 |  | By Neil Hawkins Staff Writer Friday, 15 February 2008 |
Featured Broadband Providers This Week
Compare the broadband packages of:
 Compare broadband packages from Orange Broadband
Compare broadband packages from O2 Broadband
Compare broadband packages from Tiscali
Compare broadband packages from Sky Broadband
Read broadband review of:
Read the review of
Tiscali Broadband, Talk & TV - 1
Read the review of
Tiscali Broadband, Talk & TV - 2
Read the review of
Sky See, Speak, Surf (Base 1)
Read the review of
Sky See, Speak, Surf (Mid 1)
Read the review of
Sky See, Speak, Surf (Max 1)
Related Broadbands News
See our other recent related news stories:
Tiscali rolls out digital TV bundle package
THE Tiscali TV and Broadband packages continue to become better and better value, as Tiscali pushes forward in bringing digital TV over broadband to the masses.
O2 Broadband prices dropped for non-O2 mobile customers
AS if O2 Broadband wasn't stupendous enough, the price for non-O2 mobile customers has dropped even more, making O2 Broadband without doubt one of the best and cheapest high-speed broadband providers in the UK.
Broadband News Roundup (08 Feb 08)
IN our weekly roundup of broadband news, Neil Hawkins manages to touch on Tiscali's slightly lame attempts at stopping internet grooming while at the same time causing a beef with internet gamers. Meanwhile Sky Broadband is winning new customers and has Osama Bin Laden been out with the bolt cutters again?
Broadband News Roundup (01 Feb 08)
NEIL Hawkins glances back at the week's broadband news, including: Virgin Media's 50Mb broadband is all set while their Broadband Size L customers receive a bump from 4Mb to 10Mb, and the ISPA nominees for best broadband providers are announced.
|
SOME interesting news this week as the government proposes to monitor the internet provoking a storm of debate on forums everywhere. But it’s not all bad! We’ve got news of offers and awards too!
Orange cut prices for 6 months
THOSE of you wanting a cheap broadband deal may have missed a new offer from the perma-tanned folk at Orange Broadband.
New customers get the first six months of an eighteen month contract half price which makes Orange Broadband's Home Starter package with its 2 Mb, 6 Gb usage limit for just £6 for the first six months, £12 thereafter.
That is pretty cheap but beware! A quick look at the terms and conditions on the Orange website and it states: “You need a BT line. You don't need to pay line rental as it's included.”
Wrong! You do have to pay line rental on the Orange Broadband Home Starter package (£11 per month) but not on the more expensive Home Max package.
The Orange Broadband Home Max package includes speeds up to 8 Mb and unlimited downloads for £12 for the first six months then £24 for the remaining 12 months, again including line rental.
Just to make explaining this offer trickier, Orange Broadband is offering the packages to pay monthly mobile customers for £5 and £15 a month for Home Starter and Home Max respectively.
Both packages include free UK evening and Weekend calls which Orange hopes will give it the edge over rival O2 Broadband's excellent offer.
In my humble opinion the O2 Broadband Standard package still wins hands down.
For an excellent guide to the potential pitfalls of cheap broadband, check out Julia Kukiewicz’s excellent article: When Cheap Broadband Attacks: How Cheap Broadband Can Cost You an Arm and a Leg.
O2 Broadband speeds onwards and upwards
CHAMPAGNE corks will be popping at O2 Broadband where a survey carried out by Epitiro placed the new kid on the block amongst the top 5 providers in the UK.
The survey looked at the biggest broadband providers for a period of 6 months and tested them on technical criteria.
The results show that whilst being very competitive on price and offering some of the fastest speeds, O2 Broadband can still deliver a quality service.
The other companies who ranked in the top 5 for the second half of 2007 were Plusnet, BT, Orange and Tiscali.
Tiscali+ – Records 3 channels at once!
WONDERING how to record three channels at once with only one box? Tiscali+ could be for you.
Customers siging up to Tiscali's Broadband and TV package can have the option of a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) for £50, which is good value if we examine what’s under the hood!
The box can record up to 50 hours of programmes, more than Sky+ - and thanks to its twin digital terrestrial tuners and additional Internet TV input can record up to three different programmes at once!
The only real competitor to this is Sky and the market dominating Sky+ box which is available as part of their Sky See, Speak, Surf package.
Illegal downloaders may face disconnection
INTERNET service providers could be forced to disconnect users who illegally download copyrighted music and films from their internet service according to reports leaked to The Times this week.
Under government proposals, which would require the monitoring of every packet of data sent across the net, users would be given three strikes, most probably warning email’s or letters, before being disconnected from their internet service.
The plans have been greeted with widespread concern by broadband providers and good old plain outrage from internet users who have, how can I put this, highlighted a number of potential issues with the plan.
One of the main sticking points coming from broadband providers is how to prevent innocent users from being cut-off. Broadband providers point out that it is far from easy to distinguish legal traffic from illegal traffic, particularly with p2p traffic (the main mode of transport for ‘illegal’ traffic).
Internet users on the other hand have been less reserved in their response.
Most are amused that the government would, ‘even consider such an unworkable policy’, whilst others think that only the concerns of the likes of the British Phonographic Industry and other big business are being heeded.
 Compare broadband and bundle services
Back to broadband guide
|
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)
