Broadband Deals
Articles on the topic : Broadband News
Hamilton First To Get BT Super Fast Broadband
Hamilton in Scotland is the first town in the UK to get BT’s new super fast fibre optic broadband network.
There had been much speculation as to which areas would get the upgrade first with Cardiff, Edinburgh and other major UK cities reported to be high up on the list.
13,700 lines in Hamilton have been enabled for next generation broadband services on BT’s pioneering 21st Century Network (21CN). The new network will allow users to benefit from video-on-demand, data, voice and broadband services, with super fast speeds to match.
The Director of BT Scotland, Brendan Dick, said, “Hamilton is one of the first major communities in the UK to achieve the level of coverage. It is a key milestone for the town and fantastic to be part of this exciting, world-leading project.”
He continued, “Most of the foundations are now in place for offering next generation broadband services, but of course it will take time for companies offering those services to introduce products taking full advantage of this major investment. We are working with these companies to move forward as quickly as possible.”
BT’s fibre optic broadband installation project is the UK’s largest ever investment in super fast broadband and is expected to cost the company over £1.5bn over the next 3 years.
Cheap Broadband Helps Parents Flexible Working Hours
With more parents now entitled to ask their employers for more flexible working hours, cheap broadband looks set to help businesses cope with the expected increase in demand of staff wanting to work from home.
Many companies have been worried about the high costs of setting up the necessary technology for their staff to work from home. However, the Citrix Online Director of E-Commerce, Andrew Millard, says that it isn’t as expensive to make the necessary changes as businesses might think.
Mr Millard said, “With technologies now in place to help companies mobilise a remote workforce quickly and easily, without the need for expensive on-premise infratsructure costs, this latest announcement gives businesses an opportunity to drive efficiencies into their operation, while increasing staff morale, retention and productivity levels.”
So whilst businesses may need to put initial technology into place, the long term cost benefits could far outweight the initial expense.
The use of broadband can enable employees to keep in touch with the office even when they aren’t there. Emails and even video calls can be conducted online which makes it a lot easier to work from home.
Allowing employees to have flexible working hours will also help to reduce time off and boost morale too. The only problem that really presents itself is to businesses which use older computers.
The Business Development Manager of Aastra, Mike Ballentine, said, “Most modern systems provide IP capabilities when and how you want them, but if you have a very old system you may need to look for an upgrade.”
The new legislation regarding flexible working hours for parents comes into place this week. Businesses can use the legislation to their advantage if they do embrace the change and put into place the appropriate technology needed for employees to work from home.
No Broadband In East London After Damage To Lines
Damage caused by third party contractors to broadband lines in East London has caused major disruption to end users with many experiencing no broadband access.
The underground cables were damaged over the weekend by a third party contractor. A spokesperson for BT Openreach gave the following statement, “BT Openreach can confirm that following significant damage, by a third party, to cables in a deep underground tunnel on the afternoon of Saturday 4th April, a large number of end users in parts of East London are currently experiencing a loss of service.”
It is uncertain when the problem will be fixed with BT Openreach saying, “Due to the nature of the damage which happened 32 metres below street level, and the restricted access to the site, it is not possible at this stage to provde an exact timeframe as to when service will be restored to all customers.”
The estimated time is a few days, but as their statement suggests, BT really doesn’t know at this stage when the problem will be fixed.
The company has issued an apology while its reported that around 70% of customers that were affected have been reconnected already.
42% Of UK Broadband Users Not Satisfied
A 12,000 strong user survey conducted by Uswitch has revealed that nearly half (42%) of broadband customers are not satisifed with the service they receive.
It is not exclusive news that many people are unhappy with their broadband service, however, the true extent of consumer’s unhappiness is quite alarming.
Cost, speed and reliability are three of the main reasons for people’s unhappiness, with the bigger ISP’s like AOL, BT and Orange (which have a combined market share approaching 50%), rated amongst the lowest, despite their early popularity.
