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Direct Save Telecom Fear Telecom Rage as Confidence in Call Centres Decline

27th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Home phone and internet provider Direct Save Telecom UK has highlighted several studies that appear to show how consumer confidence in call centres is now at “an all time low“. For example, a recent study by GiffGaff found that Brits had a 6 minute threshold while waiting in a call centre queue before losing their tempers and hanging up.

BT Delays FTTC Superfast Broadband Upgrade in Burton UK by 3 Months

27th March, 2012 (4 Comments)

BT has warned that some homes and businesses in the joint Staffordshire and Derbyshire town of Burton (Burton-on-Trent) may now have to wait until 30th June 2012 (originally 31st March) before the area is upgraded to support the operators ‘up to’ 40-80Mbps superfast broadband technology (FTTC). Apparently an unspecified technical problem at the local telephone exchange is holding the work up.

Ofcom Delays 1800MHz for 4G Ruling as Three UK Threatens Legal Action

27th March, 2012 (6 Comments)

Ofcom has delayed its proposal to allow T-Mobile and Orange UK (Everything Everywhere) to launch the country’s first 4G superfast Mobile Broadband service over their existing 1800MHz (3G) spectrum band. Separately Three UK, in an effort to ensure that they get a fair slice of the much more valuable 800MHz spectrum (covers a wider area for less money), are now mulling legal action.

Alternative UK Superfast Broadband ISPs See Significant Growth

26th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Telecoms analyst firm Point Topic reports that alternative UK network operators, such as Rutland Telecom and Call Flow Solutions, have managed to increased their residential customer base by 85% since the middle of 2011. The news suggests that some of the smaller operators are “beginning to find their niche” by helping to reach poorly connected rural areas and individual communities with superfast internet access.

Golden Eye Win Partial Victory in Battle for Piracy Customer Details from O2 UK

26th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The UK High Court (Court 6) in central London today ruled that Golden Eye International, a firm that claims to hold numerous film copyrights and is linked with the UK’s Ben Dover porn brand, can pursue O2’s (Telefonica) broadband ISP customers to settle “suspected” cases of “illegal” internet copyright infringement (piracy). But its victory, which has set a new precedent, came with several crucial strings attached.

Brocade Calls for UK Superfast Broadband Plan to Refocus on Data Centres

26th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Brocade, a global networking solutions provider, has warned that the current drive to deliver superfast broadband services to 90% of the UK population by 2015 desperately needs to “shift in focus” away from home connectivity and onto data centres. The firm claims that failure to do so would risk creating “too much demand” before appropriate infrastructure is in place.

The Cloud Deploy Free WiFi Wireless Internet at 56 London Overground Stations

26th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Public UK WiFi Hotspot operator The Cloud, a BSkyB company, has confirmed that it will bring free wireless internet access to all 56 of London’s Overground stations (suburban rail network), with the first 12 going live by the end of 2012.

AAISP UK Reveals Pricing for its 80Mbps FTTC Superfast Broadband Service

26th March, 2012 (7 Comments)

The boss of business focused internet provider AAISP (Andrews & Arnold) UK claims to have “pretty much decided the plan” for its forthcoming 80Mbps (Megabits per second) capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) based superfast broadband launch. The 80Mbps service will carry a premium of around £12 inc. VAT per month extra (on top of what you already pay).

BT Deploy RABIT Burglar Alarm Weapon to Tackle UK Copper Cable Thieves

26th March, 2012 (5 Comments)

BT has announced plans to deploy a new burglar alarm technology across its national UK network of copper based telephone and broadband ISP lines. The solution, called RABIT (Rapid Assessment B.T Incident Tracker), actively monitors the operators network and informs BT’s Security Control Centre when a physical disconnection (e.g. cable cut) has occurred.

O2 UK Criticises Ofcom for Allowing T-Mobile and Orange to Offer 4G in 2012

24th March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 UK (Telefonica) has warned that Ofcom’s plan to auction off the 800MHz and 2.6GHz radio spectrum frequencies, which would be used by a new generation of 4G superfast Mobile Broadband services, could be put at “further risk of delay” after the regulator allowed T-Mobile and Orange UK (Everything Everywhere) to launch the country’s first 4G service over their existing 1800MHz (3G) band.

Broadband TV Service and Advertising Revenues to Quadruple by 2020

23rd March, 2012 (0 Comments)

Red Bee Media, a media management company, has revealed new research which suggests that the UK television industry expects revenue from the a new generation of online video services, fuelled by faster broadband ISP connectivity, to quadruple by 2020. But incumbent broadcasters aren’t going to be the main winners as competition from new services (e.g. Netflix , YouView etc.) will begin to eat away at the established market.

Rutland UK County Council Awards Superfast Broadband Contract to BT

23rd March, 2012 (4 Comments)

The Rutland County Council (RCC) has awarded the contract for its Digital Rutland project (Local Broadband Plan), which mirrors the UK governments goal of making superfast broadband (24Mbps+) ISP services available to 90% of premises by 2015, to BT (subject to EC State Aid approval).

LOVEFiLM Movie and TV Internet Video Streaming Overtakes Physical Rentals

23rd March, 2012 (1 Comment)

The hugely popular LOVEFiLM Instant (Amazon) service, which from just £4.99 a month allows broadband ISP customers “unlimited” access to stream video from thousands of TV shows and Movies online, has “for the first time ever” streamed over 20% more films and TV series instantly over the internet than physically rented DVDs, Blu-Rays and Video Games.

UPD UK ISPs Should Consider a Voluntary Anti-Bot Code of Conduct

23rd March, 2012 (2 Comments)

An interesting development occurred in the USA yesterday when, for the first time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a new Voluntary Code of Conduct for consumer broadband ISPs and network operators called the Anti-Bot Code of Conduct (ABC). The code is designed to help internet providers tackle Botnets (i.e. Trojan / Virus / Malware infected computers).

UPD TalkTalk UK Still Top of Ofcoms Most Complained about Broadband ISPs

22nd March, 2012 (5 Comments)

The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has today published its latest quarterly customer complaints data (Q4-2011) for broadband and mobile telecoms providers (those with a market share of more than 4%). Unfortunately the data shows that TalkTalk remains the most complained about ISP and, after having improved in previous quarters, appears to have returned to its old ways with complaints on the rise.

ITSPA Announces UK Internet 2012 VoIP Award Winners

22nd March, 2012 (0 Comments)

The Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association (ITSPA), a UK trade body for the Voice-over-IP (VoIP) industry, have announced the winners of its 4th annual 2012 ITSPA Awards. During the ceremony Voiptalk was named as Best Consumer VoIP provider.

UPD2 UK ISPs Give Mixed Reaction to Budget 2012 Broadband Commitments

22nd March, 2012 (1 Comment)

Yesterday’s Budget 2012 announcement (detailed summary) from the UK government appears to have drawn a mixed reaction from Internet Service Providers (ISP) and related organisations. The budget revealed which 10 cities will get “ultrafast” broadband services and better mobile / wifi connectivity through the £100m Urban Broadband Fund (UBF) and added a further £50m to support similar efforts in “smaller cities“.