O2 broadband has officially launched today and we were pleased to see the addition of a 100 day money back guarantee allowing potential customers to make sure they are happy with the service before being locked into a lengthy contract - as we said previously the O2 packages are a great deal for o2 contract customers but if you dont already have an mobile contract then there is better deals out there, but the 100 day money back guarantee should make this package alot more acttractive than some of its rivals
here is more details of the packages available from O2 broadband
up to 8 meg unlimted broadband - £7.50
up to 16 meg unlimited broadband - £10
up to 20 meg (1.6meg upload speed) unlimited broadband - £20
if you are not a O2 mobile pay monthly customer then there is an extra charge of £10 on each package -
all packages come with a wireless router free connection and 0800 support line
Be broadband has surprised us all with an announcement today that it will be cutting the prices on its broadband packages from the 10th of October for new and exsisting customers, the price cuts are fairly hefty too heres how they look
Be Value (8Mbps unlimited) - remains unchanged
Be Unlimited (24 Mbps downstream and up to 1.3 upstream speeds)- will be cut from £24 to £18 per month
Be Pro (24 Mbps downstream and up to 2.5 upstream speeds)- will be cut from £40 a month to £22 !
also there will now be no charge for a static IP address .
This put be in a very strong position with the fastest speeds in the UK at some of the cheapest prices , i just they can cope with all the new sign ups they are bound to get after these latest cuts as up until now their customer service record has been excellent. keep up the good work be !
to find out more about the new prices visit the website be broadband
We have been eagerly awaiting O2 late arrival into the broadband market and today O2 have confirmed the 15th of October as launch day, they also confirmed leaked information about is forthcoming broadband packages
They will come in two formats; discounted (not free!) for o2 contract customers and full price for pay as you go and and non O2 customers .
The discounted rates for O2 customers are detailed below
£7.50 a month for up to 8mb Unlimited broadband
£10 for up to 16mb Unlimited broadband
£15 for up to 20mb Unlimited broadband
Non o2 contract customers will have to pay an extra £10 on top of each package.
At a first glance these do look good deals but only if you are an existing O2 contract customer and we are disappointed to see that no free broadband is being offered like orange do with their contract customers.
It is also worth noting that Be Broadband who O2 now own offer better deals for non O2 customers than its parent company - £17.50 for O2’s 8mb unlimited service and £14 for be’s equivelant. So in our opinion you should only go for these deals if you can benefit from the £10 a month discount for O2 contract customers
Last month we reported on news surfacing that Sky were set to release a range of broadband services for users particualry for households outside of their LLU reach, well today Sky has officially announced the launch of their “Picnic” brand which will be run as a separate company and offers users not just broadband but telephone and Digital Terrestrial TV to appeal to customers without a sky dish and give SKY complete UK TV coverage.
Exact details are still a bit sketchy and we will will bring you more info when its available but here is some more details from Sky’s press release
- TV, broadband and telephony
- Choose 1, 2 or 3 services in any combination
- Transparent prices and great value
- Fast broadband access with up to 16 Mbps download speeds
- Money-saving call packages
- Instant access to improved TV choice through an aerial
- Popular channels including Sky Sports 1, Sky Movies, Sky One, a children’s channel and a factual channel.
- Access to Freeview channels
Customers will access the Picnic TV service through a new generation of digital set-top boxes. The new boxes will help to lead future innovations on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform such as the adoption of MPEG-4 compression standards, which allow viewers to benefit from an increased choice of channels. The Picnic TV service will initially consist of 3 MPEG-2 video streams but, subject to approval by Ofcom, Picnic aims to move to MPEG-4 and add a fourth channel dedicated to Sky News.
To find out more and register your interest in “Picnic” visit their website
As we reported recently more than half of broadband users receive broadband speeds more than 50% slower than advertised according to results of a recent national survery.
In light of the discrepancies between the speed advertised and the actual speeds achieved by end users. Computeractive have launched a petition urging the prime minister to enforce the broadband regulator Ofcom to stop allowing Providers to advertise theoretical “up to ” maximum speeds and instead show the typical speed user can expect to receive.
We are all for this move at Broadband Org as we regulary get mail from frustrated users not achieving speeds they were led to believe they could get.
If you would like to show your support for this petition please visit the downing street website
AOL have recently announced a raft of changes to its somewhat dated broadband offerings. The Isp has introduced 2 packages with up to 8Mb speeds and 10GB or 40gb limits options both coming with a free wireless router and weighing in at £14.99 and £19.99 per month respectively,
But the really exciting news is that for a limited period AOL are giving away a Free dell laptop to customers signing up to a 2 year contract on their £19.99 wireless plus option !
wheres the catch i hear you say , well there is a couple 
firstly you need to be in an AOL LLU enabled area otherwise there is a surcharge and the second catch is that you have to subscribe to one of AOL talk plans (AOL pay as you go talk plan is included free in the price) or you have to pay £29.99 a month instead of £19
Over all i would say this is a pretty good deal if you are happy to take out a 24 month contract and use AOL’s talk plan (which could save you money on phone calls)
see our AOL page for more offers
Tiscali bought Home choice a few month ago which provided TV over broadband services to a limited area in London but Tiscali are set to roll out its Triple Play ( Broadband TV & phone) services nationwide , with coverage anticipated to reach 10 million homes by the end of 2007.
Their TV service will provide over 80 channels , replay TV and VOD ( video on demand)
Tiscali are taking on the like of Virgin and Sky who have existing triple play services by offering their service at a fraction of their competitors prices , they are expected to offer a triple play package for
Sky have announced that its upgrading its email services and will now be powered by Google with additional features including 10GB storage, Calendar, Chat and photo sharing as well as the excellent Web mail interface users of Google mail will already be used to.
Existing Customers will be upgraded over the next few month and “@sky.com” email addresses will remain the same
more information can be found here
Today Be Broadband has announced a new package to its line up called “Be Value” - Be value is an uncapped service (subject to ‘fair usage policy’) with up to 8 meg* download and up to 1.4 meg upload all for
Rumors are surfacing on the internet that Sky are set to launch a broadband service separate from its Satellite TV packages in November -to allow users to sign up with out having to get Sky TV.
Sky currently offer up to 16 Mb broadband for