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Carlisle-based broadband ISP Grain (Grain Connect), which has already built their 2Gbps speed point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 300,000 UK premises and is home to 56,000 customers (here), has revealed that their next roll-out location is the coastal Lancashire (England) town of Fleetwood. (more…)
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At the start of this month we reported that TalkTalk’s debt-strained consumer broadband division, which has been up for sale for a while, was now understood to be fielding interest from Opus Broadband, in addition to Vodafone and possibly others. The latest development is that investment firm Alchemy Partners is reportedly backing Opus to make a c.£250m bid for the ISP. (more…)
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Customers of Sky’s broadband-based Sky Glass and Sky Stream pay TV streaming devices and service, as well as those on their older Sky Q satellite platform, may like to know that the TV and broadcast giant has today soft launched ‘Your Multiview‘ – allowing subscribers to watch up to four live Sky Sports events simultaneously on one screen. (more…)
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As the smart home continues to evolve, service providers face growing pressure to deliver consistently high-quality in-home connectivity. With more connected devices, higher broadband speeds and increasing customer expectations, validating Wi-Fi performance before deployment has never been more important.
For most of the industry, this testing takes place in a laboratory with predictable interference and ideal device positioning. While this is great for understanding the theoretical limits of the equipment, it is usually a far cry from what the average consumer experiences. Real-world Wi-Fi usage is far more complex, being impacted by the unique layout of the house, the many varied competing devices and users, and differing levels of interference.
It is this complexity that Linksys is attempting to address with its Signal Studio, a dedicated real-world Wi-Fi and broadband testing facility in Reading.
A real home connectivity environment
Rather than treating a customer’s home as an abstract test case, Linksys’ Signal Studio recreates realistic residential environments so operators can study the lived experience of their customers. This includes the creation of bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, and home offices, all filled with typical furniture and devices one would expect from a real home.
The studio is even equipped with configurable wall structures that can be repositioned to simulate the construction characteristics of both modern-build properties and older homes, allowing Linksys and its partners to better understand how different building materials affect wireless performance.
“The Linksys Signal Studio represents the next step in Linksys’ evolution as an innovation partner for service providers,” said Canus Augustus, ISP Sales Director for Linksys. “It is much more than a demonstration facility – it is a collaborative environment where we work alongside our ISP partners to validate new technologies, optimise deployments, and understand how networks perform in real homes.”
Since the Studio’s opening in December 2025, multiple ISP partners have already used the facility for real-world validation, identifying coverage issues, optimising mesh placement and exploring how best to support customer self-installation. The Studio has also hosted collaborative sessions involving a London-based ISP customer and an independent industry regulator, demonstrating its value as a neutral environment for collaboration and innovation.
“Signal Studio was designed to be a collaborative space where our customers can work alongside us. Whether that’s validating a deployment, exploring a new technology, filming product content or simply meeting together, we’ve created an environment that feels much closer to the homes their subscribers actually live in,” said Jessica Peck, Linksys’ Product Marketing Director.
Indeed, this openness was a major factor in selecting Reading as the Studio’s location. Easily accessible from London, Heathrow Airport, and the M4 corridor, the studio is well positioned to welcome customers from across the UK and Europe.
Connecting Britain one room at a time
At a time when the fibre broadband industry is increasingly looking to drive take-up and reduce churn, optimising in-home connectivity has never been more important. With Wi-Fi 7 and mesh technology now maturing, ensuring high quality connectivity throughout every room of the home must no longer be a matter of best effort, but of assurance. As such, the future of Wi-Fi testing must start where customers actually use it: at home.
“For too long, the industry has relied on laboratory testing to predict customer experience, but subscribers don’t live in labs. They live in busy homes filled with connected devices, competing demands on the network and constantly changing environments,” said Canus. “Linksys Signal Studio allows us to validate performance in conditions that genuinely reflect how people use WiFi every day. That collaboration helps operators deploy with greater confidence, optimise the customer experience, and ultimately reduce support issues post install.”
Visitors to Connected Britain are invited to meet the Linksys team to learn more about Signal Studio, discuss real-world Wi-Fi challenges, and explore how collaborative testing can help improve subscriber experiences.
The post Beyond the lab: How Linksys is redefining real-world Wi-Fi testing appeared first on Total Telecom.
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Network operator Openreach has this week launched a new enhancement to their Optical Spectrum Extended Access (OSEA) portfolio, which will enable UK data centres and telecoms operators to deploy higher-capacity connectivity between sites with support for multiple wavelengths each carrying up to 1.6Tbps (Terabits per second) of capacity. (more…)
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Network access provider Openreach (BT) has this morning announced that they intend to expand their ongoing pilot of 10Gbps capable XGS-PON based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology, which over the next 12 months will be made available to “more than a million premises” across the United Kingdom. But a third of its full fibre network could be covered over the next 5 years. (more…)
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Network benchmarking giant Ookla (Accenture), which collects data from consumers via their popular broadband and mobile Speedtest.net service, has cleverly used data collected from Smartphones using Starlink’s 4G mobile satellite data connectivity to map the size of their individual Direct-to-Cell (DTC) beams in the real-world. (more…)
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According to the Home Office, the non-emergency police 101 service receives around 20 million calls per year, roughly 20% (4 million) of which are in fact intended for other services, like local councils.
