Wi-Fi 7 is a “complete paradigm shift” for in-building connectivity
Interview At this year’s Connected Britain, we caught up with TP-Link’s ISP Presales Director Paul Howard to discuss the enormous impact Wi-Fi 7 is having on the connected home sector Our interview covers everything from the latest technologies to the relationship between Wi-Fi and WAN, and the ongoing evolution of the connected home. Check out our full interview here! Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter Also in the...
Virgin Media O2 UK Gift Free Access to Kids TV Channels in October 2024
Customers of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2), specifically those who also take their pay TV service and have kids, may like to know that the provider will be offering free access to children’s TV channels throughout the whole of October 2024 “as a way of saying thank you to customers and helping to keep families entertained throughout the month“. In other words, from Tuesday 1st October until 6am on 31st October 2024, all Virgin TV customers will be given access to additional kids TV...
Ofcom UK Probes Brsk Over Birmingham Deployment of Broadband Poles
Network operator Brsk, which is in the process of being merged into Netomnia (here), are facing an investigation by Ofcom after the regulator suggested that the operator may have “failed to comply with its obligations” under Code Powers during the roll-out of new “telegraph poles” as part of their new full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network in Birmingham. The operator, which has already reached 633,000 homes, is currently building out its new network across parts of West Yorkshire, Lancashire,...
CityFibre Connect First Norfolk UK Project Gigabit Broadband Homes
Alternative network provider Cityfibre has today announced that they’ve connected the first homes to their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network in rural parts of Norfolk, which is being built as part of their £114m state aid supported Project Gigabit contract (Lot 7) with the Government. CityFibre currently aspires to cover up to 8 million UK premises with their new FTTP network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK / public subsidy)...
Vodafone and Three UK Set Out Competition Commitments for Merger UPDATE
Mobile network operators Vodafone and Three UK (CK Hutchison) have today responded to the recently raised competition concerns over their proposed mega-merger by setting out a series of commitments, which they hope will satisfy the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) enough to approve the deal. Just to recap. The merger would see Vodafone retain a 51% slice of the business and CK Hutchison (Three UK) holding 49%. The agreement was promoted as something that would be “great for customers,...
Lightning Fibre Trial 50Mbps UK Broadband Plan for People Aged 66+
Eastbourne-based alternative UK broadband ISP Lightning Fibre, which has built a new full fibre (FTTP) network across parts of Sussex and Kent in England, have today begun to “trial” a new 50Mbps (symmetric) package that costs just £15 per month for 24-months. But it’s only available to people born before 23rd September 1958. The new package aligns to the current state pension age, which is 66 years old for both men and women. But unlike their similar Social Tariff (same speed and price, but...
Full Fibre UK Broadband ISP Connexin Launch 5Gbps Speeds
Alternative broadband ISP Connexin, which is currently aiming to deploy a new full fibre (FTTP) network across 500,000 premises in East Yorkshire and beyond (England), has today become one of the UK’s fastest residential providers with the launch of a new 5Gbps (symmetric speed) package called “Fibre 5000“. The premium package is being aimed at “heavy internet users … [with] exceptionally high data demands“, such as content creators and video professionals, as well as businesses or individuals...
BT Get £105m for First Sale of Old UK Copper Telecoms Cables
The BT Group has confirmed that they recently received their first upfront prepayment of £105m for the sale of leftover copper cables, which had been extracted from their legacy UK exchange network (broadband and phone lines) as part of the operator’s gradual move to replace those with newer fibre optic lines. Just to recap. The group’s £15bn investment to roll-out Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based gigabit broadband ISP lines across the UK, which is being handled by Openreach, will ultimately...
Ofcom’s Roaming Rules Come into Force for UK Mobile Operators
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, will tomorrow (1st Oct 2024) begin enforcing new roaming rules that require mobile network operators, such as Three UK, Vodafone, EE and O2 (including their many virtual / MVNO partners), to protect consumers who travel abroad from mobile BILL SHOCKS on data (broadband), call and text charges. Just to recap. The regulator previously found (here) that the quality of information being provided by mobile operators on roaming charges could be “inconsistent and...
Survey Claims UK Internet Users Leave Broadband Routers Open to Hackers
A new survey of 3,045 UK internet users, which was conducted by Broadband Genie between 1st January and 26th April 2024, has revealed that 89% of respondents have never updated the firmware of their home router and 86% have never changed the device’s administrator password (falling to 72% for those who have never changed their WiFi password). The survey also found that 75% have never checked to see what or who is linked to their router and 52% have never changed or updated any of their...