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November 21, 2011 – 6:11 pm
Virgin Media have announced that they are working towards upgrading their broadband networks. They intend to offer the fastest broadband speeds to their subscribers and revealed at the beginning of November that they are now offering 100Mb broadband connections to a third of the UK.
Virgin has been rolling out fibre optic broadband since the beginning of 2011 and expect the project to be completed by mid 2012. This should see and extra four million homes having access to superfast broadband speeds.
Virgin Media have announced that they will create a new innovation lab which will produce new products and services for superfast broadband.They will be working alongside Londons ‘Silicon Roundabout’ startup incubator. They plan to have members from TheCube trying out new products and services via superfast broadband networks.The first project will be trialed throughout next year.
Virgin will be competing with BT Broadband who are constantly making headlines as they upgrade networks throughout the UK. Only last week they reported that broadband speeds in Somerset will be doubled.
Virgin Media seem determined not to be outdone.
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November 7, 2011 – 6:27 pm
Akamai, a content delivery provider , has provided a report for Q2 2011 called’ State of the Internet ‘ monitoring broadband speeds in over 230 countries to determine the fastest broadband speeds.
When it comes to average broadband speeds the UK is ranked 25th in the world. We are behind such countries as Latvia, Romania and Slovakia.
South Korea comes in top with an average speed of almost 14Mpbs, followed by Hong Kong with a speed of 10.3 Mbps and third Japan with 8.9Mbps. Uk was 25th with an average speed of 5.0Mbps. This was behind Latvia with 8.2Mbps,Romanias 6.8Mbps and an average broadband speed of 5.8Mbps for America. Germany came 21 st with a speed of 5.3Mbps and France was 39th with 3.9Mbps.
However it is thought that if the UK concentrated on rolling out broadband just in the cities our results would have improved considerably. Also because the broadband market is so expensive in the UK many customers have not yet opted for the faster broadband deals on offer which means that average speeds in the UK are much lower .
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October 14, 2011 – 6:39 pm
Blackberry finally restored service last night to millions of smartphone users after a three day global meltdown.
It is thought that up to half of its 70 million users suffered disruption to their e-mail, web browsing and instant messaging following a failure in a ‘core switch’ system which receives and redirects millions of messages etc every minute.
Blackberry may now face a huge multi million compensation bill which could be a disaster for the company. Users will no doubt now be contacting their mobile networks to claim compensation.
It was reported that the companies co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Baisillie have not ruled out compensation but that they have no immediate plans to offer it. Their initial priority was to get the system up and running again.
Blackberry will now need to rebuild its reputation as Apple is launching its rival handset the IPhone 4S in the Uk , America and other countries today.
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October 13, 2011 – 6:00 pm
A computer crash at Blackberrys data centre in Slough, Berkshire,has caused a loss of service for at least 10 million of their 70 million users over the last three days.
There was disruption in the Middle east and Europe on Monday which spread to India and Latin America on Tuesday. Users in America and Canada also complained of disruption on Wednesday.
The exact cause of the failure in still unknown but there are reports of a power failure or ‘ core switch failure’ at the Slough HQ. Mobile phone companies would usually take responsibility for the failure of a device but the are overwhelmed with complaints right now and are still unsure when the service will be up and running again. There is a huge backlog of messages building up accross all servers.
Users are already asking for compensation or refunds for the period without service but so far no offers have been made by Blackberry or its mobile network partners. Bookmakers are said to be taking bets about how long it will be before normal services are restored.
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October 9, 2011 – 5:43 pm
The Advertising Strandards Authority has conducted an eight month investigation into internet speeds advertised by broadband providers.
After criticism from telecoms watchdog Ofcom about the speeds advertised and the actual speeds that are provided by internet companies the ASA has released preliminary results.
It showed that in May the average speed advertised was 15Mb but the actual average speeds for users was vastly different at only 6.8 Mb .
ASA intend to significantly tighten its excisting policy and says that providers can only claim average broadband speeds if 10 % of customers can actually receive that level of speed. They also say the the average speed must also be shown in the main part of the advertisement and not hidden away in the small print.
However although it is believed that provider have agreed to this the ASA feel that 10 % may not be enough and the percentage may be increased to between 20% and 80% .
These recommendations will only apply to broadband companies using copper wire.
A further report is expected later this month.
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October 4, 2011 – 12:28 pm
BT customers accross the UK are experiencing problems with their broadband due to a power failure.
