Raising the bar to 20Mbit/s

A host of internet service providers are upping their top speeds to 20Mbit/s. ISPs Orange, Plusnet and Zen Internet have all announced they’re raising their respective bars over the past few days. In doing so, they’re making up ground on the likes of Virgin Media, BT, BE and O2, which all already offer “up to” 20Mbit/s services.

Orange is making “up to” 20Mbit/s its new standard across all the broadband packages it offers on its own network with immediate effect. While the move’s been billed as a way to “evolve” the company’s broadband offerings in the UK, the old cliché is that you have to keep moving forward just to stand still. And the firm’s dealing with a declining customer base – with many blaming poor customer service and service quality for abandoning ship. With that in mind, its new contracts are tying people into its packages for a whopper eighteen months.

Orange is declaring “no more speeding fines” when it comes to downloading – or, at least, that’s its official advertising slogan. With the previous maximum 8Mbit/s, Asif Aziz – the company’s UK Director of Broadband and Home – says it’s “really pleased to be making download speeds of up to 20Mbit/s available as standard – regardless of the home broadband package a customer chooses.” But only surfers who live in an unbundled LLU Orange area will get that “up to” 20Mbit/s – and Orange isn’t the only one raising its game.

Following successful trials over the summer, Zen Internet is making use of the ADSL2+ technology on BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) to offer downstream at “up to” 2oMbit/s and uploads of  “up to” 1Mbit/s. Existing customers will be migrated as and when the ISP can, with around three thousand of its estimated hundred thousand customers being moved over each month. Going by Zen’s tests, those who benefit from being transferred over can expect a speed increase of around thirty-five per cent; some users actually achieved speeds faster than 20Mbit/s during trials.

Of course, the 21CN can handle speeds faster than 20Mbit/s. “Other ISPs, using the same technology, have been advertising download speeds of ‘up to 24Mbps,’” says Andrew Saunders, Head of Product Management and Marketing at Zen. “BT are, however, offering download speeds of ‘up to 20Mbps’ and upload speeds of ‘up to 1Mbps’ for their new broadband services. Because we are using 21CN designed by BT, it makes sense that we offer the same headline speeds.”

Zen’s new customers will be put straight on the “up to” 20Mbit/s treatment – as long as it’s already possible to hook them up to the 21CN. At present, the 21CN covers forty-five per cent of British homes and businesses, with the aim being to reach fifty-five per cent by next spring and seventy-five per cent in 2011. Those currently excluded will have to soldier on with “up to” 8Mbit/s connections.

It’s no surprise that PlusNet is rolling out “up to” 2oMbit/s; while Zen Internet may be using BT infrastructure, its Sheffield-based competitor is owned by BT. In this instance though, it’s only customers who sign up to its most expensive packages that will see a benefit: PlusNet’s already-existing Pro and new Premium products. With this in mind, it appears that PlusNet is has hardcore gamers and online video fiends in its sights.

And then this is the part where we finally can’t ignore the “up to” part of an “up to” 20Mbit/s package. As always, the distance a person lives from the exchange they’re relying on, the quality of the line they’re using (including internal wiring) and even ambient electrical interference can all have a negative effect on connection speed. But, even if it means some will only get a little closer to actually getting the 8Mbit/s they thought they already had, things are on the up.

Tags: 21CN, ADSL2+, Be, BT, llu, O2, Orange, PlusNet, Virgin, zen