Posted by Admin on May 17, 2010 – 2:11 pm
Oftcom has revealed findings in a mystery shopper test conducted in March this year.
BT and Sky were found to be the two least likely Internet Service Providers to inform new customers of the maximum speed achievable on their line when signing up for an internet connection
O2 came top in this catogory in the test by informing 58% of callers with the information. BT provided the information without prompting to only 28% of callers and Sky to 39%.
However when prompted by the callers O2 came out worse by providing only 80% of the shoppers with the maximum speed information. Pulsnet, after prompting, provided 93% with the requested information. They came top in that category.
Overall Ofcom said that 15% of mystery shoppers failed to obtain a likely speed for their line , with 42% having to prompt the provider for the information. In addition 40% were told that the speed was an estimate and 31% were warned that a number of factors were involved in the actual speed.
Ofcom is planning to work with Internet Servics Providers to tighten the Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds by creating a universal speed measuring test in an attempt to ensure UK customers are provided with more consistant and accurate information.
Posted by Admin on December 21, 2009 – 2:18 pm
Watchdog Ofcom has published a document which shows that broadband users in the UK pay less than other users in America and Europe for broadband services. Plus is seems that prices are still going down.
Included in the survey were the UK, France, Germany, US,Spain and Italy. Ofcom found that a typical household using a fixed and mobile phone.broadband and pay TV would pay £102 per month here is the UK. This is almost 28% lower than Italy. According to the Internation Communications Market Report the UK has the cheapest broadband services.
Some service providers such as Orange and O2 are said to be giving free broadband with some of their mobile phone contracts.
However broadband speeds in the UK are slow compared to services in Europe.
Posted by Admin on September 6, 2009 – 8:40 pm
Customers who recently signed up to Virgin Media UK’s ADSL broadband package have found that there are lengthy delays getting accounts activated.
There has been a huge demand for the 20 Mbps package , which is intended for customers who live outside Virgin’s cable coverage, and want to bundle their broadband and phone lines together.
The package appeals to users wanting a single bill from one provider.The package boasts faster download speeds of up to 20Mpbs and its own telephone line rental. The problem is that Virgin has been unble to cope with demand and was struggling to post out modem kits to customers.Users are leaving BT and rushing to Virgin’s new deal.
Virgin say that they have now resolved the stock problems and everything should be up and running very soon. It is possible that Virgin Media will cancel the £30 set up fee for customers who have experienced problems so anyone affected is urged to to e-mail the company and lodge a complaint.
Virgin have also reduced their 50 Mbps package for a limited period. The service with a Virgin phone line is now £18 a month for the first 3 months and then £28 per month. Without the phone line the cost has reduced from £50 to £33 for the first 3 months and £38 per month after that. They have not yet announced how long the deals will last.
Virgin Media are also celebrating after a recent study found that they have the quickest download speeds of 7.243 Mbps compared to the overall average of 4.331Mbps.
Although O2 had the best overall score in the survey Virgin only came second in terms of connections speed recording a score of 0.489 Mbps
Posted by Admin on July 27, 2009 – 4:17 pm
Ofcom has pledged to investigate the mobile broadband market to find out why there are so many gaps in 3G ( third generation) coverage, particularly in rural areas. These areas are known as’ notspots’. Ofcom will also look at mobile broadband speeds which vary considerably.
3G services allow people to connect to the Internet via a wireless network using either a phone, a dobgle or a datacard which can be plugged into a laptop or PC.
Broadband Communications Company Epitiro has been researching mobile broadband download speeds and found that the average speed was just under IMbps. Mobile broadband users are only getting a quarter of advertised speeds. There are over 200,000 different tarrifs on the market for mobile broadband customers. Not an easy task when searching for a good deal.
It seems that consumers are now opting for mobile broadband and discontinuing their fixed line phones. Mobile calls increased by 11 billion minutes in 2008 ,while fixed line minutes fell by 8 billion.
The Digital Britain report initiated by the Government plans to free up more 3G spectrum to help reduce ‘notspots’ and hopefully to increase mobile broadband speeds.
Orange ,O2, T- Mobile, and Vodaphone are some of the service providers who offer mobile phone braodband packages.
Posted by Admin on July 20, 2009 – 1:01 pm
Research by independent analysts show that Virgin Media is topping the tables in UK broadband speed tests. The average speed of 6.14Mbps is almost 2Mbps faster than the UK average of 4.3Mbps. The findings were calculated using thousands of broadband speed test results nationwide, over the month of June 2009.
O2 and Be broadband were runners up, both providing an average of 5.6Mbps download (the two companies results being the same as they share a common infrastructure). For people living outside of the areas supplied by the top 3 providers broadband speeds were below average, with the majority of the UKs other providers not managing to supply broadband with a download speed over the UK average.
When comparing how much of a broadband connections theoretical speed is actually provided to the customer Be broadband came out on top. On average Be provides over 120% of the speed that an average ADSL customer in the same area might get.
Although Virgin tops the chart for fast download, it is also notable that O2 and Be have a faster average upload speed of 748kbps, with virgin managing 467kbps. The national average upload speed is 433kbps.
