Tag Archives: broadband providers

Free broadband offered by BE broadband to 46 groups

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It has been declared by BE recently that it is going to offer a free wireless broadband service to a  number of communities throughout the UK. According to the announcement made by the BE Broadband, it will offer connectivity  and will provide a free public WiFi service. It will also offer 3G connectivity for the purpose of creating free internet hotspots for local communities presently without current connections.

It has been stated by Freerunner that its community competition has been won by 46 areas, which received around 500 entries. Now it will get free internet at least for a period of three years.

Owen Geddes, Chief Executive Officer of Freerunner, said: “We wanted to start with those most in need so we put the call out and the response was pretty overwhelming.

“It is incredible to think that a small piece of relatively low cost technology is going to fundamentally change nearly 50 communities across the UK.”

The remote areas which are selected range from the Orkney Islands to southern Cornwall. The connections will be paid for through a mixture of advertisements and corporate sponsorship.

Three months free Plusnet Broadband

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Recently, Plusnet broadband has introduced a three months free broadband service for the new customers, when they sign up before 31 December.

The users of the plusnet broadband can avail this deal on any of the Plusnet’s home broadband packages. In order to avail the value 8MB Broadband package, the users are required to pay around £5.99 per month. It is available with a download allowance of 10GB.

Apart from this, latest  Premium package is also offered by the Plusnet Broadband. The users can avail it by paying just £11.99 per month. It is available with 20Mb broadband along with a huge 80GB download allowance.

While signing  up online,  you just need to enter the promotional code friendsandfamily in order to qualify the offer.

Plusnet’s packages supports  a 12 month contract as well as free connection or sometimes it comes with an option of no contract Broadband option in case a £30 set-up fee is paid.

Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: “Plusnet has a broadband package for every type of user – its Value package is the cheapest standalone package on the market; the fast speeds and high download allowances of the Premium package are perfect for high-end users and it even has a dedicated gamer’s package – Plusnet Pro.”

Broadband speeds cause temper tantrums

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According to a research conducted by TalkTalk broadband, more than 70% of Brits say that they “lose it” in case they have to wait more than one minute for an Internet page to load.

It has been claimed that the UK has become an impatient nation in this Internet age. It has been admitted by more than half of the people that their boiling point is reached quicker than ever before, even when they wait for things in the offline world. Mark Schmid, communications director at TalkTalk, said: “The speed of the online world is making us less prepared to wait for things to happen in the offline world, causing people to reach the ‘Point of Impatience’ earlier than ever before.

“As the Internet continues to quicken up it’s bound to place greater expectations on the offline world too. And with 37% of Brits saying they’ve cancelled a service after being forced to wait, it poses some real problems for companies in the offline world.”

The study also disclosed that the people using Internet from their birth were less prepared to wait as compared to the elderly; one third of 18-24 year olds wait for maximum 10 seconds during the loading of an Internet page while around 10% of over 65s can happily wait up to 1 second for a page to load.
Commenting on the service, Tristia Clarke from TalkTalk said: “Once again TalkTalk is challenging the market and providing unbeatable value by offering a premium broadband product at a much lower price than its competitors’ packages. So if you’re one of the millions of people who now regularly use your broadband service to download and upload videos and images or stream media around the house, then our high-performance TalkTalk Pro package, offering you the fastest speed your line can handle, is perfect for you.”

Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, added: “People are increasingly expecting more from their broadband. If you’re not happy with your download speeds, data allowance or the service you get from your ISP, then switching broadband provider is a great way to save up to £135 and get a better service at the same time.”

BT committed to faster broadband despite falling profits

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BT still continued to be the UK’s fastest broadband service, despite of the falling profits of 45% in the first-half of the financial year.

Telecoms giant BT will keep on investing in high-speed broadband while it will also work for bringing down costs along with its redundancy programme. It has been stated by BT that around 15,000 jobs would be cut this year. Apart from this, it is also planning to cost-cut total £1.5bilion this financial year as stated by the company in the its half-year results today.

Ian Livingston, BT’s chief executive, said: “We are investing in the future of the business with an enhanced and accelerated programme of fibre deployment and faster broadband speeds, all within our capital expenditure plans.”

BT is now focusing to upgrade its network to the latest ADSL2+ technology supporting 20Mb broadband. By spring 2011, around 75% of UK homes and businesses will be able to access this. The company is also planning to roll out the next-generation superfast fibre broadband in few parts of the UK.

Michael Phillips, product director at Broadbandchoices.co.uk, said: “Today’s results are better than many analysts expected. The investment BT is putting into rolling out is 20Mb broadband service is already reaping benefits for many consumers who are customers or BT and other telecoms providers who are using the upgraded network.

30GBP Marks and Spencer Voucher offered by TalkTalk for New Users

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TalkTalk is now offering its new customers £30 worth of Marks and Spencer vouchers at the time when they sign up.

