2009 January 
Today, the long awaited interim Digital Britain report from Communications Minister Lord Carter was finally published.
Top of the agenda was the expected announcement that every home in Britain ought to be able to sign up for broadband services guaranteeing speeds of at least 2Mbps through a variety of means – enhanced ADSL, fibre optic cable, and wireless connections.
“We will develop plans for a digital Universal Service Commitment to be effective by 2012, delivered by a mixture of fixed and mobile, wired and wireless means,” the report says. “Subject to further study of the costs and benefits, we will set out our plans for the level of service which we believe should be universal.”
The report estimates that some 1.75 million UK homes on BT’s network are without access to internet connections capable of achieving over this speed.
As was also expected, BT will be spared the brunt of cover the cost of connecting their 17.5 million, as the cost is likely to be shared between “a range of communications providers, and those who provide communication services over the network”.
2Mbps has been slated as the benchmark speed that ought to be available to everyone, due to the fact that that speed gives you access to the BBC’s iPlayer service – the government presumably wants everyone to potentially able to watch footage of the London Olympics on their computers.
The BBC are also expected to help out with advertising the availability of broadband and encouraging people to sign up for services.
“We are inviting the BBC to play a leading role, just as it has in digital broadcast, through marketing, cross-promotion and provision of content to drive interest in taking up broadband… the BBC can drive the development of platforms with open standards available to all content providers and device manufacturers alike.”
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Posted by Tom on January 29th 2009 in Broadband
It has emerged that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is apparently keen on the rest of the UK adopting a strategy currently being proposed by the government of the Isle of Man, which sees a ‘broadband tax’ being levied in an attempt to mitigate the costs of illegally downloaded music to the industry.
The IFPI estimates that around forty billion illegal music files were shared throughout 2008, and are proposing that a tax on broadband users would go towards funding the losses made as a result of this illegal activity.
The proposals have come under fire from trade association Tiga (The Independent Games Developers Association), who have slammed the proposed tax.
“The idea that a universal tax on broadband bills should be imposed in order to compensate entertainment companies for losses incurred from piracy and illegal downloads is wrong in principle,” says Tiga’s CEO, Richard Wilson. “Innocent people should not be required to pay heavier broadband bills because of the activities of criminals.”
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Posted by Tom on January 27th 2009 in Broadband
Communications Minister and former member of Ofcom Lord Carter was due to deliver his much anticipated report yesterday. But a spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, has now revealed that the report would now appear “before the end of the month,” so any time within the next week, basically.
The Digital Britain Report is set to look at range of issues preventing provision of broadband services across the nation, and will suggest a range of measures designed to ensure that everybody will be at least able to receive basic broadband services (read: speeds of at least 2Mbps) by 2012.
In order to ensure ‘broadband for all’ by 2012, it is though that Lord Carter will propose that the existing Universal Service Obligation which requires BT to provide connections for anyone in the UK who asks for them, will be rewritten, with a new USO involving more than just the leading broadband provider. It is thought that mobile networks will be asked to look at providing broadband solutions to UK homes where it would be either impractical or impossible to provide a broadband conduit through traditional means.
The deployment of dark fibre projects such as the ones to be undertaken in Bournemouth and Dundee by H2O Networks are also thought to also be taken into consideration as a potential solution to the future of Broadband Britain.
Posted by Tom on January 25th 2009 in Broadband
BT is to raise the monthly cost of line rental from £11.50 to £12.50, and is to increase the cost of daytime call charges; from the 1st of April, any calls not included in an inclusive minutes bundle like weekday daytime calls on an Evening & Weekends package, will be charged at a new rate of 4.5p per minute.
After having slashed the cost of calls to expensive 0870 and 0845 numbers, and relaunched another popular free BT Home Hub campaign, this move comes as something of a surprise.
The statement from BT reads thus:
We have also made some other price changes, including increasing line rental by £1. Ofcom has reviewed the costs for [BT Openreach] lines and as a result are proposing an increase in line rental charges. This is likely to put up line rental prices for most companies. However, the majority of BT customers can save £1.25 by opting for paper-free billing.
Vulnerable customers on our unique BT Basic option will continue to pay a subsidised line rental of just £4.40 a month, with £4.50 worth of calls included every quarter.
We have also slightly increased the set up fee by just over 1p a call and the cost of daytime calls to 4.5p a minute, although customers can avoid these charges on UK calls by taking our Anytime calls package.
Posted by Tom on January 24th 2009 in Broadband
The first thirty households in Bournemouth who signed up to H2O Networks‘ Fibrecity trial are getting ready to try out the capabilities of the next-gen broadband network that runs through the sewer network before connecting to cabinets located just outside each property.
