News Categories: General (Default) | Dialup | DSL (ADSL etc.) | Cable/FTTx | Satellite | Wireless | IPTV | VoIP

The leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron, has given his backing to government proposals that could force UK operators (i.e. not just BT) into making sure that every UK home has access to at least a "basic" 2Mbps broadband service.

However Cameron appeared to go one step further and promised to make next-generation super fast fibre optic broadband services available to every UK home by 2018, provided they get elected of course.

Cameron believes this could be achieved by making investment in fibre networks an attractive possibility for telecoms companies, though not unlike Gordon Brown's own plans he did not specify precisely what that would entail.

Still, regardless of any particular political affiliations our readers may hold, all can at least agree that having political parties take note of and compete over such a crucial issue is good news. Further details on Labours plans are expected to surface later this month.

The CEO of BT Vision, Dan Marks, has admitted to the Telegraph that take-up of its broadband TV (IPTV) service has not been as fast as it would have liked but vows "to do better for our customers". He'll need to after BT Retails head, Gavin Patterson, recently set a new target of 3 million customers by 2010 (currently 350,000):


It's not immediately clear from the article just how BT Vision plans to reach 3m in the current climate, which has seen many of its IPTV rivals suffer from even slower uptake, with Orange UK most recently backing out completely.. again.

However BT has promised not to scale back its investment in the service and points out that BSkyB suffered an almost identical level of slow uptake before being accepted.

BT Vision also expects to benefit from BT's £1.5bn fibre optic plans, which will bring faster broadband services to millions of UK homes. IPTV customers can expect to see more choices as a result of the extra capacity and speed.

The governments Communications Minister, Stephen Carter, is expected to propose that the legal requirement for BT to provide a phone line to every UK home be extended and include shared responsibility by some of the operators rivals too (e.g. Virgin Media, T-Mobile etc.).

Carters 'Digital Review', which is due to surface later this month, will propose that the industry as a whole be required to support Universal Service Obligation's (USO). The update would also demand that operators deliver a basic broadband service, be it via mobile or land-line, to every home:


Presently BT takes on the sole responsibility for supplying a phone line to every UK home, which must be capable of supporting basic dialup Internet speeds and costs the operator between £57m and £74m a year. The new proposals would effectively free BT from absolute responsibility and help to cut its costs.

However we would question the ability of Mobile Broadband to provide at least 2Mbps to UK homes, real-world coverage is far more variable with sub-1Mbps speeds still being the norm. Similarly even BT has trouble reaching many remote areas via land-lines with anything above 1Mbps. Pushing faster speeds into such locations can often be both a technical and economic nightmare.

Never the less such proposals would be a major step in the right direction and should be welcomed, though some serious thought must be put into precisely how the result can be reliably achieved without excessive cost. This will be far from easy.

The results from 804 respondents to ISPreview.co.uk's latest monthly survey have revealed that over half (52 per cent) of all broadband connected Brits think their Internet Service Provider (ISP) is too expensive. This is despite the fact that the UK has one of the most competitive Internet access markets in Europe, with broadband often being given away "free" with additional services (e.g. line-rental, mobile contracts etc.) by some (Orange, Sky, TalkTalk etc.) operators.

However just over 4% of those surveyed claimed to be on a "free" broadband service, while the largest single majority of 31.5% pay between 16 and 20.99 GBP per month for their Internet connection. By comparison 18% paid between 11 and 15.99 GBP, 18% paid 21 to 25.99 GBP, 13.5% paid up to 10.99 GBP, 7% paid 26 to 30.99 GBP and a final 7% paid over 31 GBP for their Internet service.

Clearly a lot of consumers still think they are paying over the odds for broadband and could potentially switch to a cheaper alternative. This would appear to be backed up by our previous survey, which revealed that 26% of broadband connected Brits planned to change ISP when their existing contract ends.

On the other hand just under half of people are still happy with the price they pay, with some choosing to pay extra for a quality service. ISPs will face many challenges over the coming year, especially those advertising unlimited use. Demand upon broadband networks continues to grow and some providers may find themselves forced to either restrict their users or put prices up.

Meanwhile we’ve just uploaded our latest monthly front page survey, which asks readers how much they trust their broadband ISP and what impacts that trust the most.

Comparison site Broadband.co.uk has released its latest anecdotal monthly broadband speed testing results for December 2008, which show that Virgin Media has continued to hold its top position with an average download of 6.073Mbps (6.311Mbps in November).

However O2 (Be Broadband) still holds a commanding lead for upstream performance with speeds of up to 0.749Mbps (0.729Mbps in November). O2 (Be Broadband) were also a close second behind Virgin Media for download performance with 5.905Mbps. We've reorganised the results into a Top 10 below:


The average download speed of all UK tests combined increased for the first time since July 2008, up by 14.02% to 3.667Mbps and reversing a previous trend of monthly drops. It's not known why Orange is absent from December's list, no explanation has been given.

