Broadband

Be, the O2-owned ISP, has begun allowing its users to customised their broadband connections to prioritise the line towards their favoured activities. There are four settings on offer. Standard, for everyday broadband use; speed, for watching videos and iPlayer; reliability, recommended for surfing the web for information and VoIP and... Read more

Virgin Media, the country’s second largest fixed line broadband operator, launched a mobile broadband service last week. For £15 per month on an 18 month contract, subscribers get a free USB modem to plug in to their laptop and up to 3Gb of downloads per month – each extra Gb of data cost £15. The company claims the service will offer... Read more

We're currently deploying a large batch of Performance Monitoring units that will form the basis of our next report. Keen readers of the site will know that a few months back we sought volunteers for the project via a posting in the news here. Well, we took over 1000 registrations in a day, which was pretty successful in my opinion.... Read more

After months of hype, public demonstrations, threatened legal action, a government review and recurring BT promises of a service “in the next few weeks”; Phorm finally launches on BT today under the Webwise brand name. The controversial technology tracks web surfing histories for ISP customers (who have opted-in) and so can serve more... Read more

Local government is going to be the lynchpin to rolling out future generation broadband networks, according to BT. It believes that local authorities are the key to unlocking pent-up demand for faster connections to hospitals, libraries, government offices and schools which will, in turn, make investing billions in fibre more attractive.... Read more

Carphone Warehouse is reported to still be in talks to buy Tiscali. The Italian-owned ISP had been hoping to set up an auction between Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse this summer but Vodafone pulled out of the process, believing Tiscali had valued itself too highly. Tiscali is believed to still be talking to Sky about a possible sale and now... Read more

The British government has confirmed to the European Commission that the controversial ad-serving business, Phorm, is legal. In a move that will come as little surprise considering the service was given the go-ahead by the Information Commissioner this Spring, the government outlined that, so long as it remained an opt-in service, it would be... Read more

Broadband providers and entertainment companies are queuing up to criticise BBC Worldwide, ITV and C4 coming together to form a proposed joint online catch-up service, Kangaroo. The potential service has been referred to the Competition Commission following concerns it may prove anti-competitive. The government decision has meant those opposed... Read more

Providing a nationwide network of next generation broadband could cost as much as £29bn, according to the influential telecommunications industry body, the Broadband Stakeholder’s Group (BSG). If that leaves ISPs and broadband users wondering where the investment is coming from, the long awaited ‘Caio report’ (Read more

Remarks by the Chair of Ofcom’s Consumer Panel that ‘next generation’ broadband should skip a generation to prioritise those without broadband today have been met with a muted response from the two companies that could potentially build the required nationwide network. Neither BT nor Virgin Media was able to answer positively... Read more