 Broadband service providers are getting louder and louder in order to compete in the noisy ad space. But what aren't they saying?:
Research from Moneysupermarket.com has found that some internet providers are failing to provide customers with details required under Ofcom rules introduced in 2007. The rules state that providers should give customers a Migration Authorisation Code within 5 days of them opening an account with a new provider. The unique code allows customers to make the switch more easily. The research found that one third of those surveyed had waited longer than 5 days for the code and one in six said the process of switching was too complicated and many didn't bother switching. Moneysupermarket.com point out that not switching can cost customers as much as £143 a year.
O2 have finally released their Home Phone and Home Broadband bundle to the open market. New customers will get 3 months free and a home phone line for just £9.50 month when bundled with the broadband service. O2 currently have around 60,000 subscribers and they hope that the new package will encourage more people to use their services. Sally Cowdry from the provider said that they have realised that customers want improved value for money and bundling services together offers that. They say they will offer the same good service and quality that for their home phone service as they already do for their broadband service.
Orange have launched new services which offer customers choice in the times they wish to download. The Dolphin, Panther and Racoon tariffs costs from just £5 and offer customers on the Dolphin plan the opportunity to choose a happy hour for unlimited surfing. This can be in the morning, lunchtime, afternoon or late evening. The Panther plan has unlimited downloads on a fair usage scheme and the racoon scheme offer a service for light users.
Virgin Media have experienced over 200 million on-demand video views in the first 3 months of 2010. The company says that over 2.1 million of its 3.7 million customers regularly use their free catch up service to watch popular shows. Cindy Rose from Virgin said that watching TV on-demand is now part of the nations daily habit with millions doing so every day. The company recently announced it had added 38,000 customers to its cable service and it has plans to launch Virgin Media Player later this year.
A report from Intersperience has found that almost 50% of the UK population will be using mobile internet services by 2014. They company claim that many of the people who begin to use mobile internet will do so due to peer pressure from others and not wanting feel embarrassed about not having access when others do. The rising use of mobile internet is causing problems on 3G networks according to TMCNet and once 4G technology is rolled out, usage could increase further
A study by TopTenBroadband has found that 48% of their respondents said slow speeds was their main broadband annoyance. The second most complained about broadband problem was an unreliable connection which got 24% of the vote. They say that the results show how the use of the internet has changed. The problems with speed have come even as broadband speeds have increased with speeds of up to 24Mbps becoming standard. 13% also said that a weak wireless signal was a problem for them while 11% of gamers were annoyed by a poor "ping" speed causing delays while playing online games. 2% of people found that setting up online billing was irritating and anther 2% hated having to set up email addresses.
Figures released this week by the British Phonographic Industry have shown that UK music sales increased by 1.4% last year and most of this rise was down to online sales which increased by 47%. The results found that digital downloads now account for 98% of track units sold and around 20% of overall income for the industry. Chief Executive of the BPI said that the growth of digital sales is encouraging, however the size of this growth is hampered by illegal downloads. †
    
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