Posted: 15th Dec, 2009 By: MarkJ

Hull-based ISP Karoo (KCOM, Kingston Communications), which predominantly covers East Yorkshire in the UK, has issued a new update on the developments following its recent £2.75m investment to improve the performance of their broadband network in the East Yorkshire region.
Karoo Status Update
Overall this will improve the reliability of the network, meaning a better online experience for KC customers. We want our customers to have the most resilient digital network in the UK.
Ensuring our customers are getting the best!
There are over 40,000 residential customers who still haven’t yet made the move to ADSL2+ (the latest generation of broadband technology), which in the majority of cases will improve both their connection speed and line reliability. We would urge anyone who has not yet made the switch to contact us (free from their landline) on 602300 and get upgraded. It doesn’t cost a penny to change packages and you can be up and running in 6 days.
The future for ISPs?
Demand on ISP’s networks is only set to grow, in fact, by almost 400% by 2012! So we don’t want to hide behind the curtains and pretend these issues are going to go away – which is why we recognise we need to work closely with the content providers (like the BBC and SKY) to ensure we can not only support new online technologies but deliver them at a level they are designed to be viewed.
Unfortunately, despite not wanting to "
hide behind the curtains and pretend these [CAPACITY AND VIDEO USAGE ISSUES] are going to go away", Karoo admits that they do not as yet have an answer to the problem.
Raising prices to fund more capacity is an unlikely course of action in an area that is already under the spotlight due to a lack of competition. Karoo's comment also suggests that its existing investment will not, by itself, be enough. Could more aggressive traffic management and or favouritism of specific Internet video services be on the way?