Significant discount for 50 Mbps connections
Virgin Media, in a recent announcement, has brought about significant discounts in their 50 Mbps broadband package, meaning that unlike most other broadband providers, high – speed internet doesn’t have to come with a high price as well.
New customers enrolling in the UK with Virgin Media will only be charged a mere £18 per month for the first 3 months of their subscription in order to access the high speed XXL 50 Mbps package, though users will have to pay through Direct Debit or eBilling.
Access to this top speed internet broadband package will also entail users having to subscribe for the £11 per month virgin phone line service and, after the promotional 3 month period, the cost of the package will increase to a nominal 28 pounds monthly.
If new customers do not require the Virgin phone line, then they can choose not to take up the offer and can still be up for the 50 Mbps service. However, the promotional price of the service for the first 3 months increases to 33 pounds monthly and then 38 pounds after the expiration of the promotional period.
All broadband packages being offered by Virgin Media also come with a free modem as well as a Wireless N router, free PCGuard Total, free installation, 100 free photo prints every month, unlimited storage space on their network and automatic backup. Virgin Media also offers the best downlink and uplink speed currently available in the UK regardless of the chosen package.
This promotional deal from Virgin, according to an industry expert, provide amazing value for money with the best speed possible. For people who download a lot or stream TV or music through iPlayer or Spotify, this deal should be hard to resist!
Virgin Media is currently working on launching a new broadband service which should enables its users to have downlink speeds of about 200 Mbps and is putting in a lot of effort to ensure that a lot of subscribers get onto their 50 Mbps package before they roll the 200 Mbps package out.
Plusnet announces shorter, more flexible contracts
Leading broadband service provider Plusnet recently announced it is offering more affordable schemes for its subscribers, and cutting their offered 18-month contract lengths to just 12 months.
This was announced by Plusnet chief executive Anthony Vollmer, who said that the customers can now enjoy greater flexibility and cheaper services from their company. This would give both existing and new subscribers of Plusnet the choice to leave the service after a year, instead of being tied down longer if they have other plans.
Apart from this good news of cheaper rates and shorter contracts, Plusnet also announced that they made available the no-contract broadband plan. This will mean customers may opt to pay for hardware and the connection at the same time.
Subscribers have been reported to be hassled and dismayed with existing service contracts, not just with Plusnet but other broadband providers as well. This is because most broadband packages offered come with fees for set-up, as well as hardware purchase, that come when they sign-up a contract or when they choose to leave it. When customers opt to change service providers, or are unsatisfied with the connectivity and speed, most would simply pay out the remainder of their contract. With Plusnet’s no contract broadband package, the subscribers have the choice to save when they purchase both the connection and the hardware needed.
Those planning to avail of Plusnet subscription can also avail of the company’s offered bundles of broadband service connection and home phones. Options like the unlimited broadband packages with internet connection can now be purchased from Plusnet.
The service that comes with greater speeds of 8MBps and download limit of 10GB is now available for subscribers at only £5.99. Plusnet said their cost is considered the cheapest when it comes to stand-alone broadband package.
Flaw compromises the security of O2 routers
The Guardian reports that anyone having a router provided by O2 might find that they are vulnerable to remote attacks, according to an O2 customer, who has repeatedly tried to get O2 to take notice of this problem.
The details about this are fairly complicated and depends on ‘cross – site request forgery’, something most of us (including myself) may have never heard of. This is a very serious issue and you should be worried. If in possession of an O2 router, you should reset the default password and ensure that O2 hasn’t changed it back, according to the O2 customer, Andrew Brown.
Nearly 457,000 of O2’s customers could be affected by this as nearly all of O2’s customers would be using the Wireless Box II or III, the only routers being offered by O2. Zen Broadband as well as Be responded to check whether the routers they provide are also affected by this problem.
