Broadband News: February 2007

According to Point Topics latest survey (BroadBand User Consumer Survey 3) only 77% of customers claim to be ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ satisfied with their broadband provider. This is compared to 92% only 10 months ago. Continue reading…

According to research undertaken by thinkbroadband.com, the average speed at peak time (6pm to 10pm) for all broadband providers combined is 2079 Kbps (2.03 Mb/s). This is compared with similar figures in 2003when the average was just 500 Kbps.

However current speeds are often slower Continue reading…

Competition is set to increase within the triple play services (Broadband, Phone and Television), as Tiscali announced this week that on the 1st March 40,000 Homechoice subscribers will automatically Switch to Tiscali TV. Currently this service is only available in London and Stevenage, but there are plans to reach the Midlands and the North West by mid-2007. By the close of 2007 Tiscali aims to make Tiscali TV accessible to over 10 million homes. Continue reading…

The new phenomenon to hit the UK this year will be downloading TV content via the internet, according to the site uSwitch.com.

The daily quotation heard throughout homes every day of ‘what’s on tonight?’ will be replaced by ‘what shall we watch tonight?’as the emergence Continue reading…

In June this year Eutelsat, the European satellite operator, is launching a satellite-based broadband service for consumers. This will mean areas in Europe unable to receive broadband through a fixed-line will be able to connect to the internet. Eutelsat have said that prices will be similar to current broadband providers but it will reach areas that current networks have yet to be extended to. Continue reading…

National statistics have shown that in December 2006, broadband accounted for 79.2 per cent of all internet connections. This has risen from 75.8 per cent in September 2006.
Currently there are around 16 million internet connections in the UK, with the majority (10 million) accessing broadband using ADSL over telephone lines. Continue reading…

According to new research three quarters of people are paying too much for broadband because switching suppliers is time-consuming and complicated. Apparently about £621 million is being wasted on unsuitable packages every year, with baffling jargon, confusing packages and uncooperative companies causing the main difficulties. Continue reading…

O₂ has now confirmed that its Be Broadband unit has unbundled its 500th telephone exchange, which now makes it available to 33% of UK homes. O₂ also aim to add another 200 more exchanges by June making it even more accessible to the UK public, as well as developing ways to improve technology, network and speed. This should be extended to over 800 exchanges by the end of summer.

Be Broadband offers ADSL2+ technology Continue reading…

From the 14th of February new Ofcom regulations come into affect making it far easier to swap broadband suppliers. The new rules inhibit companies from charging customers a fee to change providers, those who do charge a fee face a heavy fine from Ofcom.

In order to change broadband suppliers, customers have to ask for a Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) which is Continue reading…

It’s been a busy time in the Top 10 Broadband office, having launched the site late last month, we’ve faced rounds of interviews, the scrutiny of broadband forums and blogs and a fair bit of press. The eagle-eyed of you will have seen us in today’s Web User magazine, where we got the once over. Continue reading…