This offer is valid till 4 December for those customers who sign up to a new broadband package along with the provider. Presently, TalkTalk is offering two broadband packages to the customers. One is the Essentials package which provides Internet and home phone calls at cheaper rates and the another one is the latest introduced Pro tariff which is mainly designed to be used by high end users. The customers can enjoy the Essentials package by paying just £6.49 per month. It comes along with the speeds of up to 8Mb and a download allowance of 40GB. The package also includes weekend landline calls as well as free calls to all local numbers. The customers who are using the Essentials package can also choose from a selection of monthly Boosts, from £2 a month permitting the users to increase the speed of their broadband, double their download allowance etc. Also they can avail Internet security for up to three PCs. They are also provided with an option of home phone Boosts. A latest high end package launched by TalkTalk is perfect for the customer s who are looking forward to get faster speeds. Such customers can go for this package by paying just £14.99 per month. The customers on this package can enjoy speeds of up to 24Mb along with a huge 80GB download allowance and anytime calls as well. Both packages include £11.25 a month line rental and a £29.99 installation fee. Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: “TalkTalk offers real value for money, with some of the cheapest broadband and home phone bundles on the market. This offer comes at a time when more customers are looking to switch broadband provider and save money, and TalkTalk is a great choice.”

3 frees users from congested networks, introduces traffic management

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The new service will prioritize the email and web browsing over peer to peer (p2p)traffic at peak hours

One of the most desirable mobile broadband service provider in UK, 3 is all set to announce the addition of ‘traffic management’ to its mobile broadband service. The decision is mulled keeping into consideration the hassles faced by the users during the peak hours. The new service will prioritize the email and web browsing over peer to peer (p2p)traffic at busy times.

The new service is expected to speed up the connection during the peak hours. Often users face issues of congestion in data network when too much load is imposed on the network. It is now believed that all the other service providers in UK are also looking forward to acquire this service.

A 3 spokesman said: ‘We’re building more capacity, capability and reach into our network every day. Customer experience drives what we’re doing and traffic management is an important part of that. In busy areas, at busy times, customers using mobile broadband can experience a slower service.

‘We’re taking steps that improve the web browsing, email and streaming experience on our network by making sure that the real-time experience gets the priority it deserves. In order to improve the service for the majority of our customers we are actively managing the amount of bandwidth made available for p2p file sharing at peak times in busy areas.’

3 Mobile Broadband bring down MiFi costs

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The cost of the Mobile Wi-Fi routers has been Mobile reduced by the Mobile broadband provider 3.

The latest service of 3 Mobile broadband comprises of a wireless broadband router that connects to the mobile broadband network thus permitting the users to get online with a large number of iPod Touch’s, laptops as well as other wireless-enabled gadgets. There has been a decrease in the cost of modem on its rolling one month contract available with a monthly download allowance of 5GB monthly download allowance for £15 a month by £30 to just £49.99. There has also been a decrease in the 3GB ready-to-go kit from £99.99 to £69.99. It is power-packed with a 3GB data allowance which one can use over three months. A pay as you go mobile Wifi option has also been launched by the 3 Mobile broadband. It is available at just £49.99 for the modem. It was declared by 3 last week that it will offer a monthly £3 discount on one of its most popular tariffs to the new customers along with a data allowance of 5GB on an 18 month contract. This would reduce the monthly cost to only £12 per month. Thus, the customers can save £54 over the course of their contract.

Michael Phillips, Broadbandchoices.co.uk product director, said: ““Mobile wifi – or MiFi as 3 calls it – is the future of mobile broadband. It allows customers to connect any wireless-enabled device, from laptops to cameras, no matter where they are.

“However, users that are sharing their connection need to be extra careful not to exceed their download allowance on one of the pay monthly plans – at 10p per MB, out of bundle data can soon add up.”

Half of the ‘Brits facing broadband envy’

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It has been revealed by a latest study that around 60% of the Brits are jealous in case their neighbours have a better speed broadband connection.

They also admitted that Broadband speed is their first priority while choosing a place to live. It has been stated by half of the people that they only prefer to shift in a house with a fast broadband service.

The telecoms adjudicator Ofcom found in the beginning of this year that the average speeds across the UK remained at 4.1Mb. The Virgin Media provided the fastest headline speeds of up to 50 Mb along with the fastest actual speeds, between 8.1Mb to 8.7Mb.

The product director of Broadbandchoices.co.uk, Michael Phillips, stated: “While broadband speeds are very important, our own research has shown that it is not the number one priority when it comes to the Internet. “More than a third of consumers told us that connection reliability was their number one concern in a recent survey, followed by broadband speeds and value for money. He also concluded “Having said that, few people would want to move to a broadband ‘not spot’ and lose all the benefits of a reliable, fast broadband connection,”.

