South Korea: 100Mbps is ‘ordinary’

Having the world’s fastest broadband connection at your beck and call might seem pretty sweet to us limeys who consider getting anything resembling 10Mbps to be something of a luxury. However the majority of South Koreans, who enjoy maximum speeds of around 100Mbps – ten times that amount – apparently rate their broadband services as ‘ordinary’ according to a recent survey carried out by the Seoul-sponsored Korean Communications Commission (KCC).

Refreshingly, it’s good to know that even over in the Land of the Morning Calm, there is a disparity between advertised figures and the actual figure achieved by most households, where the maximum speed actually achieved by customers using the fastest connection is in fact 91Mbps, with the average speed available clocking in at around 46Mbps, less than half the advertised theoretical maximum.

And, like in the UK, the South Korean broadband scene is dominated by a handful of providers. The seven broadband tigers of the Korean peninsula, providing high-speed connections to over 15 million subscribers are headed by Korea Telecom, who control 44.2 per cent of the market, followed by Hanarotelecom with 24 per cent and LG Powercomm (who provided the fastest speeds) with 12.2 per cent.

Kim Young-wan of Korea Telecom stated that: “The rate at which high-speed internet customers are increasing has slowed down a lot. That is why internet service providers are looking for new revenue sources such as internet telephony and IPTV services.”

Again, not too different from how things are over here, with Sky, Virgin Media, BT and Tiscali all boasting value-added digital TV options, along with Orange and O2 who are still dipping their toes into the water.

“This encourages service providers to compete against one another to improve the overall quality of such products,” said KCC representative Lee Eun-hee in a statement given to the Joongang Daily newspaper, a sort of South Korean Daily Mail.

BT launch £3 a month Catch Up Service for BT Vision

BT Vision punters can now sign up for an inexpensive all in one 7-day catch up and on-demand service called Replay, which allows customers to enjoy the last 7 days worth of programming on Freeview on their TV screens, as well as incorporating catch up elements from both the BBC iPlayer and Channel 4′s 4oD platforms.

As well as this, BT Vision customers can also pick and choose from the last 7 days worth of programming from the other Freeview channels, perfect if you’ve missed out on the last gripping instalment of Sexcetera because you forgot to set your EPG.

This is somewhat in contrast to Virgin Media, who offer BBC iPlayer gratis as part of their cable TV service alongside their exhaustive on-demand archive. But then again, the BT Vision deal works out at a mere £36 extra a year, which is a fraction of the cost of other pay-TV and broadband options.

The BT Vision Replay service is however optional, and those who prefer to use iPlayer and 4oD through their broadband connections still can.

Carphone Warehouse hit by housing slump

Carphone Warehouse is feeling the pinch as its shares fell to their lowest point since October 2005, after the company gave warning that the slump in the housing market was decreasing demand for broadband. Predictions of a possible downturn in revenues saw share prices slide by 11% last week to 202p. Should its share price continue to decline, the company could be relegated from the FTSE 100 sooner rather than later, says Graham Spooner, an investment adviser at The Share Centre.

As fewer people move homes, they are also putting off installing a broadband connection. Says Chief Executive Charles Dunstone, “one of the key times people change broadband provider is when they move house. If you’re not moving house, the catalyst to make you think about changing provider does not exist”. Though retail still accounts for about 70% of their revenue, Carphone Warehouse is the third largest broadband provider in Britain, behind BT and Virgin Media, and has over 2.7 million residential broadband customers.

However, experts believe that the company could be gearing up for an eventual sale, as mobile operators start to join the broadband bandwagon.

Analysts report that the credit crunch is further hitting broadband sales. Around two thirds of UK households already have a broadband connection, and with the cost of basics such electricity, petrol and food soaring, consumers are preferring to keep their pennies in the bank.

New £90 BT Accelerator service promises faster Broadband – or your money back

BT Broadband have launched a new call-out service that sees broadband customers connecting to the net on a BT line (which could be practically anyone who isn’t on Virgin Media cable or on KCOM’s network) able to ask for a BT engineer to be sent round in order to help declutter and speed up the customer’s connection for a flat fee of £90. If there is no noticeable change in speed, BT promise to refund the charge.

BT are claiming that they can improve speeds of people’s broadband by at least 0.5Mbps (megabits per second), regardless of who provides their internet, so long as it’s provided via a BT line.

Head of BT’s Home IT Support service, Taza Mohammedbhai, said: “Based on our research we are confident that up to 60 per cent of customers could benefit from the Accelerator service. And if customers don’t see at least a 0.5Mbps improvement on speed, we will refund the fee.”

Part of the Accelerator service sees the engineer performing changes that many customers could realistically do for themselves, such as reconnecting their ADSL modem to the master phone socket and reconfiguring browser settings. The service is intended for users who either aren’t quite as tech-savvy as others or are simply too busy to fix things themselves.

No word yet from BT as to whether the service includes the installation of one of those nice Interstitial plates they were talking about in March.

UK still falling behind rest of world in terms of Broadband speeds

As well as being shoehorned out of the European Championship, it seems that the UK is still lagging behind Europe and the rest of the world when it comes to broadband speeds. According to the Guardian, a crisis summit is due to be held today, with members of the Government, the industry and the regulator Ofcom to discuss how the UK can keep up with the accelerating networks of practically everywhere else in the world.

Again, the BSG (Broadband Stakeholders Group) the government’s independent advisory body will spell out the long term benefits future proofing the UK’s broadband infrastructure will have for the economy. If bandwidth-scoffing video on demand video services like the BBC iPlayer, 4oD, You Tube, and popular gaming platforms like Xbox Live and Wii Ware are to remain popular and grow, then action is needed.

