Posted by Admin on September 3, 2010 – 6:09 pm
Last week BT signed up its 15 millionth user to its high speed network.
It is now 10 years since broadband was first introduced in the UK and it is now used by almost three quarters of the UK’s homes and small businesses. Britain can now boast a higher take up rate than any other developed nation due to widespread availability and low prices.
It was Virgins predecessors NTL and Telewest who first offered broadband services in 2000. BT became serious about broadband services in 2002 when prices were slashed by former chief excecutive Ben Verwaayen after broadband equipment was installed in local telephone exchanges.
BT was signing up almost 5,000 new customers each day although that rate has slowed down in the last couple of years due to a price war in the fixed broadband market.
Virgin Media serves 4.2 million customers over its cable network although last week it was revealed that 9 million people in the Uk have still never used the internet. Almost two thirds of the 15 million customers using BT’s network are using a rival internet provider such as Sky or Talk Talk who use BT’s infrastructure.
BT is now investing a further £2.5 billion to roll out fibre broadband to 2 thirds of the UK.
Posted by Admin on March 17, 2010 – 1:45 pm
Talk Talk has announced that it is to offer boosting speeds for current customers to 24Mbps free of charge. All customers will be moved onto the 24 Mbps service over the next 4 months.. This will improve their downloading capabilities and their overall internet service.
At no extra cost all Talk Talk users will automatically receive the faster speed. Monthly payments will stay the same.
Tristan Clarke was reported to have said”We are all aware of the fraustration that comes from a congested internet. At Talk Talk we have invested in our internet to remove all backhaul congestion, the principal cause of internet speeds at peak time”
They are currently investing £500 million in its network infrastructure in order to increase nation coverage.
The announcement will surely attract more subscribers to Talk Talks network.
Posted by Admin on January 13, 2010 – 5:56 pm
Prime Minister Gordan Brown has promised free laptops and broadband access to over a quarter of a million UK households to help children from deprived families with their exams.
He is reported to have said ‘ We want every family to become a broadband family, and we want every home linked to a school. For those finding it difficult to afford this, today I can announce the nationwide roll out of our home access programme to get laptops and broadband at home for 270,000 homes’
The Government has been considering this scheme for years and the £300 million home access project was started by Mr Brown in 2008. The scheme has been piloted in Oldham and Suffolk and it is hoped that it will provide a link for parents to access their childrens school reports.
The National rollout will be considered a huge step in the right direction.
It is believed that Microsoft have contributed to the scheme although it is not known just how much cash they have invested.
Internet provider Talk Talk has issued a statement against the idea which says that the scheme shows deeply muddled thinking. They believe this latest announcement demonstrates an inconsistancy because of the Governments proposal to introduce the 50p digital tax on land line users.
Posted by Admin on January 11, 2010 – 5:14 pm
The Tiscali broadband brand is no more. Tiscali was taken over by giant broadband company Talk Talk in May last year and their customers have now been transferred over.
Talk Talk payed £236 million in May 2009 for Tiscali’s assets making Talk Talk the largest residential broadband provider in the UK. The company is said to be committed to providing an excellent service and best value products.
It is understood that names such as Pipex and Freedom2Surf, which are Tiscali acquisitions, will also change name and be rebranded as Talk Talk.
Posted by Admin on October 13, 2009 – 1:30 pm
Mobile broadband users are switching to fixed line services due to dissatisfaction with the speed and limited coverage of wireless internet access. Pre paid packages are also becoming more populare than long term contracts.
Smartphones which can send e-mails and access the web have also persuaded consumers to ditch their dongles. Most hotels ,airports and conference centres etc. offer faster Wi-Fi as an alternative to mobile broadband.
Carphone Warehouse has said that its Talk Talk internet service provider has reported better than expected sales of fixed line broadband in the 3 months prior to September. Undeterred by the recession Talk Talk reached its annual growth target and bought out its rival Tiscali. A spokes person said that the mobile phone thing may have peaked as people begin to realise that mobile broadband speed is much less than that on a fixed line. It is a substitute rather than supplementary.
Sales of mobile broadband had ballooned over the past 2 years and prices fell from more than £30.00 per month in 2007 to as low as £10. However interest has now wained as customers become more and more unhappy with the speed and coverage.
Sales of pay as you go mobile broadband usually rise in September as students return to University but contracts are no longer popular. Mobile broadband is now widely regarded as complementary to a fixed line not a replacement.
Posted by Admin on August 25, 2009 – 1:20 pm
How many hours do you spend online? Broadband providers offer deals based on your usage so to get the best deal, you shouldn’t buy more than you need. Some packages offer ‘unlimited downloads’ but if you don’t surf that much, then it might be cheaper to get a capped deal. If you download a lot then check the fair usage policy to ensure your new service wont be suspended if you download excessively.
Download speed is the most important element of your package so first of all check the speed that you can get in your area with each provider. The closer you are to your telephone exchange the quicker your speed will be. Dont sign up for a 12 Mbps deal if you can only get a maximum download speed of 6Mbps for example. Bt hope to provide a 20Mbps speed deal by March 2010. They will also give free Broadband Accelerators to anyone applying online.
Save money by combining your landline, broadband and TV. Check the deals carefully as they all vary. Virgin Media, Sky and BT offer the best deals. Talk Talk and Plusnet also offer good deals.
If you are short of time consider a comparing broadband deals to see if switching provider can help save you money
It can be difficult to change providers if you are tied to a 12 month contract so make sure that you choose a reliable company. Cheap is not always the best.
Posted by Admin on May 27, 2009 – 2:51 pm
Sorting out a broadband connection for a new home can be expensive and a lot of hassle.
However Talk Talk have introduced a new service which they say will cut the cost and the hassle involved in setting up a new broadband connection.
Usually anyone moving into a new home in a non-cable area would have to sign up to a contract with BT to get connected at a cost starting from £122. Then to get a better deal they would have to switch supplier.
BT home phone and broadband costs £7.78 per month for the first three months then £15.65 per month plus line rental. Whereas Talk Talk costs £6.49 per month plus line rental.
The new Talk Talk Home Mover Service costs £29.99 for existing customers and £59.99 for new customers. Much less than the cost of signing up to BT. In fact a saving on both effort and cash.
