A new study in the US shows that the majority of American dial-up users are not interested in broadband. The research, conducted by the Pew Institute, found that 62% of users with dial-up had no interest in switching to a faster connection. 35% said the price of broadband would have to fall before they would consider upgrading, while 19% said nothing would tempt them to switch. This could be because they are happy with their connection and see no need for higher speeds.

Lack of broadband availability is also a problem for internet users in the US, with 14% of dial-up users saying they stuck with the slower connection because they couldn’t get broadband in their area. Rural Americans had the most trouble getting faster Internet connections and most of them say they would get it if they could.

In contrast, BT estimates that 99% of UK households now have access to broadband, though connection is slow and unreliable in rural areas. Unsurprisingly, the poor and the elderly are least likely to have a connection. However, the survey found that attitude, rather than availability or affordability was a determining factor. A poorer person who was convinced of the importance of a faster connection was more likely to pay extra for broadband, than a wealthier person who had not been informed of the benefits.

Virgin Media has sent letter to 800 of its customers threatening to take action if they persist in downloading music and videos illegally.

The crackdown, initiated by the BPI which represents the British record industry, will go on for 10 weeks during which “thousands more letters will be sent”, according to a BPI spokesman. The aims to “educate” people about illegal file-sharing. The BPI’s tough stance on downloading may result in some ISPs being prosecuted if they do not do more to stop the practice. The BPI wants all ISPs to operate a three strikes policy, in which users downloading files illegally are given two warnings, then disconnected it they persist. With an estimated one in five Europeans involved in file-sharing, this move is unlikely to be popular with providers who believe that threats of disconnection may upset their customers.

As yet Virgin Media is the only ISP to have signed up to the policy. However, so far it has disconnected none of its customers, and is keen to stress that its current campaign to tackle illegal file-sharing is for education purposes only. The company said that wording on the warning letters that threatened customers with possible disconnection was a “mistake”. Virgin Media are to review the policy in mid-August.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said that that the organisation was prepared to back up the education campaign with legal action: “If we have to go to court, we will go to court and we will win.” Under the current policy, the BPI tracks illegal traffic on file-sharing networks. It then looks for the IP address from which the traffic has come and informs the ISP. Virgin and the BPI then send a joint letter to the individual. Letters are sent both to people who’ve downloaded just one single file illegally, and those who have downloaded thousands.

Some ISPs such as Carphone Warehouse who have refused to instigate the policy could be taken to court by the BPI. Others already have their own policy for dealing with file-sharers. BT, for example, has already threatened some of its subscribers with disconnection.

“We do work with various bodies to help them protect their copyright material and will sometimes pass on warning notices to customers on their behalf where we feel this is appropriate” the telecoms company said in a statement. Geoff Taylor believes that the notion that everything on the net is free should be challenged: “There is a phenomenal amount of piracy out there and we believe that the idea that 95% of content on the net is free is not sustainable. We don’t believe that society can allow the free consumption of content to persist.”

That may be the case, but as US Judge Marilyn Hall Patel – who presided over the Napster case back in 2001 – said “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but sometimes lunch is more expensive than it should be.”

O2 has come out top in a new study looking at broadband speeds in the UK. O2’s broadband service provides download speeds over 50% faster than its competitors in the UK. The website moneysupermarket.com found that its 8Mbps service gave an actual average speed of 5.39 Mbps. Runners up for the 8Mbps prize were Sky achieving an average of 3.59 Mbps, and TalkTalk an average 2.99 Mbps. O2 also leads the industry in terms of 16 Mbps and 20 Mbps packages, with an average speed of 8.15 Mbps. The average broadband speed in UK is 2.97Mbps.

Over 20,000 speed tests were carries out as part of the survey. The tests revealed that ISPs were reducing download speeds during peak times. However BT, O2 and Orange managed to keep up their speeds during peak hours while other providers struggled with capacity.

