Broadband News
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has released broadband statistics showing that the UK is keeping up with global competitors on price and market penetration. Monthly fixed-line broadband subscriptions ... 2 Sep 2010 | 5:36 pm
Thanks for that Sherlock
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that 90 per cent of UK consumers are confused by broadband advertising - we'd have to assume the missing ten per cent are marketing bods for ISPs.…
2 Sep 2010 | 11:53 am
93% of UK consumers want a change in how broadband speeds are advertised, according to an ICM survey commissioned by Virgin Media. The flndings come after an Ofcom study found ISPs were failng to deliver their ... 2 Sep 2010 | 10:55 am
Dundee is the latest UK city to benefit from Fibrecity rolling out its next-gen broadband network.
The super-fast connections will offer fibre-to-the-home, with speeds of between 25Mbps to 100Mbps.
The i3 Group owned Fibrecity plans to run cables down Scottish Water’s sewage infrastructure, and to use micro-trenching (digging up the pavement) to reach areas where the water [...] 2 Sep 2010 | 10:36 am
Virgin Media says that nine out of every ten people in a survey it commissioned (carried out by ICM) believe that the way broadband speeds are advertised is misleading.
The practice of advertising, for example, a connection of “up to 20Mbps”, when it’s impossible for a line to actually achieve that full 20Mbps (or even that [...] 2 Sep 2010 | 9:13 am
More than 70% of UK households now access broadband services based on either BT's or Virgin Media's networks. The milestone was announced as BT passed the 15 million mark for the number of premises connected over its ... 1 Sep 2010 | 1:41 pm
Gun-totin' pornsters step up
The company behind a proposal to create .xxx, an adults-only top-level internet domain, is set to run the gauntlet of objections from angry pornographers and appalled Christians for the sixth time.…
1 Sep 2010 | 12:28 pm
Free gov phone-a-lonely-nurse service dropped
The Department of Health has said there are no immediate plans to drop the NHS Direct web service, despite signalling the end of telephone consultations.…
31 Aug 2010 | 4:34 pm
The Gadget Show said (from last nights TV show): "Ofcom are recommending that ISPs become more honest about the broadband speeds that you will actually achieve, but the likelihood is that this will end up in the ... 31 Aug 2010 | 10:22 am
BT has announced another milestone, with the number of customers now surfing on its broadband network hitting 15 million in the UK.
Although this figure includes the customers of unbundled ISPs on the network, so in other words, those 15 million aren’t all with BT as a provider, but also with other companies such as Sky [...] 31 Aug 2010 | 8:53 am
€5 a month
Broadband pricing in Europe and the US fell €5 a month, on average, as broadband speeds went up by an average of 20 per cent during the last year, says researcher Analysys Mason. This is after a relatively flat period during the past recession, when prices held up.…
30 Aug 2010 | 9:02 am
You've all been very naughty boys
The chief executive of .uk domain manager Nominet has called for the "domaining" community to "grow up" and start looking more respectable.…
27 Aug 2010 | 3:53 pm
Ofcom goes gentle on neutrality
Exclusive Ofcom will encourage ISPs to be transparent about traffic management, but won't ask them to detail the information in a standard format, according to meeting notes seen by The Register.…
27 Aug 2010 | 12:48 pm
Over half of the people in the UK would not watch more television on the web if they had faster broadband. Despite widely-held beliefs that people would watch more TV online if they had faster broadband , a study has ... 26 Aug 2010 | 4:54 pm
It has been reported that close to seventy five percent of households in England have got access to broadband, giving England the largest degree of coverage in the UK. There are many households across the UK that ... 25 Aug 2010 | 2:18 pm
For the second time this month, BT has been hauled over the coals regarding the advertising of its broadband products.
As we reported three weeks ago, an advert for its fibre-to-the-cabinet up to 40Mbps Infinity service was labelled misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority, and BT was forced to change the tag-line of “instant Internet”.
