 As broadband providers invest and merge to improve coverage and speed the government is still under fire for broadband taxing:
>>>> Broadband provider O2, have announced a £100m investment in their network over the next few years. They hope to improve both the capacity and the coverage of their service from the current 85% by building new base station sites and upgrading existing ones. Chief Technology Officer Derek McManus has said that customer behaviour has sparked an unprecedented demand on mobile networks, sparked by the introduction of smartphones and other devices.
>>>> Virgin is to be the first broadband provider to use the Detica CView program, which will measure the amount of copyright infringement on the web. The software is due to be used as part of its music streaming and download service. The service is designed to allow Virgin to understand the behaviour of their users and is non-intrusive for the consumer. It should measure the amount of illegal filesharing which occurs across a range of networks.
Virgin have also announced plans to partner with DVR maker TiVo to develop Virgin's next generation TV platform. They will create a customer interface for Virgins use with their HD boxes. Virgin will also become the only distributor of TiVo services in the UK. Combined with Virgin's fibre optic service, the partnership should offer high speed video on demand. Virgin described the new package as being the most advanced and compelling TV service available in the UK.
>>>> Talk Talk has awarded 12 people for their work in boosting the profile of broadband and its benefits to the wider community. The overall winner of The Digital Heroes Award was Gill Farrington who organises a scheme where the elderly visit schools to get tuition on computers from pupils. The scheme has been a win win for both the older generation and the young people, enhancing their respect for each other.
>>>> T Mobile and Orange have said they do not intend on giving up any of their radio spectrum allowance once their merger is finalised. Together the firms will own 170MHz of the spectrum which is significantly higher than any of their rivals. The Independent Spectrum Broker has suggested that a cap of 120MHz should be standard leading to speculation that the debate on this issue will continue. The parent companies, Duetsche Telekom and France Telecom have signed the final agreement and the merger is expected to be complete in the first half of next year.
>>>> Broadband experts have warned consumers to be aware of a new method being adopted by online criminals. Known as "screen scraping" the activity involves criminals who steal the contents of a site, setting up their own version. The criminals are then free to access customers details by posing as the legitimate retailer. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of online retailers and businesses have signed up to the Get Safe Online initiative which was established by the Government and the Serious Crime Authority. It offers advice to retailers about how best to avoid this type of crime.
>>>> The controversial new broadband tax due to be introduced by the government has had another blow as documents were leaked showing that the £6 per year charge may be tripled for those with multiple lines. The tax was set out in the Digital Britain Report released in June 2009 and was described as a fair and sensible way to fund the introduction of high speed fibre optics. The document which was leaked to the Conservatives shows that for families with a telephone line, a separate line for broadband and another for a fax, could pay as much as £21 a year.
>>>> Price comparison service Broadband Genie has shown that of the 3600 tests it performed on mobile broadband speeds just 0.5% reached speeds of more than 3Mbps. This is despite many mobile broadband providers advertising they an offer this speed. Genie point out that it appears that the providers have over-hyped their product before testing the actually capability. This means consumer expectations are not being met, even though the speeds they do reach are perfectly acceptable in most cases.
>>>> Top 10 Broadband, a comparison website, has revealed the top 10 places in the UK for broadband speeds. Bournemouth topped the poll after the addition of a new 100Mbps fibre optic network to the area. Download speeds in the area are at 8.06mbps which is double the national average. The research was based on 200,000 anecdotal broadband speed tests. Edinburgh was the highest Scottish city, just slightly ahead of London. †
    
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