2007 February

The heated Broadband/Digital TV battle between Virgin Media and Sky intensified yesterday with Sky threatening to deny Virgin customers popular favourites such as The Simpsons, Lost, and 24. The dispute has reopened old wounds sustained when Sky boss Rupert Murdoch purchased an 18% controlling share in ITV last year, effectively putting the kibosh on Richard Branson’s attempts to take over the television company under the ntl brand.

This current move is said to be a reaction to many customers switching to the new Virgin Media service, presumably to take advantage of the exclusive Broadband and mobile deals on offer; it is estimated that Sky could lose up to £20 million in profits that would have been accrued through advertising if they pull their channels.

Virgin has said that it now expects to lose basic channels such as Sky One, Two, Three and Sky News and Sky Sports News. The two companies have been having talks to agree on a new deal; the current contract expires at the end of February. Virgin have been looking to renegotiate, although it was admitted last Friday that dialogue had broken down.

As was mentioned in Sunday’s Media Guardian, Branson also thumbed his nose at Sky by going behind their backs and securing a deal with American TV network ABC, the producers of the aforementioned Lost, in an attempt to lessen the damage that the loss of the Sky channels will cause to Virgin’s Digital TV enterprise. This deal will make all three series of Lost available to customers as part of the video-on-demand channel, Virgin Central.

A frequent complaint of many Broadband users is their inability to achieve the connection speeds advertised by their ISP. Many factors can determine the quality of a Broadband connection; actual speed achievable over a phone line or cable depends on its length and the distance between your address and the nearest exchange, the specification of your modem or router, the speed of connection between your computer and modem or router the performance of your computer, and whether all your broadband micro filters are correctly installed.

Before signing up to a new provider, you should try to locate the nearest exchange they operate from, as connection speeds vary according to distance. If you live close to an exchange, you could achieve the maximum connection speed – this would decrease the further away you lived. Despite local loop unbundling (other ISP’s installing equipment in BTexchanges) there are some areas of the UK currently not covered by all providers, such as the case with Be Broadband.

The peak time at which most people go online is usually between 6 and 9PM – this can have an affect on connection times. Mass downloads, and the automatic downloading of updates for anti-virus and anti-phishing programs can also drastically reduce the performance of your computer when online. Be mindful of when new updates are due to be installed; it might be a good idea to turn on your computer a good half and hour before you actually want to use it to allow for updates and patches to auto-install.

Setting up DSL microfilters is a relatively cheap and effective way of increasing connection times – microfilters prevent interference from analogue devices (such as telephones) which can often reduce performance and speed.

Ethernet and in particular Wi-Fi modems and routers are generally considered to be better suited to most users’ Broadband requirements than a USB modem. Also, as VoIP phone services and Wi-Fi enabled handsets are becoming more and more popular, getting a Wi-Fi modem installed seems like a smart choice, should you want to make use of extra services in the future. Both BT’s Home Hub and the Orange Livebox are Wi-Fi routers, and the Home Hub also comes with two microfilters installed as standard.

Google have also just released a beta version of Google Web Accelerator, a program which helps to streamline sent and received data and makes a note of your most visited websites allowing for faster access to your Favourites.

Access to the Internet in the UK has changed considerably over the last few years, most notably with the advent of Broadband in 2004. Offering much faster access times to the net than before, Broadband revolutionised the way in which people use computers, superseding ISDN technology by a considerable amount in terms of speed and in the amount of data that could be transmitted – enough to allow for TV programmes to be watched on people’s computers. A report in August 2006, it was estimated that over 70,000 UK households a week were signing up for Broadband. However, the real recent leaps forward with regard to broadband have been less to do with technology and more to do with marketing.

We’re currently experiencing the communications world narrowing in terms of suppliers, as mobile phone network providers such as
Orange and Virgin Media move in on the broadband market, but dramatically broadening in terms of what customers can do, with Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones that can connect up to the Internet or make use of a wireless router at home. People can download and/or watch favourite TV episodes either at home or via their mobiles, the music industry has dramatically changed with the introduction of MP3s and portable players such as the iPod, chat portals such as MSN and AIM are as popular as they ever were and using myspace.com has become one of the most popular ways for people to talk and interact with each other.

As such, offering ‘free’ access to Broadband Internet has increasingly becoming a way for companies to sell their services to consumers. These so-called ‘bundle deals’ are often the approach taken by larger companies such as BT, Sky, Carphone Warehouse, etc offering their main services (phone lines, TV, mobiles, etc) alongside broadband, and are an attractive offer, especially when you consider existing customers of these companies, who are already subscribers (and therefore already paying) as they would essentially be getting Broadband for free.

For anyone who isn’t a subscriber, these companies will charge a fee for the installation of either a modem, or a cable/satellite/wireless link-up to connect users to the net, which may be in addition to the monthly charges for the ‘parent’ service of line rental, such TV/mobile subscription – providers can generated money in this way, allowing them to fund their broadband operations. Existing subscribers may even find themselves having to ‘upgrade’ to broadband for a fixed fee.

