According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of adults who have never been online keeps on shrinking.
How many adults have not been online as yet?
The number has shrunk to 7.1m (it previously stood at 7.42m) from the final quarter of last year to Q1 of 2013. The data also shows that men are 4 per cent more likely to surf the web than women. In addition, age plays an important role in being able to access the web. The data shows that perhaps unsurprisingly 99 per…
Edita Lozovska - 15 May 2013 | comments. Read more
A recent study conducted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has found that while the majority of UK farmers were now connected to broadband, superfast broadband was still not a wide spread option because of the lack of its availability in rural areas.
Rural broadband
The study found that 60 per cent of rural locations could only get speeds below 2Mbps, 32 per cent were connected to a service which could achieve speeds above 2Mbps and 6 per cent were still using old-fashioned dialup services. What’s more,…
Edita Lozovska - 15 April 2013 | comments. Read more
Broadband comparison site Broadband Genie‘s latest poll names Plusnet the winner of the award ‘Best Broadband Provider 2013′ as well as ‘Best Budget Broadband 2013.’
Plusnet gained top scores for reliability, service, tech support, speed and economical broadband and phone deals.
Jamie Ford, CEO of Plusnet, said:
“We’re delighted to get the highest scores across all these categories because it is testament to the work we have done –all this and we’re still offering these services at some of the most competitive prices on the market.”
The runners up in these categories included…
Selina Moses - 19 February 2013 | comments. Read more
The council of the Isle of Wight are stepping up to find a contractor that will provide superfast broadband to the rural residents of the island.
Norman Arnold from the Isle of Wight Federation of Small Businesses said:
“Having fast internet speeds across the island is vital to the success of our small businesses – particularly those in more rural areas.”
The council needs to decide on a contractor by September so that work can start on the £3m project.
A council spokesman said:
“Work on the ground was likely to start in the…
Selina Moses - 12 February 2013 | comments. Read more
It is estimated that UK households waste hundreds of pounds per year on TV, broadband and phone packages.
A report from the Post Office shows that families in particular who buy bundle deals do not watch all of the channels provided, buy more broadband that they need and have free calls they do not use.
Hugh Stacey, head of HomePhone for the Post Office said:
“While bundles can be tempting, this report shows they provide far more than the average person needs and millions of people are clearly paying for services they…
Selina Moses - 25 January 2013 | comments. Read more
The Welsh Education Minister Leighton Andrews has protested about the lack of inconsistent broadband connection in Welsh schools.
Students in Wales have difficulty in accessing web-based content because their Internet is unreliably slow.
The Welsh Assembly Government considers Internet access to give “a high standard of digital education” to pupils and is looking into plans to invest £40m into creating faster broadband for schools.
Mr Andrews considers this a benefit for both students and teachers.
Faster connection will enable students to “make full use of the online tools and resources provided by Hwb,…
Selina Moses - 16 January 2013 | comments. Read more
Plusnet will soon get rid of its monthly download limits and offer its customers unlimited broadband access.
Plusnet’s home broadband packages caps downloading to a certain limit but from this week, existing and new customers on the basic deal can upgrade to an unlimited service for an extra £4 a month.
As most people are using data-heavy services such as BBC iPlayer much more often, it is a smart move towards making internet connection more accessible.
This new deal will please its customers and draw new ones in, in rural areas especially.
This…
Selina Moses - 17 December 2012 | comments. Read more
George Osbourne has announced a further 12 smaller cities that will share £50m worth of funding for superfast broadband and public Wi-Fi.
The super-connected cities grants were first talked about in the Spring 2012 budget.
This £50m grant follows a £100m grant that was to improve broadband and public Wi-Fi services for ten UK cities.
The aim is to offer speeds of up to 100Mbps for homes and businesses and help economic growth in these places.
Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary said:
“Fast broadband is essential for the growth and creation of jobs.
“The new…
Helen Christie - 6 December 2012 | comments. Read more
Google has launched high speed broadband service (Google Fibre) in the state of Kansas City with the trial in the area of Hanover Heights, nicknamed the ‘fibrehood.’
Users in Hanover Heights have reported more than satisfactory service with speeds of about 700Mbps.
Google Fibre Service Delivery director Alana Karen has said that the service will offer an enhanced experience at home.
“We want to be able to explain what we’re doing in easy to understand language, so it makes sense to you and it’s not just tech jargon! And of course we’re…
Selina Moses - 15 November 2012 | comments. Read more
Good times have come to Orange’s fixed line broadband service – you might remember the subscriber base being at a standstill for two quarters in a row, followed by a rather slow growth of +1,000 which is better than no news, however nothing extraordinary to write home about.
Yet Q3 of 2012 has changed all that by bringing +9,000 newbies to the fixed line broadband side of the business. Not to mention, the glorious times that 4G services are to bring to the operator – lest we forget that Orange…
Edita Lozovska - 24 October 2012 | comments. Read more