The fault, which is at a major exchange in Birmingham, has meant the loss of internet services for BT customers in several areas of the country, including London , Bristol, Cardiff and Yorkshire.
BT have said that the problem would only have lasted ‘for little more than an hour ‘ for most people and for most the problem had already been sorted out. A spokesperson was reported as saying ”Our engineers are on site and the majority of customer’s service has already been restored. We are working to restore service to the remaining customers as soon as possible this afternoon”
”Should any customers continue to experience difficulty in accessing their broadband service, they are advised to turn their hub or modem off and on again”.
Although the problem was said to have affected thousands of BT’s customers this would be no more than 5% of BT’s overall network.
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September 25, 2011 – 5:34 pm
For the second quarter running Talk Talk is at the top of Ofcom’s complaints list for both broadband and telephones.The most complaints for mobile services, according to the Ofcom report, were made by 3UK customers. O2 was the least complained about mobile provider.
Between April and June more complaints were made about phone services to Ofcom about Talk Talk than rivals BT Retail , Virgin and BSkyB. Also during that period more of Talk Talk customers complained about broadband than Orange, Virgin, BSkyB and BT Retail customers. Figures only consist of telephone complaints made to Ofcom and do not include complaints made direct to to the providers. Virgin was the least complained about company.
Talk Talk ‘s broadband service had 0.58 complaints for every 1,000 customers and its landline section had 0.8 complaints per 1,000 customers compared to Virgins 0.15 for both broadband and landline services.
These figures will be a big dissappointment to Talk Talk especially as complaints have fallen during the past year. The company was recently fined £3m by Ofcom for incorrectly billing 65,000 customers for services that they had not received.
Customers wishing to make a complaint should in the first instance contact their provider. If the problem is not resolved an independent advisor, such as Ofcom, should be contacted.
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September 6, 2011 – 5:38 pm
Which UK’s largest independent consumer body has recommended Plusnet the broadband provider which is based in Yorkshire.
Plusnet, who employ over 250, staff brought its contact centre operation from South Africa to Sheffield in 2010. The company believes that this may have been one of the factors that helped them to acheive such high marks for its excellent customer service.
Over 750 Plusnet customers were questioned and gave an overall score of 72% in the survey. Plusnet Value home broadband was awarded a 5 star for value for money and a 4 star connection speed , reliability, technical support and customer service.
Broadband providers assessed by Which must receive and overall score of 70 % in the survey which covers ease of setup, connection speed, technical support, reliability and customer service.
Which magazine believes that broadband services today are considered by many people to be as vital as electricity or water supplies.
Plusnet will now be able to use the Which
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July 27, 2011 – 11:20 am
Plusnet had been offering a half price deal for nine months but this offer has now been replaced by an offer of free internet for four months instead.
The offer still applies to Plusnet Value broadband deals when they are taken on line with home phones.After four months the packags costs just £6.49 per month with line rental at £11.99. Anytime calls are an extra £3.50 per month. This is a very competetive deal from Plusnet.
BT is offering its BT broadband and anytime call deal at 4 months free and then £18 per month. BT’s cheapest package is £16 per month, which is suprising when you compare the Plusnet deal which uses the same lines as BT. It is worth noting that Plusnet also include unlimited downloads in some of their deals.
Tesco offer a better priced deal than O2 with unlimited downloads all round. They charge £8.50 per month after the first 3 months of the contract.
Orange offer the first 3 months free with their off peak calls deal. It is then £7.50 per month.
There are some good deals out there and it is worth shopping around for the one that suits you.
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July 17, 2011 – 5:41 pm
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that the UK Government will give £57 million to Wales to improve its broadband coverage.
This includes the £10 million which was pledged by Chancellor George Osborne in February.
Mr Hunt said that once the infrastructure was in place 90% of Welsh homes and businesses should be able to access superfast broadband.A recent Ofcom report showed that Wales has the worst broadband access in the UK.
Of the 22 council areas in Wales twelve had the lowest overall score for broadband access. These areas are mainly rural areas in the North , mid and West .
Mr Hunt also said that the £57 million was Wales’ share of the £530 million pledged by the Uk Government for the broadband investment fund.
The UK Government promised in December that all communities in the UK wil have access to superfast broadband by 2015. This should mean that all should have speeds of 24 Mbps which is a necessity for businesses that depend on the internet for their survival.