Now the [...] 25 Aug 2010 | 11:45 am
For once, it's not the estate agent's fault
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a BT television advert, after the watchdog concluded that customers had been misled by the telecom giant’s broadband speed claims.…
25 Aug 2010 | 11:45 am
Advertising watchdogs have slammed BT after complaints about misleading claims over broadband speeds in its advertising. The decision comes while advertising code writers CAP and BCAP are reviewing broadband speed ... 25 Aug 2010 | 10:15 am
An advert for telecommunications firm BT has been banned for misleading customers over broadband speeds. In a TV advert, a voice-over said BT is "rolling out up to 20 meg speeds" to give "consistently faster ... 25 Aug 2010 | 1:18 am
Tony Abbott has consigned the party of regional Australia – The Nationals – to the sidelines for the Coalition's negotiations with three rural independent MPs on forming Government, effectively cutting them out ... 24 Aug 2010 | 6:12 am
Two Cornish villages are being given access to high speed broadband services according to a recent report, and this has come courtesy of a new broadband rollout by Vtesse. For businesses and consumers all over the UK ... 22 Aug 2010 | 2:07 pm
There’s some good broadband news for the residents of Allerton, Kirkham, Middlewich, Penrith and a number of other exchanges around the North West.
As part of its 21CN programme, BT has announced that it will roll out fast broadband to twenty communities in the region, spanning 140,000 homes and businesses. The process is expected to be [...] 20 Aug 2010 | 2:00 pm
Vodafone has introduced the R201 mobile wi-fi hub, following in the footsteps of 3 who already offer such a product.
Essentially it’s a compact (9 x 6cm) wi-fi router which allows the owner to connect up to five devices, no software or wires (obviously) are required.
The R201 is powered by an internal battery, which Vodafone claims [...] 17 Aug 2010 | 3:59 pm
Virgin Media is intending to take a more pro-active approach in defending its customers from malware infections.
The company says that despite providing a free “class-leading security package” along with its broadband service, recent research it has conducted showed that almost one in four customers had been infected by viruses, trojans or spyware. Many customers hadn’t [...] 17 Aug 2010 | 1:22 pm
More popular than university
BT is considering increasing the number of apprentices it employs after receiving over 100 applications for each place.…
17 Aug 2010 | 1:12 pm
Lines up letters
Virgin Media subscribers whose computers are part of a botnet can expect a letter warning them to tighten up their security, under a new initiative based on data collected by independent malware trackers.…
16 Aug 2010 | 12:49 pm
Great unhosed offered tickets to 34th floor
The BT Tower will open to the public next month for the first time in almost thirty years as part of an architecture festival.…
16 Aug 2010 | 12:10 pm
As we reported back in February, Fibrecity is the company providing Leeds and Bournemouth with super-fast broadband to the tune of 100Mbps (and it has designs for a number of other UK cities, too).
Although the firm’s plans in Bournemouth have been scuppered by Wessex Waters, who control the sewers Fibrecity was planning to run the [...] 16 Aug 2010 | 8:28 am
Ofcom closer to sending bailiffs for frequencies
ICO Global Communications has failed to force a judicial review of Ofcom's decision to move to release radio frequencies allocated to the company.…
12 Aug 2010 | 12:52 pm
Minutes from Ofcom meet show BBC unhappy too
Both the BBC and the CAA are concerned that powerline networking will damage their services, though only one fears that it will lead to planes falling from the sky.…
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12 Aug 2010 | 9:02 am
It seems that the coalition government is reneging on a previous promise made to review the fibre tax, which smaller ISPs consider unfair to their business.
Minister for Communications, Culture and the Creative Industries (such a snappy title) Ed Vaizey back-tracked on the promised review, Computer Weekly reported.
Vaizey made the comment after a meeting with the [...] 12 Aug 2010 | 8:11 am
Company acts in own interest shocker
Broadsight analyst Alan Patrick isn't the type to pat himself on the back, but he can be forgiven for doing so today. Google threw the Net Neutrality campaign under a bus this week, publishing a set of policy principles it's thrashed out with Verizon. But two years ago Patrick predicted such a detente was inevitable, forecasting that Google would abandon the "hippy" hangers-on who backed the campaign.…
11 Aug 2010 | 3:07 pm
BT and Virgin put slippers back on
The coalition government has scrapped the promised review on the tax paid on fibre-optic connections, leaving BT and Virgin with enough tax advantages to maintain their duopoly.…
11 Aug 2010 | 2:27 pm
Closed proprietary system not safe for gov
The German government has advised ministers not to use BlackBerry and iPhone devices due to “a dramatic increase of attacks against” its networks.…
10 Aug 2010 | 11:24 am
Opposition gags on high-fibre diet
Australia's outgoing Labor government has a Very Big Idea: to get ultra-fast broadband (up to 100MBps), mostly delivered by fibre, into nearly every home. They think the National Broadband Network (NBN) will cost $43bn, about $5bn a year over eight years.…
10 Aug 2010 | 11:08 am
What Google-Verizon means for you
Analysis The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. - Animal Farm…
Free On-Demand Webcast - Virtualizing the Hard Stuff
9 Aug 2010 | 4:36 pm
Servers moved, ban averted
RIM is to locate three servers within Saudi Arabia, putting them under the jurisdiction of local security forces and thus removing the necessity of the planned ban.…
9 Aug 2010 | 11:39 am
I'm in Riya...