The top three providers all offer broadband as an add-on to existing packages – satellite for Sky, a landline service for TalkTalk, and O2’s mobile service. All three have sidestepped BT’s wholesaler service meaning fewer overheads and more control over speeds. The study showed that for best value, customers should opt for 2Mbps packages, where actual speed is 2.11Mbps for an average price of £10 a month. Packages offering least value for money are those with maximum download speeds of 16Mbps, where an average speed of just 7.02 Mbps typically costs £18.60 a month.

T-Mobile have unrolled high speed HSUPA across its network, allowing for faster mobile broadband services, and have launched some new packages allowing customers to take advantage of the faster speeds. Both the 12 month and 24 month T-Mobile Plus (3GB) and Max (10GB) Mobile Broadband plans are now available to buy with either the standard USB Dongle, or the new high-powered USB Stick modem.

The T-Mobile Stick modem is available for either a one-off £19.99 fee for customers taking out a 12 month contract, or free for those who sign up for 24 months.

HSUPA, which stands for High Speed Uplink Packet Access, is a 3G technology that allows users to upload content from their mobile phones to websites at speeds of up to 1.4mbps. T-Mobile has also improved download speeds on the HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) enabled 3G network to 7.2Mbps in the Greater London area - T-Mobile plan to extend this to other major cities in the UK towards the end of the year, enabling maximum mobile broadband speeds of up to 4.5Mbps in these areas.

Residents and businesses in rural Scotland will at long last have access to broadband under a new project that will greatly improve the area’s infrastructure.

A £3.3 million contract has been awarded to Avanti Communications Group, which will cover capital and project-management costs to establish networks. This follows a government initiative in which Scottish residents were asked to sign up to a register if they required broadband access where it is not available in their area. Over 3,500 homes and businesses signed up to the list.

The improved connectivity is expected to be available by 2009 in North Sanday, Rousay, Jura, the Angus Glens, Ettrick Valley, Skye and Wester Ross. Avanti, which primarily supplies networks, will also serve as an Internet Service Provider to the locals and businesses who registered with the scheme, according to managing director Matthew O’Connor. Avanti will sub-contract installation and management services to its partner RDS.

Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said: “In this 21st Century, as many people as possible should have broadband access. It is a vital tool for business, helping drive economic growth, and is now used by ever more households as standard.”

A national advertising campaign launched by Virgin Media has been banned after BT lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority.

Virgin Media’s “Hate to Wait?” advert featured a table comparing download times of music tracks and TV shows when using Virgin Media’s various broadband packages. The company has made much of its superior download speeds for broadband in comparison to its rivals. BT complained to the ASA that advertised broadband speeds were misleading, since Virgin’s traffic management policy imposed a cap on download speeds at peak times.

Virgin Media admitted to implementing its traffic management policy during peak hours but insisted TV shows downloaded during this time period would take only a few minutes longer to download. Moreover, it “only focused on the heaviest downloaders and uploaders” on its network. Restrictions were put in place between 4 and 9pm and only affected customers who “downloaded an abnormal amount of data”.

The ASA said that only a small proportion of Virgin Media customers had been limited by its traffic management policy. However, customers on Virgin Media’s ‘M’ package could not download even one TV programme in peak time without download limits being imposed, whilst the Size: L package customers could download just two TV shows or 60 songs. The ASA has ruled that Virgin Media must mention the slower download times in its advertising. It also said that the number of downloads that triggered the traffic management policy could not be deemed “unreasonable usage” and therefore judged the advert to be misleading.

Virgin Media insisted that it never intended its advertising to be deceptive. “We believe our Hate to Wait campaign provided a simple and transparent comparison between broadband speeds for consumers looking to choose between Virgin Media’s M, L and XL broadband packages,” the company said in a statement.

Virgin Media also conceded it had incorrectly used the term “megabits” to quantify download times, and has agreed to change this to the correct term of “megabytes”. So, just to clarify: Mb = Megabits and MB = MegaBytes, and one MB = 8 Mb.

