England vs. fair usage policies
October 30, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Thousands of football fans swapped the pub for their office on Saturday, 10th Oct to watch England play ex-Soviet giants, the Ukraine, in what would become the first internet-only broadcast of an England international match.
When Setanta went into administration earlier this year, its stock of football matches was flogged to the highest bidder. The firm officially ceased trading on 23rd of June, but it would take four months for anybody to take notice.
Despite vocal derision, the World Cup qualifier ended up in the hands of internet media specialist, Perform Group, who were all too happy to charge fans for the privilege of watching the game.
Costing £4.99 for early birds, and £11.99 for late purchases, the match was banned from pubs and clubs, showing only in Odeon cinemas and on the official Ukraine vs. England website.
Mark Jackson, the editor of the ISPreview website, was bemused by the news: “Sounds interesting, but if this is the future of media, then I’ll get my coat.” Mr. Jackson noted several shortfalls with the service, not least of which was poor quality video – "making the BBC iPlayer look good."
Users with slow internet connections or limited monthly data allowances were at an obvious disadvantage, but with a hefty 2GB data load over just 90 minutes, even those with expensive broadband packages may not be able to use their internet again until the next bill arrives.
Fortunately, what Perform Group described as a ‘key match’ actually fell some way short of greatness. Excepting the important fact that England lost, Fabio Capello’s side had already qualified for the World Cup, rendering the outcome of the match somewhat academic.
Sports fans ought to be afraid, however – with no issues of note, the broadcast was heralded as a success, opening up the world of sports to internet media companies all over the world.
Almost half a million people paid to watch the game online.
Conservatives renew attack on broadband tax
October 30, 2009 at 2:37 pm
It has been revealed that the controversial broadband tax is to go ahead as early as next year. The announcement was made by the treasury minister Stephen Timms who is in charge of the Digital Britain report. He said that the law will be introduced in the next finance bill.
This has brought renewed calls from the Conservatives for the tax to be scrapped. Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, said that the country should be “seeking to stimulate investment in broadband through the regulatory structure,” rather than “taxing Britain’s hard-pressed families further.”
Tory MP John Whittingdale, who is chair of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), said that he was “confident” the Conservatives would oppose the tax. He said he personally opposed it because it was aimed at people using “old technology”.
As well as the Conservatives’ opposition to the tax, others have objected to it on the basis that it will not raise enough funds.
The controversial tax will charge 50p a month on all land lines, leading some to dub it the “telephone tax”. It will therefore cost each household £6 a year and will raise £175 million each year for the development of super-fast broadband.
Some thought that the new tax would not get around to being implemented due to the large amount of opposition towards it, and many thought it had been derailed. But the latest announcement means it could arrive as early as next spring.
Timms said that the tax is “vital for jobs and growth” and that he is “wholeheartedly committed” to it.
Rural Scotland braced for broadband boost
October 23, 2009 at 4:18 pm
The UK appears to be lagging behind many other areas of Europe when it comes to broadband, yet some of the most striking inequalities are actually within our nation’s own boundaries.
Some of the most digitally isolated communities are to be found in rural parts of Wales and Scotland. Professor Peter Buneman of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics states that "access to the internet is fast becoming a basic utility in cities, but in rural areas it is often unavailable."
He highlights the fact that people living in remote areas need to run businesses, contact friends and access educational support through the internet. He also said that broadband speeds are even more important in "remote areas where radio, TV and telephones may not work well".
But now things may be about to change thanks to a series of initiatives driven by the Scottish Government.
A collaborative project between BT and the Scottish authorities will address the widening technology gap between rural Scotland and many other parts of the UK by upgrading existing telephone exchanges.
Given the sparsely populated, and often rugged, landscapes encountered in Scotland, many rural communities find themselves situated miles from an exchange. This was fine in the era of standard telephone communications, but is no good at all when it comes to high-speed broadband which cannot be accessed via so-called "long lines".
The BT scheme will see the upgrading of telephone exchanges in some of the country’s most farflung corners, allowing both residential and business users improved access to a faster internet connection. This is vital for the social and economic wellbeing of Scotland’s hinterland.
Recognising the key role of broadband, the Scottish Government has committed substantial sums of money to the project, which comes hot on the heels of another pilot scheme completed earlier in the year.
Again the infrastructure was put in place by BT under its nationwide Openreach programme using Broadband Enabling Techonology (BET). BET extends the reach of long lines by using business-class DSL technology to transmit digital data over an ordinary copper telephone line. Reach can be further increased by pairing the copper wires to achieve broadband speeds of up to 2Mbps.