Updated Saudi Arabia has carried out its threat to cut off BlackBerry users in the country, with 700,000 addicts reduced to talking on the phone and perhaps even doing some work.…
6 Aug 2010 | 3:35 pm
Take two wireless standards to the airwaves?
Clearwire will start working out how to migrate to LTE, the world’s 4G standard, and whether it will cause problems with the firm's existing WiMAX network.…
5 Aug 2010 | 4:24 pm
Can we have our campaign back?
Howls of outrage have greeted a report that Verizon and Google are discussing a framework for internet regulation. Politicians and regulators hope that a widely-accepted industry agreement will kill the net neutrality issue stone dead. Campaigners fear the same outcome. For where would that leave them?…
5 Aug 2010 | 1:23 pm
BT has been slapped on the wrist over its advertising campaign for the company’s new super-fast broadband service called Infinity.
Infinity is BT’s fibre-to-the-cabinet scheme which offers connection speeds of up to 40Mbps.
The adverts in question claimed that the service provided “instant Internet”, and Advertising Standards were brought on the case after there were four complaints [...] 5 Aug 2010 | 8:41 am
Free broadband and Wi-Fi in dedicated hotspot on both sites
In association with Ovi by Nokia, Virgin Media is installing 50Mb broadband in both the V Festival sites at Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston park, Staffordshire, 21 - 22 August.
The provider is to feed a full internet service to The Mansion, an area dedicated to giving festival-goers access to laptops, free Wi-Fi, gaming and 3DTV services. It will also have power points for phone charging, and live performances from guest DJs through the entire weekend.
Additionally, visitors to The Mansion will be able to try out Nokia's new N8 handset before it goes on general release, including its HD TV connectivity through HDMI, and can chill out by a dedicated bar area or watch the video wall.
“The Mansion is an exciting new addition to this year’s Virgin Media V Festival and brings ‘a home away from home’ familiarity to both sites", said Ashley Stockwell, executive director of brand and marketing at the company.?"We are confident this will be the place to hang out, whether it’s to just chill, stay in touch with friends and family, check out the latest entertainment technology or simply to dance your wellies off!”
It's an important step for Virgin Media, as in previous years it's been hard to Tweet, update Facebook or, even, send emails from either site - after all, they are in the middle of fields in the middle of nowhere. At least now, this will give people a chance to communicate with the outside world.
Speaking of which, Pocket-lint will be at the V Festival this year, and we'll bring you an inside view of The Mansion and any other relevant tech stories from the Chelmsford site.
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Software Hardware Virgin Media Nokia Ovi Broadband
Virgin Media to install 50Mb broadband at V Festival originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:59:00 +0100
4 Aug 2010 | 3:59 pm
Doesn't blend. Won't spread
Updated Android users have little reason to fear an immediate onslaught of malware despite the demonstration of a rootkit-based attack at last week's Defcon conference, according to a leading anti-virus supplier.…
3 Aug 2010 | 11:51 am
Slower than New Zealand
So Australia is building a superfast fibre to the home (FTTH) national broadband network and not a minute too soon.…
31 Jul 2010 | 11:24 pm
Braces for UK.gov cuts
Layoffs and cost-cutting at BT have boosted BT's first quarter net profits by a third to £284m.…
29 Jul 2010 | 10:56 am
Reality now less than half as good
The gap between the marketing and reality of broadband speeds has grown even wider, according to figures released today by Ofcom.…
27 Jul 2010 | 10:41 am
ISP to try out new network using old systems
Residents of Crumlin, Caerphilly, hold on to your, er, keyboards - because superfast broadband is coming your way courtesy of Virgin Media's fibre optic cabling and your existing electricity poles.
This will be the first time that an existing infrastructure has been used for a new broadband network. The provider has been trialling aerial cables in Woolhampton, Berkshire but that was deployed using a purpose built system.?
The trial in Crumlin will begin in August and last into 2011. Residents can expect to get speeds up to 50Mb and also have access to Virgin Media's TV packages as well.