A meeting held last November organised by Stephen Timms, former e-commerce minister, mooted that the total cost of a full nationwide fibre-to-the-premises network providing 50Mbps to 100Mbps speeds would cost in and around £15bn to £16bn at the most.

BT and Virgin Media have both started rolling out their own experimental fibre optics beds, and H20 networks recently announced plans to connect homes in Dundee and Bournemouth to next-gen dark fibre networks. The BSG however are urging for public money to be ploughed into the project, which is probably the best place for it, instead of it going toward nanny’s fees or second mortgages.

The BSG stresses the importance of setting up some sort of long term game plan for investment, advising against immediately ploughing in the cash; “Next-generation broadband has the potential to transform the way we do things. It is tempting to jump in feet first, but it matters more to do this right than to do it now,” said Antony Walker, chief executive of the Group.

But Walker also said that time was of the essence. “On the other hand, the UK cannot wait too long. If widespread network deployment didn’t happen in the medium term – perhaps three to five years – then… the UK could be losing out.”

Speeds of up to 100Mbps are already being enjoyed by users in Japan, Korea, and selected areas in France and the Netherlands.

Ofcom Code (Voluntary) to Clarify Broadband Speeds (Maybe)

Ofcom have come up with a new code of conduct for ISPs to help consumers get a real estimate of the service they are likely to receive. The code will see providers listing the downstream speeds that consumers are likely to be able to achieve at certain times of the day (peak times, overnight usage, etc).

The new Code of Practice, which was drafted in association with the ISPA, is however voluntary, and it is therefore unlikely that we will be seeing the end of “up to” style advertising anytime soon.

Having said that both Virgin Media and PlusNet have been more transparent than most, telling customers in advance about their peak time throttling and traffic shaping measures.

Seeing as the majority of UK ISPs deliver services via BT phone lines, one of the best ways to check your potential broadband speed is to use our Line Checker and Speed Test tools to see what speeds you should be and are actually getting.

Ofcom have also announced that they will be conducting new surveys across 2,000 homes to assess general speeds and quality of service; the results will be published later this year.

New Orange plans to boost Mobile Broadband

Tom Alexander, the new(ish) boss of Orange has announced plans to both concentrate on pushing mobile broadband and invest more in customer service for its mobile phone and fixed-line broadband customers.

Alexander, the former chief executive of Virgin Mobile, quit last year, convincing three of his old droogs from Virgin to climb aboard the good ship Orange in the process. Andrew Ralston, Gerry McQuade, and Steven Day all used to work for Virgin, but defected to Orange in January, to helm operations, development, and personnel respectively.

Alexander said that he plans to invest into 3G networks, so that mobile broadband users can access the faster up to 7.2Mbps speeds currently available to selected Vodafone customers. And not a moment too soon – Vodafone are reportedly all set to take over Tiscali’s UK broadband and fixed-line customers, which will see them leapfrog Orange in subscriber numbers. Orange currently have around 1.7 million broadband customers, wheras Tiscali are slightly ahead with over 2 million.

Carphone hook up Virgin Media and Orange for laptop floggage

Carphone Warehouse are poised to cash in on the rising popularity of mobile broadband services today with the launch of their new free laptop deals. In addition to the same AOLFree Laptop deal currently doing the rounds on this very site, as of today, punters visiting selected Carphone Warehouse stores will be able to sign on the dotted line to qualify for one of six models of free laptops, provided that they also opt in to a broadband package.

Carphone will be setting up separate sections in its high-street stores for The Broadband Shop, an area dedicated to selling mobile broadband services from T-Mobile, Orange, 3, and fixed line from Virgin Media, TalkTalk and AOL Broadband, much like the Virgin Mobile sections set up in certain Zavvi (née Virgin Megastore) outlets. The deal with Virgin will see Carphone being able to flog all four of the Virgin Media services in their own stores; that’s broadband, digital TV, fixed-line and mobile phone services.

Neil Berkett, action chief executive ay Virgin Media said: “By extending our product portfolio in-store and making it simple and easy for customers to sign up, we’re hoping Virgin Media will be at the top of shopping lists.” This mutually beneficial arrangement gives the second and third ranked broadband providers the opportunity to close the gap on market leaders BT.

Carphone head honcho Charles Dunstone believes that the free laptop offer will pay off, especially with younger surfers who want the freedom of mobile broadband: “Our research has shown that for people over 14, having a laptop is becoming more important than having a mobile phone,” says Mr Dunstone. “And they don’t want to wrestle with their siblings and their parents to look at websites like Facebook or YouTube.”

Carphone Warehouse’s new business and multi-channel director Andy Brem said that launch “this is only the start. We are doing with laptops and broadband what we did with mobile phones”.

Tiscali to sell off subscribers to Vodafone?

In a surprising, but not unexpected turn of events, Tiscali have just told the world that they plan to sell off their broadband business outright to Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile phone network.

Taking over Tiscali’s network would see Vodafone automatically leap into fourth place behind BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse, and become a triple-play provider, selling mobile and fixed line calls as well as broadband – no news yet as to whether the Tiscali TV IPTV package will be bundled as part of the deal or not. This will put the wind up mobile network rivals O2 and Orange, who would be competing for market space with Vodafone on multiple new fronts.

Last year it was revealed that Toucan – owned by Tiscali via Pipex – launched their own mobile phone service which piggybacked off of the T-Mobile network. It’s unclear as to what will happen to customers who signed up for contracts with Toucan, whether their contracts will remain, be taken over of Vodafone or T-Mobile or whether customers will be given a choice.

Earlier last month, a Carphone Warehouse bid was rejected by the Tiscali. As well as Toucan, Tiscali also own the Pipex and Nildram networks.