All the latest broadband news from the Broadband Genie news team.
A survey conducted by BT and carried out among early adopters of the internet-capable Broadband Anywhere BT ToGo smartphone has found that consumers are relying more and more on broadband-enabled devices to help research bargains when they’re out shopping.
In the last three months it was found that 45 per cent of all high street consumers have browsed for goods or services whilst away from their home computer. One in three checked prices of goods or searched for a review of a product or service using mobile broadband and based their purchasing decision on their online research. BT also found that one in five consumers had made an actual purchase whilst on the move in the past three month.
Speaking on the new findings, BT Futurologist, Ian Neil said: “Broadband on the move is bringing about a change in consumer behaviour. Consumers can now do the things they would normally do at home when they are out and about. The ease with which they can go online to sites like Pricerunner or TripAdvisor to inform their buying decisions puts added pressure on high-street retailers to offer the best prices and the product ranges that people want.”
He added: “Retailers should take advantage of the fact that customers may now have access to the Internet whilst in-store and, for example, use their wifi connections to deliver expert advice via a store intranet channel.”
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Smaller ISPs could start experiencing bandwidth problems following a blog from BBC’s Anthony Rose, new head of digital media that the BBC iPlayer service are interested in a new provider.
The BBC previously worked with provider Akamai who used servers within individual ISPs to hold cached data, meaning programs were instantly available to available users of that ISP and providers didn’t have to purchase extra bandwidth. However, speaking in a recent blog post Rose spoke of another provider, Level3’s ability to stream H.264 content to ISPs in the UK, raising speculation that the BBC could sign a deal with a new provider.
If Level3 are signed up then smaller ISPs could face problems with higher data transfer costs. Providers with limited funds may then not have the financial resources to stream content from iPlayer.
A spokesman from the BBC has denied that the company has made any definite plans for the future of iPlayer, stating : “We use a variety of distribution methods to meet our needs, and are always looking at ways of reducing both our own costs and those of ISPs.”
Source: TechRadar
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Be Broadband has announced that a new gaming service for its members known as ‘Be Mixes’ has launched. In association with Enemy Down – a UK gaming website, Be Gamer customers will be set to see a few changes.
Be Mixes is a system where players of Counter Strike Source, a best selling First Person Shooter, can turn up, join a lobby and play in a match with other like-minded gamers.
To enhance the gaming service Be will also run ladders, leagues, tournaments and events for some of the most popular First Person Shooter games.
Oli White, Head of Marketing at Be Broadband, said “Online gaming can be a fantastic experience, with great players having closely fought matches on fast servers. But very often the reality is far from this, with half empty servers lagging, along with abusive or disruptive players. Even if you do find a good mixing server with plenty of players, some people will be joining then leaving three rounds later and ruining everyone’s day.
“A lot of Be members are gamers and we believe that secure, fast and free game servers should be available to all and, coupled with our excellent broadband service, this brand new “Mixes” system will give Be members the gaming experience they want.”
Source: Be Broadband
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A select few residents in Reading will be some of the first to test out Vodafone’s new mobile broadband service. The new dongle-based service will be aimed at businesses and people on the move and is already available in Central London and major airports.
If trials prove successful then customers could see a potential increase in speed that will give them 14 times faster download speeds and 22 time faster upload speeds than standard 3G.
Alec Howard, head of PC connectivity at Vodafone UK, commented: “As we invest significantly in rolling out improved speed and capacity, mobile broadband can not only help grease the wheels of industry in Reading but is also ideal for students and new home owners.
“With our predictable pricing and seamless quick set up, there has never been a better time to be with Vodafone.”
Source: Getreading
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A month after BT announced that it had plans to start work on a £1.5bn broadband improvement scheme an interview detailing the scheme has appeared on ISPreview.
Aiming to clear up some important issues and questions the interview, conducted with a BT spokesperson, revealed new details, facts and figures.
Among the topics covered was the discussion of prices. ISPreview raised the issue that BT’s faster fibre services would naturally be more expensive to the consumer, pointing out that estimates suggest prices could head towards £100 to £150 for a connection fee and a monthly pricing of around £20 to £30. Asked if it believed some customers would be put off by increased costs, BT answered: “FTTC [Fibre To The Premises] is being positioned as a premium product and it is expected to be purchased by consumers who are willing to pay a little more for the increased speed available. This is in line with the pricing principles outlined for FTPP in New sites.”
