Broadband Deals
Articles on the topic : BT Broadband
BT Confirms 2nd Stage Super-Fast Broadband
BT (www.BT.com) has confirmed locations for the second stage of its roll out of super-fast broadband, with Barry, Caerphilly and Penarth in South Wales set to be upgraded to fibre optic broadband within the next year.
In total, 30,000 homes and businesses across the UK will be upgraded. This follows the first stage locations of Cardiff, Whitchurch and London’s Muswell Hill which are currently trialling the new technology.
BT is aiming for one million UK homes to have access to the new fibre broadband network by March 2010, with ten million homes (40% of the UK) planned by 2012.
The BT Director for Wales, Ann Beynon, said, “This is excellent news for Wales and continues our tradition of being a leader in the provision and adoption of broadband technologies. We are working closely with the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities and partners across Wales to ensure that we remain at the leading edge of the communications revolution”.
Beynon continued, “Broadband has played a vital part in the Wales success story. Businesses are using it to boost their competitiveness and find new customers, while households are benefiting from new entertainment and educational opportunities”.
BT is set to spend £1.5 billion deploying its fibre optic broadband network across the UK.
BT & Cashbox In Wi-Fi Broadband Cash Machine Deal
BT has teamed up with Cashbox, a leading supplier of ATM cash machines in the UK, to offer BT Wi-Fi Broadband hotspots at Cashbox’s 2,500 UK cash machines.
The 5 year deal will help boost Wi-Fi broadband connections across the country, with homes and businesses near the cash machines set to benefit once BT has integrated the Wi-Fi technology into the machines.
To start with, there will only be 10 ATM’s that are upgraded by BT, however, when the upgrade is finished there will be 2,500 ATM’s installed with the new Wi-Fi broadband capabilities.
The CEO of Cashbox, Ciaran Morton, said, “As a customer focused business, we are continually looking for ways to extend our service offering, and with exciting initiatives such as this we are providing our customers with additional opportunities to utilise the ATM machines. May was an all time record month for transaction levels as people are finding cash preferable to credit in the current economic climate.”
The General Manager of BT Openzone, Chris Bruce, said, “We are seeing huge demand for Wi-Fi in the leisure and hospitality sector. BT customers can also connect at over 190,000 residential and commercial hotspots in the UK and Ireland including BAA airports, BA lounges, Caffe Nero, Hilton, Thistle and Ramada Jarvis hotels and, from July 2009, Starbucks coffee stores.”
There are currently 4.8 million BT Broadband customers who have inclusive Wi-Fi minutes in their contracts that can be used at BT Openzone Hotspots.
It has yet to be announced which 10 Cashbox ATM’s will initially benefit from the Wi-Fi upgrade.
BT Seeks Providers Fee For Broadband Bandwidth
Leading UK broadband supplier BT is seeking to charge content providers a bandwidth fee for delivering programmes like video and music over its broadband network.
This would mean the likes of the BBC iPlayer, YouTube and many more bandwidth hungry content suppliers paying a fee to run their content over the BT broadband network.
The move by BT follows last weeks report by the BBC that voiced concerns that BT was, at peak times, slowing the broadband speeds users can watch the BBC iPlayer – a process known as ‘throttling’.
In a statement BT said, “Bandwidth costs money, and files like movies and music take up a lot of that. The situation at the moment is that the ISP picks up the tab.”
John Petter, Managing Director of BT’s retail’s consumer business said, “We can’t give the content providers a completely free ride and continue to give customers the service they want at the price they expect.”
BT claims that the amount that they have to pay to support video content is a “significant sum”.
It is not the first time that an ISP has complained about the effects that video content has on their bandwidth. A few years ago, Tiscali complained that video files were putting too much pressure on its network.
BT Customers To Get Free Broadband Speed Boost
BT has announced plans to boost the broadband speeds of millions of its residential and business customers from 8Mbps to up to 20Mbps for free.
