ITU Decision Makes 700MHz Band a Global Mobile Broadband Standard

This'll be good for signal penetration also but will require new chipsets in devices to support the newer band!

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/11/itu-decision-makes-700mhz-band-a-global-mobile-broadband-standard.html

OneWeb’s constellation of 700 low-altitude satellites will be built by Airbus

To be used for broadband that rivals fibre connections....

I would say their already fighting a bandwidth and latency war they've already lost but this will be great for isolated regions! 50ms is high for a some fixed like connection out onto a server in the same country (maybe even continent) in my opinion. Also at 12Gbps for a satellite thats  a bit limited, even with 700 of them.

A normal telephone exchange (Services roughly the area of a large town) in the UK would have a backhaul of 10/20Gbps, probably more with fibre demand increasing. combine that with core networks that have 200 - 400 Gbps rings and the satellite network is looking a little bandwidth choked.

http://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2015/06/onewebs-constellation-of-700-low-altitude-satellites-will-be-built-by-airbus/

BT Claims Future G.fast Broadband Delivers 300Mbps Speeds at 350 Metres

Article at ISPreview:

"The CTO of BT’s Wholesale division, Colin Bannon, has revealed that their future G.fast (ITU G.9701) broadband technology has also been tested on longer copper lines of 350 metres and the operator found that at this distance it was still able to deliver Internet speeds of 300Mbps."
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/06/bt-claims-future-g-fast-broadband-delivers-300mbps-speeds-at-350-metres.html

TalkTalk Gobble Virgin Media’s UK Copper ADSL Broadband Users

That'll boost TalkTalk's subscriber base while increasing Virgin Media's average Download speeds no doubt (while possibly decreasing Virgins operating costs also). 

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/11/uk-isp-talktalk-gobbles-virgin-medias-copper-adsl-broadband-users.html

Sky Seeks Code Powers to Support New UK PIA and SLU Broadband Trials

This'll be interesting.

They'll likely get code powers but the issue of multiple PCP's (those green boxes you see on the street) will have to be addresses or we'll be seeing thousands of extra ones. Hopefully the can implement them below ground level or something.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/09/sky-seeks-code-powers-support-new-uk-broadband-trials.html

Virgin Media Expand UK Network to Cambridgeshire Village, But is it FTTP?

"Virgin Media has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that a “small-scale development” is currently underway and in the “early stages” of expanding superfast broadband and TV (but not phone) services into the large village of Papworth Everard near the city of Cambridge, but will it be a 152Mbps coax (DOCSIS) or 300Mbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network?"
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/08/virgin-media-expand-uk-network-cambridgeshire-village-fttp.html

Virgin Media UK Lab Testing 10Gbps DOCSIS 3.1 Broadband Upgrade

Good to see Virgin aren't sitting still. They also recently broadened their deal with Sky for Whole Sky sports channels so their offerings look pretty good. I personally find them a bit pricey compared to Sky FTTC though. 

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/07/virgin-media-uk-lab-testing-10gbps-docsis-3-1-broadband-upgrade.html

Google's not bringing its super-fast fiber internet to the UK anytime soon

Doesn't look like Google is coming over the pond to challenege the main ISP's anytime soon.

To be fair it wouldn't be easy without a partnership anyway as the market over here is extremely competitive and heavily regulated.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/07/18/google-fiber-rumor-uk/

UK anti-piracy campaign set to begin

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28374457

Two Days in the life of Football - Plusnet

Check out the link below on Plusnets analysis of the football, streamed on their network.




http://community.plus.net/blog/2014/06/23/two-days-in-the-life-of-football/

4G home broadband in London - Was only a matter of time.

As I predicted before 4G had even hit the ground. If 4G delivered on its promises (bandwidth, latency) then it would mount a serious challenge on the fixed line market.

Enter: Relish, offering unlimited data with multiple service offerings.

Surprisingly what looks to have given them this ability might be that they are not wholesaling from the big 4 cellular networks and are using UKBroadband's network for 4G instead.

Considering there is no line rental to pay. £20 for unlimited data providing isn't that bad and 1 month contracts are available! At the moment its limited to central London but as UKBroadband's network expands, i'm sure they will as well.

https://www1.relish.net/athome#inyourarea

Not to mention that we might start seeing other providers popping up who Wholesale off them. Lets just hope that contention doesn't become a big problem later on down the line when/if their network gets busy.

Prime Minister confirms BT asked to provide more detail on roll-out.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/6401-prime-minister-confirms-bt-asked-to-provide-more-detail-on-roll-out.html

BT 21CN not fit for purpose?

An AAISP employee on the rampage (and probably rightly so).
http://revk.www.me.uk/2014/02/bt-21cn-not-fit-for-purpose.html

Speed test on TalkTalk Business FTTC 80/20

Not a true test as I didn't turn off all my other devices in the home.






I must say that the TG582n is shocking to say the least... Half the features in the GUI are missing so you have to go in via command line and the ones that are in there are so unintuitive that it's maddening to find them. Not to mention the hissy fits it throws if you change too much so as to make it crash!

Recent to Sky broadband? Not a parent? Might want to turn this off.

Login to your My Sky iD and set this to off.

If your a parent, turn it on for added child protection.

http://www.sky.com/products/broadband-talk/sky-broadband-shield/features/

I've also seen TalkTalk. Although I'm unfamiliar with how that works it has a separate option for ISP level virus protection that can be enabled separate to the content filter which is interesting.

1 month till i'm on fibre! Yay!

Although for an ADSL line it holds up well! I can't wait to move at the end of the month and put my NAS on a half decent upstream 20Mbps with 80Mbps down!





Heres a ping monitor of how the lines held up against heavy downloading all day and I reinstall Windows updates / Office and Steam games all day:

ISP Sky Broadband Launch Wireless Booster and Offer Half Price Service

Well it's been a long time coming, other providers offer Homeplug products when their routers can't cut the mustard in larger home or homes with wifi unfriendly walls. Obviously nothing will beat a Ethernet connected up house but that involves a lot more work.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/12/isp-sky-broadband-uk-launches-free-wireless-booster-device.html

Engadget: Dish and Sprint to trial fixed LTE broadband in Texas.

As predicted,  it might take a generation but 4G's low latency and high bandwidth could prove more popular than expected in areas where FTTC is lacking.

Engadget: Dish and Sprint to trial fixed LTE broadband in Texas. http://google.com/producer/s/CBIw2Kfs2wM

Europe Claims 100% Basic Broadband Target Won via Satellite

ISPreview:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/10/europe-claims-100-standard-broadband-target-won-via-satellite.html

Fibre on Demand footprint starts to grow

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/6058-fibre-on-demand-footprint-starts-to-grow.html