BT Broadband has had broadband outages across the UK today after one of the major exchanges in Birmingham had a power failure.
At around 1 pm today (Monday 3rd October) problems started to arise for BT Broadband customers and it was a nationwide problem affecting customers up and down the country.
A BT Spokesperson earlier on said:
“We can confirm that, as a result of a power issue at one of our major exchanges, some customers may currently be experiencing a loss of broadband service.”
It is believed that the main problem has now been fixed with most BT Broadband customers back online, there are however some remaining customers who are still experiencing problems with connecting to their internet.
*** Anyone still experiencing problems with their BT Broadband are advised to reboot their Home Hub modem/router to hopefully fix any remaining problems. ***
BT Broadband customers can also keep an eye on the BT Service status update page for updates and estimated resolve times to their BT Broadband.
uSwitch yesterday published what they believed are the 50 slowest broadband streets in the UK but today BT has countered this by saying that the results are based on false data.
In uSwitches report they said that the street of Mount Pleasant in the Suffolk town of Halesworth had the slowest broadband of any street in the whole country with an average broadband speed of 0.128Mb. However, BT have countered this claim by saying that their data indicates that the street has speeds of 7.5Mb and that Mount Pleasant was very close to the local telephone exchange meaning it very unlikely that it would get such slow broadband speeds, plus the street has access to fibre broadband too!
The top 2 streets for the slowest broadband on the list are both actually connected up to fibre broadband.
A BT spokesperson said:
“It appears that the data in this survey is out of date. Fibre broadband is now available for a number of the streets identified.
We wouldn’t disagree with uSwitch that there are a number of slow spots in the UK, and that needs addressing, but it would seem they haven’t managed to identify them correctly here.”
BT said that 7 of the 50 streets identified in the list have access to fibre broadband.
However, just because they have access to fibre broadband does not mean that residents on the streets are signed up to it and that the results in uSwitch’s report are based on actual broadband speed tests that are carried out by consumers. A minimum of 10 speed tests per post code had to have been done before they were considered to be included in the report.
BT Broadband are getting rid of the Fair Use policy it has in place for it’s ADSL and fibre broadband packages and making their unlimited broadband truly unlimited.
This is a welcome move to help customers understand more clearly what they are signing up for with a broadband package. So often we have seen broadband deals advertised as offering “Unlimited broadband” yet in the terms & conditions there is a “Fair Use policy” tucked away which gives broadband providers the freedom to stop the broadband service or restrict it to the users who they consider are extremely high usage.
BT Infinity Option 2 fibre broadband and also BT Total Broadband Option 3 on ADSL will now be able to use as much data as they require with the data caps being lifted on these unlimited broadband packages from BT. Previously the “Unlimited download” packages that were on offer had basically 300GB per month (more than enough for the majority of users) of downloads and then their broadband connection would have speed restrictions put in place.
Only around 0.5% of BT Broadband users were effected by the 300GB fair use limit that was in place but regardless of this many felt slightly confused and mis-sold that an unlimited broadband package did actually have limits in place.
Despite the lifting of the Fair Use policy BT have said that “traffic management” will still be in place when the network is busy, this will be for applications such as P2P file sharing which can be quite intensive on the network especially at peak times of the day.
BT Total Broadband Options 1 & 2 and also BT Infinity Option 1 do still have data limits in place, instead of users getting a restricted service or being cut off they will be charged instead £5 per 5GB extra used.
BT Broadband customers who have an Apple iPad from today will have access to a free app that will mean that they can connect to BTs 2 million UK hotspots when they are out and about.
The free app is available today from iTunes and will enable BT Broadband customers to connect to free WiFi via their iPad, the service also helps point users in the direction of their nearest BT hotspot. BT broadband customers get unlimited free WiFi from BT FON and BT Openzone hotspots. BT FON hotspots are created by BT Broadband customers allowing other BT FON customers to connect to their wireless internet for free and in exchange BT Broadband customers can use other BT FON hotpsots.
BT Retail Consumers managing director, John Petter said:
“Millions of BT broadband customers already get free access to the UK’s biggest wi-fi network. Our free app for the iPhone and Android devices has proved a huge hit with over 400,000 downloads to date, so launching an app for the iPad was naturally the next step. The app makes accessing wi-fi so simple you don’t even have to think about it and represents real value to our customers at a time when more and more people are accessing the internet when they are on the move.“
This is a video that BT have made showing iPad customer show easy it is and what they need to do to connect their iPad for free.
BT’s latest results show that their fibre broadband network (BT Infinity) has passed 3 million premises yet currently only around 40,000 customers have signed up to the next generation broadband service.
The figure of around 40,000 customers signed up to BT’s own BT Infinity product doesn’t take into account people who are signed up through other broadband providers who use BT’s fibre network. Currently BT Infinity orders are adding around 4,000 new customers to the fibre broadband network each week.
By 2015 BT are aiming to have 2 thirds of UK homes covered by it’s fibre broadband network which will offer broadband speeds up to 40Mb for the majority of customers who will be connected via FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet). Over this period BT are investing £2.5 billion in this new next generation network which will also for the lucky few who will be connected by FTTH (Fibre To The Home) be able to sign up to their up to 110Mb fibre broadband service next March!
On standard broadband additions BT managed to take an impressive 45% of all new broadband additions in the second quarter, which in real terms was around 114,000 new customers which took their total broadband customer base to 5.34 million.
Ian Livingston, the Chief Executive for BT said:
“We have made significant progress in improving profitability and cash flow, enabling us to invest in building the foundations for revenue growth in 2012/13.
