Telewest Broadband (blueyonder) has created quite a stir today after announcing that it intended to deploy a SECOND speed boost to its hi-speed services at no extra cost. The 'upgrades' will occur between December'04 and January'05, pushing speeds up to 4Mbps!:

In the wake of recent research* showing consumers have a preference for unlimited internet services, the cable company also pledged to keep its blueyonder internet services free of usage caps, allowing customers to surf into the new year with peace of mind.

The permanent bandwidth upgrades will be rolled-out from December and should be completed by January 2005, stepping up the pressure on slower internet providers using BT's network to deliver services.

All of Telewest Broadband's existing 750Kb, 1.5Mb and 3Mb blueyonder internet customers will receive the faster access speeds automatically, with no need for new equipment and no additional fees.

Leading the pack will be a new ultra-fast 4Mb service - the speediest cable service in Britain and the fastest home internet connection available from any internet provider outside of London. Advanced internet users should also appreciate a boost in the upstream speed of this flagship service, allowing large files like digital photos to be sent up to 50 per cent faster.

The overhaul will see the following options available:

* blueyonder broadband 4Mb
* The flagship 3Mb service will become an even faster 4Mb connection, offering download speeds up to 80 times faster than dial-up access, for the same price of £50 a month. The upload speed will also be increased from 256Kb to 384Kb

* blueyonder broadband 2Mb
* The 1.5Mb service will get a boost to 2Mb, still at £35 per month

* blueyonder broadband 1Mb
The standard service will increase in speed from 750Kb to 1Mb and still cost £25 per month

* blueyonder broadband 256Kb
The entry-level 256Kb service will remain unchanged and is currently on offer for £14.99 per month (for the first 12 months, £17.99 thereafter)

Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband, said: "This will be the second time this year we have increased the speed of our blueyonder broadband services, doubling the original bandwidth with no increased costs and no introduction of caps.

"This isn't a short-term offer and there are no catches - we're simply giving broadband users what they want, thanks to our advanced cable network. Christmas is a time for giving, so anyone fed up with Scrooge-like behaviour from their ISP knows where to come for faster, unlimited internet access."

Consumers can find out more about the speed increases at
http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/evenfaster

Suffice to say that Telewest has taken a lot of people by surprise with this news, especially since they haven’t been the best at keeping secrets in the past ;).

We wouldn’t be surprised if NTL eventually follows, but it’ll probably be well into 2005 before that.

In a recent poll more than 80% of our readers voted in favour of pushing broadband speeds up to 4Mbps and beyond.