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By Sam Smith Staff Writer
Friday, 12 June 2009
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Faster broadband for some, slower broadband for most in this week's broadband news roundup.
BT rolls out ADSL2+
BT is set to upgrade its broadband connections this summer at no extra cost to customers.
Under the proposed plans, which will see the upgrade of lines to ADSL2+ technology, customers will have access to broadband speeds of up to 20Mbps.
BT wholesale will be carrying out the upgrade (rather than the consumer company BT), which means every ISP in the UK will be able to start offering up to 20Mbps speeds if they want to.
Currently, BT's top speed is 8Mbps using ADSL2 technology.
The upgrade won't mean everyone will get 20Mbps, but BT has said it will "effectively double users' real-world speeds", so someone getting 2Mbps now, will get 4Mbps. Although, the further away from the exchange you are the smaller the increase in speed from ADSL2 to ADSL2+ becomes.
The roll out will initially cover 40% of BT's network rising to 55% by March 2010.
BT's chief executive Gavin Patterson said in a statement: "Unlike other providers, BT is upgrading customers to 20Mb/s for free. High-speed broadband provides a faster and more reliable service that will transform the way we live, work, learn and play."
In carrying out the upgrade for free, BT is looking to get one over its rival Virgin Media whose 20Mbps and 50Mbps packages cost a good deal more than their slower packages.
However, despite the extra speed boost, BT has said that it will continue to restrict download speeds at peak times.
3 Million Homes don't get 2Mbps
RESEARCH published this week has shown that a staggering 3 million homes in the UK currently only have access to speeds under 2Mbps.
The broadband comparison site SamKnows produced a map  highlighting so-called 'notspot' areas in the country.
The map reveals that 'notspot' areas are not solely limited to rural areas but are also to be found on the edge of big urban centres.
SamKnows co-founder Alex Salter, told the Guardian that: "In some cases people aren't able to shop online, aren't able to view certain websites or use social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter and they can't watch the BBC's iPlayer."
Quite how the government intends to resolve the issue of 'notspots' remains to be seen.
Phorm on Confusing form as Usual
PHORM is back on top form this week aiming to strengthen ties with publishers allowing them to monitor the browsing habits of visitors to their sites.
'Webwise Discover' works in a similar fashion to Phorm's targeted advertising system that caused controversy but, as yet, no UK ISPs have signed up to the service.
"We wanted people to say 'yes, they've done something right for a change,'" said Phorm's technology chief Marc Burgess.
The hunt begins here to find one of these people.
Three-Quarters see Broadband as Essential as Water
FINALLY a study has revealed that 73% of people consider broadband to be essential or important.
The study was carried out for the Communications Consumer Panel and follows on from a recent report by O2 which found that people would sooner cut back on food bills than their internet connection.
The chairman of the Communications Consumer Panel, Anna Bradley, said: "[Broadband] is being compared by consumers to gas and electricity - things which they think we all ought to have access to, almost as a right."
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