UK Broadband Internet Service Provider News: 2006/07

UK broadband Internet service provider news and the latest broadband company press releases. Access the latest new broadband deals and broadband service updates, including broadband news from BT, AOL, Tiscali, Eclipse, Orange, Utility Warehouse, TalkTalk, Virgin & Telewest.

Monday, July 31, 2006

Millions to benefit from BT's cheaper simpler packages

BT today called on its customers to take advantage of the biggest ever cuts to its inclusive call packages. The call comes after a comprehensive review and widespread changes to a range of different tariffs.

BT Together Option 2 and 3 customers will see prices slashed by almost a third. From tomorrow, the monthly price for the evening and weekend call package (Option 2) will fall by 28% to £3.95 and anytime calling package customers (Option 3) will see a 31% cut to £9.95.
Meanwhile, BT is also introducing price changes that will be offered to all its customers. From 15th August, BT will be offering a year’s free UK evening and weekend calls if they sign-up to BT for 18 months.

Also, from the end of the year, all BT’s 16 million customers will be offered a 25p discount to their monthly line rental, if they opt to receive bills online.

From October the cost of calling many non-geographic numbers is also being cut. 0845 and 0870 numbers now account for a quarter of call time and the changes make BT less than half the price for these calls than some competitors.

BT is also encouraging the adoption of new technology by cutting the cost of voice calls made over the internet (VoIP). From tomorrow, customers who have their phone plugged into their BT broadband connection with Broadband Talk will be able to make anytime UK* calls for just £4.95 a month – a 29% saving on the previous price.

The price cuts follow a number of other initiatives in recent months. In June, BT introduced free UK* evening and weekend voice over internet calls and reduced the price of wifi calls, generating an estimated £152 million of savings for all its consumer broadband customers. Also this year, BT reduced international direct dial rates and introduced Friends & Family Auto-Update, an initiative which could save customers around £50 million.

BT is also aiming to make life easier for customers by simplifying some of its tariffs. From October, it will introduce just three rates for calls from landlines to mobiles, replacing the previous twenty. Rates will be 13p per minute during the daytime, 8p during the evenings, and 5p during the weekend, including VAT.**

Other updates to the tariffs include charging by the minute for residential customers from October and a 3p call set-up fee to replace the existing 5.5p minimum call charge.

All customers will be contacted about the changes in August’s Update magazine sent with the BT bill or via a personalised letter and there will be an extensive advertising campaign.

Ian Livingston, CEO BT Retail, said “We’ve reduced prices by over £1 billion in the last decade and now our customers have the chance to save even more. We’re not stopping at offering just a great price though – we want to always offer the best overall value. The simplification of our tariffs combined with very popular services like Privacy and Voice Text mean that you’ll get much more for your money if you are a BT customer”.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Lines Unbundled exceeds 580,000

The Telecommunications Adjudicator Update for June 2006 reports that the number of local loop unbundled lines in the UK is continuing to rise, with the current number of LLU connections exceeding 580,000.

www.offta.org.uk

Friday, July 07, 2006

AOL opens door to Wonderful Wireless World

AOL UK has launched a new, low-cost broadband offer and free wireless router access, to encourage new customers to explore the benefits of wireless working.

At £14.99 per month, 1MB AOL Silver broadband is now cheaper than AOL Anytime dial up, offers free setup and is unlimited, with no monthly usage caps and one month free when ordered online.

As with all AOL broadband services, AOL Silver offers access to AOL's 20 channels of online content, email services and AOL's Safety & Security Centre with anti-virus scanning on emails, spam filters, spyware protection, Parental Controls and McAfee(r) Personal Firewall(tm) Plus.

Each of AOL's broadband packages - Silver, Gold and Platinum - now also offers a free wireless router, worth £57.00, extending the benefits of wireless working to all new customers.

The new offer is available now, aimed at those thinking about broadband for the first time and those looking to upgrade existing dial up internet connections. It will be supported by TV and print advertising through July and August.

AOL Broadband

About AOL

AOL is a leading provider of digital communications and content to UK consumers. AOL offers dial-up, broadband, voice and portal services and has more than 2.3 million subscribers in the UK, including more than one million on broadband.

AOL subscribers in the UK spend more than two hours a day on average connected to the internet. The AOL service and portal deliver a range of market-leading online content, including music, film, sport, news, shopping and community, as well as email, instant messenger, VOIP, safety and security features. AOL is also one of the leading online destinations for advertisers in the UK.

The AOL branded services are supplied to UK subscribers by AOL Europe Services SARL, a company in the AOL group based in Luxembourg. AOL (UK) Limited provides marketing and other support services. Both companies are part of AOL Europe, a business unit of AOL LLC, which operates a leading network of Web brands and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

Labels: aol-broadband

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Pipex 8Mb broadband for £6.50

Pipex broadband has today announced its launch of an up to 8 Mbps broadband service for £6.50 per month including a modem and free connection. The catch? Well this is only available in conjunction with the Pipex Anytime calls package costing £12.50 per month and you still have to pay BT line rental.