H2O Networks Ltd have announced that the lucky thirty will be able to begin testing the up to 100Mbps broadband service sometime in March.
Some 5,600 households and businesses have signed up for the service; should the initial trial of the thirty prove successful, then it is thought that rollout across the rest of the network will swiftly follow.
It has been estimated that this particular network will cost around £30 million to complete, but once every house and office is online, and will be free for everyone who is using it until the H2O engineers up sticks and leave the area, after which anyone wanting to stay connected is going to have to pony up.
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Posted by Tom on January 20th 2009 in Broadband, Next Gen Broadband, Virgin Media
This isn’t just a Broadband Bundle Offer… this is an M&S Broadband Bundle Offer!
Sky have teamed up with Marks & Spencer in an offer to help customers thinking of switching to its See Speak Surf bundle deal of broadband, fixed-line calls and digital TV subscription services save a bit of cash throughout the post-Christmas period when everyone’s wallets are generally a bit on the thin side by way of bunging a £50 M&S voucher into the deal.
This offer is open to all new Sky TV customers who sign up for See Speak Surf, from today until the 5th of February.
In other related news, Sky will also be bringing down the installation cost of their standard Sky Digital Box set top receiver to just £5 between now and the 27th of January.
Posted by Tom on January 19th 2009 in Broadband
The Carphone Warehouse are helping customers beat the credit crunch blues with their amazing new offer which sees customers who sign up for the TalkTalk Essentials plan for 18 months before February the 28th get the first 12 months of broadband with evening and weekend landline calls included for free.
Customers will only pay for the line rental at £10.50 per month, a one-off connection charge of £29.99, and will only be charged an extra £6.49 a month from the 13th month onwards.
Not including the cost of line rental, this brings the cost of the TalkTalk Essentials down to £68.93 over an 18 month period (three months at £6.49 plus the connection fee).
The TalkTalk Essentials package gives you top download speeds of 8Mbps, a 40GB download limit, free wireless router as well as unlimited evening and weekend calls to local and national UK landlines, as well as a selection of popular international numbers.
This TalkTalk Essentials offer is available up until the end of February, and is currently only available in either Carphone Warehouse stores, or by calling this number: 0800 049 7890
Posted by Tom on January 19th 2009 in Carphone Warehouse, Free Broadband, TalkTalk
The government wants everyone in the UK to be able to enjoy and make use of basic broadband services by 2012, either through a landline, cable connection, mobile network or a wireless connection, but it appears that the comms industry will be left to foot the bill themselves.
As reported in the Guardian, Lord Carter hinted at his vision for the future of the country’s Broadband infrastructure, in a speech given yesterday to MPs and industry bods.
“Today we are way beyond the view that broadband is a niche product, it is an enabling and transformational service and therefore we have to look at how we can universalise it,” he said. “We have to ensure that fairness and access for all is more than a soundbite in a manifesto.”
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Posted by Tom on January 16th 2009 in BT Broadband, Broadband, Next Gen Broadband
If slashing the cost of 0870 and 0845 numbers from their Evenings & Weekends and Anytime phone plans and giving customers a £20 online discount wasn’t enough, BT are yet again giving away their new version 2.0 Home Hubs on all of their Total Broadband Options.
Launched in July 2007, the new version Home Hub boasts a slick new design, revamped security features, and twice the wireless range and strength of the original. Initially only available to Option 1 customers for a rather princely £90, the Hub 2.0 was made available free on all Options for a limited period last September. Now it’s again available on its own with Options 1 and Options 2, and comes with the Hub Phone VoIP handset included free with Option 3.
Fraser Smeaton, from BT Retail Consumer, said: “We understand how frustrating it is for customers not to have a reliable and fast wireless connection when they are using the internet in the home or garden. So we decided to give a free award-winning BT Home Hub which uses the latest N-technology to all BT Total Broadband customers.”
With the Home Hub 2.0, busy households with multiple computers, laptops and games machines can all easily hook up to the internet on the same connection, and BT Vision customers can get more out of their TV with a great range on on-demand content.
Posted by Tom on January 15th 2009 in BT Broadband
Tiscali are now offering wireless routers across all of their broadband packages and bundles for a one off cost of £10, meaning that families and busy households with multiple users can now get connected for less.
Tiscali will continue to offer free modems with their broadband products as standard for those who don’t require a router or a wireless connection. However, those signing up for any Tiscali TV packages will receive a wireless router for free, as it is required for the Tiscali TV IPTV video on demand function to work.
Tiscali broadband is available from £6.49 a month, and the cost of line rental is included in all Tiscali packages.
Posted by Tom on January 12th 2009 in Tiscali
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