Broadband Comparison, News & Reviews

Be Broadband, a company owned by Telefonica, has released a new budget value that offers internet connection speeds of 8mphs for around ?90 a year, at the rate of ?7.50 a month. The new deal is much better than the previous cheapest deal by the provider, but also allows users a download quota of 40GB per month.

Everything else in the budget package has the same details of any other Be Broadband package, which includes an ADLS2+ wireless modem, a one year contract, round the clock customer support, and an upload speed of 1.3mbps.

The provider stated that the contract will be for unlimited until June, 20^th, 2010 and that users who think that they will need higher speeds or download quota can choose the next level up which costs ?13.50 per month.

Head of operations at Be Broadband, Tom Williams, stated that the company has noticed that the marketing trends are to provide more freedom among package options and packages that are lower in price.

O2 and TalkTalk will be the main competitors for customers after these facets with TalkTalk offering customers a package that includes broadband connection and free evening and weekend calls within the UK for only ?7 per month.

This may be more threatening for BE if it was not shouldered by its parent company O2 which allows it to build phone deals together with broadband in any areas where there is a network for it to utilize.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan

Beginning January 7^th one million Tiscali broadband and home phone customers will be automatically switched to TalkTalk as the takeover becomes finalized. As a result, some of these customers may see their bills increase up to a third.

Those who are signed into the Tiscali broadband only deal will be forced to pay ?19.99 per month instead of their current price of ?14.99. The customers were told in a letter that they could continue to pay the same lower rate if they agreed to take on the call package from TalkTalk but for some this would not be possible or even reasonable.

If a customer agrees to sign into an 18 month deal Guardian Money the consumer group found that the Tiscali call centre will drop the price of the contract down to just ?7.99 per month in an effort to keep customers.

On the other hand, TalkTalk stated that for the most part customers will not have to pay more once they change over but stated that the new prices would not be released until February. TalkTalk claims that the reason they are secretive over the pricing plans is because they want to write to their new customer base before releasing the package prices to the public.

Mark Schmid, a spokesman for TalkTalk stated that at the moment the company is busy reviewing all 50 tariffs that they have taken on along with Tiscali with an aim to make pricing fair to everyone including current TalkTalk customers.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

TalkTalk, Orange, and BT as well as Which? are some of the top telecom companies and consumer watch groups that believe the new proposals from the Government regarding illegal filesharing are not realistic.

Lord Mandelson proposed to the top five telecoms providers in a meeting that in order to reduce and prevent people from illegal downloads it should be the provider?s jobs to cut their internet connection as punishment.

David Geffen and Mandelson came up with the idea while dining together in Corfu. This is not the firs the first disapproval of the idea, as the Digital Britain Review from the Lord Carter earlier in the year rejected the idea as well.

Representatives from the telecoms industry and consumer groups stated in a press release that the move to make broadband operators responsible would threaten the rights of consumers and also would stall new development in terms of service offerings.

The group collectively wrote a statement that stated that punishment measures for illegal downloading should be run by Ofcom and not the service providers.

The statement also addressed the fact that consumers need to be considered innocent until they are found guilty and that taking away the process of due law by cutting internet connections does not allow consumers the right to defence.

The statement by the group also stated that ISPs and consumers should not be given the responsibility of paying for the disciplinary actions since most customers do not engage in illegal file sharing and thus the content industry would face high costs that could prevent further advancement.

The ISP Karoo began cutting off those suspected of illegal downloads in July, but quickly stopped after public outcry followed their move stating that they decided to take a more moderate approach by following a new ?three strikes and you?re out? guideline

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

Zen Internet topped the customer satisfaction survey conducted by Which magazine for the fourth year in a row for their internet services.
Zen Internet is an independent internet provider and scored five out of five in the categories of reliability, service, and speed.

The poll was conducted among members of the Which magazine who also assigned the company a three out of five stars in the value category despite the fact that the company has one of the most expensive internet services averaging about ?17.61 per month for most subscribers.

Overall the company received a score of 87% which compares to four of the largest UK ISP?s, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, BT, and Tiscali all of which scored under 60%. 02, BE, and Utility Warehouse fared better with scores over 80% as well.

Overall, Tiscali, Orange, and AOL did the worse with scores that were below 32% and received the recommendation ?don?t buy? from the magazine editors.

Zen Internet was also praised by the magazine for its excellent customer support stating that the company?s willingness to go the other mile for its customers, its reliability, and its customer support were well worth paying a few extra dollars for.

Which also commended Zen for its one month contracts which allowing customer?s flexibility when it comes to choosing their ISPs.

This is not the first time Zen Internet has received praise from the industry it serves, as the company has also won various accolades over the last few years including the PC Pro Best Broadband ISP award for the last five years in a row.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

For those looking for cheap broadband packages, three new deals by Tiscali may be eye catching.

The first deal costs users ?6.40 per month to use for the first three months at which point it pops up to ?14.99 for 18 more months.

The standard offering allows for free set up, unlimited broadband access, and a connection that can reach speeds up to 8Mb. Included in the package is a free antivirus and spam service as well as a modem and up to ten email addresses.

The second deal starts at ?9.99 for three months and then jumps up to ?14.99 in addition to a one time setup charge upfront of ?30. Users will get broadband speeds up to 8Mb and unlimited usage as well as free phone calls to both the UK and international phone calls on the weekend.

Last, for those who want free phone calls at any time, the third package costs ?14.99 a month for three months and then jumps to ?19.99 until the end of 18 months. There is also a onetime upfront fee of ?30 for setup.

Tiscali?s marketing manager, Jessica McArdle, stated that the new packages should help consumers who want to keep their broadband but need to cut some costs in the current state of the economy.

McArdle also stated that the new deals show Tiscali is taking a step back to their roots as a value brand for those who want broadband.

The news on the Tiscali front follows the announcement that TalkTalk would not be closing down Tiscali which is a subsidiary of TalkTalk. Instead, the Chief Executive of Carphone who owns TalkTalk said that IPTV service may soon extend into the offerings of Tiscali as well.

Filed under: Broadband Deals by Alan Harten

TalkTalk will soon be able to offer the good citizens of Muswell Hill in London and the people of Whitechurch in Cardiff internet access speeds that range up to 40Mbps due to a new trial fibre broadband connection.

Those who will be included in the trial will receive a new modem and router along with a free Essentials phone and broadband package throughout the entire trial period which will begin in August and end in January of 2010. As an additional perk for their participation they will also receive an unlimited amount of downloads.

TalkTalk is working on upgrading all of its networks so that users across the UK will receive faster access speeds on the Internet, considering that the ISP network covers about 80% of the UK; this is a large cross section of the population. After the trial is completed if the results are favourable TalkTalk will install the fibre based broadband connections in all network areas.

The popular ISP also announced that after its purchase of Tuscali it will also soon add a TV on demand service to its offerings in the upcoming future and will still support the on demand TV service to all 50,000 customers who were with Tiscali TV at the time of the purchase.

TalkTalk is also considering joining Project Canvas and is currently in talks about the direction of the joint venture that will standardize broadband enabled digital television set boxes. If Project Canvas is made available to the public it will offer both TV on demand services and HD Freeview broadcasts.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan Harten