EoFTTC - A new internet solution which bridges the gap between ADSL, EFM and leased lines

The Next Generation Network is almost here with the exciting announcement of our newest internet product, EoFTTC (ethernet over fibre to the cabinet).

EoFTTC is delivered in a similar way to FTTC as is demonstrated in the following diagram;

The product itself gives a guaranteed un-contended and synchronous speed of up to 20Mbp/s, with the option of boosting the download speed to up to 80Mbp/s where the line length supports this. It also comes with a service level agreement.

The other great news is that EoFTTC is going to be widely available with;

• 1,500 + exchanges enabled for EoFTTC 
• 45,000 + cabinets enabled for EoFTTC 
• 17 million homes passed, almost 70% residential coverage 
• Strategically will follow Openreach rollout

The costs are yet to be announced but given that this product is being pitched somewhere between FTTC and EFM, it is safe to assume that it will be more expensive than £30 per month, but less expensive than £200 per month.

EoFTTC is great news for smaller business who require much faster upload speeds but cannot justify the expense of a leased line delivered on Fibre.

EoFTTC is officially launched on Monday, 2nd December 2013 so watch this space for all the updates.

Unlimited Downloads on ADSL and FTTC (BT Infinty) Packages

Finally the news you have all been waiting for........

Having a superfast broadband connection is brilliant, or so you would think? Well, it's great unless you have a download limit and many ISP's either charge more for going over the limit, or severely slow down the actual speed so that it becomes virtually unusable.

With speeds of up to 80Mbp/s, it is all to easy to reach the download limits within a matter of days, if not hours, and this is the casue much frustration for many customers.

But we are now delighted to announce that we have both residential and business packages which feature uncapped and unlimited download allowanaces. This means that you need never worry about any additional costs, or having your speed compromised.

The Internet is changing, as is the way we use it. More and more people are starting to use on-line streaming services such as Netflix and the BBC iPlayer, as well as many others which seem to be springing up every other week. As such, people need to be sure that their Internet connection is not going to let them down due to unrealistic restrictions imposed on them by their ISP.

So how much does it cost I hear you ask?

Well, it's not as bad as you might think. For a residential user, the price starts at only £32.99 per month for our super fast FTTC (BT Infinity) unlimited download product (up to 80Mbp/s download and 20Mbp/s upload), and that includes VAT. We can even provide a super fast and pre-configured wireless router for only £45 plus VAT to go with the service.

The business version is £49.99 plus VAT per month and includes a pre-configured wireless router in with the cost

What if we can't get FTTC?

If you need an unlimited download package, and you don't qualify for super fast broadband, then don't worry as we can still provide this option to you on standard broadband. There are 2 further options, LLU and standard ADSL.

The residential ADSL version costs only £23.99 including VAT and for business users it would be £33.99 plus VAT.

For LLU, the unlimited package is either £30 per month with a contention of 5:1, or £60 for a truly un-contended service.

If you have any questions about this great new product then please do not hesitate to give us a call and speak to one of our sales team on 0113 2946699.

Are you happy with your mobile operator on VoIP?

Mobile operators blocking Skype and other internet voice calling (VoIP) apps could cause more than 18 million British mobile phone users to switch networks.

In a survey by Rebtel up to 60 per cent of mobile phone users said they were prepared to switch networks if so-called 'over the top' applications, such as those which make VoIP calls, are interrupted. The poll said only 8 per cent believed operators had the right to stop users from accessing VoIP on their phones.

Several mobile networks in the UK currently take steps to prevent access to VoIP services. Now, you make take a jaundiced view about Rebtel’s findings given their business model. However, a report from BEREC, the European telecoms regulators' body, claims that at least 20 per cent of mobile Internet users in Europe experience some form of restriction on their ability to access VoIP services.