All of this is great news, but despite the advances many rural Scottish communities are still awaiting their transformation from not-spot to hot-spot. The rural nature of the country will continue to provide a technological and financial challenge for the major IT and telephone providers and the Scottish Government as they seek to close the telecoms gap with the rest of the UK.
PAYG mobile broadband surge as students head to university
October 23, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Pay-As-You-Go mobile broadband is taking off with students this year in a big way, according to sales figures from Tesco. The supermarket giant recently got involved in the mobile phone market, and it has now released stats showing a 71% rise in the number of PAYG mobile broadband sales as students head off to university.
Mobile broadband has a number of benefits for students. The most important thing for many is that it does not involve sharing a contract with housemates. It is a personal contract that can be taken wherever they go. Many students return to their parents’ home during the holidays, so to be able to carry on using their mobile broadband without missing out is a huge plus. There are also less problems when it comes to paying the bills with housemates.
But PAYG mobile broadband is increasingly popular due to the cheaper prices and the lack of being tied into a contract. Many students may just need the internet to do some research or check emails, and being able to plug in and go when they want is hugely convenient.
The deals for PAYG mobile broadband do lack certain features – the download limits are often not as good as fixed-line deals, and the speeds are generally slower. But they do have one huge advantage in that it is impossible to go over the download limits. This has become an issue recently for fixed-line customers, some of whom have gone over their limits on a contract and ended up facing a bill for thousands of pounds as a result without realising it.
Ofcom ends BT bundling restrictions
October 15, 2009 at 10:54 am
BT’s 14 million customers could be about to see cheaper broadband, telephone and TV bills come their way. The news comes after Ofcom announced that it was scrapping the restrictions that were in place on BT that prevented it from offering bundled services.
The restrictions were originally introduced back in the 1980s when BT was privatised. This was primarily to prevent the company from abusing its position in the landline market. However, things have changed and Ofcom ruled that BT could now compete in the sector again. As well as this, BT will no longer have to inform its competitors of its prices in advance.
Bundling is nothing new for other providers. TalkTalk, BSkyB and Virgin Media have all been offering their customers bundled services for years. It is a hugely popular way for consumers to get a cheap and convenient deal on all of their main services.
Ofcom has now decided that competition is healthy enough for BT to get in on the act as well. This was described as “an important step” by Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, who said that “competition can be relied upon to serve the consumer interest.” BT was also happy about the move, with the chief executive of BT Retail, Gavin Patterson, saying that the company could now compete “on a more level playing field”.
So from this autumn onwards BT is expected to release a whole new batch of attractive bundled deals. Some analysts predict that this will lead to bundled packages going down in price across the board which means it could be a great time to make a purchase.
O2 and BT sign business broadband deal
October 15, 2009 at 10:53 am
O2 is to launch a new fixed-line broadband deal for businesses after teaming up with BT Wholesale. The Telefonica-owned company will be launching its new ‘Joined Up’ package that will provide business customers with both mobile and fixed-line broadband solutions.
This news follows on from the announcement by Vodafone recently that it is also teaming up with BT Wholesale for much the same purpose. It will be launching the Vodafone One Net service aimed at businesses soon.
But Ben Dowd, the business sales director at O2, said that “our strategy is different to theirs”. He claimed that O2 would become the “communications integrator of choice by 2012”. He highlighted some of the benefits that the service would provide, including professional consultancy, equipment and data, and said that moving into the fixed-line market would allow O2 to provide business customers with a “genuine end-to-end service”.
And O2 has also hinted that it has already managed to sign some big corporate accounts to the service.
The exact details have not yet been announced, but features such as free outbound calls to O2 mobiles are to be expected. Although O2 has 500,000 fixed-line broadband customers in the UK, it is still focused mainly on non-business consumers, so this new venture will see its customer base grow significantly.
The agreement between O2 and BT Wholesale is a five-year deal, and BT will be responsible for designing and managing the service management centre.
Some analysts have expressed their surprise at the companies’ decision to team up as they have had disagreements before. But it is widely accepted that the move displays good judgement for both O2 and BT Wholesale as they create new opportunities by working together.
500 million expected to be using broadband within a year
October 9, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Even in our present bleak economic climate, new research by Futuresource Consulting has predicted that 2010 will be the year when home broadband connections will break the 500 million barrier. Futuresource’s findings suggest that, at present, worldwide xDSL telephone connections account for over 60% of households who have fixed broadband, compared to only 20% with cable connections.
The 500 million barrier is expected to be achieved principally due to dramatically increasing demand in developing countries. Africa and the Middle East are expected to be at the forefront of this push, with an expected increase in new broadband connections of as much as one third in just a year. The country where the biggest boom is expected is India where at present only 2% of households have fixed broadband – something that is expected to grow five-fold by 2013.