Shorter and flexible contracts launched by Plusnet

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The Plusnet Broadband made its cancellation policy very simple and flexible along with the reduction in the length of its broadband contracts. Plusnet bring Down the length of its broadband contracts from 18 to 12 months. Now the users only need to pay for setting up their account or for any hardware in case they leave the contract within 12 months. They do not need to pay for the outstanding cost of their subscription as is done in case of many long-contract broadband providers. This new policy is applicable for the new as well as the existing customers. The Plusnet CEO, Anthony Vollmer stated that the shorter commitment periods offers flexibility to the customers. Also he made a statement that we want that our customers should remain with us because of the quality of our phone and broadband products, not because they have signed lengthy contracts.

Customers can choose the no contract broadband package in which they only need to pay for connection and hardware upfront.

Presently, the Plusnet broadband comes with the UK’s cheapest standalone broadband package for up to 8Mb connection with a 10GB download allowance at just £5.99 a month. It also offers “unlimited broadband packages” and “broadband and home phone bundles”.

According to Michael Phillips, the customers are charged by no contract broadband packages for their set-up and hardware during the time they sign up or at the time when they leave. This is much more cheaper rather than paying out the remainder of the contract. He also suggested to find out the full costs before leaving it. In case if only few months of the contract are left, it may be cheaper to see it out.

Ways to increase the broadband speed

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Today, the Broadband market is quite similar to a battle ground. The only difference is that it is fought with mobile broadband speeds and attractive offers instead of guns and swords. The famous broadband suppliers, like Virgin Media , O2, Orange, BT, 3 and Vodafone are competing with each other in order to entice consumers with their several enticing broadband packages.

Promises made by them…

The first priority of every single person while choosing a Broadband connection is Internet access speed. All prefer a high speed Internet access. Presently, the Broadband providers like Vodafone and BT are rolling out bundles providing speeds of 8Mbps and 7.2Mbps in order to fulfill the demands of people using Internet heavily. This section mostly includes business men or gamers.

Apart from this, for those people who are not heavy Internet users, ISPs like O2, T Mobile and 3 provide packages having access rates of 4.5Mbps, 3.6Mbps and 1.8Mbps. Not only this, there are few mobile broadband providers that come with offers bundled with various interesting free gifts that include laptop and many more.

The real fact

keeping the excitement aside, it is mainly observed that the practical Internet access speeds are very less as compared to the advertised speeds. Some of the websites permit the owners to go through small tests just to find out how much broadband speeds they are actually getting. It is found that most of the consumers receive only about a quarter of what they have been promised. But it is important for everybody to know that is is not always the broadband supplier’s fault.

Who should be blamed?

The Mobile broadband data transfer is governed by several factors. The main factor that affects the broadband speed is the quantity of people that are using the broadband services in the surroundings, or in the same house at a same moment of time. Apart from this, the mobile broadband is also influenced by temperature, components present in the earth’s atmosphere and also the equipments used by the consumer. Might it sounds odd to you, but the software on the laptop or computer of the end user is also responsible for finding the download rate of web pages.

How to make Things Better…

The first step to improve your broadband speed is assure that you’ve got the right hardware. Modems that are used for mobile broadband come with various speeds. Always keep in mind that the modem which you are using should support the speed of the package that you are willing to subscribe to.

It is clear that the hardware companies keep on updating their software frequently. So, the second way to improve the speed is by keeping a regular check about these updates. It can prove beneficial.

Signal strength keeps on changing in the household itself. Some modems make use of the 2G technology for the transferring of data in case if the signals are weak. But in case, if the signal is strong, they go for the faster 3G technology. You can simply move your modem within the house to an area with high signal strength, close to the window.

The other ways include using a faster browser and tweaking your Internet Browser settings. These could also help.

There are several users that feel comfortable to use Windows XP on their computers as well as laptops. However, while using the mobile broadband, this operating system needs to be tuned. Newer OS like Linux based ones or the Windows Vista, protect you the trouble of tuning.

It is seen that in some cases, the performance level goes down because of the unwanted software. Few of these software may be designed for automatic start-up while boot-up of the computer. Such programs end up with eating up the valuable memory, thus resulting in the slow down of certain applications. If a person is willing to find out whether he has got unwanted applications that are bringing down his or her broadband speed, then you can use a different OS on a CD in order to boot up. By doing so you can start a broadband speed test. You need to do cleaning up in case you are getting higher speeds with the new OS. In case if it is nit clear to you what applications you need to remove, you can take help from the professionals.

The mobile broadband speed is also affected by the presence of other radio-wave devices in the surroundings. In few cases, mobile phones, televisions, Internet radios or microwave ovens can also affect the broadband speeds. These devices make use of the radio signals in the similar frequency range as the mobile broadband. The other thing that could help is plugging them out or keeping a fair distance from them. Mostly in urban areas, Neighboring Wi-Fi networks can also interfere with Internet access rates. In that case, the best way is tweaking your router settings or you can also change the channel of your network.

The best way for getting the fast download speeds is to use the network during off-peak hours. If you will use it early mornings, it will offer high broadband speeds. As it is said that ‘the early bird gets the worm’. In order to compare you can also compare the broadband speeds, offers and packages by going through the broadband suppliers website.