The BT spokesperson also confirmed that they do not plan to set any usage limits on the Openreach wholesale service.
BT are expecting to announced the location of their large scale operational trial of FTTC towards the end of September 2008. This will be followed in November with details of their proposed early market rollout.
A transcription of the interview can be read in full here.
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Security researchers at Trend Micro have stumbled upon a false spam campaign that is conning innocent broadband customers into thinking that they have been accused of illegal activities. Attached to the email is a file that is touted as being a report of illegal activities in the last six months. However, the file is merely malware.
This new spam tactic comes after several ISPs agreed with the music industry that they would send out warning letters to any customers they believed were partaking in illegal downloading.
Headed with the subject line ‘Your internet access is going to get suspended’ the email ‘cautions’ the recipient that they have been monitored by the Internet Service Provider Consorcium [sic].
“Recipients are most likely to be motivated by fear to fall for this ruse. It is, after all, the internet surfer’s worst nightmare to have all their internet activities known to other parties – especially those who threaten legal prosecution,” said Macky Cruz of Trend Micro.
Trend Micro warned all customers that any unsolicited emails should be deemed suspect.
Source: Web User
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Be Broadband (O2) has confirmed that it is to axe the Home Monitor service it introduced less than a year ago. Giving customers the chance to check up on their homes when they were away, the CCTV security system, which cost £5 per month plus £150 for hardware will end on 18th September 2008.
The Be E-Mail update confirmed: “We hope that you have been enjoying your Be Home Monitor and the great benefits that the product and service have provided.
Unfortunately, we need to inform you that this service is going to be withdrawn. The Be Home Monitor Service will end on 18th September 2008. This is when the contract with our partner who provides the service comes to an end.”
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BT has announced that it will change its Digital Vault service on October 30th, charging £4.99 per month for an increased capacity of 50GB for anyone outside of the Total Broadband package.
Set up in October 2006 the Digital Vault package was designed to give broadband customers the chance to backup important files to avoid accidental deletion. However, a statement has now been issued confirming that this service will no longer be able to be used for free for the majority: “Make sure you upgrade now to get continuous protection for all your precious photos, files and more,” said BT.
BT Total broadband customers will receive 5GB of Digital storage as part of their broadband package. Despite closure of the product customers who already had data backed-up will not lose their files. However, customers who have more than 1GB of data stored will not be able to add any further data to their vault unless they upgrade.
BT added: “The Digital Vault portfolio is currently made up of a 1GB, 5GB and 50GB product. BT Digital Vault Basic 2GB has not been available to new customers since June 2007 and the majority of users are BT Total Broadband customers who qualify for the larger 5GB product for free, this is why we are now withdrawing the product.”
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A new report by Ofcom has concluded that Mobile broadband sales reached unexpected highs in June this year with subscriptions and one-off dongle purchases reaching around 133,000.
Research indicated that bundled laptop and mobile broadband devices are being favoured against desktop PCs in many households. Although two million people now use mobile broadband, only around a quarter use their devices whilst on the move – the rest simply connect when they are at home.
3G broadband modem has increased in popularity by an 18 per cent growth rate every month since February 2008. If this trend continues then around 300,000 mobile broadband devices would have been sold by December this year.
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Virgin Media ADSL customers have been affected by an email service breakdown this week. Beginning on Tuesday evening, as of yet, there have been no reports located that this has been completely resolved.
On Thursday afternoon a Virgin Media spokesman confirmed that webmail access had been fixed for 100,000 customers, with around a third equipped with client access.
Blamed on a hardware failure at Virgin Media’s partner, Tucows, other ISPs have been reported to be affected by the problem. A spokesman said: “We are working around the clock to resolve this issue and are working around the clock to resolve this issue and are in close communication with the ISPs to help in minimizing the impact of this service interruption. We deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused.”
At the time of posting the Virgin Media service status still confirmed that email service was “running slow” and still had “intermittent problems”.
Source: The Register
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