American Airlines have flown the first jet with commercial in-flight broadband since Boeing discontinued their Connexion broadband in 2006. American Airline’s Boeing 767-200 made a routine, scheduled round-trip from JFK Airport in New York to Los Angeles International on Wednesday.

American said they expect to launch broadband on all of their 15 Boeing 767-200 planes within a couple of months. Broadband will initially be available on domestic flights only between JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. Termed ‘Gogo’, the service will cost $12.95 per flight, roughly £7 in proper British money.

Whilst the connection will initially be slower than home broadband, Aircell, who are responsible for in-flight broadband, promise speeds of up to 2Mbps, and say they will prioritise data to make sure one passenger doesn’t leave the rest trudging behind. Also there should be no annoying passengers talking loudly into Skype while you try to catch some shut-eye, because voice calls and chats are strictly banned. Anyone caught doing so will be blocked online, and cabin crew will be on hand to chastise anyone who flouts the rules.

The BBC recently revealed that 40% of fans of BBC3’s hit comedy The Mighty Boosh watch the show via iPlayer, the corporation’s broadband TV catch-up service, not to mention the hundreds who tune in via YouTube. With amateur comedians springing up left, right and centre on the web, could broadband do the same for alternative comedy as Radio 4 did for Goodness Gracious Me and Little Britain?

A new online comedy for young Mums, launched by iVillage UK and Freemantle Media (owners of X Factor, The Apprentice and apparently everything) suggests this may be the case. Called Parenthood, the 12-week series will tell the story of five parents through a mix of short-form video blogs, written blogs, photos and message boards, according to Variety magazine. Parentshood will be the first online series that targets the parenting generation – women and men in their late twenties/early thirties that are more commonly reached via traditional media.

However the internet is a powerful medium amongst this audience with iVillage.co.uk alone reaching over three million women per month. Around 20-30 episodes will run each week, so that content always stays fresh. While initially available only in the UK Freemantle hopes to release the format internationally later this year.

“We see signs that this area is really taking off,” said Gary Carter, president of FremantleMedia Creative Networks. “It’s all coming to fruition at the same time.”

Freemantle’s new-media division FMX has already experimented with online stand-alone entertainment in the US with the reality show “LoveRace”, developed for video site Heavy.com.

As an incentive to attract youngsters to its student bank account, Natwest is handing out £50 vouchers redeemable towards 3 mobile broadband service.

This comes as part of a promotional package which includes an interest-free overdraft as well as reductions on rail fares and £100 off a new Asus laptop. New customers will also be able to receive a Microsoft LifeCam if they sign-up for an account before 31^st October of this year.

Mark Worthington, who heads up NatWest’s student and graduate banking, said that the deal had “evolved in response to what students have told us really matters to them.”

T-Mobile has announced that it will cut its roaming charges across the EU by 80% on the first of July, and the cost of sending text messages from EU countries by 30% on 30^th August.A T-Mobile spokesperson said “We will cut the cost of international internet access from a handset and mobile broadband connectivity via a USB dongle or data card from £7.50 per megabyte to £1.50, and the cost of sending a text from EU countries will be brought down by 38 per cent, from 0.40p to 0.25p.” This follows O2’s announcement last week that it would cut the cost of data usage in Europe to £3 per megabyte, an 80% drop for pre-pay customers.

European commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding had previosuly given the networks an ultimatum to reduce roaming charges by the 1st of July 2008, or face a regulatory smiting. At a meeting earlier this month, she told CEOs “Do your job, respond to consumer concerns and lower your prices. You know exactly where you have to go.” The ruling calls for mobile operators to drastically reduce their charges for roaming and sending texts in Europe.

This will come as welcome news for consumers roaming abroad, who until now have had to pay through the nose for mobile broadband outside the UK. Even after a drop in data charges, the O2 £3 per MB deal still works out far more expensive than broadband at home - in order to upload a 200MB video to YouTube on the mobile broadband platform, you would have to fork out a whopping £600.