BT Infinity: BT cable broadband on sale today

BT Infinity, BT’s next-gen cable broadband packages, are available to order now. As we revealed last week, there are two BT Innfinity packages, Option 1 and Option 2.

BT Infinity Option 1 provides top download speeds of 40Mbps, comes with a 20GB usage cap and costs £19.99 a month plus a one-off activation fee of £50.

Option 2 costs just £24.99 a month, provides the same 40Mbps maximum speed but comes with unlimited downloads.

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BT Infinity: Virgin Media’s response

With BT Infinity just around the corner, Virgin Media is eyeing up the new kid encroaching on it’s cable turf and claims that the UK’s leading broadband provider is still playing catch-up.

“We’re not sure why people in the UK would want to wait for BT’s 40Mb service which hasn’t launched yet, when they can already get Virgin Media’s great value 50Mb service,” a Virgin Media spokesperson said in a statement today.

“Last summer we completed the roll-out of our next generation service to 12.5 million homes and people throughout the country are already enjoying all the fantastic things you can do online with the UK’s fastest broadband service. We’ve been saying for years that fibre optic broadband is the future.”

Infinity is a real step forwards for BT, who has until now, solely relied on the old phone lines to deliver fixed-line broadband. However Virgin Media has been in the cable game for longer and, it has to be said, has a bit of an edge on the newcomer.

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BT Infinity: 40Mbps cable broadband arrives Jan 25th

BT’s broadband offerings are set to get infinity times better from next Monday onwards. From the 25th of January, customers will be able to sign up for download speeds of up to 40Mbps from £19.99 per month.

BT Infinity Option 1 gives you top speeds of 40Mbps and 2Mbps downstream and upstream, 20GB of usage a month and costs £19.99 with a one-off £50 activation fee.

The higher-grade BT Infinity Option 2 offers the same top download speed of 40Mbps but offers a faster upload speed of 10Mbps and comes with unlimited downloads.

Option 2 costs £24.99 a month but there aren’t any additional charges.

Whilst BT Infinity doesn’t offer speeds as fast as Virgin Media’s 50Mbps XXL service, the Option 2 package provides a greater upload speed, which BT claim is over 6 times faster than that offered by XXL.

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Vodafone Sure Signal: 3G network in your home

Last summer Vodafone unveiled their Access Gateway femtocell, a small router-esque device which connected to your home broadband connection and acted as a micro mobile mast in your own home.

Vodafone has just relaunched the Access Gateway with the slightly snappier and decidedly less euphemistic Sure Signal. It the exact same beast in the same BT Home Hub looking white box, but it now benefits from a reduced price of £50 for customers on a Vodafone pay monthly plan or £120 for everyone else – this can be broken down into monthly payments of £5 over a 24 month period.

The Vodafone Access Gateway Sure Signal plugs directly into your broadband line and routes all voice calls, texts and data requests across your connection.

We think that this is really useful if you live in an area which has reliable broadband connections but bad signal.

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3 Mobile Broadband: Windows 7 laptop deals

3 has just rolled out a number of new laptop broadband deals. Customers looking to get an all in one mobile broadband package with 3 can now sign up for one of three Windows 7-powered machines on a range of 18 and 24 month contracts.

First up is the Samsung R5630, available on a £35 a month 24 month contract. The Samsung R5630 features a 500GB hard drive, 4GB of memory and a 15.6-inch LED HD screen.

Next is the super-slim Toshiba T130 which boasts a 13.3-inch screen, 250GB drive and 3GB of memory as well as a powerful battery which provides 9.5 hours of juice. The Toshiba T130 is available for £$0 on a slightly more flexible 18 month tariff.

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O2 to launch home phone service in March

O2 has just announced that from March this year it will be offering fixed-line voice calls along with mobile phone and broadband services.

This make O2 a triple-play competitor, now competing with mobile rivals Orange and Virgin Media on three fronts.

O2 will be launching two home phone packages, Evening & Weekend and Anytime. The Evening & Weekend option costs £9.50 a month and provides calls to UK residential numbers.

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O2 and Orange Mobile Broadband January price drop

The Mobile Broadband January Sale has begun. As well as vying each other for the most iPhone sales, O2 and Orange are now cutting the costs of their respective mobile broadband packages.

O2 is currently offering its 3GB Mobile Broadband package on 24 month contracts for just £10 per month for the first 4 months (£15 thereafter). The USB dongle comes included free of charge and the contract comes with unlimited Wi-Fi use.

O2′s Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband offering has also taken a price tumble. The USB dongle originally cost £30 (OK, £29.99) which has now been cut down to £20. Customers then pay either £2 per day for a 0.5GB (500MB) usage allowance, £7.50 for 7 days with 1GB or £15 for 30 days of 3GB. There is no contract or long-term commitment. As with the 3GB pay montly option, unlimited Wi-Fi is also included.

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Brown pledges free broadband for 270,000 UK homes

Gordon Brown is due to announce a scheme which will see the government providing free laptops and broadband access to some 270,000 UK families. Some of the poorest households are expected to benefit from the incentive as part of the £300 million Home Access initiative which was announced and trialled in 2008 and throughout last year.

According to a piece today’s Telegraph, Brown is due to announce: “We want every family to become a broadband family, and we want every home linked to a school.”

“For those finding it difficult to afford this, today I can announce the nationwide rollout of our home access programme to get laptops and broadband at home for 270,000 families. It will mean all families can come together, learn together and reap rewards together.”

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TalkTalk 12 Months Free Broadband

Yep, you read that headline right. In one of the most audacious moves in the UK broadband sector yet, TalkTalk has just announced via the Carphone Warehouse website that it will be offering its Essentials broadband service for 24 month contracts, 12 months of which will be absolutely free.

TalkTalk Essentials provides top speeds of 8Mbps comes with a 40GB download cap and normally costs £6.99 a month plus £11.49 for line rental when taken as a 12 month contract. If you sign up for 24 months you’re essentially getting two for the price of one saving you over £200 (£6.99 = £11.49 x 12 months = £221.76). The only thing you’ll have to pay for for the first year of the contract is the £29.99 connection fee.

Currently it doesn’t look like there are plans to roll out 24 month contracts for TalkTalk’s premium TalkTalk Pro which provides unlimited downloads and top speeds of 24Mbps for £14.99 a month plus £11.49 a month for line rental.

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Tiscali UK finally says arrivederci

TalkTalk has completed its takeover of Tiscali, retiring the brand name in the process. “From today, the Tiscali brand is no more and we’re committed to giving all of our customers absolute clarity about who we are, the services we provide and the prices we charge,” said Charles Dunstone, TalkTalk’s CEO.

TalkTalk tariffs are now standardised meaning that the majority of customers should see a reduction in their bills, although in some cases prices could rise.

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