Broadband Comparison, News & Reviews

Research continually points out that broadband customers are struggling with their internet connections because despite what providers advertise, the actual speeds of most broadband network connections are about half of what is promised.

Ofcom took an in-depth look at one of the most popular internet service provider’s advertisements that claimed to offer speeds ‘up to’ 8mbps and found that most users only receive speeds of 3.9mbps. About 75% of UK households subscribe to this service which means a vast majority of UK citizens may be upset with their internet speeds.

For those who are not aware of what the speeds may translate into, with a speed of 3.9mbps it would take about two hours to download a full DVD quality film while it would only take an hour if the speeds delivered were the same as the speeds advertised.

According to further results from Ofcom, only one out of every ten homes that subscribe to an 8MB service actually get speeds that are faster than 6MB and not one home receives 8MB due to the way that ISP’s wire their networks.

Ofcom stated that the average speed that most people receive across the UK is 4.1MB which is enough to double the time of every download that you start.

26% of people told Ofcom that they were unhappy with the speeds they received since the speeds are not what they signed up to receive.

Tiscali and AOL which are owned by TalkTalk came in last in internet speeds delivered versus promised speeds with Virgin Mobile scoring the highest internet speeds in the UK with delivery that reaches up to 10MB.

The Communications Consumer Panel is advocating that ISP’s change their advertising to eliminate consumer complaints with the theory that customers will be satisfied if they are correctly informed versus mislead.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

According to a burst or new study results this week mobile broadband is only expecting to continue to grow at an exponential rate.
Infroma reported that by the end of March 2009 broadband subscribers surpassed the 225 million mark which is a yearly growth rate of about 93%.

Allot Communications also issued a report that used data from operators globally with a user base of over 150 million subscribers that said mobile networks grew about 30% just in between the first quarter and second quarter of 2009.

Cementing the explosion of mobile broadband was a third report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project survey which found about 56% of adult Americans have been online in a wireless format either from an MP3 player, mobile device, Wi-fi laptop, or a game console.

Not surprisingly, a laptop was the most popular way that people choose to utilize Wi-Fi services with 39% of those who answered yes pointing to its use.

At first glance this may seem like good news for mobile broadband operators, but with such extreme growth comes congestion and if the current growth rate continues operators will not be ableto keep up with the growth and continue to turn revenues.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Ericsson, the largest manufacturer of wireless equipment, saw a 61% decrease in second quarter sales profits, but the company said there is no need for concern as the new chief executive, Han Vestberg, stated that there is hope due to the coming rise of the mobile Internet. In fact, Vestberg said they he expects to watch mobile broadband grow more popular than fixed broadband in the coming years.

Vestburg continued to say that while the demands of the mobile broadband market are not evident at the moment, but that there is a high demand for Ericsson to provide support in the future. Vestburg is taking over the position of CEO of Ericsson formerly held by Carl-Henric Svanberg who left to chair BP.

The profit declines overshadowed the increase of Ericsson’s wireless equipment sales which showed a sales increase of 4% up from 33.3 billion kroners to 34.7 billion. Sales of equipment for new networks also rose by about 35% up from 4.8 billion to 5.9 billion kroner.

Vestberg commented that the new deployment of many more mobile broadband networks would lead to an increasing boom as mobile broadband becomes the replacement instead of the accessory to fixed line internet services.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Following just weeks behind the Digital Britain report, the MPs of the Enterprise Committee and the Commons Business department are about to look into broadband speeds across the UK.

Their aim is to decide if the speed of 2Mbps outlined in the report is a high enough and sufficient enough goal. It will also debate if the broadband tax via fixed phone bills is fair.

The tax denotes that all users of a fixed phone line will owe a 50p tax each month to help fund weak broadband spans in mostly rural areas that have been neglected by the major broadband provides.

The news follows criticism of the report that the funds generated will not be enough to fund the project and that 2Mbps is too small of an aim for the Government by the year 2012.

Co-founder of the broadband SamKnows website, Alex Salter, however, has stated that he believes the tax is the one of the best and only ways to increase the broadband speeds in rural areas. He also says that the public should keep in mind that 2Mbps is only a minimum and that the results could be higher.

Salter also questioned that the goal, while reasonable, may actually be threatened not by finding, but from changes in the political makeup of the Government as the years pass and the party politics refocus their efforts.

Communications Minister, Lord Carter, was responsible for writing the initial Digital Britain Report which took eight months to complete.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Vodafone announced a new six month contract for mobile broadband to address the needs of customers such as students who may be hesitant to commit to longer terms.

The six month contract operates under the terms that customers receive 3GB of monthly downloads and a connection speed up to 7.2MB in exchange for an upfront £29 dongle fee and a £15 a month payment plan.

Vodafone claims that with 3GB of download users can browse online for about 100 hours and download approximately 100 short videos, 200 tracks, and send 2,000 emails. Those who use more than 3GB will be charged £15 per additional GB.

The dongle offers microSD support to aid those who need to work on the go and allows users to use the card as a USB with a maximum of 4GB of memory.

Vodafone is targeting its six month mobile contract plan at students, but it may be more popular among cash conscious customers who want the ability to shop around for the best contract plan at will.

Marketing director at Top 10 broadband, Alex Buttle, commented that with a decrease in the amount of part time jobs and the high fees of top up purchases, it is harder for students to stay out of debt which may make the new Vodafone plan more appealing to students.

Vodafone also announced last week that they will soon launch a device to strengthen 3G signals within their own home that will go on sale July 1st for £160 upfront or an additional £15 per month for contract plan consumers.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

EBay may not be the best place to sell a high ticket electronic device as security expert and chief security technology officer at BT Bruce Schneier found out as he attempted to sell a Sony Vaio TZ-Series laptop on the popular auction website.

His first attempt at selling the laptop was blocked by eBay who told him the sale was cancelled because the highest bidder used a hacked eBay account and thus the sale was void.

In his second attempt to sell on the website the lady who purchased the item with PayPal attempted to scam Schneier by sending the funds via PayPal and then disputing the claims and placing a block on his account to access the money.

Schneier commented that the bidder clearly expected that he would send the laptop in the mail before he found out that she had placed a hold on the payment but he received an email instantaneously from Paypal stating the account holder had disputed the purchase.

He commented that although he was frustrated with the eBay auction service and the failed attempts which he classified as a denial of service attack, he did say he would make a third attempt to sell the laptop because he really did still want to sell the used laptop.

EBay declined to comment on the matter, but for Schneier, perhaps he will find that the third time is a charm, although he is expecting to experience a third type of scam over a successful sale.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan