Photo: Virgin

In its bid to leave competitors in its dust with respect to broadband speed, Virgin media has just announced that it is upgrading its top tier broadband package to 30Mbps starting 1 February. While that isn’t quite South Korean speed yet, the house that Branson built seems determined to use speed as its major differentiator from competitors.

1 February 2011.02.01

Starting today, 1 February 2011, the 30Mbps Virgin Media broadband service will replace their old 20Mbps offering. This applies to new sign-ups only, with old customers having the option to remain on their current 20Mbps plan, or upgrade to the 30Mbps offering for a once-off fee of £30.

While charging to upgrade to the latest speed seems like taking advantage of those who’ve been loyal to you, Virgin Media justify this expensive in saying that it covers ‘activation and exchange of their old modem and router’ for Virgin Media’s new ‘SuperHub’. Given how expensive top-end routers are, this doesn’t seem at all unreasonable.

Bragging rights here and there

Naturally, the bigwigs at Virgin Media took this broadband service announcement as a chance to score some good PR. Jon James, who is the executive director of the broadband team at Virgin Media, said: ‘With so many devices connecting to the internet at home these days, our new 30Mb service will give Virgin Media families that extra boost needed to make everything run smoothly, with speeds that don’t slow down depending on where you live.’

What will this cost?

Pricing-wise, the new service costs £18.50, insofar as you sign up for the Virgin Media home phone as well, bringing your total to £30.74. That works out to a little over a pound a month for each megabyte of data, which, if you put it that way, sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it?

We’re fans of the Virgin Media broadband strategy. Any internet service provider that puts speed as its major focus – without compromising quality – is good for the UK’s telecommunications industry as a whole.

Photo: psd / Flickr

A report coming out of Ericsson says that worldwide mobile data users will top 1 billion in 2011. This remarkable feat is only further exaggerated when one considers that the half a billion milestone was only crossed a few months ago.

Significant milestones crossed

In a statement (via Reuters) Ericsson said that: ‘During the course of 2010, a significant milestone in terms of mobile broadband subscriptions was reached as their number surpassed the half-a-billion mark globally.’ Considering the company is the world’s biggest maker of mobile network gear, it’s safe to say the company knows what it’s talking about. Things are only going to get better with respect to mobile data users, with the statement going on to read: ‘Ericsson estimates that this number will double before 2011 ends.’

Internet everywhere

With the proliferation of smartphones, as well as feature phones being paired with decent browsing experiences like that provided by Opera Mini, on-the-go mobile data usage has exploded. Add to this the proliferation of cheap netbooks, more data solutions for notebooks and tablet PCs, it becomes clear why the number of mobile data users has seen the torrid growth it has in recent years.

We win!

Ericsson has benefitted from this since it means more carriers are buying more gear from the company to handle the load. Carriers are also benefitting from this exploding demand, since this rise in data use is helping their earnings across the board. The only group who haven’t seen significant benefits are consumers, who are battling carriers reducing data allowances so that they, the carriers, can better handle the load from this surge in demand, as well as reap greater profit.

The revolution has been repeated

Mobile phones have fundamentally changed how people communicate and connect with each other. In the 90s, as handsets and networks became more ubiquitous around the world, people who previously couldn’t afford expensive to maintain landline connections had a way of connecting with each other affordably.

Now, what mobile phones did for voice communication, they are doing for internet connections, providing new ways for longtime web users to connect, as well as enabling first time web users access to the world’s most important communications platform. The growth of mobile data usage and mobile data users is to the benefit of all parties involved.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

In the build up to this year’s elections, political candidates all waxed lyrical about what they planned to do for the UK’s broadband space. And while we were circumspect about trusting our government with our Internets given their recent form, it seems the ConDems plan to come good on their promises, by providing every United Kingdom community with super-fast broadband connectivity come 2015.

Private-public combination

For those shuddering at the idea of having the UK broadband service provided by the government, you can breathe easy since this is not what is going to happen. The government will be working closely with private companies to ensure that super-fast broadband connectivity is delivered to at least two thirds of the population.

While the private ISPs will actually deliver and maintain the service, the government will be spending public money so as to bring fibre optic technology to rural areas that are currently without.

What are we in for?

Ofcom’s definition of a super-fast broadband connection is a minimum data speed of 24Mbps, of which only 1% of the population currently receives. Come 2015, this percentage is slated to jump dramatically.