The Pipex service provides free unlimited local and national voice calls, web space and e-mail services. According to Pipex it is available to over 99% of UK households.

Further information: Pipex broadband

Labels: pipex-broadband

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

PlusNet's low cost broadband, landline rental and calls package launches today!

PlusNet, the UK's best value Internet service provider, has today launched a new competitively priced communications package, which combines broadband up to 8Mbps speeds, landline rental and inclusive calls for a no gimmicks price of £20.99 per month.

Unlike other competing broadband and calls packages, PlusNet’s new package will be available nationwide to more than 99 per cent of the UK population as it is not reliant on limited Local Loop Unbundled (LLU)-enabled exchanges.

PlusNet provides broadband to its customers based on standard pricing nationwide and with a one month service contract. PlusNet customers will be connected within 10 days because unlike similar products from competitors, PlusNet is not reliant on the installation of a new network. PlusNet uses industry leading technology to prioritise the data transferred across its network. The result is a quality broadband experience for PlusNet customers.

The new package allows new and existing PlusNet customers to bundle:

Landline rental
A landline calls plan
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service
An up to 8Mb broadband connection

There is a simple pick and mix approach where customers can choose one of four broadband products. They can then add either Home Phone Anytime for £11 per month or Home Phone Anytime+ for £15 per month. To complement these call plans PlusNet will be offering market-leading call rates, saving customers on average 17 percent compared to rivals.

Package prices will range from £20.99 per month for a combination of Broadband PAYG Basic, a recently launched entry-level broadband service priced at £9.99 per month, and Home Phone Anytime landline rental and call plan priced at £11 per month.

Neil Armstrong , PlusNet Product Development Director said “It’s quickly becoming standard for broadband and telephone service to be bundled together, but a major barrier to take up has been poor nationwide coverage and off-putting long term contracts. The UK consumer can now get access to a great service with the comfort of a one month term.”

PlusNet is well known among discerning Internet users and has grown through recommendations based on its great value products and award winning customer services. Recently, PlusNet topped the UK’s largest ever broadband customer satisfaction survey which was commissioned by the independent comparison website uSwitch.com. PlusNet was the winner with a 92 per cent overall satisfaction score.

Armstrong continued “With more than 10 million broadband homes in the UK it is time for customers to ask themselves, ‘am I paying too much for broadband, landline rental and calls?’. We believe customers demand and deserve a choice of quality packages as well as a great value price. Our customers recognise the value and service PlusNet provides, that’s why they continue to recommend us.”

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Ultra WiFi available across the UK

The Cloud, Europe’s leading WiFi network operator, today announced the commercial launch of Ultra WiFi - its new low-cost, flat rate tariff which makes unlimited broadband WiFi access available for the first time in the UK for a market-leading price of £11.99 across its 7,000 UK hotspots and 9 city centre hotzones.

The new unlimited flat rate is available at a price of £11.99 a month with a 12 month subscription and £11.99 a week on a pay-as-you-go basis. It can be purchased directly from The Cloud website www.thecloud.net.

Bobby Sarin, COO, The Cloud commented: "For too long, public WiFi access has been over-reliant on high voucher pricing for revenue which has hindered frequent usage, despite WiFi’s high performance and popularity. Ultra WiFi finally allows everyone to have great value, “always on,” flat rate access to high speed WiFi across the UK for £11.99 per month.“

“Ultra WiFi at last gives regular mobile internet users a realistic alternative to mobile data solutions from cellular operators, at a cost they can control. We have been thrilled by the response to the announcement of Ultra WiFi from businesses, self-employed, consultants, students and ordinary people who want internet access on the move at a price they can afford and control.”

In addition to new pricing, The Cloud is launching new outdoor coverage in nine city centre hotzones across the UK that will greatly increase WiFi coverage in key business and retail areas. Combining this new outdoor WiFi footprint and new pricing with new services such as VoIP, instant messaging and gaming will make WiFi even more useful to businesses and consumers.

The Cloud is beginning to switch on its new city centre hotzones, starting with Manchester City Centre. Hotzones in Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Oxford, along with the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Islington will all go live this summer. The Cloud is also currently building a hotzone for the City of London which will be operational by the September 2006.

In addition to the new hotzones coverage, people will be able to log on and use unlimited WiFi at conventional Cloud hotspots located at BAA airports, regional airports, First Great Western train stations, Coffee Republic outlets, Little Chef cafés, Swallow Hotels and over 4,000 pubs and regional hotels across the country, as well as the business district of Canary Wharf.

Labels: wifi-broadband

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