The BEREC report was compiled in a joint investigation with the European Commission, and was largely based on data submitted by 32 regulators, 266 fixed and 115 mobile operators. A questionnaire asked operators and regulators what traffic management techniques and practices are being applied currently.

The most frequently reported restrictions are the blocking and/or throttling of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic, on both fixed and mobile networks, and the blocking of Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic, mostly on mobile networks.

As regards P2P, some level of restriction is reported by 49 operators (out of 266) on fixed networks and by 41 operators (out of 115) on mobile networks. As regards VoIP, some level of restriction is reported by 28 operators (out of 115) on mobile networks. Each of these types of restrictions affects at least 20 per cent of subscribers.

A number of cases of operators giving preferential treatment to specific types of over-the-top traffic were also found (e.g. prioritising streaming and other real-time applications, HTTP, etc.)

Some examples of special treatment for over-the-top traffic reported by fixed operators are prioritisation of certain kind of traffic or applications at peak times (such as HTTP, DNS, VoIP, gaming, instant messaging, etc.), and assigning lower priority to applications such as file downloading, P2P, etc.

What’s been your experience? Have you ever been denied service when using VoIP?

Third of UK homes suffer from poor broadband

Despite the promise of UK-wide super-fast broadband, new research uSwitch.com shows just how many areas of the country are being left behind in the high-speed broadband revolution.

More than a third (34%) of UK postcodes receive average broadband download speeds of 5 Mbp/s or less, almost a quarter have average speeds of 4 Mbp/s or less, and one in 10 has speeds of 3 Mbp/s or less – at least six times slower than even the basic super-fast broadband speed of 20 Mbp/s.

The data - based on 1.68 million broadband speed tests carried out by home and business broadband users over the past six months - reveals that despite major investment by providers into upgrading Britain’s urban broadband infrastructure, there is still a significant number of larger towns and cities across the country that have download speeds well below the UK average of 6.742 Mbp/s.

The cathedral city of Hereford has a population of more than 55,000, and yet average download speeds are a pedestrian 3.196 Mbp/s, more than 50% slower than the national average. Lancaster, with a sizeable population of almost 134,000 and home to two universities, is also below the national average speed, at 5.479 Mbp/s. At this speed, it would take just under 24 minutes to download a standard quality 1.5GB movie.

These figures bring into sharp focus the challenge the Government faces if it is to fulfil the pledge made back in December 2010[5] that everyone in the UK would have access to super-fast broadband by 2015. More than 12 months down the line and that target appears to be a long way off, with large swathes of Britain still having to make do with broadband speeds that are more snail’s pace than super-fast.

When it comes to the worst broadband blackspots in Britain, it is clear that it’s still the UK’s smaller towns and villages that are suffering from a serious bout of broadband lethargy, having to endure frustratingly slow speeds of below 2 Mbp/s which make surfing the internet a chore.
In our part of the world Richmond and Helmsley in North Yorkshire have to struggle with just over 2 Mbps.

However, with an average broadband speed of just 1.11 Mbp/s, Winchelsea a small village in East Sussex, currently holds the unenviable title of having the slowest average broadband speed of any postcode in the UK, six times slower than the national average.
Britain might be riding the wave of a super-fast broadband revolution, but for the 49% who get less than the national average broadband speed, the wave isn’t causing so much a splash as a ripple. And what’s really surprising is the number of cities and towns such as Hereford and Carlisle that are suffering from slow broadband speeds, dispelling the view that it’s just rural areas and small towns that have issues with their broadband.

It is important to remember that the fastest headline speeds being punted by some broadband providers are not guaranteed and home broadband users should run online broadband speed tests to check they’re getting the best possible performance. If broadband users feel the service they’re receiving is not up to scratch, don’t be afraid to shop around for a better deal.

Get ready for Olympic web meltdown

Recently we have been warning clients and other businesses that they could lose their internet connections during the Olympics this summer as online traffic rockets.