Jeremy Hunt, who is the current Culture Secretary shared these UK broadband plans from Microsoft’s London Headquarters, reiterating his previously stated plan of having the UK have Europe’s best broadband network come 2015. And to be fair to Mr. Hunt, whose come under some stick from us, at least he’s doing something – and it’s about time we do what Finland has now made a legal right for every citizen.

Who stands to benefit?

With super-fast broadband connectivity, the whole economy stands to gain. It will see the proliferation of many more world class web-based services and applications, while directly affecting offline commerce initiatives. Companies that provide networking and routing products and services will be buoyed by this movement to, both from an enterprise level and consumer level, with the dramatic increase in infrastructure needing a lot of capital outlay and technology.

The video gaming industry also stands to benefit, especially in the wake of the launch of two potentially disruptive companies – OnLive and Gaikai. These cloud gaming services will only be helped by improved internet, with the UK broadband market’s improving landscape hopefully leading more people to try their services.

What do you make of these movements in the UK broadband space? Do you think they’re long overdue, or are we being too harsh by being a wee bit cynical?

Photo: seagers / Flickr

While more and more mobile devices go online, and having multiple online data subscriptions becomes increasingly impractical, we’ve begun wondering if MiFi routers, or similar solution, are signs of what is to come.

How do they work?

Novatel introduced MiFi to the world in the middle of 2009, and still make the best MiFi routers in the world, for my money.

Basically, a MiFi router is wi-fi connectivity over 3G. In other words, you connect your devices to the MiFi in much the same way you would connect to the wi-fi at a hotspot or wi-fi over broadband lines in the home. The big difference, however, is unlike wi-fi routers that connect over fixed broadband lines to the network, MiFi routers connect via mobile 3G data. It was once described to me as ‘3G masquerading as broadband’, which is an analogy I’m inclined to agree with.

Why you should consider them

Having multiple data plans for each device is not only impractical, but it’s also very expensive, particularly if you don’t currently tap out either data plan. With a MiFi router and a data card, you can connect your smartphone, tablet PC and any other mobile devices you carry to one data entry point. It just makes more sense.

Why they may be the future

MiFi routers actually represent a massive opportunity for carriers to get customers using their data more. Assuming fair use is in place, and carriers’ networks aren’t running at capacity, they’re not making as much money as they could be. Now if they were to design MiFi hotspots all over the place that you could log into using a username and password provided by them, they could augment the widespread wi-fi hotspots already in place.

Particular opportunities exist in areas where there are no wi-fi hotspots, whether that’s down to the location being too remote or too rural, and blanketing the regions with MiFi. If they added prepaid services to these locations, even people who were not subscribers to their services could pop in credit card details and be good to go with all their devices for a time or data-specific period.

Photo: Virgin

‘Get unlimited broadband with speeds up to….’ Have you ever noticed these commercials from British broadband service providers? They’re no different from ‘this product is clinically proven’ because with the latter, you’re never told what they are clinically proven to do and the former is a misleading indicator, when in fact you should be told what your average speed is.

Ofcom has had enough of this and is grading providers according to average speed. Virgin Media is in support of this cause, and is doing the same of its own volition.

Virgin Media, who benefit from having a high-speed fibre optics network that, in turn, allow their average speeds to mimic their reported ‘up to’ speeds, are calling for providers to be more honest about the actual speeds, too. And, in the interest of not being hypocritical, Virgin media has set up a ‘speed honesty’ site, wherein it will publically publish its average speeds

Controlling the problem

Ofcom is already publishing its own average speed results for the various networks so consumers know what they’re actually getting and the disparity is often times colossal. What the Virgin Media broadband team is doing is controlling the problem and making itself look good in the process.

This way, even though it’s a pure business tactic, they look like they’ve got their consumer at heart.

Fighting words

Jon James, who is the Virgin Media broadband team’s executive director said: ‘People are paying for faster and faster broadband but being ripped off by unscrupulous providers who can’t deliver their promised speeds to even a single customer.’ So what’s the solution James, old chap? ‘A change in advertising is urgently needed to build consumer confidence in super-fast broadband and the industry more generally,’ is Mr. James’ opinion.

