coverage is extended to 92% of Coventry, 96% of Solihull and 91% of Warwickshire (overall 91% will get speeds of 24Mbps+) by spring 2016, has published an updated rollout map.

Vectoring Trials Begin as BT Look to Boost UK FTTC Broadband ISP Speeds

30th September, 2013 (41 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which helps to maintain and upgrade BT’s national telecoms network, has confirmed that the first customer trials of VDSL2 Vectoring technology (ITU-T G.993.5) are live. The new technology could deliver a significant speed boost to users of the operators existing up to 80Mbps hybrid-fibre (FTTC) superfast broadband network.

UK ISP Primus Saver Raises Typical ADSL2 Broadband Speed up to 16Mbps

28th September, 2013 (15 Comments)

Primus Saver has quietly followed the other big broadband ISPs by raising the advertised download speed (“typical speed“) of their standard copper line (ADSL2+) based packages from ‘up to’ 15Mbps to 16Mbps (Megabits per second). But don’t expect your connections to actually get any faster.

Hampshire UK Reveals BDUK Superfast Broadband Rollout Map

27th September, 2013 (6 Comments)

The Hampshire County Council (HCC) has today become the latest local authority to publish a roll-out map for phase one of its state aid supported £13.8m project to make BT’s superfast broadband (FTTC/P) network available to “at least” 90% of premises by the end of 2015.

BT Retail Hikes the Price of UK Phone and Broadband Prices Again

27th September, 2013 (27 Comments)

Just like clockwork BT Retail has announced that millions of customers across the United Kingdom will see their broadband prices rise by up to 6.5% (though BT’s current offers will not be impacted) and Line Rental jump from £15.45 a month to £15.99 (3.5%) from 4th January 2014. The cost of calls will also rise by around 6%.

Headache for Broadband ISPs as Netflix UK Add Super HD Movie Streams

27th September, 2013 (15 Comments)

Netflix UK‘s unlimited movie and TV streaming service has been upgraded to support a higher bit rate Super HD (Super High Definition) video stream that applies less compression to the 1080p image, which means that those with faster connections should get a better quality.