We believe demand for streaming media and services like the BBC’s iPlayer could mean that some companies will be forced to ration internet access if they are to keep critical internet functions working.

A lot of businesses have still not prepared for the enormous risks presented by the 2012 Games - many companies will be avoiding London this summer because there has been a lot of talk about traffic snarl ups, but there has been little discussion about potential internet traffic problems.
Many companies are encouraging staff to avoid London during the Olympics and work from home but the reality is they may not be able to if they cannot access the internet.

CCS’s warning echoes similar concerns from the Cabinet Office which has issued concerns in its official advice, Preparing your Business For The Games. It says: "It is possible that internet services may be slower during the Games or, in very severe cases, there may be dropouts due to an increased number of people accessing the internet."

Companies need to examine whether their IT systems would be capable of allowing staff to work from home and whether their ISPs have sufficient capacity to deal with the upsurge. Our new data centre in Leeds will be immune to any problems but, nevertheless, we are advising customers, particularly those in the south to take measures now to protect themselves from any outages.

Meanwhile, telecommunications companies are struggling to put new lines in and around the capital before manhole covers and other access point are secured throughout the Games as a precaution against any terrorist activities.

Netflix Review

Further to yesterday’s post I have now had time to sign up for the free trial account with Netflix as I own an Apple TV 2 and this is one of the devices which natively supports Netflix streaming.

So, is it any good? Well, the short answer is ‘yes’. There were fears that it would be lacking in content and whilst it’s not as bountiful as the shelves of your nearest HMV store, there is still plenty on there to entertain.

The sign up process is very straightforward as you would expect. I opted to sign up with my Facebook user account, just to make life easier and after putting in my credit card details the account was all set up and working. Netflix do not charge you for the first month but will start to take payments if you forget to cancel your account within the first 30 days.

So, I selected Netflix on my Apple TV menu, entered my login details and within seconds I had a wealth of media content to choose from. The menu system is in line with the default Apple way of doing things and as such made it really easy to search by genre and type.

The original setup procedure also asks you what type of thing you like to watch in a short questionnaire so that it can then make suggestions every time you launch Netflix.

I was pleased to see a good mixture of old and new content. For example, you can watch the first 4 series of Doctor Who but you also have access to the entire run of The Young One’s from way back in the 80’s.

There really is something for everyone on Netflix and I have to make a special point that it really does cater for children very well, it even categorises the different age ranges.

I have heard that some people experienced problems with buffering during playback but this didn’t seem to affect me whilst I streamed the film Starship Troopers to my HD TV.

So, is Netflix the future of home entertainment? It’s too soon to know but it has made a blistering start.

Netflix Online Film Rentals

The popular US based on-demand media streaming service Netflix is now being made available in the UK. Subscribers can pay only £5.99 per month for unlimited access to the entire Netflix catalogue which includes a variety of popular film and TV content, all streamed via the internet to a number of different devices.

Netflix are offering a one month free trial if customers link the service to their Facebook profile and the content is delivered in either standard or high definition. The HD films need a connection speed of at least 5Mbp/s so as to avoid buffering whilst the standard definition content requires only 2Mbp/s. A 90 minute film in HD uses approximately 3.5GB of data allowance.

The TV shows and films can be simply streamed via the internet to a desktop computer or anything with a web browser and it is also compatible with the WII, PS3, Apple TV, XBOX 360 and a number of tablet / smart phone devices.

In recent years the average price for an online movie rental has been between £3 and £4 and even then the content is only available for 48 hours. With Netflix the content is always available which means that you only have to watch 2 movies and the service has paid for itself.

Major media providers such as BBC, 4oD, Disney UK, MGM, Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, 20^th Century Fox to name but a few have all signed up to Netflix and are currently providing content.

The exciting new development is further proof that now, more than ever it is important to have a fast, reliable internet connection. Why not give us a call on 0113 2946699 to discuss your requirements and look at ways of making sure you have the best internet connection to meet your needs.