March 11, 2010
Virgin Media are to look to look up instead of down when it comes to installing some of it’s fibre optic cable by using telegraph poles.
 Plans by Virgin Media, the UK’s largest cable operator are to use telegraph poles and existing ducts to deliver it’s cable broadband services that will be able to deliver broadband speeds up to 50Mb and also it ’s digital TV services if a trial of the technology to Woolhampton in Berkshire goes well.
Virgin Media currently have their current fibre cable network underground which can prove expensive to deploy with the digging up of roads, however up to this point they have not been able to do any different as there are planning guidelines which stop large scale overhead deployment of cable.
The government is looking at the possibility of changing these guidelines which would then open up the possibility for Virgin Media to do large scale overhead deployment of their cable network which Virgin Media estimate could benefit around 1 million homes.
Virgin Medias Chief Executive, Neil Berkett said:
“This unique trial will allow us to understand the possibilities of aerial deployment and may provide an exciting new way to extend next generation broadband services. With everything from BBC iPlayer to YouTube increasingly demanding reliable ultrafast broadband speeds, we’re keen to ensure that all communities, in towns, cities and villages right across the UK, stand to benefit.”
The government are keen to get next-generation digital services out to rural communities and allowing Virgin Media to look up instead of down could be one way to help with rolling out fibre broadband to more rural areas.
Virgin are already planning on extending their network to another 500,000 homes that would then be able to access it’s current top rated XXL broadband service offering 50Mb. There are currently 12.6 million homes in the UK that are able to connect to the Virgin Media network.
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March 10, 2010
Fibre-Optic broadband access is growing across Europe as next generation broadband starts to take off.
A study done by IDATE on behalf of the Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council Europe showed that the rate of growth of Fibre-To-The-Home broadband went from 19% in June 2009 up to 29% by the end of December 2009.
Across Europe it is estimated that there is FTTH access available to 25 million homes and businesses with currently around 3.5 million taking subscriptions.
In Europe it was found that there was 249 FTTH projects taking place, with 136 of these being new initiatives that were launched since 2005.
The UK however does not show up on the tables for leading the way with FTTH, Norway top the charts with a coverage of 64.9% and Sweden in second spot with a FTTH coverage of 41.4% coverage.
It is countries in Western and Northern Europe that also lead the way in terms of subscriptions to FTTH services, with 67% of subscribers in these countries, Sweden, Italy, France, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
The UK we hope will start to feature in the next year or two as fibre broadband deployment is starting to take off a bit more here now, even though we have Virgin Media who are a cable provider the study did not include them. BT are starting the roll out of their own fibre network (BT Infinity), with around 2.5 million premises having FTTH installed by 2012 although the majority however are having FTTC (Fibre-To-The-Cabinet) installed which does not offer as fast speeds as it uses copper wires to de;liver the broadband form the cabinet to the premises. Virgin Media are also looking to offer 100Mb fibre broadband via their DOCSIS 3 network.
What is considered one of the main issues with next generation high speed broadband connections is getting people to sign up to them, so a similar process that was needed to get people to change from dial up internet to standard ADSL broadband.
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February 25, 2010
Virgin Media are set to start the roll out of their own 100Mb fibre broadband and help take broadband in the UK up to the next level.
The news comes hot on the heels of yesterdays announcement by Fibrecity who announced the three broadband providers who would be offering the residents of Bournemouth their own 100Mb fibre broadband services.
The news that virgin Media are to start rolling out a 100Mb fibre optic broadband service will also be a blow to big rivals BT, who are currently rolling out their own fibre network “BT Infinity” that offers broadband speeds up to 40Mb.
Also, with Virgin already having it’s network available to around half of UK homes and businesses it gives them good footing to deploy their new technology to double their current headline speed of 50Mb to 100Mb.
Thew new speed increases come as part of Virgin’s DOCSIS 3 network which is already delivering broadband speed of up to 200Mb in Ashford, Kent where the initial trials are taking place. These trials are set to be extended now to Coventry where the trials will continue to focus on future technologies such as teleconferencing and downloading HD programmes on demand.
The other exciting news with this is that Virgin believe that the DOCSIS 3 network will be capable of broadband speeds up to 400Mb.