The electricity poles being used are those of Surf Telecoms - part of the Western Power Distribution organisation. Richard Doble, design and policy manager for Surf Telecoms, explained how the trial could initiate a mass use of existing systems to deliver the superfast broadband the government (both previous and current) has been promising. He said:
“Western Power Distribution’s electricity infrastructure reaches over 2.5 million homes across South West England and South and West Wales and, with this trial, we’re exploring an innovative new approach that could bring ultrafast broadband to many customers for the first time.
"The possibilities of aerial deployment promise a valuable use of existing infrastructure and an interesting new commercial opportunity for utility companies. We’re pleased to be at the forefront of this innovation”.
Ofcom has also just reported that the average broadband speed in the UK is just 5.2Mbitps. With Virgin Media planning on 100Mb broadband in the near future, and Ofcom's report also labelling its service the most fair, the timing of Virgin Media's trial couldn't really have been better.
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Hardware Broadband Virgin Media Ofcom
Virgin Media: Superfast broadband...from your electricity pole originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:26:00 +0100
27 Jul 2010 | 10:26 am
Advertising messages should change claims Ofcom
Ofcom has found UK Broadband speeds are getting faster, but unsurprisingly for anyone who has broadband, not as fast as ISPs are advertising.
In the latest research from the watchdog, it found that fixed-line residential broadband speed has increased by over 25 per cent over the past year from 4.1Mbps to 5.2Mbps as internet service providers (ISPs) increasingly move to offer higher speed broadband packages.
That all sounds great doesn't it, however on closer inspection the move to faster headline speeds has led to a growing gap between the actual speeds delivered and the speeds that some ISPs use to advertise their services, Ofcom criticises.
That's forced Ofcom to call for a ban of the words "up to" being used by ISPs to advertise their broadband services.
There are of course many reasons the speed varies; with bad cables, distance from the exchange and even electrical interference all working against home owners when it comes to getting a fast connection.
In April 2009, Ofcom said, the average actual (or download) speeds were 4.1Mbps, 58 per cent of average advertised "up to" speeds (7.1Mbps).?
In May 2010, average download speeds were 5.2Mbps, 45 per cent of average advertised "up to" speeds (11.5Mbps).
Ofcom says that when it comes to detailing what you get, cable services from Virgin Media were the most fair with Virgin Media’s "up to" 10Mbps and "up to" 20Mbps cable services delivering average download speeds around twice as fast as DSL packages with the same or similar headline speed. Virgin Media’s "up to" 50Mbps cable service was the fastest service tested, delivering average download speeds of around 36Mbps.?
Worst affected were those on the fastest lines. Of panellists on "up to" 20/24Mbps DSL services, almost two-thirds (65 per cent) had an average download speed of 8Mbps or lower, while only 2 per cent received average download speeds of more than 14Mbps.? No DSL panellists on "up to" 20/24Mbs received average download speeds of more than 18Mbps.?
Actual speeds also slowed down in busy periods as heavier internet traffic leads to congestion on ISPs’ networks.
Over 18 million separate service performance tests were carried out in over 1500 homes during May 2010.?
The research sample allowed Ofcom to robustly compare the performance of those ISP packages with more than 250,000 residential connections.
Ofcom, working with the Advertising Standards Authority recommends that speeds should only be advertised if at least some consumers are actually able to achieve the advertised speeds and that those who advertise according to “up to” speeds, should also include a “typical speed range”.
What do you think? Is your broadband speed fast enough? Do you feel cheated that you aren't getting as fast a connection as you should? Let us know in the comments below.
