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UPDATE BT Confirm UK Plan to Trial 1Gbps G.Fast and FTTdp Broadband

21st October, 2013 (28 Comments)

BT Group has quietly confirmed that it plans to trial the next generation G.Fast (aka – FTTC2) broadband solution alongside another future enhancement – Fibre-to-the-Distribution-Point (FTTdp) – at its Adastral Park R&D facility near Ipswich in Suffolk (England).

Virgin Media and EE Extend their UK Virtual Mobile Operator Agreement

21st October, 2013 (0 Comments)

Cable operator Virgin Media has today confirmed that it will continue to fuel their Virgin Mobile platform, which serves approximately 3 million customers across the United Kingdom, through an extended Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement.

EU Regulators Seek Delay to New Broadband and Telecoms Measures

21st October, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications, which represents national telecoms regulators (e.g. Ofcom in the UK) across the EU, has called upon the European Commission to delay its Single Telecoms Market reform because, they claim, it fails to take correct account of actual NGA broadband coverage, service speeds, prices and 4G investment etc.

UPDATE BT Explain Unusual Broadband Speed Estimates on UK FTTC Lines

21st October, 2013 (52 Comments)

An interesting question popped up during BTWholesale’s last Customer Service Forum, which occurred after an ISP raised concerns that BT’s estimate for speeds on its ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband lines were changing after a period of time. This made it difficult for them to determine whether particular users had a speed fault.

Northumberland UK Publish BDUK Superfast Broadband Rollout Map

18th October, 2013 (20 Comments)

The Northumberland County Council in England has this week published its first roll-out map for their £18.9m Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) project that aims to make BT’s superfast broadband (25Mbps+) FTTC/P network available to 91% of local premises by early 2016 (95% will be covered by the network but some won’t be “superfast“).

Europe Claims 100% Basic Broadband Target Won via Satellite

18th October, 2013 (17 Comments)

Sooner or later a politician was bound to play the quick-fix card. The European Commission has declared that the race to achieve 100% coverage of basic broadband services has been achieved thanks to the help of pan-EU Satellite availability. Concerns over capacity, performance and price appear to have been left at the door.

UK ISP Sky Broadband Breaks the 5 Million Subscriber Milestone

17th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

Sky Broadband (BSkyB) has today published its latest quarterly results to 30th September 2013, which saw their consumer broadband subscribers grow by +111,000 during Q3 to total 5,017,000. Naturally this is sharply down from the +519,000 added in Q2 when O2 and BE Broadband’s former fixed line customers were merged into the total.

BDUK Uptake Statistics from the SME Broadband Connection Voucher Trial

17th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

The Broadband Delivery UK office has published some interesting statistics from the recent market test of its Connection Vouchers scheme, which uses part of the £150m Urban Broadband Fund (“Super-Connected Cities“) to help businesses install superfast broadband. Some residential premises may also benefit under Phase 2 but the 30Mbps+ target might be reduced.

Angus Council Approves Major Superfast Broadband Rollout Plan

17th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

Some 93% of homes and businesses in Angus (Scotland, UK) could soon be within reach of a fibre optic based broadband service after the regional council approved a plan that will see at least £2m of public money (between 2014 – 2016) being used to help fund the deployment.

EE UK Launch 4G LTE Alternative to Home Broadband and Trial 300Mbps

17th October, 2013 (23 Comments)

Mobile operator EE UK has announced a series of major new 4G (LTE at 1800MHz) based enhancements for November 2013, which include a trial of 300Mbps service speeds in London and the launch of a new superfast “Home Broadband” style product that uses their Mobile Broadband network. Bigger data allowances are also on the way.

UK ISP Rutland Telecom Fix Broadband Altnet Woes in Essendine Village

17th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

Rural focused Internet provider Rutland Telecom (Gigaclear) appears to have now resolved the broadband problems that recently beset Essendine village in the East Midlands of England, which initially resulted in the local parish council perhaps unfairly describing the small ISP as a “virtual monopoly“.

Average Global Internet Download Speeds Reach 3.3Mb as UK Hit 8.4Mb

16th October, 2013 (1 Comment)

Global content delivery network Akamai has published its latest State of the Internet Q2 – 2013 report, which found that the worlds average Internet download speed reached 3.3Mbps (up 5.5% from 3.1Mbps in Q1). Happily the UK has topped 8.4Mbps (up 11% from 7.9Mbps) and is now ranked as the 10th fastest globally (up from 12th).

East Sussex UK Reveal First 9 BDUK Superfast Broadband Rollout Areas

16th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

The £35.44m e-Sussex project, which hopes to make BT’s superfast broadband (25Mbps+) services available to 96% of local premises by mid-2016 (note: a total of 99% will be covered by the new FTTC network but some will only receive up to 24Mbps), has named the first nine telephone exchange locations to benefit.

ASA UK Criticise EE Coverage Map After Misleading 3G Mobile Claim

16th October, 2013 (2 Comments)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told EE to correct the mobile coverage checker on their website after a T-Mobile consumer complained that the 3G based Mobile Broadband coverage for their postcode was reported by the service as “EXCELLENT“, even though they could not receive any indoor signal and only had a poor service outside.

Sky On Demand TV Advert Banned over FREE Broadband Conflict

16th October, 2013 (0 Comments)

BT has successfully caused one of Sky’s direct mailing adverts to be banned because it promoted the operators On Demand TV service alongside their “free broadband” product, which is capped via a 2GB usage allowance and thus “would significantly limit the amount of Catch Up content that could be downloaded“.

UPD Digital Scotland UK Reveals First 8 Superfast Broadband Rollout Areas

16th October, 2013 (1 Comment)

The £264m Digital Scotland project, which aims to ensure that 85% of Scottish homes and businesses can access BT’s “high-speed fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) network by the end of 2015 and around 95% by the end of 2017, has revealed the first 8 areas to benefit and most appear to be in the Highlands and Islands region.

Study Calls on Ofcom to Introduce Annual Statements for Broadband ISPs

16th October, 2013 (2 Comments)

A new survey conducted by uSwitch.com has concluded that Ofcom should force broadband ISPs to introduce annual statements, which would give consumers a better overview of their spending and include useful details like the end date of their current contract (31% don’t know when their contract ends).