This also means that BT are, and for a long time will be, in a unique position of strength in that the majority of Internet connections are made through their phone lines, many other ISPs rely on there being a BT connection in a customer’s house for their service to work, so one way or another, they will have plenty of extra revenue from line rental with which to cross-subsidise their Broadband service.

Contracts often last for a year – 12 months – although it is becoming more and more common to see 18-month contracts on offer. Such a long contact would be ill-suited for customers such as students who probably will not be residing at the same address for over a year. Being committed to a contract can often be a frustrating experience, as mobile phone users will know. Ducking out from a contract early could incur penalty charges for breaching the terms of the contract – fines that could cost customers more than any ‘free’ broadband may be worth. In contrast to this, Be Broadband’s Unlimited package is based around much smaller 3-month contracts, which, for now, serves as a unique selling point in terms of contract flexibility.

As broadband becomes more and more common, more and more companies will be thinking of increasing ways in which to tap into an ever-widening consumer base. Virgin Media have anticipated this by seemingly offering everything that a modern mobile consumer could want – mobile phone, landline, Digital TV, and Broadband. The Broadband service on offer here isn’t free, but with the customisable deals on offer (2 for £20, 3 for £30 and 4 for £40) mean that there is potential to save more money here than what you possibly could on certain deals that offer ‘free’ broadband.

Broadband maybe free, only you’ll have to pay for something else first. As communications technology increases, and consumers demands change, this, may or may not be a bad thing.

Internet Security firm Symantec has warned of the rise of newer types of phishing attacks, to which broadband users are particularly vulnerable.

Using modified JavaScript (a programming language used to make and run certain websites and web applications), hackers create a website which contains a malicious code which, when accessed, can access your home broadband router.

This in itself is not damaging, as what happens after this is that the code then changes the settings of your router, pointing it toward bogus websites posing as legit ones (banks, pay sites etc), which will ask you to enter security information (passwords, PIN numbers etc). The bogus sites are designed to look exactly like real ones, so that at a glance, it would be impossible to tell the difference between a scam site and an authentic one.

This form of phishing, also known as ‘pharming’ or ‘drive-by pharming’, can be stopped by potentially denying the malicious code access to your router. Refer to the owner’s manual for your machine for information on how to change your default password which will invariably be something along the lines of ‘admin’ or ‘password’. Change it to something that isn’t obvious and uses a mixture of letters and numbers.

If it is possible to change the username of the modem (sometimes changed by default to the name of the company of customer who purchased it). The harder you make it for attackers to gain access to your system, the less likely they are to bother you. As this kind of phishing attack relies on users visiting specific websites, it is a good idea to delete emails, invites, or any kind of pop-up that prompts you to visit a website you are not familiar with or sure about.

The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA) held its annual industry awards ceremony in London last week. The awards, known as the ISPAs, have been running since 1999, and are widely recognised within the industry as symbols of a company’s innovation and excellence of customer service.

There are varying categories for an ISPA, and providers are judged by an independent panel on customer services and support, order/delivery times, connection times, connection failure, contractual flexibility, download limits, and value-for-money.

Tiscali scooped the Best Portal Award, for their “impressive balance between the services and original content it provides to its customers,” and Eclipse Internet were named as the Best Consumer Broadband service for the “rapid delivery of its broadband services.”

Kevin Walsh, Executive Director of Kingston Communications, which owns and runs Eclipse, commented that “We work hard to ensure we offer the best deals and the best service to our customers. This award is a stamp of approval from our peers in the industry that we’re doing it right. But it’s our customers we do it for, and we aim to keep improving and investing in our services.”

Be Unlimited were also mentioned in this category, commended for introducing new technology into the market, and ntl:Telewest won Best Consumer ISP for investing heavily into customer services in the year before it was rebranded under the Virgin Media banner.

Orange was also awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility Award; an ISPA spokesperson said, “The judges felt that Orange has an excellent corporate social responsibility policy in place. They recognised Orange’s support for the Internet industry through its work with the National High Tech Crime Unit and the Home Office.”

Be Broadband has expanded its network of operations, which includes areas such as Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham, as well as Southampton, Basingstoke, and Wolverhampton with future announcements to be made on their website.

Be Broadband, which is owned by O2, made headlines when it announced that it had achieved record connection speeds (up to 24MB per second) last year;

“Since we broke the broadband speed record last year we have been focused on developing the best products we can and now we want to bring that innovation to much more of the UK,” said Be managing director Dana Pressman.

O2’s acquisition of Be, now operating out of 90-plus exchanges, means that the mobile network provider will be in a strong position when (as it’s likely not to be a case of if) it decides to converge it’s services and get in on the multi-format communications race – the offer of ultra-fast connection speeds with no download limits coupled with one of the most profitable mobile networks in the country will surely be attractive to customers looking for the best deal in an already crowded market.