Let’s be unequivocal here: British broadband service providers should not be allowed to advertise up to speeds. Not at all. Average speeds are a better indicator of what you’re paying for, making it simpler to grade the quality of each British broadband service provider. The Virgin Media broadband teams realise this. Everybody else needs to now follow suit.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Finland becomes the world’s first country where broadband access is a legal right for every citizen. You read right, Finland has made having access to the internet a right.

Starting yesterday, 1 July 2010, every Finn has a right to broadband connectivity of 1Mbps at a minimum. With a reported 96% percent of Finland’s population already compliant with the law, only another 4000 homes need to get broadband access. As if the fact that the entire nation will be on broadband is not a big enough deal, the Finnish government has committed to upping the minimum speed everybody has a right to 100MB per second by 2015. That’s a 100 times increase in Finland internet speeds in five years as a legal right.

Why the move

Finnish communication minister, Suvi Linden, who oversees Finland internet strategies, told the BBC why this was such a big deal, saying: “We considered the role of the internet in Finns everyday life. Internet services are no longer just for entertainment.” She continued, saying “Finland has worked hard to develop an information society and a couple of years ago we realised not everyone had access”. So, taking a very progressive move, the government made it law, now compelling telecommunications companies to provide service to every citizen. How’s that for a progressive government

How does the UK stack up?

By comparison, broadband penetration in the United Kingdom is at a respectable 73%. At governmental level, one major campaigning point of the recent elections was how fast a connection and to how many people each party could deliver British citizens. In comparison, the ConDem government has committed to delivering 2Mbps broadband to every home come 2012. But it does not appear that they will make having the Internet a right, as well.

This is one example of government intervention in telecommunications having a positive impact on ISPs and widespread broadband connectivity. Sure, the challenges locations like the UK, with its dispersed population are more difficult to circumvent than those faced by countries with high population density, like Finland, but solutions do exist. Making the Internet a right, a basic human right like free speech and freedom of religion is as progressive as it gets. And it’s no wonder the Finland Internet services and networks are among the best in the world.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

As broadband technology proliferates and more and more laptops come without Ethernet ports, wireless technology has finally come of age. We look at what you need to consider for a wireless home network setup, ranging from choosing the right broadband service providers to purchasing the right router.

One: Your needs

Do you really need any broadband service in your home? An odd question to probably 95 per cent of our readership, but not everybody needs broadband in the home and at £15 per month for a decent service, it isn’t altogether free. So, for the small handful of you that are concerned Internet in the home and performing a wireless home network setup would be more unnecessary luxury than necessity, think hard and carefully about whether you want this package at all.

Two: Picking a broadband service provider

Many broadband services in the UK are tethered to landlines, so if you have a line in your home, your service provider can easily add broadband connectivity too. But if you are considering switching your broadband service provider, or do not already have a service provider, tools like Broadband Choices are fantastic for selecting the right product relative to where you live.

Three: Your home network

Now that you have a broadband line in your home, you’re going to need to get a broadband router and setup your home network. First things first – do you want to a wired or wireless router setup? The truth is wired routing is dying and many of today’s latest gadgets – most notably smartphones and tablets – can only connect via wi-fi. As such, we’d recommend you stay away from wired only and choose a hybrid wireless-wired routing solution for those devices that do still run on Ethernet.

Make sure it supports the latest 802.11n routing technology (if it does, it will say so on the box), and buy only from reputable companies. We’re partial to Netgear routers for the home user due to their simple yet sophisticated interfacing, which makes wireless home network setup dead easy. The Netgear DG2000 is an established stalwart in home networking, and has plenty routing capability for even the most demanding home user.

Four: Getting your network working

You’re pretty much there, now. All you need to do is insert your user details into you router and off you go. These details you will receive from your service provider, while details on entering them will be specified in your router’s manual.

Is there anything we’ve overlooked, or any additions we could make to make this list even easier for beginners setting up their own home network? Let us know in the comments.

Photo: Ofcom

Anyone who has ever signed a long-term contract with landline or broadband providers knows the feeling of seeing a better deal come by that you cannot take up because you’re locked into a torrid contract with very high early termination fees. That’s about to change, with Ofcom pressuring TalkTalk, BT and Virgin to slash the price of their contract termination fees.

What is a contract termination fee?

A contract termination fee is the amount of money one is still liable to pay for every month left on a contract they’ve recently cancelled. The termination fee is less than the monthly subscription fee, but is often still very high. Ofcom has pressured the major UK broadband providers to reduce this cost, so as to ‘reflect the costs that the providers save by no longer providing the service’ to you.

