Broadband

TalkTalk Pro broadband package announced

TalkTalk is launching what it calls a new "high performance" broadband package called TalkTalk Pro. Available this month, it costs £14.99 a month, plus £11.25 line rental and requires an 18-month tie in.

The package offers download speeds of up to 24MB, unlimited...

Survey claims illegal downloaders spend most on music

A survey from London-based think-tank Demos has added weight to the position held by many that file sharers are the biggest music fans, revealing that those who admit downloading music illegally spend an average of £77 per year on music, compared to £44 for people who...

Bittorrent protocol gets anti-throttling update

A new version of the Bittorrent protocol is about to launch. Bittorrent is a distribution technique for online content that's used heavily by both legitimate software publishers (like Activision Blizzard) and illicit file sharing sites (like the Pirate Bay).

The...

Mandelson delivers on three-strikes warning

Peter Mandelson has, as expected, delivered an assault on filesharers at the C&binet Forum. He has laid out his intentions to submit legislation to parliament that would cut persistent file sharers off the web entirely, after a couple of warnings.

The process...

Orange announces 20 meg broadband as standard

Orange has announced that it will be making up to 20 meg download speeds a standard across all its home broadband packages - where such service is available.

As well as introducing the new speeds, Orange has revamped its home broadband packages with the cheapest...

Bluetooth-rivalling Wi-Fi Direct announced

Your Wi-Fi-enabled gadgetry is about to get a whole lot more connected thanks to a new specification just announced by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

We say new, technically it was previously known as Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, however, it is now due with the shiny new moniker...

100Mbps broadband rollout widens

BT has announced that its plans to deliver super-fast, fibre-optic broadband all the way to people's houses have been expanded. The company will now be rolling out fibre-to-the-premises...

Spotify phones coming soon?

Spotify has announced that it has signed a deal with Swedish broadband supplier and mobile network Telia. The two companies have agreed to "co-operate" for 2 years, with Telia helping to develop the streaming music service on computers, mobile phones and eventually onto...

Brits spend 30 hours a week online

Britons are net addicts, if data from a new survey is to be believed.

British web users spend a whopping 30 hours a week online - which works out as over 4 hours a day - according to a survey by comparison website USwitch.com.

As far as the office...

BT trials fibre-to-the-premesis in London and Milton Keynes

BT has announced that it'll be expanding its fibre-optic trials early next year to go all the way direct to the people's homes and businesses - a technology that the company is calling "fibre to the premesis". Currently fibreoptic connections only go through to the cabinet.

UK broadband ranks 25th out of 66 countries

A survey of broadband standards in 66 countries across the world has placed the UK at number 25 - with its broadband labelled as "meeting needs for today", but not "comfortable for today" or "ready for tomorrow".

South Korea and Japan came top, with Korea promising...

£6 broadband tax confirmed

The plans drawn up under the government's "Digital Britain" scheme to tax all UK phone lines are to go ahead.

Stephen Timms, the treasury minister in charge of implementing the Digital Britain plans, has confirmed - despite opposition from the Conservatives...

BT pilots "notspot" solution

A limited number of UK "notspots" are about to be connected up to the world of broadband, thanks to a BT pilot of new technology.

"Broadband Enabling Technology" or BET, can offer broadband with speeds of between 1 and 2Mbps to homes currently stuck on dial-up...

802.11n approved, loses the "draft" tag

You've probably been using the technology for months if not years, but 802.11n, the wireless standard, has finally been approved by the body that approves these things 7 years after its first conception.

More than 2 years after the first 802.11n draft routers...

Freerunner free Wi-Fi fund opens for applications

Freerunner, the free public Wi-Fi network launched in the UK in May, has announced a fund to invest in free Wi-Fi hotpots to serve local communities in "deprived or remote areas".

The fund is enough for Freerunner to set-up 50 free-to-use hotspots in local...

3 MiFi mobile Wi-Fi service priced and dated

3, has confirmed the pricing and availability of its new Mobile Wi-Fi service it announced at the beginning of August as it hopes to entice users away from home broadband.

The new Mobile Wi-Fi, the service allows you to create your own mobile Wi-Fi connection...

BT now operating 500,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots

BT has announced that it's half-way towards its target of putting together a network of 1,000,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots in 2009. 500,000 hotspots are now available at homes, offices and city centres in the UK and Ireland.

That total includes hotspots from the...

BT upgrades broadband speeds for all

BT has pushed the big red "upgrade" button on all its subscribers accounts, pumping up pipes to 20Mb/s in "enabled areas". Those areas cover, according to the company, 40% of the UK's homes and businesses.

Up till now, customers were stuck on 8Mb/s speeds, slower...

"Digital Britain" chief named as Stephen Timms

The man who will be in charge of the government's Digital Britain plans has been named as Stephen Timms, the current treasury minister.

Following the departure of communications minister Lord Carter, author of the recent Digital Britain report, Timms will take...

TalkTalk trials 40Mbps broadband

TalkTalk is running a trial of "lightning fast" broadband in two areas in the UK.

Between August 2009 and January 2010 TalkTalk customers in Muswell Hill in London and Whitchurch in Cardiff will be getting broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps.

TalkTalk...

Virgin Media Freedom netbook detailed

As we reported earlier, Virgin Media has announced that it is to offer a netbook, the "Freedom" netbook and now more specs, as well as pics, have been revealed.

Like many other netbooks on the market it offers a 10.2-inch display, runs Microsoft Windows XP...

Virgin Media completes its ultrafast network

Virgin Media is celebrating, having completed its 18-month campaign to upgrade its broadband network to offer 50Mbps speeds to 12 million homes across the UK.

In an attempt to convince some of those 12 million homes to actually sign up to the service, the company...

BT names next super-fast broadband locations

BT has revealed the next set of locations where it will make super-fast fibre broadband available.

The new locations cover more than a million homes and businesses across the UK, which means 1.5 million homes will have access by early summer 2010.

Virgin Media's fastest broadband boast okayed by ASA

Virgin Media's advertising campaign for its 50Mb broadband has been okayed by the ASA after rival broadband operator BT logged an official complaint.

Boasting "the fastest broadband in the UK", the campaign has comprised of press ads, posters and Samuel L....

Orange refreshes laptop line-up

Orange has refreshed the laptops it offers with its mobile broadband packages for consumers and business customers.

The range available is now larger, including models with embedded SIMs as well as bundled with a USB modem, with different payment methods and...