Posted: 12th Nov, 2010 By: MarkJ

Popular ISP Be Broadband has today officially launched its new
BE Line Bonding service, which merges two 24Mbps ( ADSL2+ ) capable broadband lines together and claims to offer a maximum download speed of up to 44Mbps (5Mbps upload).
The service itself has actually been available on BE's website since September (
original news). However, at a heft cost of £65 per month (+£85 connection fee), it's probably only designed for the
niche market of wealthy people who aren't likely to get a "
super-fast" fibre-base broadband service anytime in the next few years.
Alex Gowar, Head of Marketing for BE Broadband, said:
"As only half of the UK population have access to fibre currently, BE’s Line Bonding product is a real viable alternative. But Line Bonding is not only great for BE customers who want fibre speeds, but it could also be life changing for the millions of UK customers who suffer slower speeds because they live a long way from the exchange. It’s all part of our ‘Real World Speed’ proposition and our desire to help customers achieve the fastest speeds possible that their line can handle."
We think that BE's attempt to sell this as a solution for those who live a long way from their exchange is perhaps somewhat misleading. After all, if you can only receive 1Mbps on a single line with low-modest costs then paying through the nose just to get a marginal increase (it probably won't truly "
double the speed" to 2Mbps either, bonding suffers from some performance loss) isn't terribly good value.
The bonding package itself comes with 1 Static IP address, a free specialised router and "
unlimited" usage on a 12 month contract. The service is available anywhere that the regular BE service is – currently 70% of the UK – and will require a second BT line at further cost.