BT Retail has followed the trend of other providers by introducing its own set of broadband speed boosts, with some packages being made up to four times faster (EG: 512Kbps to 2Mbps):

The move will mean BT’s 1.4 million retail broadband customers will transfer to a new super-fast standard. Most consumer and business customers will have their speed increased up to 2 Mb – as much as four times faster than current speeds. Those with BT Broadband Basic will have their speed increased from 512k up to 1 Mb.

These higher speeds will pave the way for new services such as video-over-broadband and also allow customers to get more from multiple connections. This will be ideal for families, for example, allowing them to simultaneously connect a PC, laptop, games console, or other internet-enabled device.

New speeds will become effective for new consumer customers from February 17 and for new business customers from April 1. Migration of existing customers will start from the same dates.

The new package layout itself looks something like this:

BT Broadband Basic
£17.99 (Monthly price)
1Mb (Downstream speed)
1GB (Monthly data use cap)
24/03/05 (Open to new customers from..)

BT Broadband
£24.99
2Mb
15GB*
17/02/05

BT Yahoo! Broadband
£26.99
2Mb
15GB*
17/02/05

BT Yahoo! Broadband
£29.99
2Mb
30GB*
24/03/05

* usage allowance will take effect one month after installation for new customers and one month after existing customers are migrated.