The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has spoken exclusively to The Observer (Guardian) about new plans to help create 100,000 jobs through investment, including a rough statement of financial support for development of next generation superfast broadband networks.

The word "investment" crops up on numerous occasions in the article, often in relation to broadband, among other things. Industry observers would no doubt be quick to note that the government has consistently shunned any prospect of state (public) funding for such technology:


The overall programme will be funded by new money drawn partly from "reserves", though it's not yet clear precisely what that means. Similarly readers should take promises of investment with a big pinch of salt, at least until there is a statement of specific funding for next-gen broadband.

Naturally politicians should always be judged on what they do and not just what they say. We sincerely hope that the PM's proposals to investment in new broadband networks are correct, although history has taught us to be extremely sceptical.

Virgin Media is to continue its tradition of bringing in big name celebrities to help advertise its newest products. The ISP has revealed that its 50Mbps broadband advertising campaign will be fronted once again by movie star Samuel L Jackson.

The 20 second ad will air TODAY with its first high profile slot on ITV1 during the FA Cup Third Round match between Liverpool and Preston (Go Liverpool!). The advert is expected to tout a "revolution", with SLJ speaking while standing in front of walls full of light and colour:


The TV ads are part of a multi-million pound media campaign for Virgin Media, which includes TV, print, outdoor and online. Meanwhile Virgin Media is busy rolling out its 50Mbps cable broadband service to over 12 million UK homes by the summer.

The Post Office's broadband ISP division has launched a new 'Internet Buddy Guide' (Adobe .PDF), which has been designed to help those unfamiliar with Internet services (e.g. email, website browsing etc.) get use to using them. It's claimed that 84% of the Post Office's customers are new to broadband and half of those are completely new to the Internet:


The Post Office reveals that one in five Britons who cannot use the Internet feel ignored by society and could be missing out on cheaper online products and services, which have the potential to save them up to £70 per month.

Sadly some find teaching the net to loved ones so daunting that 14% say you should never do it, which isn't surprising when 10% of people suffered arguments as they attempted to teach friends or family.

9:18 AM - Conservatives Pledge Fibre Optic Broadband for All

9:04 AM - BT Vision Boss Seeks to Improve Broadband TV Take-up

1:54 PM - New Universal Service Obligation Forces Broadband for All

9:43 AM - Half of all Brits think their Broadband is too Expensive

9:17 AM - Virgin Media Holds December 2008 Broadband Speed Lead

9:56 AM - PM Gordon Brown Moots Next Gen UK Broadband Support

9:44 AM - Samuel L Jackson to Front Virgin Media 50Mbps Broadband

9:33 AM - Post Office Broadband Offers Internet Buddy Guide

9:35 AM - ISPreview Updates Broadband Speedtester to Support 50Mbps+

12:50 PM - UPDATE Nildrams Broadband Customers Hit by Connectivity Woes

10:05 AM - Giant UK Snoopers Database Could be Managed Privately

9:45 AM - Wireless Broadband Radiation Fears Strike Glastonbury

1:47 PM - PlusNet - Facebook More Popular than the Queen

9:49 AM - UPDATE Tiscali Culls Italian IPTV Service - Could the UK be Next

9:09 AM - Orange Brings Faster 3G Network to N.Ireland and Scotland

8:57 AM - T-Mobile Offers Mobile Broadband and FREE Asus Laptop Bundle

1:54 PM - MERRY CHRISTMAS from ISPreview UK

1:24 PM - DrayTek Issues DSLWarehouse UK Product Warning

9:56 AM - UK Mobile Website Browsing Doubles in 2008

9:34 AM - BBC Proposes Higher ISP Pricing for use of its iPlayer Service

9:03 AM - BSkyB Pulls out of Tiscali UK Sale Talks over Price Concerns

9:58 AM - Entanet Delays New Off-peak Broadband Usage Hours

9:33 AM - Several Cable Cuts Disrupt European Internet Traffic

9:10 AM - Be Broadband Customers Beta Test Freaky Creatures Game

1:46 PM - ICUK Raises Broadband Usage Allowances for Customers

1:29 PM - O2 Launches 20Mbps Home Broadband Package for Under 10GBP

1:17 PM - Ofcom Offers Guidelines on Hidden ISP Charges

8:53 AM - Wales to Plug Six Broadband ISP Notspots

8:42 AM - BBC Downloadable iPlayer finally comes to MAC and Linux

4:23 PM - Entanet Limits Off-Peak Broadband Usage Hours