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BT Wifi Hotspots Top 3.5 Million In UK
BT (www.BT.com/freewifi) has revealed that the number of free BT Wifi hotspots in the UK and Ireland has passed the 3.5 million mark.
The WiFi hotspots, available to use free of charge by all 6 million BT Broadband home and business customers, include around 380,000 in London and 25,000 in Leeds and Birmingham.
There’s also around 20,000 BT Wifi hotspots in Manchester, Sheffield and Edinburgh, while Liverpool, Brighton, Bristol and Cardiff have more than 11,000 each.
BT’s Wifi hotspots can be found in numerous locations across the UK, including well known brands like Thistle hotels and Starbucks, together with airport lounges, network rail stations, independent businesses and homes.
Commenting on the announcement, BT’s John Petter, Consumer Managing Director, said: “Millions of BT broadband customers are enjoying free access to the one of the biggest Wi-Fi networks in the world. Our free apps for the Apple, Android and now Blackberry devices make getting online even easier and have already proved a huge hit with over 900,000 downloads.”
BT is currently the only UK broadband supplier to include free, unlimited Wi-Fi minutes, within all their broadband packages.
Readers can find out further information on BT’s free Wifi access and their nearest hotspots at the www.BT.com/freewifi website.
Virgin Media 100Mb Broadband Rollout Update
Virgin Media’s (www.virginmedia.com/100Mb) rollout of its ultra-fast 100Mb broadband service has now reached 10 million UK homes according to a latest update from the company.
The milestone follows news that its 100Mb fibre optic broadband service has been made available in the cabled areas of Bromley, Dundee, Norton Hawkfield (North East Somerset) and Staverton (Gloucestershire).
Originally scheduled for completion by mid-2012, the rollout of the 100Mb broadband service is now expected to be completed ahead of schedule in Spring 2012, at which point the ultrafast service will be available to half of all UK homes.
Virgin Media’s Executive Director of Broadband, Jon James said: “Soon half the country will be able to get superfast 100Mb broadband from us. Reaching today’s milestone puts us ahead of schedule as we help propel the UK up the global broadband rankings”.
James continued: “Broadband is coming of age as more people give up on slow DSL in favour of superfast fibre optic speeds. With Virgin Media yet again confirmed as the fastest by Ofcom just last week, this along with our fantastic TiVo TV service means we have an incredible combination that lets our customers enjoy the digitally connected world to the full”.
Virgin Media’s 100Mbps broadband package costs from £35 a month when taken with its telephone line rental costing £13.90 a month
Unlimited calls to UK landlines and Virgin Mobiles at the weekends are included in the price, while free installation worth £49.95 is being offered for all orders placed online.
Customers ordering 100Mb broadband now will also see their speeds boosted to 120Mb as part of Virgin Media’s network upgrade starting later this month.
Interested readers can find out if they can receive Virgin’s 100Mbps broadband service and order online at the www.virginmedia.com/100Mb website.
Ofcom Broadband Speed Test Results Revealed
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator (www.Ofcom.org.uk) has published its latest home broadband speed test results which show that UK consumers are receiving 22% faster broadband speeds than a year ago.
Conducted in November 2011 in over 1,700 homes, the UK’s average home broadband speed was found to be 7.6 mega bytes per second (Mbps), compared with 6.2Mbps in November 2010.
The 22% increase is largely attributed to consumers switching to higher speed fibre optic packages, though 40% of broadband consumers still remain on a 10Mbps or less broadband speed package – despite being likely to get a faster speed for no extra cost if they switched supplier or package.
Virgin Media’s 50Mbps fibre optic broadband package maintained its top position in the broadband speed charts with actual speeds of 49Mbps, while BT’s 40Mbps fibre optic Infinity package delivered 36Mbps download speeds and table toppping 8.8Mbps upload speeds.
Commenting on the speed test results, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, Ed Richards, said: “We can look forward to further increases in UK broadband speeds over the next few years. Most households in the UK can now access superfast broadband services, and these services are set to get faster still as Virgin Media aims to double the speeds of most of its cable services and BT aims to double the speed of its fibre-to-the-cabinet service from 40Mbps to 80Mbps”.
Interested readers can find out whether they can receive faster fibre optic broadband speeds from the likes of Virgin Media and BT by entering their postcode on our broadband availability checker.
Plusnet Fibre Broadband Half Price For 3 Months
Plusnet (www.plus.net/fibre) has launched a 3 months half price offer across its four Plusnet fibre broadband and home phone packages.
Prices now start from just £8.24 a month for its Plusnet Value Fibre Broadband and Calls package, which provides broadband speeds up to 40Mbps together with a 40GB monthly usage allowance, plus inclusive evening and weekend phone calls to UK landlines.
Customers requiring a higher monthly usage allowance can opt to pay from £10.74 a month for Plusnet’s Extra Fibre Broadband and Calls package which offers a hefty 120GB monthly download usage allowance.
All packages include a free wireless router and free activation, while, for an additional monthly fee, an anytime phone calls package to UK landlines can be chosen instead of evening & weekend phone calls.
Over 6 million UK homes now have access to Plusnet Fibre Broadband, with 10 million (40% of UK homes) expected to have access to the faster 40Mbps speeds and bandwidth by the summer.
Readers can check whether they live in a Plusnet Fibre area and order a half price package at the www.plus.net/fibre website.
Virginmedia.com/DoubleSpeed With Usain Bolt
Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com/doublespeed) has enlisted the help of Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, to promote its £110m move to double the broadband speeds of its 4 million fibre optic broadband customers.
New customers can also get a piece of the action too by ordering a Virgin Media fibre optic broadband package online now at the www.virginmedia.com/doublespeed website (prices start from £4 a month), after which they can look forward to a free, double the speed upgrade, which rolls out from February 2012.
The new Virgin Media ‘Keep Up’ TV adverts feature Usain Bolt attempting to impersonate Virgin Media owner, Richard Branson, by taking over his office and wearing his trademark blonde goatee.
The 18 month programme to double broadband speeds will see the circa 3 million customers paying for Virgin’s 10Mbps broadband service get a free speed boost to up to 20Mbps.
Around 840,000 customers on Virgin’s 20Mbps and 30Mbps broadband services will see their speeds increase for free to up to 60Mbps, while the 200,000 subscribers on Virgin’s 50Mbps and 100Mbps packages should see speeds increase to up to 120Mbps.
Interested readers can find out further information on Virgin Media’s free double broadband speed upgrade at the www.virginmedia.com/doublespeed website. Both new and existing customers can also find out when their broadband speed will be doubled.
Big Brother Sponsor Plusnet Offers £3.24 Broadband
Celebrity Big Brother sponsor Plusnet (www.plus.net/bigbrother) is offering new customers ordering online a broadband and phone calls package for just £3.24 a month for the duration of the 12 month contract period.
The 12 months half price incentive applies to Plusnet’s Value Broadband and Calls package (usual price £6.49 p/m) which delivers broadband speeds up to 20Mbps (combined with a 10GB usage allowance), together with unlimited evening and weekend phone calls to UK landline numbers.
New customers opting for Plusnet Value Broadband with the Anytime phone calls package to UK landlines will also qualify for the 12 months half price broadband incentive and pay just £6.74 a month for the bundle (usual price is £9.99 p/m).
A Plusnet or other BT based landline is required in order to receive Plusnet Broadband, with Plusnet phone line rental costing from £9.49 a month.
A one-off charge of £49.99 may also be required if a new customer needs Plusnet to install a new phone line – however, this is more than offset by the free wireless router and free activation that is supplied as part of the Broadband & Calls package.
Readers can find out further information and order online at the www.plus.net website.