New pricing

Photo: TalkTalk

In some instances, TalkTalk, BT and Virgin would be reducing the cost of contract termination fees by as much as 85 per cent.

TalkTalk is first out the gate with termination fees revision, which previously ranged from £14.44 to £33.48, to between £3.00 and £8.00. The termination fee is relative to the package that you are on, and this pricing model kicked in on 1 June 2010.

Virgin Media and BT will follow suit from 1 October 2010. With respect to Virgin Media contract cancellations, while charges currently range from £11.99 to £25.99 they will be reduced to £4.00 to £9.00. BT’s contract termination fee sits at £11.54 to £16.53 for every month left on your contract. Come 1 October, that will range between £2.00 and £5.00.

Photo: Virgin

Ofcom has said that they will pressure (and potentially fine) smaller broadband providers to follow suit in slashing these fees.

You can read Ofcom’s full report and pricing revisions here, in case you’re currently trying to escape a contract you’re unhappy with.

Good on ya, Ofcom.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s culture secretary, pledged £300 million would be used  come the current parliament to ensure Britain’s broadband would be second to none, in Europe, by being ‘the best superfast broadband’ on the continent.

The challenge – rural areas

While people often laud places like Norway and Finland for their deep broadband penetration, what they often overlook is the tight population density in those places. People live so close together that deploying a blanket high speed broadband network is relatively inexpensive. British broadband deployment does not have this luxury, with many locales being remote and many areas quite rural.

In this respect, British ISP providers, or private sector funds, are uneasy about financing this expansion. Hunt is not blind to this, indicating a high priority of his government is to deliver broadband to rural areas, so that government does not ‘open up a new digital divide between the urban areas and rural communities’ with these initiatives.,

Electioneering

British broadband policy was central to the recent election that saw the coalition government of David Cameron and Nick Clegg overthrow Gordon Brown. Differing policies like blanket coverage of at least 2mb per second lines were available throughout the UK, as proposed by the ousted Labour government, which Hunt supported but felt was ‘pitifully unambitious’. Other plans from running parties was to up the average speed of broadband significantly, but in concentrated, population dense and wealthier areas only – leaving those in rural locations in the cold, somewhat.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Oddly enough, Jeremy Hunt is not once committal to what the minimum speed of this ‘superfast broadband’ network would be, which in its self is rather ‘unambitious’. To use buzzwords to diverge away from the key questions – how fast, how stable, and at what price – does British ISP services and British broadband in general a disservice, as well as the British public, too. People now know enough to ask the right questions, but politicians still don’t volunteer the proper answer.

In addition to Joe Public, British ISP service providers and manufacturers of broadband equipment stand to benefit most from these initiatives, meaning considerable lobbying may occur behind the scenes, too.

Photo: Sky

Sky is altering its broadband package, with all customers soon to get 20mbs, as well as ‘true’ unlimited broadband packages for £7.50.

1 June, D-Day

The Sky broadband free offering is to be boosted to the lines max capacity, which is 20mbps, with a 2GB cap on that.

For people who have Sky TV as well as Sky Talk, £7.50 monthly will buy them what Sky deems the only ‘truly unlimited’ broadband offering, in addition to the boost to 20mbs.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

By truly unlimited, Sky broadband claims to have neither a ‘fair use’ policy nor does it shape traffic, meaning over a certain threshold of data used, the company won’t rein in your usage, nor does it throttle your linespeed at any time during the day. This, in effect, means usage will remain consistent and without recourse, unless of course, you’re doing something illegal, and Sky is quick to point out that it is the only ISP with this policy.

Fast broadband good for everybody

Photo: Stock.Xchng

As Virgin Media has been at the bleeding edge of UK broadband speed, and political parties have had a variety of broadband plans built into their election campaigns, including high speed broadband for all, this move by Sky broadband is notable and beneficial to everybody. Not only does this greater broadband speed mean increased need for broadband networking tools from companies like Cisco and Netgear, it also means the Digital Britain initiative is coming to the fore. With a direct relationship existing between Internet speeds and number of impressions served as well as engagement, e-commerce and online advertisers will have more opportunity to sell their goods, thus boosting the economy.

Between these packages, free and unlimited broadband, and Sky 3D’s methodical rollout, Sky’s engineers and product development teams have clearly been very busy. Whether this will result in increased market share is yet to be revealed.