Neil Berkett, Virgin Media’s Chief Executive said:
“There is nothing we can’t do with our fibre optic cable network, and the upcoming launch of our flagship 100Mb service will give our customers the ultimate broadband experience. Just as we led the way by launching the UK’s first ever next generation service, we want to keep giving our customers the very best broadband available, by investing in technological innovation and transforming the experience they have when they are online. The launch of Virgin Media’s 100Mb service will be a historic moment and will mean the UK will be comparable to other leading broadband nations.“
Although this will likely be a bit of a blow to BT, as consumers hopefully we will see the benefit as the battle to offer the fastest broadband continues between Virgin Media and BT.
BT won’t want to stay a long way behind Virgin Media but unless they perhaps up their ambitions they could well be stuck behind, especially as Virgin Media have funded this with their own money and not been asking for tax payers money to fund it like BT was asking for to help with the roll out of their own fibre network.
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February 24, 2010
Bournemouth residents are set to have the fastest broadband in the UK, dwarfing the broadband speeds to be offered by BT Infinity and Virgin Media fibre broadband by getting a superfast 100Mb fibre broadband.
 The three fibre broadband providers have been announced who will be providing fibre broadband over the Fibrecity network and be able to offer fibre broadband speeds up to a whopping 100Mb, this is double the current maximum that Virgin Media offer (50Mb) and over double what BT Infinity will offer (40Mb).
The Fibrecity network will use Fibre To The Home (FTTH) and has been installed using existing waste pipes and sewers meaning that it could be installed at a hugely reduced cost than would have been possible if they had had to dig up roads.
The Fibrecity network will also not just be offering super fast fibre optic broadband but also telephone and TV. With a fibre connection of 100Mb it means that the fibre optic network connection can easily cope with handling a number of different applications, such as streaming videos, webcam use, telephone calls and online gaming without there being an effect on the other applications that are also using the connection at the same time.
Another plus point with the Fibrecity networks is that no telephone line rental charges are charged, also, as the telephone can run through the fibre network aswell it also means that you could get rid of your BT telephone line if you wish.
The 3 providers who will be providing the fibre broadband services have been announced as, VISPA, Velocity1 and Fibreband.
The homes in Bournemouth that have already been connected to the Fibrecity network will be contacted to have a set-top-box installed that will then let them connect to the fibre broadband from one of the 3 broadband providers.
This new network is currently only available in Bournemouth although Fibrecity are currently doing a network in Dundee. Going on the success of these it is likely that further cities and locations will have Fibrecity networks installed.
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February 19, 2010
Eclipse Internet are to launch fibre optic broadband packages offering broadband speeds up to 40Mb.
The new Eclipse fibre packages will go live on April 12th and will offer broadband speeds of a maximum 40Mb and with a guaranteed 12Mb throughput.
 The Eclipse Fibre broadband packages will use the BT fibre optic network (BT Infinity) that mainly will offer fibre broadband on Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC) with the broadband going via the copper wires form the cabinet to the home via VDSL2.
There will be two different deals launched, Eclipse Fibre and Eclipse Fibre Pro. Both will offer pretty much the same although the Pro package will have 10GB more monthly usage, a larger upload speed and a free WAN router.
Both deals will also have a £75 installation fee and are primarily targeted at the Business broadband user.
- Eclipse Fibre
- £39.95 per month
- Up to 40Mb Broadband download speeds
- Up to 2Mb upload speeds
- 12Mb guaranteed throughput
- 50GB usage
- Free vDSL router
- Eclipse Fibre Pro
- £49.95 per month
- Up to 40Mb Broadband download speeds
- Up to 10Mb upload speeds
- 12Mb guaranteed throughput
- 60GB usage
- Free vDSL router
- Free WAN router
Users can register their interest in the new fibre broadband packages online on the Eclipse Internet website.
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February 18, 2010
A delayed £70 million project to provide high speed broadband to schools and libraries across the Scottish Highlands has finally been completed.
The project was called the Pathfinder North Broadband Project which finally went live on Wednesday uses both fibre optic cables and broadband wireless technology to get the high speed Internet to all the schools, libraries and other council buildings, of which there is a total of 801 connected.
Five local authorities were involved in the project, which included The Highland Council and Moray, Argyll and Bute Councils and Orkney and Shetland Islands Councils.
