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5
June 2009 |
Internet service providers are offering faster DSL connections for the same price in a battle for market share: Per megabit per second, prices are now 37.5 percent lower than last year, according to market research company Point Topic.
During the first quarter of 2009 the worldwide average price per megabit per second was about US$15.60, down from $25 a year earlier, according to Oliver Johnson, CEO at Point Topic.
Prediction: U.S. recession ends by 2010?
For a given data rate, the cost of fiber an... |
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4
June 2009 |
The move has been applauded by technology experts, who say BT could help transform the internet market, making ultra-fast internet the norm rather than the exception.
BT will start offering the upgrade to 20 megabits per second "within weeks" to any customer that contacts it, even those on its cheapest package, which costs £15.60 a month.
There are two catches: customers will need to sign up to another contract of at least 12 months and initially just 40 per cent of the country will be able to enjoy t... |
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2
June 2009 |
BT is thought to be limiting download speeds during peak times on its cheapest broadband package, slowing down video services such as the BBC iPlayer.
The ISP confirmed that Option 1 broadband customers have their bandwidth for streaming videos cut from 8Mbps to under 1Mbps between 5pm and midnight, after a BT customer informed the BBC of his experience.
BT said the bandwidth cut took place "in order to optimise the experience for all customers".
The BBC iPlayer will stream video at three different... |
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41
May 2009 |
Verizon Communications Inc. is preparing to offer free Wi-Fi access at hotspots to subscribers to its home broadband services, according to people familiar with the matter. The phone giant will partner with Boingo, a startup that counts former EarthLink founder Sky Dayton as chairman, to deliver the access.
Discussions are fluid, and Verizon is uncertain about particulars like whether users would have free access only in their regions or nationwide. The service may launch as soon as the summer, according... |
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29
May 2009 |
About seven million people in the UK are guilty of illegal downloading, according to a Government report released today.
It claimed that the UK economy is losing billions each year as a result.
The research was commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property and released in the lead up to the Digital Britain report.
It criticised policy makers for not understanding public attitudes towards downloading.
The report listed consumer confusion, denial of responsibility and deni... |
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28
May 2009 |
AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said Wednesday U.S. wireless networks aren't prepared for the surge in smartphone use that has already shown signs of choking their networks.
He defended his company's wireless network's performance, though, which has come under fire for not being prepared for the popularity of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which the company sells on an exclusive basis in the U.S.
Wireless capacity is an increasingly tough issue that carriers must wrestle with, particularly as their subs... |
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28
May 2009 |
The results are now available for the first Mobile Broadband Genie Road Trip Awards. The exercise directly pitted dongles provided by six of the UK's mobile broadband suppliers (O2, Orange, 3, T-mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone) against each other on a 350-mile rail journey over two days.
According to providers, mobile broadband is the answer for people who want to access the internet 'on the move'. Broadband Genie decide to put these claims to the test to see if consumers can expect to get what they're... |
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27
May 2009 |
The European Commission has moved to sue Sweden after the Nordic state failed to implement the EU's Data Retention Directive in a timely fashion.
The Directive was passed back in 2006 and requires all EU member states to implement some form of data retention legislation, with terms of six month to two years. National laws were to be in place by March of this year, but Sweden still has yet to introduce a bill of its own.
Internet providers and search engines would all need to retain user data and IP ad... |
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27
May 2009 |
Users’ hunger for the mobile web shows no sign of abating just yet, with page views shooting up by more than 100 per cent since April last year.
So claims the latest State of the Mobile Web report by Opera, which claims page views have grown by 113.6 per cent during the period, with unique user numbers also shooting up by 48.1 per cent.
In the UK, Google is still the most visited website, by unique user volumes, according to the study, followed by Facebook, Yahoo, BBC, live.com, Wikipedia, Bebo, YouTu... |
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21
May 2009 |
3 and BT have joined forces with businesses and consumer groups to launch a campaign calling for Ofcom to bring in a significant cut to termination rates.
The launch of the ‘Terminate the Rate’ campaign coincided with the release of a new Ofcom recommendations on mobile termination rates (MTRs) for the next six years.
Larger operators are reluctant to reduce termination rates because their large customer bases mean they bring in high revenues from the charges. Meanwhile, smaller operators such as 3 se... |
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20
May 2009 |
Verizon Communications announced that it will expand its highest-speed DSL tier -- up to 7.1 Megabits per second downstream -- to 9.7 million households in 21 states and Washington, D.C., by the end of July.
The latest expansion will increase the availability of the service in parts of Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
As of the beginning of 2009, Verizon offered the 7.1 Mbps down / 768 Kbps up service to ap... |
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20
May 2009 |
Getting fiber to rural communities can be cost-prohibitive, but Rep. Anna Eshoo has a plan: force the federal government to build fiber conduit into the sides of all new road projects, making it dirt cheap to string new fiber all interstates when necessary.
Eshoo introduced her plan last week in the form of the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2009—a bill title mercifully free of the acronym scourge that has so afflicted Congress of late.
The bill would require new federal road projects to include ... |
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20
May 2009 |
Orange Mobile, launched as part of Telkom Kenya's new commercial brand in September 2008 announced accomplishing the feat 8 months after its launch.
Telkom Kenya CEO Dominique Saint-Jean attributed the company's success to its value driven tariffs and unique products that "bring families and friends together".
Saint Jean said the company's unique products include the 1 shilling per minute offer, per minute billing service, Hello Tunes (Caller Ring Back Tone) that enable consumers to share their favour... |
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19
May 2009 |
Those experiencing issues with their communication providers will have to wait less time before getting independent help under new dispute rules outlined today by industry regulator Ofcom.
However, while the new plans slash the complaints process by four weeks, it still means disgruntled users have to give service providers eight weeks in which to resolve issues before seeking outside help.
Today, there is a 12-week wait before a complaint can be escalated to a dispute resolution service. From the beg... |
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18
May 2009 |
BT is planning to double the pace of its forthcoming next generation broadband fiber rollout, bringing up to 100Mbps broadband within reach of more than a million premises next year.
The move comes after the U.K. telco reported tough financials and announced a further 15,000 job cuts. CEO Ian Livingston said a faster fiber rollout would help it safeguard jobs.
Last year BT announced it would spend 1.5 billion pound (US$2.28 billion) by 2012 to fund a fiber to the cabinet (FTTC) rollout aimed at hookin... |
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