We have increased our EBITDA outlook for the year and now expect to hit our £2bn free cash flow target two years early.
Global Services order intake was up 50% at £2.1bn. Our fibre roll out has passed three million premises and BT Infinity orders are now running at over 4,000 per week. BT Vision customers now stand at more than half a million, with more developments planned to enhance our offering. Our share of DSL broadband net additions was 45%, one of our highest shares ever.”
BT Total Broadband customers who have iPhone or Android mobiles will be able to get an app that will connect their phones to free unlimited Wi-Fi connections.
The app, called the BT FON app will notify users of the nearest WiFi hot spot to them, users will then be able to enter their email address and password and select if they want to automatically be logged in to a BT Wi-Fi area.
Being connected to these WiFi areas will save customers money as the access to BT FON and BT Openzone is free for BT Total broadband customers and there are 1.6 million of the Wi-Fi hot sports avialable worldwide.
The app will not only auto sign usesr into available Wi-Fi networks when they become ava\ilable but will also provide a map view so you can see where there is available access points close by.
What’s more, BT are donating 50p for every BT FON app that is downloaded (up to a maximum of £10,000) so providing 20,000 people download the app then BT will be paying up the full amount to BBC Children in Need.
The chairman of BT, Sir Mike Rake is the only person in his Oxfordshire villiage of Hambleden that has got broadband, and as expected this has not pleased his neighbours.
The locals of the village have been waiting for around 5 years for broadband, while Sir Mike only moved in around a year ago and has already got broadband.
His broadband connection is due to his participation in BT’s trial of Broadband Enabling Technology (BET), which although is only a limited trial it is estimated that it costs around £3,000 for each line.
BET is designed to help deliver a stable broadband connection of 1Mb to locations that are 12km from the exchange and largely unable to receive broadband due to their remoteness, these places are also known as “not spots”.
A local resident, Mr Ashworth, asked to be put on the trial but was told that no one would be added until next year. BT said that they quite often use their own staff when running trials and this is nothing new.
The frustration and anger amongst locals is easy to understand, they have been waiting for broadband for years yet when the chairman of BT moves in he gets broadband very quickly.
BT is to nearly double the number of people who are able to access it’s fast ADSL2+ copper network by spring 2011.
Currently the ADSL2+ technology which can deliver broadband speeds up to 24Mb is available to around 40% of homes and businesses and BT plan make it available to three quarters of the country.
Although many who’s broadband connection is slow currently won’t see their broadband speeds jump up to 24Mb (unlikely anyone will actually get this headline speed) they will however likely see a speed increase over what they are currently getting.
BT are also rolling out fibre broadband across the UK, and hope to have this available to 40% of the country by 2012 and will be able to offer broadband speeds of 40Mb with the FTTC technology. The fibre roll out is being done separately from the ADSL2+ installations.
The Digital Britain report released earlier this year said that everyone in the country should be within reach of 2Mb broadband and as it is not feasible for BT to fund the roll out of fibre broadband across the whole of the country the installation of ADSL2+ technology will mean that those who are currently receiving broadband but not at the 2Mb minimum target could well have this rectified with the installation of ADSL2+.
BT have also started trialling Broadband Enabling Technology (BET) that is designed to deliver broadband to broadband “not spot” areas (Read: BT to pilot technology that will deliver broadband to “not spot” areas) which again is likely to help in the aim of the governments Digital Britain report.
BT are going to showcase how good their fibre broadband is by opening two BT Broadband stores where potential customers can go in and see how fast the fibre optic broadband is and sign up for the service.
With BT currently installing fibre optic cable in Muswell Hill (North London) and the Whitchurch area of Cardiff these are the locations of the 2 new BT Broadband stores. The one in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff is due to open this week and the one in Muswell Hill next week.
The BT Broadband stores will be able to show how having BT’s fibre broadband (Fibre -To-The-Cabinet) with download speeds of up to 40Mb could improve their use of the Internet including gaming, Internet TV, downloading and using it with CCTV.
BT is to upgrade the broadband speed of BT broadband customers for free. Currently BT customers on “up to” 8Mb deals will see their “up to” speed increased to 20Mb for those who are in enabled areas where ADSL2+ technology is installed.
Currently this will mean that around 10 million UK homes and business will benefit, this is around 40% of the population when the initial 549 exchanges that are ADSL2+ enabled are put to the higher broadband speeds. It is hoped that by March 2010 that around 55% of the UK population will be on the new faster 20Mb broadband speeds.
We also reported last week (Free iPlate for BT Broadband customers) about the “BT Broadband Accelerator”, also known as the iPlate, that BT are now offering to BT Broadband customers for free (just the cost of postage to pay – £1.20) that has shown that over 50% broadband speed increases can be achieved by fitting the device.
You can test to see what the maximum broadband speed you are likely to be able to receive is by entering your post code or telephone number on the checker on BT’s website available here.
You can also check what broadband speed you are receiving with our free broadband speed test.
BT Broadband has had broadband outages across the UK today after one of the major exchanges in Birmingham had a power failure.
The app, called the BT FON app will notify users of the nearest WiFi hot spot to them, users will then be able to enter their email address and password and select if they want to automatically be logged in to a BT Wi-Fi area.
Currently this will mean that around 10 million UK homes and business will benefit, this is around 40% of the population when the initial 549 exchanges that are ADSL2+ enabled are put to the higher broadband speeds. It is hoped that by March 2010 that around 55% of the UK population will be on the new faster 20Mb broadband speeds.