According to Andrew Brown, O2 has supplied a remote update to the Wireless Boxes whereby their password is set to the serial number of the box. Though this will reduce the problem to a particular extent, it won’t get rid of it. The software release is still vulnerable to this problem.
Be Broadband had sent out a letter to its customers with regard to this, including instructions for the tech – savvies, but the penultimate paragraph should be taken note of. It says that a remote attach might lead to prompts for your router password. You should never comply with this request unless you have initiated the process. Therefore, beware of this and be aware. It is great to see that Be is being precautionary about this. O2 seem to have been doing this very thing – it is because of this that people find their admin passwords being changed suddenly.
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
Excessively high demand for Virgin ADSL services
Reports in recent times have indicated that the demand for consumer ADSL services which were re – launched by Virgin Media is too high. This has resulted in delays for users who want to sign up to these services.
A recent report also mentioned that customers who want to sign up for the re – launched ADSL broadband service might have to be ready for some delays due to the extremely high number of customers that are attempting to sign up for this service. Virgin is providing this service for people who don’t live in their cable coverage area but who would like to experience a broadband bundle with television, broadband and telephone services.
Virgin has claimed that there has been a rise in the demand for their service, with a number of customers wanting to leave from BT and make use of the Virgin ADSL service, thus enabling them to have the same provider for their phone, television and broadband service. However, this has resulted in delays for the many people who want to take advantage of this service. The company has gone on a promotional drive for their relaunched service throughout August, saying that they are capable of offering 20 Mbps connections and their own phone line rental.
In a recent interview, an official from Virgin Media said that since the re-launch of the National service with line rental and their promise of Best Speed, they have been receiving a large number of new orders, which has resulted in some delays in enabling customers to use their super – fast ADSL broadband services.
He also mentioned that they have solved the problems of modem stock and they are working at full – capacity to ensure that customers gets connected as soon as possible. He also apologized for the delays and inconveniences that customers are facing.
Number of broadband connections worldwide reach 445 million
The Broadband Forum revealed the most recent broadband figures which cover the 2nd quarter of 2009. It revealed an increase of nearly 12.9 million connections, thereby making it 445 million total. IPTV also experienced a 11% growth, thereby taking the number of subscribers to 26.9 million, with a 54% increase in the number of connections in Asia to 3 million.
Western Europe’s growth has fallen. A number of other regions have also seen decline in numbers based on figures from the previous quarter, though Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe are going against the trend with the growth level going up.
The league table of the top 10 countries in terms of number of broadband connections puts the UK at no. 6, which is the same as in the previous quarter. China is getting nearer to the 100 million mark, currently having 93.5 million subscribers, which is a 23% jump from that of last year.
When looking at the access of particular technology, DSL takes up 64% of the market, cable 21% and fibre 13%. The remaining 1% is taken up by Wireless and Sattelite or Other. Demand for fibre – optic cable services are increasing with the growth of IPTV services.
According to the Chairman and the President of the Broadband Forum, George Dobrowski, the report reveals that while the adoption of broadband is tied to the state of the global economy, technology continues to improve. He added that he believes that this year has revealed that broadband expansion isn’t just found only in the top industrialized countries, but is a big factor in enabling developing countries to make an impact.
He continued by saying that the broadband forum continues to be a part of innovation in broadband and that with their newest work based on IPTV network and service assurance, they are continuing to make sure that the industry will have every tool and specification that is require in order to optimize networks and to realize the possibilities of IPTV and broadband in the world.
Nearly 30% of UK households don’t have internet access
An Office of National Statistics report has claimed that nearly 30% of homes in the UK don’t have access to the internet.
Scotland reported the lowest internet penetration with just 62%. London had an 80% penetration rate. Nearly 37% of houses in the UK can’t access the internet via broadband because the location is too far away from the nearest telephone exchange.
The report also showed that 95% of people with a degree had internet access, while only 52% of those who didn’t have any qualifications had access to the internet.
