Tag Archives: broadband

The rise of cloud gaming has plenty of question marks around it, with ISPs controlling our connections to streaming services being the biggest. Here in the UK, BT is the first ISP to openly support cloud gaming by partnering up with Google to offer a new Stadia bundle. Starting from …

Virgin Media is well known for its high-speed broadband offerings throughout a good chunk of the UK. Up until now, the top speed available has been 350Mbps down, which already outpaces other ISPs tied to the Open Reach infrastructure. Now, Virgin Media will be raising the bar once again, with …

When it comes to internet service providers (ISPs), most users aren't exactly in love with their available choices. In the UK, that sentiment is even stronger than it is in most other places. According to a biannual survey by consumer ratings publication Which?, it appears that most of the most …

In November 2017, the UK's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) ruled that broadband providers would have to start advertising average speeds to customers, rather than top speeds. As always, it takes a while for these rules to properly fall into place, but the switch has now happened, and it looks like …

Earlier in the month, it was revealed that the UK had fallen to 35th place from 31st in the global broadband table. Very little movement has happened within the country since the Openreach rollout years ago, and finally, the UK government is planning to do something about it. A new …

Back in 2008, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that ISPs could brand their services as ‘fibre' even when copper cables were being used in parts of the infrastructure. Most big UK ISPs utilise these ‘hybrid-Fibre' lines but these services don't match the full speeds of a true fibre …

Broadband coverage isn’t the greatest in the United Kingdom, with the country slipping from 31st to 35th place in the global broadband league table earlier this week. The National Infrastructure Assessment 2018 report claims that this is set to change, however, as over 25 million homes are predicted to finally …

There has been a big push in the UK to roll out fibre to every home, but unless you have access to the likes of Virgin Media, you are lucky to get the 80Mbps offered via the current OpenReach infrastructure. Despite average speeds increasing in the past year, the UK …

Up until today, internet service providers have advertised their top speeds, so long as at least 10 percent of its user base could achieve the displayed “up to” peak download speed. Enforcing strict new rules that were announced last year, ISPs will now have to shake up their advertisement practices, …

The UK government is working with internet service providers (ISPs) to ensure that all UK residents will get a minimum of 10Mbps by 2020. While it seems to be making progress on this, Ofcom's latest Connected Nations report shows that 3 percent, equivalent to 925,000 homes and businesses, still suffer …

In recent months, Ofcom has been taking UK internet providers to task in order to force them into providing a better service. That won't be slowing down this year, with Ofcom announcing its new code of practice this week, which will require UK ISPs to give customers a minimum speed …

Earlier this week we learned that the UK government had officially hit its target of delivering ‘super fast' broadband coverage to 95 percent of the country. Now it looks like the next steps are already being taken to deliver even faster internet to places across the UK, with Openreach announcing …

For quite some time now, Virgin Media has dominated the UK’s broadband speeds, offering a fibre package of up to 300Mbps. Finally, we will be seeing this rivalled by BT who will be offering two new packages, increasing its top speed from 78Mbps to 314Mbps. The first of BT’s new …

An amendment to the currently under debate, Digital Economy Bill, has made it so that by 2020 service providers in the UK will need to deliver a minimum of 30Mbps download speeds to customers. This represents a large increase from the original proposition of just 10Mbps downspeeds. The Digital Economy …

Over half a million homes in the UK will gain access to fiber internet access for the first time, following an investment of some £440 million by the government. Although not entirely ‘new money' the returned subsidies and £160 million of cost savings will give BT Openreach plenty of extra …

This week, Virgin Media announced that it would be launching its first broadband tier for online gamers. Essentially, it is the top tier broadband package with 200MB/s download speeds, but with an extra fiver tacked on to the price for 20MB/s upload instead of the usual 12MB/s upload speed. As …

The UK's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has confirmed that it is introducing new guidelines that would put ISPs in a position where they would need to make broadband pricing more transparent and simplify packages. This comes just a day after TalkTalk confirmed that it would be taking the first steps …

We all know how frustrating BT can be to deal with at times here in the UK but if you do happen to use their Fibre service, then you may soon be treated to faster speeds. BT has announced that it is bumping up the speeds of its entry-level fibre …

Amid threats that it could still force BT to break up its businesses if it doesn't play ball, industry regulator OfCom is forcing the British Telecom firm to open up its copper wire and fibre network for more companies to take advantage of. The idea is to offer a more …

Although the UK has always lagged behind other nations when it comes to average download speeds, there are areas where it is better than others. London of course enjoys some of the highest speeds in the country, but what about the worst? If you live in Wales, big chunks of …

Taking the initiative following the British government's interest in bringing forward the Investigatory Powers Bill, Sky has announced that it will be introducing its filtering system automatically for all new customers (it won't even ask first) and will even go so far as to instigate a watershed-like system. Before 9PM, …

The UK isn't exactly known for its blazing fast internet speeds, with average household broadband speeds sitting at 10.7Mbps. However, one company is planning on blowing the UK away with its own 5Gbps broadband service, though it will cost you quite a bit to get it. Right now, the 5Gbps …

Although rural areas are gradually getting access to 3G and 4G services, coverage outside of cities and large townships still isn't great. One solution that Virgin is trying out in the small market-town of Chesham, Buckinghamshire, is what it's calling “smart pavements.” It involves the creation of public Wi-Fi stations …

Virgin Media has increased its top broadband speeds in the UK to 200Mbps, in addition to these, the ISP's speed tiers will be changing up. Up until now, Virgin Media has offered broadband in 50Mbps, 100Mbps and 152Mbps packages but going forward, the ISP will be offering broadband at 70Mbps, …

Does your broadband operate at anything close to the speed stated by your ISP? According to a new report, as many as three quarters of households in the UK are faced with internet download rates that are slower than the one advertised by their provider for their particular package. Worse yet, …

Even though it still has to wait some time for industry regulators to give approval to its purchase of the UK's largest mobile network EE, BT has relaunched its own mobile packages for consumers. Unlike other operators however, it won't be offering any contract packages right off the bat, instead …

Chances are, if you are hooked up to the service of one of the UK's largest ISPs, then the answer to the above question is, yes. Data from a new survey conducted by Which? magazine, suggests that some of the most highly appreciated ISPs are often the smallest ones, with …

The United States Federal Communications Commission has today passed a vote to redefine the minimum broadband download speed to 25 Mbps, and the minimum upload speed to 3 Mbps. The previous 4 Mbps/1 Mbps standard set in 2010, was declared outdated and was in the view of the commission “failing to keep pace …

TalkTalk has gone ahead and acquired Tesco's Blinkbox video streaming service, alongside the company's broadband and voice services. This means 75,000 broadband customers along with an additional 20,000 voice customers are going to be transferred over to TalkTalk's service soon. TalkTalk also has plans for Blinkbox, which it will be …

A rumour has emerged that Telefonica, owner of British based mobile provider and broadband ISP, O2, could sell off the company to BT, in exchange for a 20 per cent stake in the firm. It's thought that such a move would be designed to strengthen both entities in the face …