The Chairman of The Highland Council’s Resources Committee, Councillor Carolyn Wilson said:
“The Pathfinder North scheme represents a major investment in rural locations, which depend so heavily on good communications. The provision of high-speed broadband services is great news both for our teams and the people they support, who have access to our community schools, libraries and offices. We are looking forward to using the network to the best of its capability, ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of all the communities we serve.“
The new network is not being shared to other people in the Highlands which means that broadband speeds of between 2Mb and 300Mb will be available to those on the new high speed broadband network.
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BE Broadband don’t think too much to Google launching their own fibre optic network.
The recent announcement that Google is to initially roll out a fibre optic network to between 50,000 and 500,000 homes in the USA which aims to have broadband speeds of up to 1Gb has got the guys from Be Broadband giving their thoughts.
Although we should embrace the fact that faster broadband is being developed the worry is the fact that it is another part of the Internet that Google could start to dominate in and how long before they have a monopoly of the Internet.
This was a point made by Alinna Chung, the Online Product Manager for Be broadband who said:
“Faster broadband and challenging providers who have rested on their laurels for too long is awesome, but I don’t really like the idea that Google will know everything I do with my connection, even if I opt out of their normal services. If they have a point of disagreement with a specific governing institution, are they going to be able to completely cut me off from information if I depend on them for both my access and my source of information? I think Google means well, but ultimately, diversifying sources/dependencies means that people can maintain their freedom.“
Tom Williams, Head Of Operations at Be Broadband said:
“although it’s great to push boundaries and continue to demonstrate the value of high bandwidth services, monopolies are never good, and you’d have to question the true freedom of the web if one company became so dominant.“
It will be interesting to see how well the the Google fibre broadband goes in the USA as it could lead to a roll out in other countries including the UK.
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February 15, 2010
Virgin Media pulled a “cheeky” stunt outside their rivals offices, BT, over the broadband connection speeds that they offer.
 Virgin Media organised 13 skimpily dressed female models, including Danielle Lloyd, to bare their behinds to display a message which read “BT? Fast Broadband? My Arse!”
The executive director of Virgin Media said:
“This cheeky stunt was simply a humorous way to get across a serious message – that customers should demand what they are being promised from their internet providers”
The dig is aimed at ADSL & ADSL2+ technology that is still what most people use for their broadband connections at present through the BT network and not as fast as Virgin Media offer through it’s fibre optic broadband network, however there is still around 250,000 Virgin.net customers who connect through this way if they are not in a fibre enabled area.
To test your own broadband speed you can use a free broadband speed test tool.
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February 12, 2010
BTs fibre broadband prices are going to be hard for their rivals to match according to Zen Internet.
Speaking to PC Pro magazine, Andrew Saunders, head of product development for Zen Internet said that he was surprised that BT Retail had gone in so low with it’s BT Infinity fibre broadband pricing with prices starting at just £20 per month, which is only slightly more expensive than they charge for ADSL2+ lines.
However the problem with this is that for broadband providers who rent lines from BT Wholesale can pay a minimum of just £5.88 for an ADSL2+ line yet the charge for a fibre optic line is going to be between £13-£17 which means that they are very unlikely to be able to match BTs pricing for the service but if they want the business it looks like they will have to go in lower with their prices than they had hoped.
The reason for the aggressive pricing from BT is reportedly to help get people on board and choosing fibre that they are spending £1.5 billion on installing in the next few years.
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February 9, 2010
BT are planning on making their cable ducts open to rivals to allow them to lay their own fibre networks in them.
This news would mean that rival’s could install their own fibre optic networks without having to cause severe disruption and reduce the need for disruption caused by digging up of roads.
The Chief Executive of BT said:
“Although it’s unlikely to be the silver bullet to get fibre to every home, open access to all ducts, not just ours, might help BT and others extend coverage and so we would like to see a future government support such a move.”
With BT opening up their ducts they would hope to be allowed access to other companies ducts, such a Virgin Media, the largest current UK fibre broadband provider. A sort of “you show me yours and I’ll show you mine” kind of thing, although Virgin have in the past rejected this.
What it would do is open up where each provider is able to offer their own services, so where BT may lay new ducts with their fibre may be an area that Virgin Media don’t have covered with their own network so it would open up the option for Virgin to extend their network to that area for a hugely reduced cost, and then vise-versa if BT could use Virgin Media’s ducts to install their fibre network to areas covered by Virgin Media but not themselves.
What it would mean however is that it would increase the competition in the area for broadband providers who can offer fibre broadband as currently Virgin Media are relatively un-challenged at the present time.
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