Virgin and O2 provide 3 months Free Broadband
January 29, 2009 at 3:36 pm
As the first month of 2009 draws to a close, many people are worrying that the January blues are becoming harder to bear as a result of the dire economic predictions currently doing the rounds in the newspapers. With consumers performing particularly badly in the shops over the Christmas holiday period, companies are having to do more and more to tempt reluctant customers in.
Broadband providers are feeling the pinch as much as any other company and, as such, it is no surprise to see a couple of free broadband deals appearing with the start of the New Year.
Virgin has been quick to launch its new free deal, which comprises of three months completely free for customers signing up for its broadband, TV, and phone service. This would normally come in at £35 per month, but customers signing up to the 18-month deal will get the first month and the last two months for free. The deal carries on up until the 18th of February, and comprises of 10Mbps broadband speeds and unlimited downloads. However, customers should be warned that a £30 installation fee is applicable.
Not to be outdone, O2 has also jumped on the free broadband bandwagon with its latest offer. Customers can now sign up to either the Pro or Premium deals, with 20Mbps speeds available on both, by signing up to a one-year contract on either. The Pro package is the more expensive of the two, but it also has the biggest savings to be made, and either of the packages can be taken out before the end of January for customers wishing to take advantage of the free deal.
Free Broadband on offer from Carphone Warehouse
January 29, 2009 at 3:34 pm
At a time when we are all feeling the pinch, it is reassuring to find a good offer on the market. Carphone Warehouse is providing free home broadband and free landline calls for new customers signing up to the eighteen-month TalkTalk plan. New customers to this plan will be allowed to experience fixed broadband for free for a total of twelve months, provided that they sign up by the end of February.
The TalkTalk deal will allow consumers to take advantage of 8 Meg broadband with an impressive download limit of 40GB. The service comes complete with a wireless router as well. Consumers will also be able to make unlimited calls during the evenings and at weekends and, impressively, this deal includes calls made to international numbers.
The CEO of Carphone Warehouse, Andrew Harrison, revealed that the company is aware that people are looking to save money at the moment. As such, Carphone Warehouse is trying its best to offer consumers “cost effective solutions” which will allow them to “stay in touch easily and cheaply, both online and over the phone”. Harrison believes that Carphone Warehouse is the company to provide consumers with financial savings during the coming months.
A new service has also been introduced by the company, which may help consumers save money in a different way. MyMobileTariffChecker uses an individual’s mobile phone usage details to calculate which deal is the most cost-effective for them. It is thought that this service has saved over 12,000 customers a total of more than £88,000 since it was introduced during the latter stages of last year.
UK broadband users up to 16.6m
January 23, 2009 at 1:52 pm
The fact that broadband is increasing in popularity across the country comes as no real surprise. However, the latest figures to emerge suggest that there are now 16.6 million broadband users located across the UK. This figure is higher than ever before.
The figures were released by Ofcom, which focused upon the second quarter figures from the Telecommunications Market Data Table. In 2007, second quarter figures put the number of broadband users at 14.38 million, meaning that an increase of 2.2 million has occurred in just one year.
Virgin Media seems to have been one of the biggest winners, with its service seeing half a million extra users. Local loop unbundled (LLU) DSL services have also seen huge increases in customer numbers, rising from 2.459 million to 4.797 million during the 12 month period.
BT-based DSL connections performed the worst, with figures dropping from over 5 million to just 3.846 million. There was also bad news for the smaller ISPs. As more and more people are signing up for the cheaper deals being offered by the larger companies, the smaller ISPs are finding it hard just to stay remotely competitive.
This latest news means that the UK is really starting to catch up with regards to broadband usage. Furthermore, it seems that it will not be too long before every household in the country will be connected.
As more and more companies battle it out to get customers signing up for their services, we can all hope to see some much cheaper prices emerge over the next few months and years. And, if they manage to combine these prices with better speeds, we will all be kept happy.
Talk talk to let consumers sample broadband
January 23, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Talk Talk, the popular Internet Service Provider, has revealed that it plans to provide its customers with the opportunity to sample superfast broadband. A new basic broadband package will offer consumers numerous add-on services, including the ability to make half-price mobile phone calls and fixed line calls at a reduced rate, an additional capacity for downloads (increased from 40GB to an impressive total of 80 GB), and a broadband speed boost option.
This basic package, simply called Talk Talk broadband, will only cost customers £6.49 per month and broadband speeds can be boosted up to a maximum speed of 24 Mbps. For wary consumers, Talk Talk has added a test option for their speed boost extra. If this test provides an unsatisfactory result and no difference in quality is observed, customers can qualify for a full refund from the company.
If customers wish to use the speed boost option permanently, they will need to pay £4 extra per month but fast broadband access will be available to consumers at any time of the day or night. A spokesman for Talk Talk was keen to reiterate the emphasis placed on value for money by the company: “great value is still the number one priority”.
However, as well as retaining a focus upon value for money products, Talk Talk is equally keen to increase the choice provided to its customers. This new broadband package, according to the spokesman for the company, offers both “choice and transparency”, which are now “high on the [company’s] agenda”.
