Welcome:   Virgin's 1.5Gb Broadband

Of course, innovation is only truly exciting if we can imagine ourselves benefiting from it. So as Virgin announce tests of a 1.5Gb service in London, the suspicion that the Government is going to spend most of the money on city broadband projects, probably leaves rural residents feeling dejected ... again:


Virgin Media has carried out a test of a 1.5Gb broadband speed via cable in a London trial. This is 24 times the speed of the average broadband connection in the UK. Virgin Media already provides the fastest available speeds in the UK at 100Mb, but this trial puts them far ahead of any other provider. The trial was held near Old Street and a community of tech entrepreneurs known as TechHub were part of the trial. Jon James from Virgin Media has commented that they wanted to explore what their cable is capable of in light of the fact that people are using broadband for more functions than ever. He points out that 1.5Gb is one of the fastest speeds available in the world and that it could be possible to download a movie in just 1 second if it was to become a reality.


It has emerged this week that the government has plans to spend part of its £530 million broadband budget on developing very high speed broadband in UK cities. The idea has been revealed after a civil services job advert revealed details. The advert for a Programme Management Office and Finance Lead suggested that the Broadband development UK unit was hoping to make such a proposal. However Julian Smith, the MP for Skipton and Ripton has commented that he would like to see the government concentrate on getting basic broadband to rural areas before it starts to offer very fast broadband to cities. However a spokesperson for the government has commented that they are simply exploring ways to ensure that he UK has the fastest broadband service in Europe.


Following the news this week that Tesco is trialling a wi-fi service in some of its stores, with the potential of a full rollout if it is successful, a survey by myvouvchercodes.co.uk has shown that 56% of people didn't think it was a good idea. Just over one third felt that it would distract shoppers and 51% felt it would be annoying. However 41% did say it was a good idea and of those, 36% thought they would use it to compare shopping prices and 23% felt it would eliminate the need for assistants. Despite this, 68% agreed that having free wi-fi would result in customers taking advantage and downloading large files or using it for extended periods of time. However Tesco have said they will suspend the service if this happens. Use of the wi-fi will be linked to the ownership of a Clubcard, so it is possible wi-fi usage could be tracked.


The latest customer satisfaction survey from Ofcom has revealed that Orange now tops the list for broadband satisfaction. This compares with 2009 when the provider managed a paltry score of just 42% for broadband, but they managed 72% this year. This put them 16% of their nearest rival Sky. T-Mobile and O2 shared the top spot for customer satisfaction with 72% and Orange managed a close 70%. However the poll has been criticised because it fails to take into account companies like Plusnet and Zen.


The High Court has ruled that BT must block a site which offers links to pirated movies for sale online. The case highlights the first time a provider has been ordered to block a website for this reason. It is likely to set a precedent for other blockings. Justice Arnold said that BT is likely to have knowledge that people are using the site to infringe copyright and that users of the site, called Newzbin2 include people who are subscribers to BT. The Motion Picture Association who took BT to court said it was a victory for creative industries in the UK. They say that the law of the land must also apply online. BT will use the same technology they use to prevent access to child pornography sites to block access to the piracy site. However Peter Bradwell from Open Rights Group has commented that this sort of blocking is both pointless and dangerous. He says that legitimate services could be blocked or slowed if this is allowed to continue. He points out that consumer demand is not being met and changes to market structures will result in less piracy. † [last update: 28.07.11]

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