The study also revealed that the number of elder web users using the internet daily has slightly fallen from 54% in 2008 to 52% in 2009. 21% of the population have never used the internet, which is a reduction from 25% in 2008. People over 65 are least likely to have used the internet with 64% claiming never to have used the internet, which is down from last year’s 70%.
An Ofcom research said that 42% of people who didn’t have access to internet said that they didn’t want to access it. 61% of people without internet had never used a computer before.
The Digital Britain report, compiled by the Government, had pledged 2 Mbps internet connections to be available throughout the country by 2012. However, bringing internet to the rural areas has been known to be a challenge.
Among the people using the internet, the survey showed that 40% of people had uploaded videos and pictures to YouTube or Facebook in the last year, up by 16% when compared to last year.
The ONS discovered that 73% of adults used the internet every day, the age – group accessing it the most being 16 to 24, where 86% of this age group use the internet daily.
90% of users use the internet to access their e-mail while 21% of respondents said that they made voice or video calls on internet services.
Source - Telegraph
More flexible deals offered by Plusnet
Cutting short the traditional eighteen (18) months minimum contract terms by Plusnet, the company announced it is now allowing customers greater flexibility in subscribing to its packages. Recently, Plusnet launched its reduced contract terms to just 12 months or one year.
For customers opting for entry-level value package, they will see this information on the value and unlimited broadband packages. Dubbed the lowest costing package in the United Kingdom in terms of annual cost, the lowered contract times costs are pegged at £5.99 each month for the first three months. For the succeeding months, it will cost £11.99 monthly.
Plusnet also informed consumers who live in areas with four or more broadband service providers that they will pay just £5.99 per month from connection until the end of their contract. The same applies for regions foreseen to have increased number of providers, but where their local exchange serves over 10,000 users.
Apart from the affordable costs, the new contract terms already includes an 8Mb internet connection speed, download limit of 10Gb every month and a free wireless router.
The unlimited deal package offers the same speed and wireless router, but has no monthly download unit. It also adds a static IP address, with costs pegged each month at £11.99 for the first three months, and £19.99 thereafter.
Other offers include Plusnet’s Talk home phone add-ons, evening and weekend options with free landline calls, discounts to UK mobile calls, and free minutes for both local and international calls. Plusnet also offer the Talk Anytime which could mean great savings as well.
Both Value and Unlimited options offer customer support 24/7.
Already award-winning with their old system, Plusnet reaped more citations for offering these newer options, alongside its pricing scheme and excellent, reliable service.
Plusnet was awarded among the Top 10 Broadband and recognized as the Best Value Home Broadband Award.
Digital Britain funds to be insufficient to cope with demand for superfast broadband
The plans by the government to assist financially with 12 million pounds in the rolling out of fibre – optic broadband are most likely to fall extremely short of the potential growth in demand for super – fast broadband, a research by Point Topic says.
Tim Johnson, the main analyst at Point Topic, says the amount is not enough to cope with the potential challenge of meeting this demand. This cash is meant to ensure that high – speed broadband is available in areas where companies would find it unviable to roll the technology out themselves.
The latest forecast by them says that nearly 9 million homes still don’t have internet access and this number is not falling as much as expected. 5 years down the line, there will still be 6.5 million homes without access to the internet.
However, Point Topic is quite about the increase in the number of households with access to broadband and has made the necessary adjustments.
Number of broadband connections in use increased to oever 17.8 million in the 6 months of this year, 100,000 more than initial predictions. Due to this, PT has increased their total prediction by 36%.
The coverage of next – gen BB is not much, but, in 5 years, it should go to 50%, says PT. At this rate, the target for 2017 should be achieved, though it does depend on some form of subsidy to get to remote areas.
PT expects over 7 million next – gen fibre lines to be there by 2014, by when there should be over 20 million houses as well as 1.7 million businesses with at least one broadband line. Next – gen BB should take up 30% of the market, with DSL accounting for 49% and cable taking 21%.
Source - computing.co.uk