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Software Broadband Ofcom
Ofcom: UK Broadband getting faster, but not as fast as advertised originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0100
27 Jul 2010 | 12:00 am
Unheralded system shadows browsers round the web
It's less TalkTalk, more StalkStalk: the UK's second largest ISP has quietly begun following its customers around the web and scanning what they look at for a new anti-malware system it is developing.…
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26 Jul 2010 | 10:25 am
20 minute lie-down
A mangled port upgrade caused an outage at Linx yesterday.…
22 Jul 2010 | 3:19 pm
Management taps private equity cash
And lo, it came to pass. Sky has announced it will sell Easynet to private equity house Lloyds Development Capital, which will back its current management.…
21 Jul 2010 | 5:00 pm
We'll talk about this speculation later
Sky is expected to finalise a deal for a management buyout of its networking business Easynet by the end of this week.…
20 Jul 2010 | 10:10 am
The circle gets a little smaller
Nokia Siemens, the infrastructure parts of Nokia and Siemens, is spending $1.2bn on Motorola's infrastructure business, further consolidating an already oligopolistic industry.…
19 Jul 2010 | 3:24 pm
10% rise hits home phone customers
BT will lean on its home phone customers as it staggers out of the recession with a 10 per cent rise in daytime call rates.…
19 Jul 2010 | 10:37 am
Public sector networks could plug 'final third'
The government is discussing opening up public sector internet infrastructure to bring down the cost of introducing faster broadband nationwide.…
15 Jul 2010 | 2:49 pm
Digital divide stays for now
The government has dumped a commitment to deliver universal access to 2Mbit/s broadband by 2012.…
15 Jul 2010 | 1:02 pm
Must compromise to appease US and Indian security
Huawei is looking increasingly ready to make compromises to allay the security concerns of various governments. The Chinese supplier denies all allegations that it is closely connected to its country's intelligence services, but is nevertheless running into clearance obstacles in several key markets. The Indian government has vetoed some large deals that would have gone to Huawei, and now it may need to restructure in order to win its first significant foothold in the US.…
12 Jul 2010 | 2:18 pm
Call centre spivs get dose of their own medicine
A small telco has decided to turn the tables on irritating unsolicited calls by setting up a block of dummy phone numbers that play messages to trick marketers into lenghty and pointless sales pitches.…
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9 Jul 2010 | 4:17 pm
Mandy roasted at 2010 Awards ceremony
The great and the good of the internet world turned out in force last night at the London Marriott, DJed and evening gowned, to learn who had won prizes at the ISPA annual awards dinner. What a difference a year makes: last year the talk was all around safety, particularly for children. Last night the focus had shifted, with digital economy and the right way to fund creativity on the net very much to the fore.…
9 Jul 2010 | 11:43 am
Stand down, brothas
BT and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have reached a pay deal that will grant staff a three per cent rise every year until 2013.…
9 Jul 2010 | 10:38 am
Free cash pleases telco
BT is encouraging local authorities in rural areas to consider subsidising faster broadband installations, after a village Parish Council in Kent agreed to stump up part of the cost of fibre-to-the-cabinet.…
8 Jul 2010 | 12:10 pm
Is it because they care about your freedom, or is it all just about the money?
BT and TalkTalk are taking their opposition to the Digital Economy Act to the High Court, after both companies filed papers asking for a judicial review of the controversial act.
The Act, which was rushed through at the tail-end of the Labour's government and has subsequently been acted upon by Ofcom, has aroused massive criticism and now BT and TalkTalk are prepared to fight the good fight.
Although it's not clear if they are doing so because they are concerned for the rights of the everyday man, or whether, in fact, they are more concerned that they'll have to splash out on new technology to monitor users downloads only to find that existing EU laws prevent the act from ever actually being enforced.
BT's CEO Gavin Patterson did claim the action was on behalf of the people though:
"It’s disappointing that we feel the need to take action but we feel we have no choice. We have to do this for our customers who otherwise run the risk of being treated unfairly.??
"Our dispute is not with the current Government but with the previous administration which pushed this through without due process. We need clarity about whether this legislation is compatible with important EU laws."
It is reported that many MPs are against the act, including deputy-PM Nick Clegg, who indicated that a repeal of the Digital Economy Act is top of the public's wish list.
Is it top of you wish list? Do you think the Digital Economy Act was rushed through and, as a result, falls down on a number of issues? Or, do you believe that unless you're not behaving yourself online then you've got nothing to worry about? Give us your thoughts on all things DEA using the comments below.
?
“It’s disappointing that we feel the need to take action but we feel we have no choice. We have to do this for our customers who otherwise run the risk of being treated unfairly.
“Our dispute is not with the current Government but with the previous administration which pushed this through without due process. We need clarity about whether this legislation is compatible with important EU laws.”
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Hardware Broadband Digital Economy ISPs BT BT Broadband TalkTalk
BT and TalkTalk willing to fight Digital Economy Act originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:44:00 +0100
8 Jul 2010 | 10:44 am
Find your own pirates!
