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British Broadband (Finally) Jumps

Posted by timothy on from the net-meters-replace-gas-meters dept.

seldo writes: "The BBC is reporting that BT's previously-announced cuts in broadband prices are having a rapid effect, and demand for broadband in the UK is suddenly taking off. Finally!"

5 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Belgian version by selderrr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Broadband in belgium also experienced heavy price cuts, with increasing subscribers as result, but decreasing bandwidth and increasing problems also.

    I have 2 DSL connections from different providers, and both of them are worsening rapidly as theyr user base is growing : I used to have Q3 ping times around 40 to most uk and nl servers, but this has dropped to 130 in the past few months. After some HW upgrades, things are back to 75, which is still a shame for a 38EUR/month subscription.

    Cable modem is a whole other story, with some clusters experiencing insane drops ( ping times over 300, ftp speeds below 25KB/sec) for months and months. Depending on the block and city one lives in, speeds range from the above mentioned 25KB/sec to a whopping 750KB/sec (KB yes indeeed !!) but with outages varying from monthly to daily and peaks of hourly !

    The customers are ready for it now that the price is dropping, but are the telcos ? Belgacom (the belgian telco) is definitely not : their servers are cracking every day (last month the user webserver, the month before the SMTP server...) and telenet (biggest cable provider) has administration issues (my neigbour didn't pay the first 6 months because they forgot him. Then he received an invoice for 2 years)

    Both have customer tech support that I wouldn't even let my dog piss at.

    --
    When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
  2. The Register article... by carm$y$ · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... is a little less optimistic (and a lot more realistic :)
    BT to launch cheaper 'no frills' ADSL service followed by BT goes for broadband broke

    Being handled by huge monopolies doesn't help...

    --
    -- No sig today
  3. Still late, Still expensive, Still poor coverage.. by ezs · · Score: 5, Informative
    For personal use the BT DSL is adequate - but still slow and expensive compared to what those reading in the US are used to.

    Even compared to European prices from other ex-state owned Telcos the price is up to 40% more.

    http://www.broadband4britain.com and the ever useful 'reg give the full story.

    For a real usable service (I have 2Mb with static IP) you are looking at over $300 per month..

    My own experience is that you are encouraged to move to the most appropriate access method - I was urged that a move to a full leased line (at $30k per year!) was ideal for me...

    Looks like the BBC is re-posting the BT press releases.. :)

    --
    Evil ZEN Scientist
  4. BT != BTOpenworld by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Please note that BT Ignite (wholesale broadband), which has made price cuts is not the same as BT Openworld (Retail DSL/Dialup ISP)...

    You can get your DSL from any number of UK ISPs, letting you choose who provides your upstream.

  5. The state of things by Yomlogs · · Score: 5, Informative

    Broadband access in the UK is pretty much limited to these options:

    1. ADSL. The "last mile" is monopolised by BT, but there are several ISPs which repackage BT's service. This is the most widely-available option, but I believe only about 50% of the country can get it. BT's exchange upgrades have been very slow in many areas.

    BT's wholesale price drop by £10/month (which this article is really about) has only really had a significant effect on the bog standard 512/256Kbps ADSL service, which people have been signing up to in droves. Anything faster is still ludicrously expensive.

    2. NTL/Telewest cable. Priced fairly reasonably, but very limited availability. NTL only offer broadband in some of their cabled areas, and in most of these areas they force you to take their awful phone and digital TV package as well.

    3. ISDN, which is hugely overpriced and slow compared with other options.

    4. Leased lines, which are far outside the price range of most home users.

    5. Tele2 wireless. Also quite limited coverage, but they aim to cover areas without other broadband options. Good service, and can offer asymmetric connections (which cable/ADSL can't) up to 2Mbps. But, like all the options, a rip-off compared with what's available in other countries.

    I can only hope that the increased uptake will make all the providers drop their prices further. At the moment the UK is a laughing stock in the broadband world.