Monthly Archives: July 2009

When a couple in one of the far-flung areas of the Scottish Highlands and Islands enquired about obtaining a broadband connection to their home they were astounded to be quoted a figure in excess of £80,000 by British Telecom. It seems that while the couple already have a telephone line into their home, the original [...]

Iconic British comedian Stephen Fry shocked those in attendance at the recent iTunes Live event when he admitted to using his broadband connection to download both music and TV illegally, using BitTorrent file sharing networks. This has blown open the ongoing discussion regarding illegal file sharing and whether the authorities should be moving towards those [...]

In an attempt to increase yet further the company’s exposure to the UK broadband market, TalkTalk (a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse) has introduced a free connection promotion which will save new customers £29.99. As competition in the UK broadband sector continues to increase this move by TalkTalk is no surprise and is sure to catch [...]

After finally agreeing a deal with broadband regulators which will see BT increase the wholesale broadband price it charges competitors to use its broadband network, the company has now announced a significant increase in the rate of rollout of its superfast broadband network. After initially looking to have superfast broadband available in around 500,000 homes [...]

Business leaders in the broadband sector are this week attempting to put in place a number of alternative arrangements to protect the UK broadband network should the swine flu epidemic force more and more people to work from home. If UK government forecasts are correct, we will see hundreds of thousands of new cases announced [...]

With news that the total number of videos viewed online in the UK increased by 47% in the year ended April 2009, there is great concern that the ever-growing demand for online media and online videos in particular could see broadband connection charges increase. While Google (via its YouTube subsidiary) is by far and away [...]

Despite BT being heavily involved in the early development of online advertising system Phorm, the telephone giant has effectively walked away from a deal to roll out the controversial system across its whole network. The system, which has caught the attention of privacy campaigners, effectively monitors and analyses the internet usage of those surfing the [...]

The UK government has today been accused of backtracking on an earlier pledge to cut internet piracy and illegal file sharing by 70% between 2008 in 2010. While officially the targets remain the same, behind the scenes the government has laid the groundwork for this particularly tough target to be moved to “sometime in the [...]

Amid confirmation that Vodafone has launched the U.K.’s first 3G femtocell service in the UK we may be entering a new period of growth in the UK broadband market. Femtocell services are readily available on the continent and effectively connect your handset to your broadband service, offering a wider coverage and potentially improved quality by [...]

As the Digital Britain report continues to be digested by the broadband sector, MPs on the Commons Business and Enterprise Committee have announced yet another review of the UK broadband sector. Amid claims that there is much talk and little action, do we really need another review of the UK broadband sector after such a [...]