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UPD3 UK Councils Publish PAC Approved BDUK Broadband Rollout Maps

6th March, 2014 (13 Comments)

The £51m Connecting Cumbria project and other councils claim to have published a “Final Coverage” map for their Broadband Delivery UK and BT supported rollout of superfast fibre broadband services, which appears to be one of the first to be “agreed” by the DCMS and Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Sadly they’re still set at a low-resolution and thus of only limited use.

ITSPA Announces UK 2014 Best Internet VoIP Award Winners

6th March, 2014 (2 Comments)

The Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association (ITSPA), which acts as a trade body for the United Kingdom’s VoIP industry, has today unveiled the winners of their 6th annual 2014 ITSPA Awards. Once again Localphone picked up the gong for Best Consumer VoIP provider.

UK ISP TalkTalk Cuts Essentials TV and Broadband to £5 Per Month

6th March, 2014 (0 Comments)

Budget communications provider TalkTalk has reduced the price(s) of their triple-play Essentials TV and Plus TV (YouView) broadband bundles to £5 and £10 per month respectively for the first 6 months of service (£7.50 and £15.50 thereafter). A £50 Love2Shop voucher has also been included.

UK MPs Hold Out Hope of VOA Business Rates and Fibre Tax Review

6th March, 2014 (3 Comments)

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee has called for a “wholesale review” of business rates, which are typically set by the Government’s Valuation Office Agency (VOA). In particular one of the recommendations could have a significant impact upon the taxation of NGA / fibre optic broadband networks, which might level the playing field between ISPs.

UPDATE BSG Claim UK Businesses Failing to Capitalise on Faster Broadband

6th March, 2014 (0 Comments)

A new report from the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), which is a sometimes controversial think-tank for the Government on matters of broadband policy, has warned that Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) across the United Kingdom are failing to unlock the “commercial potential” of faster broadband connectivity.

Hull ISP KC Suffers Second Privacy Fail After Sharing Customer Emails

5th March, 2014 (1 Comment)

The incumbent phone and broadband ISP for Hull in East Yorkshire, KC, has suffered yet another security snafu after they accidentally sent letters to customers that included the email addresses for other subscribers. Sadly it’s not their first security blunder.

Staffordshire UK Name First BDUK and BT Fibre Broadband Areas

5th March, 2014 (4 Comments)

The state aid supported £28m Superfast Staffordshire project in the West Midlands (England) has published a list of the first communities to benefit from their roll-out of BT’s superfast broadband (FTTC/P) technology, which will be extended to cover 95% of the local population by spring 2016.

Confusion as ASA Ban Gigaclear’s Absolute FTTP Broadband Speed Claims

5th March, 2014 (15 Comments)

Sometimes rulings by the Advertising Standards Authority can seem a little overzealous and their latest decision to stop rural fibre optic broadband ISP Gigaclear from advertising absolute Internet speeds (e.g. 1000Mbps without the notorious “up to” prefix) on their website might just stray into that territory. Hyperoptic, B4RN and Gigler take note.

BTOpenreach Reduces Minimum Lead Time for FTTC Self Install Orders

4th March, 2014 (3 Comments)

BTOpenreach has announced that it will soon reduce the minimum lead time for new orders of their Self-Install (PCP Only) superfast broadband Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) product from 7 to just 5 working days, which mirrors the existing Managed Install (engineer visit required) option.

UPD Hackers Hijack 300K Home and Office Broadband Routers from Big Brands

4th March, 2014 (2 Comments)

Researchers working for Team Cymru’s Threat Intelligence Group have discovered that over 300,000 consumer-grade small office / home (SOHO) broadband routers, including those from brands like ZyXEL, D-Link, Micronet, Tenda, TP-Link and others, have been hijacked as part of a man-in-the-middle style attack.

ISP Gigaclear Win Contract to Deploy FTTP in Northmoor with RCBF Money

4th March, 2014 (2 Comments)

Fibre optic broadband ISP Gigaclear has successfully picked up the RCBF supported contract to build, implement and operate a 1000Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based ultrafast broadband network in the Parish of Northmoor (West Oxfordshire, England).

The Top 6 UK Fastest Big Home Broadband ISPs – February 2014

3rd March, 2014 (1 Comment)

The latest Internet speed testing data for February 2014 has found that the average home broadband download speed for the largest six ISPs in the United Kingdom has stayed almost static at 17.097Mbps over the past month, while the average upload rate was similarly stable at 3.055Mbps.

Labour Party Moot 3rd Attempt to Revive UK Internet Snooping Law

3rd March, 2014 (6 Comments)

The British Labour Party looks set to take a 3rd swipe at reviving their failed Internet Snooping laws, which over the past 6 years have twice been rejected due to issues of unpopularity, cost, technical viability and general confusion.

UPD2 Royal Society of Edinburgh Says Scotland to Miss 30Mb Broadband Target

3rd March, 2014 (9 Comments)

Scientists writing for the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Digital-Scotland Working Group) have warned that the Scottish Government’s Step Change programme, which apparently now aims to make BT’s “superfast broadband” network available to “around” 95% of local premises by the end of 2017-18, will actually only achieve less than 80%.

Sky’s Internet Based NOW TV Service Hampered by UK Rights Restrictions

3rd March, 2014 (14 Comments)

Customers that spent £4.99 a month to purchase the Entertainment Pass for Sky’s broadband-based NOW TV service, which is supposed to include access to 10 of their top pay-tv channels (e.g. Sky Atlantic, Sky 1, Discovery etc.), have been left disappointed because many of the shows are blocked due to “Rights Restrictions“.

The Next Generation Broadband Friendly Concrete.. Because Monday

3rd March, 2014 (2 Comments)

How about a “fun” fact of the day? Did you know that when BT and Virgin Media build a new Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband street cabinet then they often need to use special concrete in order to ensure that the service is given adequate electrical protection? Not just any concrete will do.

Garsdale and Dent Parish Councils Criticise Fibre GarDen Project

1st March, 2014 (5 Comments)

The Digital Dales (Fibre GarDen) project, which hopes to build a community managed fibre optic (FTTP) broadband network to connect rural homes in Garsdale and Dentdale (Cumbria, England), has suffered a blow after Dent Parish Council issued a positioning statement that appeared to attack the schemes funding and feasibility.