UK broadband gets speed injection
 

Broadband's rapid rise continues apace as speeds gear up a notch.

An eight megabit service has been launched by internet service provider UK Online.

It is 16 times faster than the average broadband package on the market and will pave the way for services such as video-on-demand and broadband TV.

The service is possible due to a new regime which allows other operators to use BT's exchanges and will initially only be available in towns.

Wireless connection

It represents a "big leap forward" for broadband, said Chris Stening, UK Online general manager.

The service comes with a hefty £39.99 monthly price tag but will mean users can download MP3s in seconds and offers TV-quality video streaming.

The service includes WiFi as standard, meaning users can connect multiple PCs, laptops and game consoles from any room in the house.

Not everybody will be able to take advantage of the service, as it will be restricted to metropolitan areas.

The service will initially be available to users within 2km radius of 230 telephone exchanges in areas such as London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cambridge.

That represents about 4.4 million households.

The service is possible due to a decision to loosen BT's strangle-hold on telephone exchanges.

Korean example

The process, known as local loop unbundling, was put in motion by the now defunct telecoms watchdog Oftel but has only proved popular in recent months due to falling costs.

UK Online is looking at the possibility of bundling services such as cheap net telephone calls, video-on-demand and TV by 2005 if the service proves popular.

"The service is twice as fast as any other service on offer in the UK and 16 times faster than most broadband services," said Mr Stening.

"It takes a big leap for broadband and we are very excited about it," he said.

Countries such as South Korea and France have found the advantage of upping the speeds of broadband.

In South Korea, video-on-demand over the net is cheaper than renting a DVD and online gaming is huge.

Mr Stening believes the service will appeal to people in multi-occupancy buildings as well as easing family arguments.

"A typical family with two children is currently sharing a 512 kilobit service. This will basically give them 2 megabits each," he said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4016031.stm

wtf i pay £35 a month for a 1.5mbit connection at home.

I need to hook this shit up :Graucho

Same here (with Telewest) though getting a free upgrade to 2mb since they have improved their speed. Top speed being 4mb.

Not really interested in ADSL though - I much prefer cable.

I'm willing to bet that the upload speed won't be any faster than the present 256k though :(

:)

400KB

It's due to local loop unbundling which allows third party's to put their own equipment into BT exchanges.

They can't actually get 8mb in a few cases, you have to have a perfect line to the exhange and be within 2km.

BT has this technology but don't feel they've ironed out all the bugs yet and actuall connection speed will vary greatly between 2 and 8 mb.

Not bad...

Great stuff shame it aint gonna be in my area for a while

Not to piss on your story, but 8mbit has been widely available in every other western nation for years already.

Sounds good, although the hook isn't big enough to take me back to the UK :)

I'm with Bulldog on 4mbps/400kbps.

The best I've ever had out of it was nearly 8mbps for a couple of hours the other night. But then I live about 50ft from the nearest exchange. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Yes it would

i pay £40/month for 1mbit with BT
thats the fastest i can get

BT suck!

most likely it will.be 400k

:)

Good for UK, but broadband is by definition at least or more than 2Mbit, so how can 8Mbit be 16 times faster than the average broadband package?
I love when the ISPs overstate their products and people actually buying it :1orglaugh

btw, in couple of years, maybe 2006, less than 100Mbit will be lowspeed :thumbsup or not?

I'm paying £50 for 3mbit currently with telewest... they're upgrading to 4mbit.. I checked the site and i'm in the area of coverage.. but i'm moving in a month and want to kill someone because my new house only has 1mbit ... for £40/mo by BT.

DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE.

The 'average' broadband connection in the U.K is 512kbps.

Like I said, its not broadband if its under 2Mbit, so there is nothing like average broadband at 0.512Mbit.
The ISPs just say broadband to mislead people :glugglug