BT and TalkTalk may go to court to try and overturn the Digital Economy Act - passed just before Parliament was dissolved for the election.…
8 Jul 2010 | 9:06 am
We're big, but we're not evil
The hue and cry over AT&T's supposed "throttling" of iPhone 4 uploads turns out to have been premature — that is, if AT&T's explanation is to be believed.…
8 Jul 2010 | 12:33 am
Union gutted after industrial action cancelled
A planned strike ballot by BT staff has been scrapped due to "legal technicalities", the Communications Workers Union confirmed yesterday.…
6 Jul 2010 | 10:20 am
'Monster' cupboards attacked
BT's broadband boxes have run into planning opposition again, this time from a group of conservation societies on the south coast.…
6 Jul 2010 | 8:02 am
Revenues: $0
Phorm will shift some of its operations from London to Brazil to save money after announcing another heavy loss for 2009.…
30 Jun 2010 | 12:07 pm
Dot-gays could kill the internet!
Governments working within ICANN are pondering asking for a right of veto on new internet top-level domains, a move that would almost certainly spell doom for politically or sexually controversial TLDs.…
25 Jun 2010 | 2:43 pm
Internet users who illegally download copyrighted content could have their connection cut off as part of the Digital Economy Bill unveiled on Friday.
The bill - a major overhaul of the UK's technology legislation - will mean ISPs must send notices to those customers suspected of infringing copyright. They must also hold a record of how many notifications a customer has received and give this data to rights holders.
23 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am
The UK government has confirmed it intends to push ahead with plans to monitor the UK's communications.
Under the Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP), the government wants communications service providers to store details of all web communications, including emails and IMs conversations.
11 Nov 2009 | 11:29 am
BT is offering a free taste of superfast broadband to businesses in Glasgow.
The trial is part of the telco's ongoing investment in fibre infrastructure in the UK. Back in 2008 BT announced it would be spending £1.5bn to bring fibre broadband to around 10 million homes and businesses by 2012.
5 Nov 2009 | 4:24 pm
Customers are responsible for their own wi-fi security, according to hotspot operators.
BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile all recommended wi-fi users adopt VPNs to help protect themselves while using hotspots.
3 Nov 2009 | 11:48 am
The European Commission has called for EU members to speed their switchover to digital television, and therefore in the process free up spectrum, which can then be used for broadband services.
Viviane Reding, information society and media commissioner for the EC, said she wants EU countries to have made the move by 2012.
30 Oct 2009 | 5:15 pm
The European Commission has said the UK government doesn't have adequate communications privacy legislation and must step up its efforts.
The announcement follows complaints by UK citizens and privacy groups over the government's lack of action after telco BT conducted trials of the Phorm behavioural advertising service without getting consent from its customers.
30 Oct 2009 | 2:40 pm
Secretary of state for business, innovation and skills Peter Mandelson has reiterated the government's 'three strikes and you're out' plan to cut off illegal file-sharers' internet access.
Speaking at a cabinet creative industries conference yesterday, the business minister said proposals made back in August will feature in the Digital Economy Bill expected before Parliament in November.
29 Oct 2009 | 12:46 pm
It's never been easy being green, especially when it comes to electricity-hungry IT infrastructure.
And in the midst of a recession, with cost cutting a priority, it's easy to let slide worthy targets such as becoming carbon neutral - especially if the choice is between a project to shrink the carbon footprint of IT and one that could ensure the company makes a profit in these difficult times.
22 Oct 2009 | 1:00 pm
ISP TalkTalk has criticised proposals by the government to cut illegal file-sharers' internet access, on the grounds of wi-fi vulnerability to hacking.
In a blog post last week, Andrew Heaney, TalkTalk's executive director for strategy and regulation, said a test carried out by the ISP found a high percentage of domestic wi-fi connections are at risk from hacking.
19 Oct 2009 | 1:40 pm
BT has announced it is rolling out superfast fibre broadband directly to 2.5 million UK homes and businesses.
FTTP (fibre to the premises) will allow for for download speeds of 100Mbps by 2012, BT said on Friday.
12 Oct 2009 | 11:47 am
Once again, September saw another fresh crop of students head off to university for the first time, on their way to becoming the next generation of IT workers.
But how good are the UK's universities at turning out the skilled professionals that the tech industry needs? According to a silicon.com CIO Jury last month, the answer is not very. Asked if tech graduates are finishing university with the expertise their companies are looking for, only four out of 12 said yes.
6 Oct 2009 | 5:08 pm
BT has revealed more details on its planned brownfield pilots of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband tech.
Fibre broadband is the superfast successor to the current generation of broadband used in the UK, delivered over copper wire. By replacing copper with fibre optic cabling, telcos will be able to provide downstream connectivity of tens or hundreds of Mbps.
2 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pm
In a study of broadband quality and penetration across the world, the UK was ranked 25th out of 66 countries.