To check if you can sign up for Be Broadband, use our broadband comparison tool to see if Be Broadband is enabled in your area.

Tiscali has announced that it plans to add an IPTV service to its broadband package deal, offering 30 channels as standard alongside a range of FREE on-demand deals. This service will be available to ‘dual play’ Tiscali broadband subscribers in March, which will be followed up by the release of a HDTV supporting set-top box, due to come out in July.

Mary Turner, the chief executive for Tiscali UK stated that their TV service “gives customers broadband plus the channel choice they want and free on-demand programming, all for the price you would pay for a standard broadband connection.

This move from Tiscali comes at a crucial time, with the recent fanfare announcing the arrival of Virgin Media, and that both Sky and BT are also supplying ‘triple play’ packages.

Sky have the advantage of being a well established brand in the realm of non-terrestrial TV, and undoubtedly beat all of its rivals on this front in terms of choice – with over 100 subscription-only channels back up by another 200 plus free to air digital TV and radio channels – and seem unconcerned by the growing competition, having boldly announced that it intends to replace the three free Sky channels currently available to Freeview viewers with four subscription channels, including Premiership football coverage.

In spite of this, Tiscali and Sky broadband punters still have to pay BT a monthly fee for line rental, and BT still holds the largest stake in the UK’s broadband market. However, Tiscali’s free on-demand features may prove to be an attractive counter to the pay-per-view features of BT’s Freeview/online TV hybrid BT Vision.

Tiscali’s entry to the three-play fray promises to make things interesting in the coming months, with regard to how the bigger providers will react to new competition. With the increasing convergence of the communications market – internet access, telephony, television – consumers are now being offered a whole range of services offered by single providers; more competition will ensure that providers will be encouraged to keep prices down, which ultimately is great news for customers.

As of today, Migration Authorisation Codes, or MAC codes as they are commonly known will now have to be issued by ISPs to customers who which to move to another provider.

MAC codes were introduced by Ofcom and BTas an industry standard code of practice between Internet Service Providers, to ensure that customers who wanted to ’switch’ from one provider to another could do so with ease, and not be bound into a contract against their wishes.

However, ISPs were not obligated to provide their customers with MAC codes on demand, and were unpopular with many companies who refused to adopt the practice of issuing the codes. This left many people frustrated, unable to leave a contract prematurely without being heavily fined.

There have been plenty of horror stories when customers have been lumbered with slow connections and download limits and have effectively been unable to shop around for a better deal because their provider is withholding their code.

Now wholesale providers will be required to issue consumers and small businesses (of 10 employees or less) with MAC codes within five days, regardless of any amounts that may be owed or any contractual obligations the end user may be under. Users are now able to vote with their feet if they deem the service they have received from a provider to be unsatisfactory.

This is great news for broadband customers, as it allows for greater freedom, and will hopefully force underperforming providers to improve their services and not rely on lengthy contracts to bind customers to their wallets.

Virgin Media has finally arrived, in a blizzard of press interest that has been building in momentum ever since the much-publicised merger with Virgin.net and ntl:Telewest last year. Virgin Media has caused a stir, upping their game in a flamboyant style that is typical of Richard Branson, who was seen hobnobbing with celebrities such as Uma Thurman (who also stars in Virgin Media’s central ad campaign) and Dita von Teese, and playing on a Nintendo Wii with reporters inside a perspex Big Brother-style cube in Covent Garden.

Virgin has set out its stall against rivals in a packed market space, gamely squaring up to both BTand Sky, scrapping for a share. Virgin Media poses a serious threat to both these companies as it’s competing on a variety of platforms, and offers something to customers that neither of these competitors has; Sky does not support a mobile phone network, and BT’s IPTV service, BT Vision, launched last year has yet to introduce the full range of its promised channels, particularly the sports section, and lacks the support of an established mobile phone network for its Fusion VoIP phones.

As such, Virgin is keen to emphasise its ‘quadplay’ services of digital TV, Broadband, mobile and home phone, a package of which is currently on offer for £40 a month, and is also offering basic digital TV services gratis when taken with a Virgin Phone deal.

In Branson’s own words, “Virgin Media is all about putting consumers back in control,” which it aims to do by not tying customers to inflexible services and contracts. Instead, people are afforded a choice between combinations of the four services on offer. Virgin also aims to shape things up in terms of service and availability.

Previous subscribers to ntl will happily tell you that the quality of customer service offered was less than spectacular. However, with Virgin’s reputation for great service and a proposal to spend £5 million on improving this, Virgin Media seems unlikely to inherit the trend that plagued the digital TV network it had acquired.

Richard Branson has a reputation for taking gambles and is not afraid of going toe-to-toe with market leaders, as he famously did with Virgin Atlantic airlines up against BA in the early 1990’s – his track record indicates that Virgin Media is capable of giving the competition something to think about.