Over 60,000 BT consumers are already enjoying the faster speeds through a BT trial where lines have been upgraded to ADSL 2+ technology.
BT’s plans mean that 40% of UK homes will get the increased broadband speeds using ADSL 2+ technology by this summer, with 55% expected by March 2010. BT Business customers will start to benefit from today.
BT is the UK’s largest broadband supplier with over 4.8 million customers. This means its plans will lead to an increase in average broadband speeds and thus support Lord Carter’s Digital Britain goal of 2Mbps for all.
The Chief Executive Officer of BT Retail, Gavin Patterson said, “Unlike other providers, BT is upgrading customers to 20Mb/s for free. High-speed broadband provides a faster and more reliable service that will transform the way we live, work, learn and play”.
“We are already the UK’s largest retailer of broadband and today’s announcement shows that we offer terrific value for money. We believe the true value of broadband is in helping customers enjoy the exciting new services that it makes possible. In line with the Government’s Digital Britain review, we will be making higher speeds more widely available”.
From early summer, new and existing BT Broadband customers living in an enabled exchange area will be eligible for the boost to up to 20Mbps broadband. Prices will remain from just £7.78 per month.
Customers are being asked to check BT.com to find out when they can get 20Mb and also to order it there online.
In separate news, BT said it was commencing the first trials of its 40Mpbs broadband service in Whitchurch, South Wales and Muswell Hill, London this summer.
Further information on BT’s current range of broadband packages can be found at the BT.com website or our BT Broadband review.
BT Adds Free Mobile Broadband With Its Dongle
BT has added free mobile broadband as an optional extra to its range of 18 month BT Total Broadband packages.
New customers or those switching now have the opportunity to add the BT dongle to their BT Broadband online order. This will enable them to receive 1GB of free mobile broadband usage each month, which is worth £180 over the course of the 18 month contract.
BT Mobile Broadband provides Internet access at up to 7.2Mb speeds depending on your location. The BT dongle, which plugs into a users laptop and automatically connects to the Internet, works over the 3G mobile network which has 80% UK coverage.
New customers ordering BT Total Broadband Option 1 and 2 will need to pay a one-off £49.99 for the BT dongle, whereas those preferring Option 3 or the Anywhere package simply need to pay a one-off £9.99.
Another option is BT’s new Home and Away package which provides up to 8Mb home broadband, unlimited evening & weekend phone calls, the BT dongle and free BT mobile broadband usage – all from £18.59 a month with a one-off payment of £9.99 required for the dongle.
Existing BT Broadband customers can also purchase the dongle for a one-off £129.99 and receive the 1GB’s of free mobile broadband usage each month.
Interested readers can find further information at the BT.com website, or our BT Mobile Broadband review.
BT To End 3 Months Free Broadband Offer
BT has announced that it will be ending its 3 months free broadband offer on Tuesday 12th May (tomorrow).
Available online only at www.bt.com the offer is open to new customers who switch to BT and take one of their broadband and calls packages.
BT’s entry level broadband and calls package (free for the first 3 months, £15.65 p/m thereafter) includes up to 8Mb broadband and unlimited UK evening and weekend phone calls.
The broadband (known as BT Total Broadband Option 1) has a 40Gb monthly download usage allowance and includes the new BT wireless home hub for an unbeatable wireless connection in and around the home.
250 free Wi-Fi minutes per month also form part of the package and can be used with a customers laptop in the thousands of BT Openzone hotspot areas across the UK – like the Starbucks coffee chain.
Alternatively, customers can add the BT dongle to their online order and get free BT Mobile Broadband access and usage across the UK worth £180 a year. Customers simply need to insert the supplied BT dongle (£49.99 one off fee applies) into the USB port of their laptop. Mobile broadband speeds up to 7.2Mb are achievable in certain areas.
The calls package is the unlimited evening and weekend plan and includes free calls at these times to 0845 and 0870 numbers.
Readers are advised to the BT.com website for further information, or to our BT Broadband and phone calls review.
