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BT Openreach Recruit 1600 New UK Engineers to Improve Service Standards

19th May, 2014 (10 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which is responsible for looking after BT’s national UK telecoms network, will soon be bolstered by an additional 1,600 engineers in order to help the operator meet Ofcom’s forthcoming quality of service requirements (i.e. faster fault fixing etc.) and assist in the roll-out of superfast broadband (FTTC/P) technologies.

Fluidata MD – Somebody Should Tell BT the Copper Phone Line is Dead

17th May, 2014 (48 Comments)

The outspoken boss of business ISP Fluidata, Piers Daniell, has predicted that the latest generation of fibre optic (FTTP/H) broadband connectivity will steadily remove the need for consumer to be forced into paying for a copper-line Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) on top of their Internet connectivity, but for BT it’s still too much of a “cashcow” to ignore.

Hull ISP KC Ready to Launch Network Level Filtering in June 2014

16th May, 2014 (0 Comments)

East Yorkshire ISP KC looks set to become the latest provider to introduce network-level Internet filtering (Parental Controls), which will give all new KC broadband customers the choice (as part of their set-up process) over whether or not to block certain categories of website / content (e.g. porn, dating, social networks, freedom of speech etc.).

Zayo Group Gobbles UK Dark Fibre Optic Provider GEO Networks

16th May, 2014 (1 Comment)

In a surprise move GEO Networks, a dedicated fibre optic solutions developer for the United Kingdom, has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by US-based international bandwidth infrastructure provider Zayo Group.

Romsey Residents Angered by “Eyesore” BT FTTC Broadband Cabinet

16th May, 2014 (32 Comments)

Residents and politicians in Romsey, a small market town in the county of Hampshire (England), have become the latest group to moan of an “eyesore” after BTOpenreach installed one of its large (1.6 metres high) green superfast broadband (FTTC) street cabinets on the pavement of a busy high-street.

BT Clear to Replace Ethernet Excess Construction Charges with Setup Fee

16th May, 2014 (5 Comments)

Ofcom has formally allowed BTOpenreach to proceed with their proposal to replace the sliding scale of Excess Construction Charges (ECC) on their point-to-point Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) products with a simple balancing charge fee of £548 +vat, which will benefit many but not all customers.

Broadband and Phone Outage in Wales Impacts 140,000 People

16th May, 2014 (1 Comment)

Customers on BT and Sky Broadband’s network experienced a 2 hour loss of both Internet and phone connectivity mid-yesterday morning after an unspecified fault triggered a “multiple exchange outage” that impacted services across parts of South Wales.

Sky Broadband Warns of Missing Screws Creating Faulty Power Adaptors

16th May, 2014 (2 Comments)

Sky Broadband warns that a “possible safety issue” has been identified with some of the Power Adaptors that were included with their small On Demand Connector for TV set-top-boxes and the Sky Wireless Booster product, many of which have been given away for free to existing broadband and TV subscribers.

UK ISP TalkTalk Confirms Plan to Sell BT Based Broadband Subscribers

16th May, 2014 (6 Comments)

Internet and phone provider TalkTalk has identified the sale of its off-net broadband subscribers (BT IPStream based) to another ISP as one of several “major initiatives” that will help to “unlock further significant savings” over the next two years. The move is expected to impact the bulk of their 136,000 off-net Internet customers, most likely excluding the few that are managed on behalf of the Post Office.

Vodafone Connect 233 Large UK Towns and Cities to 4G as More Go Live

15th May, 2014 (3 Comments)

Mobile operator Vodafone has announced the next batch of locations for their national roll-out of “ultrafast” 4G based Mobile Broadband connectivity, which is now live in 233 large towns and cities across the United Kingdom (we predict they’re currently able to reach around 40% of the UK).

UK Superfast Broadband Rollout Brings BT Fibre to 508801 Premises

15th May, 2014 (13 Comments)

The Government’s national £1.2bn Broadband Delivery UK programme, which aims to make fixed line superfast broadband speeds of “greater than 24Mbps” available to around 90% of the population by the end of 2015 and 95% by 2017, has now expanded its coverage to 508,801 homes and businesses (premises passed).

O2 UK Moves Closer to Offering a Mobile Public Services Network

15th May, 2014 (0 Comments)

Telecoms provider O2 UK has today moved one step closer to becoming fully Public Services Network (PSN) compliant after it become “the first mobile operator” in the United Kingdom to achieve CAS(T) certification (a test of network security) for its mobile voice and data services.

Hull ISP KC Strike Recycling Deal to Help Rid Itself of Dirty Old Copper Lines

15th May, 2014 (9 Comments)

Hull-based incumbent telecoms provider KC, which is currently replacing a large portion of its old fixed line broadband and phone network in East Yorkshire (England) with new fibre optic cables, has struck a recycling deal with local scrap metal dealer John Brocklesby Metal Management, which will put its dirty old copper lines to good use (£££).

UPDATE TalkTalk Reach 4.2m UK Broadband Users – Moots FTTP and 4G Future

15th May, 2014 (17 Comments)

Budget Internet and phone provider TalkTalk has today released its latest results for Q1-2014 (calendar), which saw them add +10k new broadband customers in the quarter to total 4,196,000 (better than the +5k in Q4-2013). But of most interest are their plans for ultrafast FTTP broadband and a converged fixed-mobile offer using 4G spectrum and femtocells.

Europe Adopts New Rules to Cut Broadband Deployment Costs

14th May, 2014 (1 Comment)

The Council of the European Union last week formally adopted new rules that aim to make it both “easier and cheaper” to roll-out ultrafast broadband networks, such as fibre optic infrastructure. In addition the new rules also call for a voluntary “Broadband-Ready” label on buildings with high-speed access and for all new builds after 31st December 2016 to be constructed “high-speed ready“.

UK MAP – Rural and Suburban Areas See Rising Broadband Speeds

14th May, 2014 (3 Comments)

Point Topic has published a new map of the United Kingdom, which shows the percentage change in available broadband bandwidth at the Local Authority level during 2013. The data suggests that the populist South East saw a relatively low percentage increase in bandwidth over the year, due to the strength of existing infrastructure, while many traditionally more rural counties reported the biggest increases.

The Number of UK Adults to Never Have Gone Online Falls to 6.4 Million

14th May, 2014 (10 Comments)

The latest Internet Access Quarterly Update (Q1-2014) from the Government’s Office for National Statistics has reported 44.6 million adults (87%) in the United Kingdom have used the Internet (up from 44.3m at the end of 2013), although issues like disability and old age meant that 6.4m adults (13%) had never gone online (down from 6.7m in 2013).