BBC set to cause broadband prices to rise
January 23, 2009 at 1:47 pm
The BBC’s recent announcement that viewers will be able to watch BBC channels live on their computers was met with great excitement from many people across the United Kingdom, particularly those who do not always have access to a television set, including students at numerous Universities. Viewers are already able to watch live streaming of programmes on BBC Three, BBC Four, and BBC News, as well as the more minor channels which are popular with young children, CBBC and CBeebies.
However, other people have expressed their concern at the news. Streaming television programmes live over the Internet will obviously increase traffic over the web. Previously, viewers could watch BBC programmes after the time of live broadcast via the iPlayer option. However, the live streaming option is set to drastically increase the traffic in comparison to the previous option. Downloading a television programme is a more efficient means of viewing over the web because it can be done between other network traffic. On the other hand, when viewers stream a programme, it takes up a very specific amount of capacity.
An Internet researcher, Francesco Caio, believes that the new move from the BBC could seriously impact upon the cost of monthly broadband in the future. In areas which are heavily populated, broadband performance could be harmed and this could result in price increases within three to five years from now.
The scheme has also come under fire from those who believe that it throws the relevance of TV Licensing into fresh doubt.
BBC, ITV and BT planning broadband TV
January 23, 2009 at 1:36 pm
The next step in the development of broadband across the country is likely to be “TV over broadband”. This news comes as the BBC, ITV, and BT have all recently clubbed together to announce a joint initiative to provide TV to all of us over high-speed broadband in the near future.
The move is thought to be the first in a whole host of new Freeview channels which will be appearing and do not require subscriptions, and this change could well signal the future of TV as we know it.
The first thing to happen will be the development of TV receivers and set-top boxes that are connected to broadband. These devices will then be able to receive digital TV and video-on-demand content, vastly increasing the number of channels and the type of viewing experience that we are going to have.
Ian Livingston, the chief executive officer of BT, said that “Television and broadband are a compelling combination". And Mark Thomson, the director general of the BBC, has spoken of the “real benefits for consumers” that this will lead to.
It is widely expected that live TV, interactive content and on-demand content will take a huge step forwards when it becomes a reality, but as yet there is no fixed time frame for getting it out to the general public.
On-demand video has become hugely popular over the past year, with the increases in broadband speeds thought to be the main reason. Things like the successful BBC iPlayer will become increasingly popular, and consumers can expect a truly massive selection of such content available when the broadband TV becomes a reality.
Be Broadband makes 48Mb claims
January 14, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Hot on the heels of Virgin, Be Broadband has just announced that it is considering releasing a 48Mbps broadband service to rival its competitor’s 50Mbps service, which was released only a day earlier.
Be Broadband had been the leader in the field when it comes to broadband speeds until recently, with its 24Mbps service the fastest available in the country. However, Virgin has now shattered these speeds with the announcement of its 50Mbps service.
Be Broadband didn’t waste any time before jumping on this new high-speed bandwagon but, unfortunately for the company, their announcement has not been greeted with as much excitement, mainly because the service does not actually exist yet and is simply undergoing trials.
Felix Geyr, the managing director of Be Broadband, recently said: “we want to push the limits of high-speed broadband”. He also highlighted the differences between the company’s service and Virgin’s, stating that: “we already offer the fastest possible broadband on an ADSL line”. Furthermore, according to Geyr, the new service will be better for people who do not want to get cable.
This is because the Be Broadband service will work in a slightly different way to the service offered by Virgin. Be Broadband will combine two of its broadband connections to double the current speed.
Trials have been going on since September and so far 30-45Mbps speeds have been recorded. So, it looks like we are going to be in for a new battle between cable and fixed-line services in 2009.
50Meg broadband from Virgin
January 14, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Things are certainly speeding up in the world of broadband, with Virgin recently announcing that they are launching a 50Mbps service. This represents a huge shift in the broadband market, as most of the quickest speeds are currently advertised at just 8Mbps.
This service really stands out amongst the others currently available on the market. According to a recent report in The Guardian, it will mean that users will be able to download a whole album in 11 seconds and an entire film in just 3.5 minutes. This is inevitably causing great excitement across the country.
But, as is to be expected, it all comes at a price. The deal means that if you sign up for an £11 per month landline service, you can get the 50Mbps broadband for an extra £35 per month. Alternatively, you could subscribe to Virgin landline, cable TV, and broadband for £66 per month. However, new subscribers who are just looking for the super-fast broadband service will have to pay the price of £51 a month.
Virgin has called the release of the service a “historic moment” and the “dawning of a new era”, and has stated that it will “transform the way people interact and entertain themselves online”.
It is all part of the next generation broadband rollout across the country, and Virgin claims that it will have 40% of its network covered by the end of the year, with summer 2009 the predicted time that the fibre-optic network will be available to the whole network. There could also be more to come, with Virgin claiming that speeds of up to 200Mb could be possible in the near future.