The figure was revealed as part of the Broadband Quality Score study, carried out by the Saïd Business School and the University of Oviedo on behalf of Cisco.
2 Oct 2009 | 12:56 pm
O2 is set to start testing LTE (the long-term evolution of the 3G mobile standard) technology in the UK "within the next six months".
The trials of the technology are the first to be carried out by any UK operator. T-Mobile and Orange have said they intend to roll out such networks in the future, however.
1 Oct 2009 | 3:03 pm
By year-end, one in five households worldwide will be wired up to the internet, according to new estimates from Gartner.
The number of households with fixed broadband connections is expected to reach 422 million across the globe this year, a jump of 10.5 per cent over 382 million in 2008, the analyst house said on Friday. This number will further swell to an estimated 580 million by 2013.
28 Sep 2009 | 12:21 pm
BT has announced it will extend its planned coverage of 24Mbps broadband to 75 per cent of the UK by 2011 - up from its previous target of 55 per cent.
The telco currently provides speeds of up to 24Mbps to around 40 per cent of UK homes and businesses. The vast majority of those outside this coverage area can get up to 8Mbps.
28 Sep 2009 | 10:53 am
The proposed fibre tax to pay for next-gen broadband in the UK could be law before the next general election.
Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain and financial secretary to the Treasury, said the government is committed to making its £6 per year tax on landlines law to pay for rolling out next-gen broadband in the UK.
23 Sep 2009 | 6:32 pm
More must be done to convince grey-haired business leaders to embrace web 2.0 developments, a panel of experts has warned.
A panel assembled by the British Computer Society (BCS) were asked to consider whether IT could lead the UK out of recession. But it warned the UK's potential around technology - and thus the potential of IT to drive economic recovery - is being held back by the current crop of business leaders who are failing to 'get IT', and also by the failure of the education system to inspire young people to acquire the skills needed by the industry.
23 Sep 2009 | 6:12 pm
Peter Cochrane video blogs from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he finds he has more bandwidth than he's had anywhere in North America. So where did all this broadband come from?
23 Sep 2009 | 4:45 pm
BT Openreach has released details of the fees it plans to charge other ISPs for its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) pilot in London.
Access to its Generic Ethernet Access Fibre to The Premises product will cost ISPs between £175 and £255 per annum for each customer line.
23 Sep 2009 | 10:25 am
BT has opened a new high street shop to promote fibre broadband in London's Muswell Hill - the location for one of its two fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) pilots, along with Whitchurch in South Wales.
Residents of London's N10 district are being invited to try the FTTC service for free until January 2010, with the telco targeting its existing broadband customers with letters offering a free taste of fibre.
17 Sep 2009 | 5:37 pm
O2 has announced Joined Up - a service which bundles fixed-line phone, broadband and mobile services in one package, aimed at business customers.
Launching next month, the landline element of Joined Up is the result of a five-year partnership deal between O2 and BT Wholesale.
17 Sep 2009 | 11:29 am
BT is testing a system of broadband technology, currently used in business-class broadband, which could carry higher-speed broadband further from exchanges than was previously thought possible.
The telco said the Broadband Enabling Technology (BET), currently being trialled in Scotland, can take a 1Mbps connection up to 12km both up and downstream, compared to the standard 5km for ADSL.
16 Sep 2009 | 1:43 pm
In an exclusive interview with silicon.com, Canadian author Douglas Coupland reveals his attitudes towards technology and its influence on his zeitgeist-defining books.
Douglas Coupland has been a keen observer of technology's impact on society for almost two decades. Through novels such as Microserfs, which charts the progress of Microsoft employees during the mid-1990s, and JPod, which tells a parallel tale of computer game developers in thrall to Google a decade later, he has consistently associated the development of technology with the progress of society.
8 Sep 2009 | 3:38 pm
Orange and T-Mobile have entered talks to combine their operations in the UK.
Orange, owned by France Telecom, and T-Mobile, parented by Deutsche Telekom, could become a 50:50 joint venture company if the talks are successful.
8 Sep 2009 | 2:36 pm
This week has seen mobile makers Nokia and Sony Ericsson showing off the latest additions to their device line-up.
The handset pictured above is Sony Ericsson's Xperia X2. The smartphone, unveiled yesterday, is a business-focused device and runs on Windows Mobile 6.5.
3 Sep 2009 | 5:32 pm
While August may traditionally be something of a quiet month, there was still a host of interesting stories to keep everyone going during the late summer.
