Posted: 08th Nov, 2011 By: MarkJ

Internet provider ICUK has today become the latest UK ISP to
launch its own range of superfast broadband packages, which use 'up to' 40Mbps (rising to 80Mbps in 2012) capable FTTC technology (i.e. like the BT-Infinity service). BT expects 66% or more of the country to be covered with "
fibre optic" based broadband services by the end of 2014.
Prices for the
ICUK Home FTTC service are similar to other third party BT-based ISPs and start at £20 inc. VAT per month. All packages come with a 12 month contract and £96 inc.VAT one-off activation fee (includes the needed VDSL modem). A sample of two packages can be found below (more on ICUK's site).
HOME FIBRE OPTION 1
* Download Speed: up to 40Mbps
* Upload Speed: up to 2Mbps
* Usage Allowance: 10GB Peak / 50GB Offpeak + Unlimited Uploads
* Email Addresses + Spam & Virus Filtering
* UK Based Phone & Email Support
Price: £20 per month
HOME FIBRE OPTION 2
* Download Speed: up to 40Mbps
* Upload Speed: up to 2Mbps
* Usage Allowance: 50GB Peak / 100GB Offpeak + Unlimited Uploads
* Email Addresses + Spam & Virus Filtering
* UK Based Phone & Email Support
Price: £30 per month
The
ICUK Business FTTC packages are similar but start at £25 instead of £20 and come with a default upload speed of 10Mbps instead of 2Mbps. The new service is apparently part of a "
massive investment to the core network", which includes a new in-house developed
Web Control Panel for its web hosting customers.
Paul Barnett, Director of ICUK, said:
"This has been an exciting development which has seen us re-think our network structure. It has given us the opportunity to re-visit and re-engineer lots of our core network elements whether that be Radius, DNS or the panel interfaces.
Our customers will benefit for many years to come from the effort the team has put into this release. This really is the foundation for a new generation of converged services for ICUK."
ICUK's Home Fibre service sits roughly in the middle of the value table for BT-based superfast broadband products. Sadly nobody has been able to compete directly with BT-Infinity and PlusNet UK's low prices, largely due to a lack of unbundled ( LLU ) FTTC alternatives.
ICUK is also 10 years old today, Happy Birthday all.