However, the research by Futuresource Consulting does not bring good news for the UK who are lagging behind in terms of broadband speed, currently offering up a measly 4.3Mbps compared to world leaders, Japan and South Korea, who both have average download speeds of 30Mbps. The Digital Britain report includes the Government’s ambition to deliver 2Mbps to all UK households by 2012, showing how far they are lagging behind other developed countries.
Japan and Korea are the current champions in the broadband league with average download speeds of around 30Mbps while the Europeans are currently led by Sweden, averaging 14Mbps. Many will be surprised that the national average speed achieved in the United States in 2008 was only 2.7Mbps.
Even though UK users may feel deprived of download speed, most would agree it is a good thing to see more of the global population connected to broadband, providing links between the developed and developing nations as more information is shared throughout the world.
TV programme file-sharing a big problem
October 9, 2009 at 3:57 pm
The illegal downloading of music over the internet has been widely reported over the last few years. But now another area of illegal downloading is getting more attention – TV programmes.
Research firm Big Champagne has found that many people are now downloading their favourite TV programmes from the internet rather than watching them on TV, which is becoming a growing concern for broadcasters as fewer people are tuning in to watch them at the scheduled time.
Big Champagne compiled a list of the most popular illegal TV downloads across the internet. Top of the list was Heroes with 55 million downloads, with Lost following close behind with 51 million.
People are visiting torrent websites in increasing numbers to download TV programmes quickly, easily and free of charge. Visits have almost doubled to these sites in just one year as it becomes increasingly easy to download the files, especially with the growth of broadband over recent years. The problem is that people don’t see the activity as a crime because the programmes are free to watch on TV anyway. Or sometimes people might miss the episode and download it the next day, which seems like a harmless enough activity.
Big Champagne’s chief executive, Eric Garland, said that it is “a socially acceptable form of casual piracy” which is “replacing viewing hours”. However, he also added that the effect it will have on the TV industry will be “very different” to that experienced by the music industry.
The most popular British show to be downloaded was Top Gear, which received up to 300,000 downloads in the following few days after an episode was broadcast. All of the other programmes were American. The UK was also responsible for 4% of all download activity, whereas the US was responsible for 47%.
BBC to challenge broadband ‘rip-off’
October 1, 2009 at 1:11 pm
BBC Broadcasting has asked the owners of the ISPreview website to collate the gripes of broadband customers, in an effort to humiliate flagging internet service providers (ISPs).
The survey, which will be televised in November 2009, asks users if they have ever achieved the maximum broadband speed that was sold to them, if their connection is having a negative effect on their life or work, and if they have ever felt that they are being ‘ripped-off.’
Consumers have been asked to email the BBC with their opinions, and air their lamentations in the ISPreview forum.
Loaded Questions
Despite the company’s stance as an impartial information resource, the BBC survey contains mostly loaded questions. Factor in the name of the programme (Rip-Off Britain), and the BBC has created a rather prejudiced monster.
Regular visitors to the ISPreview website, many of whom are employed by broadband companies, have voiced concerns about the objectivity of the survey. Martin Pitt, the founder of the Aquiss ISP, felt that the BBC was content to ignore the technical ramifications of living miles from a broadband exchange.
“The BBC doesn’t understand how technology works. If you live miles from an exchange, a customer will not get serviced at the maximum speed.” Mr. Pitt explained.
At present, 72% of respondents declared themselves happy with their broadband speed, but almost half agreed that their internet connections were not as fast as they should be.
The original survey topic is available on the ISPreview website.
Ofcom releases student broadband guide
October 1, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Starting university involves a lot of organisation, and getting the right broadband package is becoming a major factor to consider. That’s why Ofcom has just released a broadband guide especially for students.
It’s a simple guide covering just two pages, and it only covers the most basic information for students. It is split into three main sections:
Fixed or Mobile?
This section offers helpful advice on whether it’s best to go with mobile broadband or a fixed-line deal. It makes a few good points, suggesting that if students like to use the internet for downloading large files then it is probably a better idea to share a fixed broadband connection and split the costs.
How do I Get It?
It also provides details on how to get started with a fixed-line connection. This includes advice on paying the connection fee for the phone line and considering the other costs involved such as whether there are any extra charges for cancelling a contract early.
Contract or Pay-As-You-Go?
When it comes to the length of the contract, this could be a factor in which type of broadband to get. Mobile broadband has the advantage of travelling with the student, but now it is possible to get 9-month contracts from providers such as Be Broadband, which might also be considered.
The guide also includes lots of links to other areas of the Ofcom website for further advice, as well as links to price comparison websites to help students find the best deal whichever type of broadband they decide on.
The guide is available as a PDF document and can be found here.
