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Do UK Broadband ISPs Need a New Approach to Price Hikes

11th July, 2021 (31 Comments)

Price hikes are fairly common amongst all of the largest UK broadband ISPs, which tend to increase what they charge by an average of c.4-6% with every passing year, albeit often via a mix of very different and changeable approaches. But is it time for the industry to start considering a more predictable and standardised approach?

AVM Talks Broadband Routers in a Time of Chip Shortages and COVID

31st May, 2021 (12 Comments)

In a new interview AVM, which is a well-known German manufacturer of home networking products (e.g. FRITZ!Box broadband routers for UK ISPs), has spoken to ISPreview.co.uk about how they’re responding to some of the year’s biggest challenges – from COVID-19 to 6GHz WiFi and a global shortage of semiconductor chips etc.

ISP Choices on Openreach’s UK FTTP Broadband Network 2021

29th May, 2021 (34 Comments)

In this short article we attempt to clear up some of the confusion over ISP choices on Openreach’s new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based “ultrafast broadband” (100Mbps+) network, which usually occurs once people realise that it’s not yet available from all the UK market’s internet providers.

USB vs WiFi – Tethering 4G Broadband to a Laptop via Android Phones

6th April, 2021 (18 Comments)

A lot of UK people have tried tethering their Smartphone’s mobile broadband (4G, 5G) connection to a laptop by using the ‘Wi-Fi Hotspot‘ feature, but not everybody is aware that you can do the same thing by using a wired USB-C cable. As a bit of fun we decided to find out if tethering via a wired link is any better than a wireless one.

How Much Does 1Gbps UK Home Broadband Cost – ISPs Compared

3rd April, 2021 (93 Comments)

At present a mass of rival networks are currently deploying gigabit-capable home broadband services across the United Kingdom and, as part of that, we thought it might be interesting to take a snap-shot of how much each ISP charges for their top 1Gbps (average 900Mbps+) tier. In the future we’ll look back on this to see how they change.

2020 vs 2019 – UK Broadband and Mobile Speeds vs the World

30th December, 2020 (29 Comments)

We thought it might be interesting to end 2020 by looking at how the United Kingdom’s position has changed since 2019, at least in terms of the top 50 fastest countries for both fixed broadband and mobile broadband (4G, 5G) speeds. Overall the UK jumped from 52nd to 42nd for mobile, while we fell from 45th to 47th for fixed lines.

Emtelle UK Calls for One Dig Strategy to Help Gigabit Broadband

26th September, 2020 (11 Comments)

The Solutions Director (Colin Kirkpatrick) for Emtelle UK, which is a global manufacturer of blown fibre and ducted network solutions for the industry, has told ISPreview.co.uk in a new interview that ISPs should focus on a “One Dig” strategy to boost the roll-out of “gigabit broadband” by building and sharing spare duct space.

Community Fibre CEO on Building FTTP, Obstructive Landlords and Skills

14th September, 2020 (10 Comments)

The CEO of London-based broadband ISP CommunityFibre, Graeme Oxby, has told ISPreview.co.uk in a new interview that the “biggest obstruction” they face in quickly and cost-effectively deploying their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network is a lack of support from UK landlords, among other things.

The High Cost of Broadband for USO Excluded UK Communities

30th August, 2020 (58 Comments)

The elephant in the room of the UK Government’s broadband centric Universal Service Obligation (USO) has always been the fact that it isn’t truly “universal” and tens of thousands of premises have fallen outside of its scope. In other words, getting a minimum speed of 10Mbps can become very expensive for some.

Voneus CEO on the “unrealistic” 2025 UK Gigabit Broadband Target

29th August, 2020 (5 Comments)

The Founder and CEO of broadband ISP Voneus, Steve Leighton, has told ISPreview.co.uk in a new interview that the 2025 target for every UK home to gain access to gigabit-capable broadband is “unrealistic” and that Ofcom’s approach to regulation needs to take more account of alternative networks (AltNets).

H1 2020 – Full Fibre Broadband Covers 87% of New Build Homes

24th August, 2020 (0 Comments)

The latest independent H1 2020 study of broadband coverage among UK new build homes has indicated that 87.3% of houses constructed this year were connected to a “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP network (up from 83% in H2 2019), which rises to 97.6% for 30Mbps+ “superfast broadband” services (up from 96%).

DrayTek Interview – A Brief Look Inside a Router Manufacturer

25th July, 2020 (18 Comments)

Taiwan-based network manufacturer DrayTek is a familiar name in the UK broadband ISP world. Since 1997 they’ve been busy building various routers, switches, access points and modems. Suffice to say that we were keen to get their thoughts on the current market for such devices, as well as their plans for the future.

2020 H1 – UK Gigabit Broadband Covers 22% as FTTP Hits 14.8%

7th July, 2020 (23 Comments)

The latest independent model has estimated that the H1 2020 coverage of “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP networks across the UK has risen to 14.8% of premises (up from 11% in H2 2019), while 61.7% can get 100Mbps+ (up from 59.3%) and 22.1% are within reach of “gigabit” (1Gbps) speeds.

H1 2020 – Fastest National UK Mobile and Home Broadband ISPs

29th June, 2020 (1 Comment)

Once again we’ve taken our biannual look back to see how average download and upload speeds have changed across the fastest nationally available fixed line ISPs and mobile operators. Overall the COVID-19 crisis has produced a broad downward trend in H1 2020, but Virgin Media remains top for fixed lines and EE top for mobile.

Summary of UK FTTP Build Progress by Broadband ISPs UPDATE58

14th April, 2020 (16 Comments)

A couple of years ago we published a ‘Summary of FTTP Rollout Plans‘ and since then many more alternative network (altnet) ISPs have entered the UK market. As such we felt as it might be useful to produce a more comprehensive update on current progress and providers for 2020 and beyond (we’ll try to keep this up-to-date).

How to Choose an External 4G or 5G Mobile Broadband Antenna

11th April, 2020 (75 Comments)

Most of us are lucky enough to live within reach of a fairly strong UK mobile broadband (3G, 4G or 5G) network signal but that isn’t true everywhere, particularly in some remote rural areas. Sometimes the best way to receive a stronger signal is to try installing your own external antenna, but knowing what to get can be tricky.

WightFibre CEO – The Challenge of Bringing FTTP to an Island

10th April, 2020 (7 Comments)

In a new interview the CEO of ISP WightFibre, John Irvine, has spoken to ISPreview about some of the challenges they’ve faced in deploying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband across the Isle of Wight (England), particularly obstacles created by the council, and their future hope of covering 71,000 premises by 2025.