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SES Satellite Service Renamed from ASTRA2Connect to SES Broadband

12th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

Worldwide satellite operator SES (ASTRA) has renamed its internet service subsidiary ASTRA Broadband Services and their familiar ASTRA2Connect product to SES Broadband Services and SES Broadband respectively. The new names are said to be “in line with SES’ new Corporate Identity“.

PlusNet Calls for More UK Customers to Join its 80Mbps Broadband Trial

12th Mar, 2012 (5 Comments)

UK ISP PlusNet has said that there are still “plenty of spaces open” on its trial of up to 80Mbps (Megabits per second) Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband technology, which was made available to all residential subscribers last month (currently 100 staff and customers are taking part). Results so far are said to have been “very positive“.

ISP Exwavia Fears UK Government to Fine Rural Farmers for Lack of Broadband

10th Mar, 2012 (4 Comments)

Welshpool-based ISP Exwavia, which uses wireless (WiFi) technology to deliver broadband internet access speeds of up to 14Mbps (Megabits per second) into isolated parts of rural Wales (UK), has warned that farmers could soon be hit by a new wave of fines and penalties if they do not start using the governments related online services (e.g. Taxation, Electronic Sheep Database etc.).

Golden Eye Tests Broadband ISP Piracy Evidence in UK Court vs O2

9th Mar, 2012 (6 Comments)

Despite the repeated failure of similar schemes, Golden Eye International, a dubious firm that claims to hold numerous film copyrights and is linked with the UK’s Ben Dover porn brand, has today gone to court in an attempt to extract the customer details for around 9,000 internet connections (IP addresses) from ISP O2 UK (Telefonica). If it wins then thousands of users, specifically those whom it accuses of “illegal” online piracy, could expect to receive threat letters (“speculative invoicing“) that demand payments of £700 to settle the offence.

BT Says UK FTTC Superfast Broadband Can Do 100Mb After EU Said it Can’t

9th Mar, 2012 (11 Comments)

The Vice President of the European Commission’s (EC) Digital Agenda strategy, Neelie Kroes, suggested in a speech to the Cable Congress of the European Cable Communications Association (Brussels, Germany) yesterday that it was “not possible” for Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology to “really provide 100 Megabits” superfast broadband ISP speeds. Naturally BTOpenreach, which is using the same technology for its national UK rollout, disagrees.

Configuration Change Downs Orange UK Mobile Broadband Network

9th Mar, 2012 (1 Comment)

Mobile operator Orange UK (Everything Everywhere) has admitted that an unspecified “configuration change” was responsible for yesterdays sporadic national outage of its Mobile Broadband (3G) services. The issue, which lasted most of the day for some customers, did not appear to affect T-Mobile’s shared network and was finally resolved during the early afternoon.

Majority of UK Local Authorities Meet Governments Broadband Deadline

8th Mar, 2012 (4 Comments)

The UK governments Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has today announced that all but two local authorities (councils) have managed to submit their draft Local Broadband Plans (LBP) on time, which aim to help make superfast broadband (25Mbps+) ISP services available to 90% of the country by 2015 (the last 10% will get at least 2Mbps). In addition 40% of local authority projects have been given the green light to proceed with procurement.

Faster Broadband for Rural UK Villages of Nun Monkton and Moor Monkton

8th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

NYnet, a UK public sector controlled private limited company, has announced that the isolated rural North Yorkshire villages of Nun Monkton and Moor Monkton can now recieve faster broadband internet access. The effort is thanks to a mix funding coming from the community, local businesses, Defra’s Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and CLANNET.

ISP Entanet Tells Ofcom to End UK Mobile Operator Imposed VoIP Blocks

8th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

Business ISP Entanet, a UK telecoms and internet supplier, has suggested that the national communications regulator (Ofcom) must “be prepared to step in” and force Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to stop their “anti-competitive practices” (e.g. blocking VoIP traffic) by protecting Net Neutrality (the principal of treating all internet traffic as equal).

BT Expands Trial of White Space Wireless Broadband Technology to Cornwall UK

8th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

BT has confirmed that it plans to expand upon last year’s Cambridge and Isle of Bute based trials (here) of “White Space” (IEEE 802.22) wireless broadband technology, which makes use of the radio spectrum that exists between Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) channels to deliver internet access services, by launching a new commercial scale test in Cornwall to replace its current 4G (Mobile Broadband) trial with Everything Everywhere (Orange UK and T-Mobile).

4G Mobile Broadband Spectrum Auction Could Force UK Rail Coverage

7th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

A new report created by Mott MacDonald for Ofcom has suggested that the much delayed auction of 800MHz and 2.6GHz radio spectrum, which will be used to deploy the next generation of 3G and 4G superfast Mobile Broadband services (e.g. LTE), could boost mobile coverage of the national UK rail network by including an “obligation for rail corridor coverage” in future licenses.

UPD Ofcom UK Makes BT Cut its Wholesale Broadband and Phone Line Prices

7th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

As widely expected the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has today introduced a new round of price cuts (“charge controls“) upon BTOpenreach’s national telephone and broadband lines, which affects services delivered via both BT’s own Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) and rival Local Loop Unbundling ( LLU ) lines. As a result ISPs like Sky Broadband , TalkTalk and Be Broadband should now pay a little less. But will consumers see any benefit?

Deutsche Telekom Break Record with 512Gbps Data Speed via Fibre Optic Cable

7th Mar, 2012 (0 Comments)

Researchers working for Deutsche Telekom (DT), a German telecommunications giant, and Alcatel-Lucent have broken last year’s world record (here) after they were successfully able to send 400Gbps (Gigabits per second) worth of usable data over a long distance single optical-fiber wavelength channel (running at a total of 512Gbps – the difference was used for error correction) for the first time.

Ofcom UK Report Claims Satellite Broadband is Bad for VPN, VoIP and Gaming

7th Mar, 2012 (3 Comments)

The communications regulator, Ofcom UK, has quitely published a new “small-scale report” that investigated the quality of experience and user satisfaction when using broadband Satellite ISP services for applications such as online video gaming (multiplayer), Virtual Private Networks (VPN), video/audio streaming and Voice-over-IP (VoIP).

KC Claim Residents of Beverley Now Receive the Fastest Speeds in the UK

6th Mar, 2012 (1 Comment)

KC, the incumbent internet and phone provider for Hull and East Riding (Yorkshire, UK), has claimed that the ongoing roll-out of their new Lightstream fibre optic broadband service (FTTH / FTTC), which kicked off last month, has managed to connect over 500 customers in the market town of Beverley. As a result the town is now said to have “the fastest speeds in the country“.

UPDATE2 UK ISPs BT and TalkTalk Lose Second Digital Economy Act Appeal

6th Mar, 2012 (3 Comments)

Broadband ISPs BT and the TalkTalk Group have officially lost a second appeal against their demands for a Judicial Review (JR) of the controversial 2010 Digital Economy Act (DEA). The UK providers had claimed that significant chunks of the act, which seeks to identify, warn (letters) and possibly even disconnect (“suspend“) those suspected of “illegal” internet piracy (copyright infringement) from their ISP, were incompatible with EU law.

Report Claims No Killer App Justifies the Need for Ultra Fast FTTH Broadband

6th Mar, 2012 (4 Comments)

Consultancy firm Analysys Mason, which was recently appointed by six French governmental and public bodies to conduct a prospective study on the services that would justify the need for ultra-fast fibre optic broadband technology (e.g. 100Mbps+ FTTH), has today published its conclusions. The results, which found that “no killer application justifies the need” for ultra-fast fibre (except perhaps IPTV), might also have some relevance for the UK market.