One of the biggest stories in August was the build-up to the launch of Apple's latest Mac operating system, Snow Leopard. silicon.com took a look at what new features and refinements to expect from the newly-launched OS.
1 Sep 2009 | 4:00 pm
BT has sped up the rollout of superfast broadband in one of the UK's major cities.
Some areas of Glasgow, which were due to become part of BT's fibre deployment this year, will now find themselves connected up with superfast broadband by the autumn.
17 Aug 2009 | 3:50 pm
Remember the government's vision for the future for the UK's technological future, Digital Britain?
After publishing the strategy document in June, the government has now revealed the people that will be in charge of turning the document into reality, with the announcement of its Digital Britain Implementation Plan.
17 Aug 2009 | 12:50 pm
BT is to begin its first brownfield pilot of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in the Highams Park area of north-east London.
Previously, the IT and telecommunications giant tested a greenfield deployment FTTH at the new Ebbsfleet development in Kent, but the Highams Park pilot will mark BT's first such deployment in an existing residential area with a copper-based telecoms infrastructure.
7 Aug 2009 | 6:32 pm
Junior minister Stephen Timms is set to assume responsibility for implementing the Digital Britain plan, according to a report in The Guardian.
Timms, currently financial secretary to the Treasury, will replace Stephen Carter as communications minister, the newspaper said on Monday. According to the report, Timms will work across the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Treasury.
4 Aug 2009 | 3:33 pm
Country folk deserve reliable broadband as much as city dwellers, says silicon.com's Nick Heath. So why are rural areas being left behind?
UK industry was brought to its knees by the miners' strikes and power brownouts of the 1970s. Thirty years on, one would think those dark days of outages are a thing of the past.
4 Aug 2009 | 2:02 pm
The BBC is a world leader in developing innovative media technology - so cut it some slack, says Tim Ferguson.
The BBC is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't when it comes to developing new technology and services for UK consumers.
31 Jul 2009 | 6:12 pm
Television broadcaster Five has discussed some of the reasons behind its decision to join Project Canvas, the industry initiative to bring IPTV to the nation's living rooms, to ensure it has a major say in the future of free-to-air TV.
Five today announced it was joining the joint venture, which already includes the BBC, BT and ITV, leaving Channel 4 as the one remaining public service broadcaster not to have signed up to the project.
30 Jul 2009 | 5:49 pm
Compiled at my Singapore hotel upon arrival and despatched to silicon.com on the day of my departure from Changi Airport via a free wi-fi service
Having arrived in Singapore during the late afternoon, I went for a walk to help my body normalise after the flight.
30 Jul 2009 | 12:00 pm
UK TV broadcaster Five has announced it has joined Project Canvas.
Canvas - a BBC, BT and ITV Canvas joint venture announced in December 2008 - will provide UK homes with access to IPTV via a broadband enabled set-top box in much the same way as Freeview and Freesat currently do with digital TV.
30 Jul 2009 | 1:01 am
On Tuesday, Ofcom published the final version of its report into fixed broadband speeds, finding that the average download speed for a UK subscriber has increased since the preliminary results were released in January.
January's preliminary results showed an average speed of 3.6Mbps. That average is now 4.1Mbps but the average 'up to' advertised speed is 7.1Mbps. According to the telecoms regulator, the majority of consumers are happy with the speeds they receive but 26 per cent of those surveyed complained they were not getting the speeds they had expected when they signed up to their ISP.
28 Jul 2009 | 4:46 pm
Mobile WiMax could serve a substantial niche market in the UK but is unlikely to be deployed in any nationwide networks, a member of a key industry group has said.
Bluenowhere, a wholesale wireless network operator, is one of the companies involved in the Mobile WiMax Acceleration Group (M-WAG), which aims to demonstrate business cases for the long-range wireless technology in the UK. Chief executive Harry Aldridge told silicon.com sister site ZDNet UK last week that trials of niche applications had been successful, but the lack of any major operator backing the technology would probably stymie a UK-wide deployment.
23 Jul 2009 | 9:39 am
The humble router is getting a serious makeover, thanks to the Routers of the Future project.
The project - a collaboration between the University of London's design department, Goldsmiths, and ISP TalkTalk - aims to come up with different ways of incorporating the humble router into the home or office, making it more a design feature and less an unloved bit of kit tucked away behind a desk.
22 Jul 2009 | 3:42 pm
In his latest video blog, Peter Cochrane heads to Thailand and investigates the state of broadband while he's there. What does he find? Watch the video to find out
15 Jul 2009 | 4:25 pm