In particular, the survey found that AOL’s popularity had declined by 7% since last year and by 10% compared to 2007. Approximately 34% of their customer’s who were questioned, claimed that they were unhappy with the service they receive. This had placed AOL at the bottom when it comes to customer satisfaction.
Steve Weller, the communications expert for Uswitch, said, “It seems that some of the more established broadband companies are slowing down with age and have lost sight of what customers want – speed and reliability, backed up by efficient customer support should things go wrong.”
When speaking about the importance of broadband in people’s lives, Weller also said, “Broadband has become such a vital part of people’s lives that, despite the tough economic climate, consumers are willing to pay for a fast speed, reliable connection and good old fashioned customer service.”
Out of all of the providers, O2 came out on top, followed by PlusNet and Sky.
O2 scored an impressive 92% customer satisfaction rating among its users, which is not surprising considering its robust network performance and UK based customer support.
In reponse to the survey, a spokesman for BT said: “Only last week, BT and Sky were voted joint top for customer service in another broadband survey for Broadband Genie. BT is the country’s leading internet service provider and was voted one of the UK’s most trusted brands this week in a survey of customers for Reader’s Digest.”
The BT spokesman continued, “USwitch, which is not accredited by Ofcom as a switching site, makes commissions from customers who switch suppliers and it is in their interests to target criticism at companies with the largest customer bases.”
South Wales First To Get Super Fast Broadband
The new super fast broadband network that BT has been given the go ahead for is set to debut in South Wales. The fibre optic network will be installed in Cardiff and nearby Taffs Well at the start of 2010 – aswell as more urban areas like Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Greater Manchester.
Currently South Wales is one of the worst broadband coverage areas in the UK, especially in its rural areas. When the installation takes place, roughly 16,000 homes and businesses will benefit from broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps and potentially up to 60Mbps.
When talking about the new super fast broadband plans, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, said:
“Access to broadband is important to businesses and citizens across Wales. It is important that the telecommunications infrastructure in Wales is able to meet this challenge and this announcement is a further demonstration of the important role that Wales wants to play at the forefront of the development of next generation broadband services across the UK”.
However, whilst it is great news that Cardiff and surrounding areas are set to benefit from this new network, there is still some concern about more rural parts of the country. David Melding AM, the Conservative Shadow Minister for the Economy said:
“While we welcome proposals to link the Cardiff area to a super-fast broadband network there are still parts of Wales struggling to get any broadband connection at all. Wales has been stuck in the slow lane of the information super highway for far too long, with the average broadband speed here slower than London and Scotland.”
BT’s installation of fibre optic broadband is the largest investment in super-fast broadband ever seen in the UK with the project set to cost BT up to £1.5bn.
More than 500,000 customers across the UK will benefit from the first phase of the BT installation scheme, with the next set of locations, serving a million homes and businesses to be announced in the autumn.
By 2012, BT is hoping that 40% of UK homes and businesses (circa 10 million premises) will be able to access super fast fibre optic broadband.
Ofcom Back Broadband USO For Digital Britain Plans
Ofcom boss Ed Richards has backed the introduction of a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband, stating that it may even help to improve broadband speeds too.
It was Lord Carter, the Communications Minister and creator of the Digital Britain Report, who suggested that the introduction of a broadband USO would significantly help to improve broadband coverage within the UK.
Currently there is a USO obliging BT to connect every household to a landline, so the plan would be to extend this to broadband services aswell ensuring a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps.
Mr Richards said, “I think a broadband USO will make a significant contribution to filling in those gaps of availability and speed for a good basic level of service and this is a priority.”
Mr Richards continued, “There is almost no overstating how important it is to make sure we have the right circumstances for the next generation of broadband.”
As a follow up to his comments, the Country Land and Business Association stated that they were “delighted” that “the true picture of digital exclusion” had been addressed.
It is the people who live in more rural areas of the UK who have the main connection issues with more than 1,000 homes still having no broadband access.
Whilst the USO will not provide faster speeds directly, it will certainly help to lay the groundwork. A new generation of broadband access does need to be introduced and a USO takes this one step forward – with support from experts in the field.
