Guernsey home broadband users to see speed increase
On the heels of an announcement that they will be reviewing the pricing of their packages, the popular ISP, Sure, announced that they would be providing high – speed broadband connections at a low cost to their home broadband users located in Guernsey.
Sure unveiled a new 8 Mbps broadband package this month which was priced at 17.99 monthly and Jersey Telecom had introduced the same for 27.99 pounds a month, which seems to have brought about this announcement.
Though Sure offers a 4 Mbps broadband package for 49.99 pounds and an 8 Mbps connection for 79.99 pounds a month for business customers, residential users in Guernsey have only been provided with a 2 Mbps service so far.
Currently home users do have the option of using this high – speed broadband package but, Sure says, business users are the ones who demand this package.
The marketing director of Sure, Paul Taylor, said that they had introduced Sure Pro 4 & 8 Mbps packaged before Jersey Telecom, but they had been priced according to the business users, which explains the demand for it. He continued by saying that they were investing 2 million pounds for expanding their network by utilizing street boxes so that they would be able to meet the increased demand for high speeds from their customers. They will be having a look again at the offerings being provided and would be consulting the other ISPs in the island, due to legal obligations, and, he continued, expected to make a further announcement on this regard within a few months.
Sure said that they hoped to change their current 2 Mbps service in Guernsey just like the other internet providers.
Taylor also added that they were keen on supplying faster connections at a more competitive price to Guernsey, similar to the connection presently available in the UK.
Faster broadband access part of talks by Peter Mandelson
The leaders of the top five mobile phone networks in the country have been called up for a meeting by Lord Mandelson as part of ambitions by the government to enable access to fast broadband internet access in the country by 2012.
The meeting, held on Tuesday, is the second such meeting in 2 weeks that the business secretary has personally intervened in this horse – trading before creating a digital economy bill during the autumn. This legislation is set to implement some of the recommendations of June’s Digital Britain report, but some of the proposals have fallen foul of the realpolitik of Westminister.
One of the main recommendations of the report, which was a 6 pound annual levy on phone lines to finance the next – gen super – fast fibre optic broadband cables, has already fallen over as it won’t get approval from the Conservatives.
Universal broadband access, according to the report, could be possible only if there was a more wide use of mobile broadband as well as increased coverage in remote parts of UK.
However, the access to universal broadband largely depends on the 5 networks reaching a deal on the usage of the 900MHz wireless spectrum that was given to Vodafone and O2 when they had started operations during the 80s. this spectrum would be great for rural broadband due to its capability to carry signals over a long distance. The other networks don’t have it.
A deal to re-apportioning the 900MHz airwaves should be arrived at before the government tries to sell the 800MHZ spectrum which will be returned to it when analogue TV signals are discarded in 2012, which is also great for mobile coverage in rural areas.
The meeting with the chief executives will aim at ‘banging some heads together’, according to some insider information.
In return for this, mobile phone companies will have their 3G licenses extended into the indefinite future, thereby saving them a large amount of money, which fixed – line operators say could be used to finance next – gen broadband networks.
Source - guardian.co.uk
Devon citizens undergo broadband speed survey
A study to be carried out by Devon Renaissance pertaining to a new survey on broadband speed servicing the region is in place. This came after the Devon County Council agreed on commissioning such a survey to further detail variations and related information and figures of different service providers in the area.
Devon Star, the county’s leading source of news, reported that thousands of residents across the Devon County are encouraged to log on to a special site that details realities about speed standards in uploading and downloading to better evaluate their current broadband service.
The Devon Star also reported that about 25 business –or 1,500 firms - located in the outskirts of the county has been found unable to get broadband services connection. These entities were also urged by the Council to express their opinions about the service provider they have subscribed to, and give out assessment of the effects on the connection to their business operations and growth.
Devon Renaissance general manager Liz Abell shared to the newspaper that now more than ever, the residents and businesses of the county need a reliable broadband connection of they are to be at par with the rest of the country.
As for the survey, Abell said it targets to map broadband speed and reliability all over Devon, which is why they are calling for the entire community to take active part in the survey.
To get involved, Devon residents and business proprietors just need to visit the website and test their broadband speed. There they can find out also whether their location is classified as a “hotspot” or a “notspot”.
In related news, the BBC also launched days before a new study, alongside ISPreview to measure the public’s views and opinion on broadband speeds.
More details regarding this post could be found at: top10-broadband.co.uk
