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NOW TV Add National Geographic Channel to Streaming Service

3rd April, 2020 (3 Comments)

Sky’s sibling UK ISP and TV streaming service, NOW TV (NOW Broadband), has just added the ‘National Geographic Channel‘ to their existing Entertainment Pass, which costs £8.99 per month. The additional Pay TV channel replaces Nat Geo Wild. As usual this covers both the live channel and a related slate of on-demand content.

Q1 2020 Opensignal Study Names EE as Best UK Mobile Network

2nd April, 2020 (3 Comments)

Mobile operator EE (BT) has predictably topped the latest Q1 2020 report from Opensignal, which analysed crowd-sourced data over a 90 day period (starting 1st December 2019) to identify operators with the best UK 3G, 4G and 5G availability, mobile broadband speed and latency performance etc.

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GWS Ranks 33 UK Cities for Business Based Mobile Network Use

2nd April, 2020 (3 Comments)

A new study by Global Wireless Solutions (GWS) has examined mobile network (mobile broadband) performance for business connectivity across 33 UK cities, which among other things attempts to identify the best one for remote working. Overall Liverpool came top, while London only managed to rank 25th and Dumfries was bottom.

COVID-19 Netgem TV and Vodafone Update on Internet Traffic

2nd April, 2020 (1 Comment)

Both Netgem TV and UK telecoms giant Vodafone have separately today released some updated statistics on the impact that the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis is having on broadband and video streaming usage, which has naturally seen a big increase since the situation began because many people are now stuck at home.

Ofcom Relaxes UK Broadband ISP Protections During COVID-19

2nd April, 2020 (3 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has softened some of their key consumer protection rules for broadband ISPs and mobile network operators, although their new light-touch approach to enforcement will only remain so long as the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown persists.

Vodafone UK in Welcome U-Turn Over Turkey Roaming Hike

2nd April, 2020 (40 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has done a welcome U-turn over their planned price hike for roaming customers in Turkey, many of whom had been left stranded by the mass cancellation of flights and would soon have been hit by a new £6 per day charge (here). But that price change has now been delayed.

O2 UK Ends Long Relationship with Carphone Warehouse

1st April, 2020 (22 Comments)

Mobile operator O2 UK (Telefonica) has officially cut its commercial ties to the Carphone Warehouse (Dixons Carphone) after two decades of working together. The two had been in the process of negotiating terms for a future contract renewal but have been unable to reach an agreement.

COVID-19 – Openreach See Daytime Traffic Jump to 51 PetaBytes

1st April, 2020 (22 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has revealed that daily UK daytime (9am to 5pm) data consumption on their national data and broadband network has surged since the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown began, jumping from 28PB (PetaBytes) on Monday 2nd March to 51PB on Monday 30th March.

COVID-19 – ISP Zzoomm in Free Upgrade to 900Mbps Broadband

1st April, 2020 (10 Comments)

UK ISP Zzoomm has announced that, in response to the crisis caused by COVID-19 (Coronavirus), customers of their new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network will all be given a free upgrade to their 900Mbps (average speed) package, which normally costs £89 per month.

BBC Suggests Broadband ISP Levy to Replace UK TV Licence Fee

1st April, 2020 (172 Comments)

The BBC has given its response to the UK Government’s (DCMS) consultation on their proposal to decriminalise TV licence fee evasion, which among other things includes a suggestion that the fee could be replaced by a levy or tax on consumer broadband bills. But they are not “advocating” for that, yet.

Family Arguments Over Broadband Rise During COVID-19 Crisis

1st April, 2020 (11 Comments)

A new online survey of 2,005 UK people has found that 36% of “millennials” who live with a partner have had an argument over who is to blame for slow broadband since the COVID-19 lockdown began. Likewise it’s a similar story in millennial family homes, with 33% bickering with their parents or children.

Wireless UK Broadband ISP Rural Comms Acquired by Voneus

1st April, 2020 (0 Comments)

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) ISP Voneus has acquired another rival broadband network called Rural Comms Limited, which until recently served a number of remote rural communities in parts of Devon and Cornwall (England) – mostly operating from Ivybridge and focused around Exmoor, Dartmoor and South Hams.

EE UK Wins Best Mobile Operator for Scotland in H2 2020

31st March, 2020 (6 Comments)

RootMetrics appears to have invented a time machine, which has today enabled them to publish the results from over 94,000 scientific tests of mobile network and mobile broadband performance conducted across Scotland during “the first half of 2020” (but.. it’s March). Once again EE (BT) comes top, while Three UK sits at the bottom.

Virgin Media UK Gives Away 7 Kids Pay TV Channels for Free

31st March, 2020 (0 Comments)

Customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media, specifically those who also take one of their Pay TV packages, can now get access to seven of its “most popular” children’s channels, at no extra cost, to help keep them distracted during the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown. Access to these will remain free until 21st April 2020.

Full Fibre ISP Telcom Acquires Infrastructure Services Firm SDH

31st March, 2020 (0 Comments)

Manchester-based UK ISP Telcom, which has active plans to roll-out a gigabit-capable “full fibre” and broadband network to cover various homes and businesses across the North West of England and Midlands, has acquired the Yorkshire-based infrastructure firm SDH Project Services for an undisclosed sum.

COVID-19 – UK Smartphone Users Spend More Time on WiFi

31st March, 2020 (8 Comments)

The latest data from Opensignal, which conducts crowd-sourced testing of 3G, 4G and 5G Mobile networks, has perhaps unsurprisingly revealed that the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is causing more Smartphone users to go online via WiFi from home broadband instead of mobile data.

BT Reopens 10 Year Old Case – Demands HMRC Repay Millions

30th March, 2020 (4 Comments)

Broadband ISP and media giant BT appears to have successfully lifted a stay against a decade old restitution suit in the UK High Court for Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds, which originally claimed that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) owed them £91.8 million plus interest in overpaid tax.