Incentives offered for super fast broadband
July 30, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Ofcom has recently offered financial reassurances to companies such as BT and Virgin Media if they choose to invest in setting up high-speed fibre optic networks across the UK. If the companies carried out the works, it would bring the country much closer to the next generation of super fast broadband speeds.
At the moment, UK broadband runs on a slow copper wire network. However, as our browsing habits change and more music and films are downloaded, the need for faster connections is becoming ever more important. Fibre optics would create faster speeds and increase the capacity for larger downloads.
The problem so far with investing in fibre optic cables is that it is a very expensive process, which neither BT nor any of the other companies in this area has been prepared to carry out. It is estimated that it would cost £15 billion to install a network and the main fear is that the companies will not be able to charge the prices that they would need to in order to recoup their investments.
However, Ofcom has now stated that it wants a “regulatory environment” that “both allows and encourages operators to make risky investments”. In other words, it will not change the rules further down the line to punish the providers financially when the new cables are installed.
The aim is to encourage operators to develop the new infrastructure without having to take big financial risks, and would essentially allow BT to operate the fibre optic cables whilst charging large amounts to users of the lines.
If the new network is constructed, internet users in the UK will finally be able to download at the same speeds as other countries such as Japan and France and UK businesses will become more competitive as a result.
O2 provides the fastest broadband speeds
July 23, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Recent quarterly broadband speed tests, carried out for the first time by moneysupermarket.com, have revealed disappointing results for most UK broadband users.
Moneysupermarket.com tested 16 ISPs (Internet Service Providers) across the country, and discovered that top of the list was O2. Users of the 8Mbps deal received average speeds of 5.39Mbps, which were the fastest when compared to those stated by the provider. Other ISPs to perform well were Sky, whose customers received average speeds of 3.59Mbps, and TalkTalk, who came in third place with 2.99Mbps.
It was revealed that the least value for money was found in the packages which offered speeds of over 16Mbps, at an average cost of £18.60. These actually provided an average speed of just 7.02Mbps, less than half of what they claimed. The same was true of the packages offering 8Mbps, which only provided an average of 4Mbps.
However, the average across the UK was only 2.97Mbps, which has led to concerns about the speeds being advertised by providers. Rob Barnes, head of broadband and mobiles at moneysupermarket.com, said: “O2 has sped its way to the top of the broadband league”. He also pointed out that the speeds advertised were far from what were really on offer, and claimed that “Ofcom’s code of practice can’t come into force soon enough”.
Ofcom currently has a voluntary code to make sure speeds are adhered to but it has promised to make it compulsory if rules continue to be broken. The code states that ISPs should provide a true estimate of the maximum speeds, and this is currently failing to happen.
Zen voted the best broadband again
July 16, 2008 at 7:00 pm
You might not have heard of them but according to a recent consumer poll at Which? magazine, Zen are the UK’s best broadband ISP. The survey prides itself on being totally voted by the consumer and therefore the big money-flashing companies can’t push for pole position. Last year saw the up-market supermarket Waitrose take the top spot but this year they have slipped one place to second and the gang at Zen came out top.
Zen are a small, Rochdale-based ISP and only really operate within the UK. But they were one of the very first providers to be established in Britain way back in the early stages of the internet in 1995. It was predominantly for schools and local business around the Rochdale area back then, but when the web went through the roof, Zen expanded and increased staff and turn-over. They have kept a fairly low profile in the world of ISPs though and the average customer might not have heard of them. Their strength comes from the highest quality recommendation from existing customers and they have prided themselves over the years on being the unsung heroes of the internet world.
The Which? award celebrates a number of areas in the service. Connection reliability, connection speed, customer services, value for money, online and telephone support, storage and download limits are just a few of the main ways the ISPs can earn points. Zen have always ranked in the top three in the famous consumer poll so it hasn’t come as a huge surprise to them to be awarded the top prize for 2008.
Virgin to really start spying on customers
July 8, 2008 at 2:44 pm
When was the last time you bought a CD from a record shop? It’s a long time ago for some of us. But then the music industry has never been in a better position in terms of audience reach and you only have to look at the number of people wearing earphones on public transport to see evidence. The answer, of course, lies in illegal file sharing and downloading, peer to peer. It’s the internet equivalent of sub-letting a bedroom. The ISPs are at war with their customers who download illegally. But now one of the biggest, Virgin Media, are about to become much more militant about things.
Virgin have joined forces with the British Phonographic Industry to catch anyone who illegally shares files across their broadband service and those people will face letters, then threats of disconnection followed by legal action. It’s going to be a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy for Virgin users pretty soon.
There are currently 6.5 million broadband users in the UK who share files and many of those are with Virgin Media. Their gung ho attitude might be ethically sound and be benefitting the music industry, but it’s not immediately obvious what Virgin are going to gain from this recent stern action.
There are quite a few loop holes in the problem. Many people are making their own music and getting accused of it being copyrighted music because it has a similar file name. There is also the problem of customers, who are having their WiFi used by people without their permission, being accused of illegal downloading when it’s not even something they are aware of. These could end up being get-out-of-jail-free card excuses or could result in ISPs, such as Virgin, coming down hard on the wrong people.
Broadband divide revealed
July 1, 2008 at 2:24 pm
After recent OFCOM research highlighted the growth of broadband access across rural Britain, a new piece of research has come out which states that rural broadband users experience much slower download speeds than their city counterparts.
UK analyst thinkbroadband.com has revealed the results of a large nationwide broadband test, during which it evaluated over 138,000 connections across 12 regions. The results were a blow to the majority of rural Britain.
The results claim that London is by far the leader when it comes to broadband speeds, with an average download rate of 4.5Mbps. This is followed up by the North East (3.6Mbps), the North West (3.4Mbps) and the East Midlands (3.3Mbps).
However, at the other end of the table came the worst performer, Northern Ireland, which had the slowest speeds in the UK, averaging a dismal 2.3Mbps. Only just above Northern Ireland were Wales (2.6Mbps), the South West and Scotland (both 2.9Mbps).
One of the reasons for the higher speeds in London is that most telephone exchanges have a wide range of LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) operators, whereas other regions do not have nearly as many.
However, when speeds were tested by individual cities rather than by regions, it was Edinburgh who came top of the table with 4.41Mbps, with London in second place with 4.37Mbps.
Despite the positions in the table of each region, there is a wider issue at stake. Although many broadband providers promote their speeds as upwards of 8Mbps, the reality for many customers is that they are a lot lower. Even in London, the speed tests that were carried out found only 20% of download rates over 7Mbps, and in Wales it was a lot less than this. Such results suggest that fast download speeds are, in fact, very hard to come by across the entire country.
