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Articles on the topic : Broadband News
Filesharers May Face Court Before Broadband Cut
Suspected illegal fileshares could be faced with a court order before having their broadband disconnected, according to comments made by the UK’s Culture Secretary, Ben Bradshaw.
There has been plenty of opposition towards the government’s plan to give more power to the music and entertainment industry which would force ISP’s to cut off the broadband connection of suspected illegal fire sharers without prior warning.
Therefore, Mr Bradshaw’s suggestion that a court order should first be used to prove a users guilt before they are disconnected is perceived to be good news.
Mr Bradshaw said, “It wouldn’t just happen on the basis of accusation. First there would need to be a court order for any of the technical measures.”
Record labels are also in agreement that warning letters should be followed up to eliminate persistent file sharing. They state that “any technical measures deemed necessary and appropriate by the Secretary of State” would be welcome to try to stop illegal downloads.
When speaking about the government’s retreat from the technical clampdown on persistent file sharers, James Alexander the Deloitte Media Partner, said it was definitely no surprise.
He said, “Perhaps this reflects that it was only intended as a shot across the bows by the government to deter people who think illegal downloading is an acceptable activity, as opposed to determined and technically adept criminals.”
Ultimately the government will determine what measures to enforce on November 18th in the Digital Economy Bill. No doubt up until that point there will be various other suggestions added as to what would be the best way to stop illegal piracy.
Fast Broadband A LEGAL Right For ALL Brits?
BroadbandInternetUK.com, a former BBC Radio 2 Website Of The Day, has called for fast broadband speeds to be a LEGAL right for ALL people in the UK.
The call, written in a new article by co-editor Steve Tattersall, comes following last week’s announcement that Finland’s government had passed a new broadband for ALL law.
Finland’s new law, the first of its kind in the world, entitles everyone in its country to a minimum 1Mbps broadband connection speed by July 2010 – with speeds up to 100Mbps planned for 2015.
The move means Finnish broadband suppliers are in effect, being forced to install high speed broadband services across the country, including the rural and remote areas.
While details of how the law will be implemented and how the roll out will be funded are at this time unknown to Broadband Internet UK, the intent of the Finnish government is clear.
In the article, Steve Tattersall voices his concern over the broadband speed ‘targets’ in the government’s Digital Britain report.
He also goes on to state that Brits living in rural areas should have the basic right to fast fixed line broadband (in addition to satellite or mobile broadband options) and calls upon Stephen Timms, the Digital Minister for further action.
The full article can be found here, while readers are also encouraged to provide feedback below on whether they think they should have a legal right to a minimum broadband speed in their home.
The opinions and comments will be sent using this site to the Digital Minister.
54% Of Broadband Complaints Go Unresolved
New research has shown that more than half of customer complaints (54%) about their broadband service remain unresolved.
This is despite the fact that there are formal codes of practice in place to help the complaints procedure run smoothly.
The survey by Broadband Choices found that 36% of broadband customers didn’t bother to report any problems with their broadband service, with 33% of these saying it was too much hassle.
A further 18% of people didn’t understand how to complain, while 23% didn’t have faith that their broadband supplier could resolve the complaint.
The survey questioned 4,000 broadband customers and found that just under half of them (47%) didn’t even realise that their broadband provider had a code of practice in place for complaints handling.
Furthermore, 77% of people were unaware that they could escalate their compliant using an Ofcom approved ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) scheme up to 8 weeks after they had complained to their broadband supplier.
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Broadband Users Online For 30 Hours Per Week
A recent study by Uswitch has revealed that UK broadband users spend on average 30 hours per week online.
On a typical working day, around 67% of people use the internet at work for both work and leisure purposes that include finding the best deals on utilities like broadband.
At the weekends broadband users spend up to 3 hours a day online, with 19% of 18-24 year olds spending 8 hours per day online.
Unsurprisingly 93% of broadband subscribers use the internet to shop online, with 79% spending 2 hours a week shopping online.
Over 50% of people who took the survey stated that they spend at least 1 hour per week banking online while 25% of adults said that they had to check their social networking profiles at least once per day.
IT Managers Value UK’s Broadband Speed Plans
A recent research project carried out by the British Computer Society has revealed that two thirds of IT managers value the upcoming speed developments in the UK’s broadband sector.
Claiming that it will help businesses if broadband services were better, the IT sector is definitely on board with the Digital Britain report which was published by the government back in April.
However, while advancements in broadband speeds and nationwide roll out are welcomed, it is said that more training regarding the use of the internet would also be beneficial.
The Chief Executive Officer of the British Computer Society, David Clarke, said, “Our ability to process, share and manage information will determine the success of our society. To be successful we need a high performing IT education system and a population with the IT skills to be productive, empowered citizens”.
Mr Clarke certainly has a point. It is all well and good introducing better broadband services, but if consumers and the workforce are unsure as how to make the most of them then the advancements could be wasted.
Virgin Media announced plans earlier this year to introduce new retail drop in centres where consumers would be able to learn more about the Internet and common technical issues.
Cornwall Set For 1Gbps Broadband Speeds
Cornwall Council has announced plans to create a super-fast broadband network in the county with speeds up to 1Gbps.
The move comes thanks to a European grant worth £415 million which aims to help the county create a more diverse economy by supporting businesses and boosting the skills of the workforce.
When talking about the plans in the October issue of the Business Cornwall magazine, Kevin Lavery, the Chief Executive of Cornwall Council said, “We’re in the procurement process now, so by the end of the year we will announce a preferred bidder to develop a super-fast broadband network in Cornwall that will be the best in the UK”.
Lavery continued, “We’re talking about for larger companies a gigabyte of speed which is incredibly fast, which will put Cornwall in a great place to do internet business anywhere in the world”.
Work on the the £100 million broadband project is scheduled to start next year, with the help of the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) and southwestbusiness.co.uk.
Readers who are interested in finding out the maximum broadband speeds available in their area can compare broadband packages here.