Now, a new AI software is being introduced to assess calls and redirect callers to relevant services without needing to connect them to a call handler. This means erroneous callers can quickly be removed from the system, easing the workload for the call hander, reducing queuing times, and reducing wasted time for the callers.
In addition to removing calls made error, the system will also include deliberate nuisance calls, which have historically included novelty complaints about delayed pizza deliveries and slow service at the local pub. Indeed, even during a pilot of the new AI service, the system reportedly screened out calls attempting to report a missing umbrella and asking the local police to give them a lift.
By making the 101 system more efficient, the new AI service is expected to save policing up to £8.5 million each year.
“Police call handlers are wasting hours fielding calls meant for other organisations. Every minute spent on these calls is time taken away from helping people who genuinely need their support,” said Crime and Policing Minister, Sarah Jones. “AI is already helping police catch dangerous criminals and speed up investigations. Now, it will help bring control rooms into the 21st century, freeing up time and unlocking millions of pounds. Forces can reinvest those savings into tackling the crime on our streets.”
The AI service was co-developed by Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council in partnership with delivery partner Vodafone Business, backed by £1.4 million in government investment.
It forms part of more widespread police reform initiatives, which are investing £16.5 million to modernise how the police and public interact. Alongside the new 101 triage system, this will include AI that transcribes 999 and 101 calls, and links crime reports to identify patterns in demand.
Is AI being used effectively to optimise public services? Join the discussion at Connected Britain 2026, the UK’s largest digital economy event
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The Government has published its new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for England, which finally appears to have laid the foundations for planning authorities to give “substantial weight” to the benefits of “maintaining or improving network coverage, capacity, reliability and resilience” of modern gigabit broadband and 5G mobile networks. (more…)
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With the explosion of interest in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and direct-to-device (D2D) satellite services in recent years, the UK government is racing to secure the country’s place as a space innovator.
Between 2024 and 2025, the UK government said it catalysed £2.2 billion in investment and revenue for the UK space sector, a move it said was crucial to ensuring a sovereign and competitive satellite industry.
Today, the UK Space Agency has announced a further £13 million in funding for a range of UK-based satellite initiatives, aiming to boost the sector’s development and deliver economic benefits across the country. These 16 projects selected for support cover a wide range of topics, from technical R&D work to pilot connectivity projects in rural locations.
The largest tranche of the funding – £2.1 million – is going to the STARS project by Exobotics Ltd, which aims to develop “next-generation optical communications capability designed to provide ultra-fast, resilient and near real-time connectivity for satellite operators”. This will take the form of a satellite relay network, used to rapidly transmit mission-critical data.
Other large tranches are being given to Project Optimus (£1.845 million), a laser communications system that can transmit data between satellites and the ground at over 100 Gbps; Airbus’s Theia project (£1.5 million), which aims to make satellite processor functions reprogrammable and customisable while still in orbit; and the QUAKES (Quick Universal Array for Ka-band, E-band, and S-band Earth Stations) project (£1.71 million) from Orbital Astronautics Ltd, which is developing a compact, portable ground station that can be rapidly deployed and connect to multiple satellites at once.
Some of the smaller grants were given to projects with far more tangible benefits for UK citizens. CGI’s SODOR (Satellites for Digitalisation of Railways) project, for example, has been given £428,000 to fit a ScotRail train West Highland Line with satellite communications equipment, providing reliable broadband in one of the UK’s most remote rail corridors.
Additionally, the Gardens, Allotments and Urban Farming Facilitator (GAUFF) Sensor project (£199,000) from agricultural connectivity specialist Farmer Charlie will support the development of satellite-linked agricultural sensors that are designed to work in locations where terrestrial connectivity is poor.
“By combining affordable sensors with satellite connectivity, we are making it easier for growers to make informed decisions, improve productivity and farm more sustainably anywhere in the UK,” said Betty Bonnardel MBE, CEO of Farmer Charlie.
All of these projects will be delivered through the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Advanced Research in Telecommunication Systems (ARTES) programme, which is supported by the UK Space Agency, itself part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
“This investment shows how innovations in the UK’s satellite sector can improve lives, with better connectivity delivering internet access for more train journeys, and smarter farming,” said Space Minister Liz Lloyd. “By backing brilliant British companies, we are not only furthering our status as one of the world’s leading space powers, but creating high-quality jobs and new opportunities across the UK.”
A complete breakdown of the funding commitment to each of the 16 projects is available here.
Satellites are increasingly being recognised as critical part of the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure. According to a government fact sheet from 2024 around 18% of the UK’s GDP (£454 billion) is reliant on satellite connectivity
Is the UK doing enough to support rural connectivity? Join the discussion at Connected Britain 2026, the UK’s largest digital economy event
Also in the news
Shared Rural Network rollout extends to UK national parks with over 150 4G masts live
Vodafone touts latest attempt to bridge the UK’s digital divide
Virgin Media O2 cuts 5,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions
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