Tag: broadband
Tories plan super-fast broadband network by 2017
The Conservative party have vowed to deliver a super-fast broadband network to UK homes by 2017. Is this a case of pre-election carrot-dangling or do the Tories have some concrete plans up their sleeves? The Tories plan to end BT's…
BT announce new high-speed Infinity broadband package
BT have announced the launch of Infinity, the first consumer broadband package to use their new next-generation access (NGA) fibre-optic network. For £19.99 a month, customers can get download speeds of 40Mbps and upload speeds of 2 Mbps. Data is…
Vodafone launch Sure Signal 3G booster
Vodafone have today launched their new Sure Signal 3G booster box. Timed nicely to coincide with last week's iPhone launch on the network , it aims to significantly improve 3G signals within the home. The Sure Signal service is part…
O2 offer home phone deals to broadband subscribers
As of March, network providers O2 will be offering landline phone deals to their broadband customers. It's a move the company hope will help bolster their trailing home broadband position. "This is the most important launch for us in the…
BT super-fast broadband rollout on schedule for 2012 Olympic launch
BT have today announced that they are ahead of schedule for their super fast broadband rollout, and plan to have the network ready nationwide in time for the 2012 Olympic games. BT aim to have a 100Mbps service ready for…
£6 a year broadband tax heading to UK households
A £6 a year tax will be added to your landline telephone bill, Chancellor Alastair Darling has revealed today. A further 50p per month will be added to the bill for each extra phone line installed in residents' houses. Following…
7.2Mb mobile broadband on the way from Virgin Media
Users can pick up the new dongle on a range of different contracts, from rolling 1 month deals right up to extended 18 month programs. Usage limits from 1 to 3Gb a month apply.
Pay as You Go mobile broadband sales overtake contract deals
53% of mobile broadband customers now opt for Pay as You Go deals compared to 47% who take contract deals.
BT on course with its super-fast broadband project
BT has announced that an additional 69 towns will be receiving their super-fast fibre-based broadband by this time next year – meaning the service will be available to 1.5 million homes and businesses.
BT’s Steve Robertson said: “We had aimed to get fibre to half a million homes by next March but we’re now being far more ambitious. We’ve received a tremendous response to date and so we’re keen to get on with the job.”
Their overall goal of the project, which is costing the telecommunication giant £1.5billion, is to have 10 million homes covered by 2012 – 40% of the country.
BT will be offering access to ISPs on an open, wholesale basis thereby supporting a competitive market. The first areas to have access to the network went live earlier this week. Trials are taking place in Muswell Hill, London and Whitchurch, South Wales and involve 16 different ISPs.
The plan is great news for internet users and makes a bit of a mockery of the plan set out in the Digital Britain report to ensure that the country is covered by a broadband network capable of 2Mbps. The super-fast network being developed by BT should be capable of speeds of 40Mbps – 100Mbps. No wonder MPs are to open an inquiry into whether the 2Mbps plan is ambitious enough. Clearly it isn’t.
(via BT & Computing.co.uk)
MPs to investigate Britain's broadband speeds
The Digital Britain report, published earlier this month, proposed that all homes would have access to broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps by 2012.
Now for a country that has Virgin advertising up to 50Mb via their cable network and O2 advertising up to 20Mb on the existing phone-line network that doesn’t really sound very ambitious. It seems that some MPs may also be thinking just that.
So, MPs who work in the Commons Business and Enterprise Committee are to open an inquiry into broadband speeds in the UK. They will also look into whether the proposed 50p broadband tax is fair or not – the charge would be added monthly to anyone with a fixed telephone line.
Their concern is that by not aiming higher, the UK will fall behind the rest of the world in terms of broadband speeds. This handy chart courtesy of the BBC shows just how far we are behind already:
Even the French are beating us – sacre bleu. Also, South Korea has set a target of a minimum of 1Gbps for all homes. That kind of blows our target out of the water.
(via BBC)
