Cheap Broadband UK

Sophos, an internet analyst firm, has released data on spam emails that are sent across the countries. According to the study, the USA is responsible for 15.6 % of the total spam spread in the world followed by Brazil (11.1%).

Spam or junk email contain unsolicited piece of advertising and make up more than 80% of the total email messages. Internet service providers and email service providers continue to take measures to reduce spam traffic, however, spamming remains a global problem. Spam filters are often used with anti-virus software that block the spam emails to greater extent.

Graham Cluley, senior technology analyst at Sophos said:
“Clearly the problem isn’t going away, as is illustrated by the large number of sprawling spam campaigns we see on a daily basis,”

He further said:
“Although it may seem encouraging to see reductions in the volume of spam that certain countries are contributing, authorities, ISPs and home users across the world need to be doing more to crack down on the spam problem.”

Among the countries that relay spam emails, data research shows Poland has moved up to sixth top nation from tenth during this year. However, Russia shows marked reduction in spam and contributes just 3.2 % of all spam emails comparing to 7.5 % of previous year.

Virgin Media, the UK cable broadband provider completed its next generation broadband roll out (DOCSIS 3.0 network) that will allow 12 million Virgin broadband customers to get 50Mbps super-fast broadband from June. The nation-wide broadband service will have no traffic management, Virgin reported. Virgin Media’s top pacakge XXL will also go cheaper from September.

Regarding the new broadband service, Virgin Media’s Executive Director Jon James said:

“As the first company to bring broadband to the UK ten years ago, the completion of our next-generation network marks another pioneering moment for internet access in the UK. We are delighted with the performance and reliability of our 50Mb service, and with the customer feedback. Now the roll-out is days from being complete, we’re ready to take 50Mb to the next stage of development and reinforce our leading position in the broadband market.”

Virgin Media has also slashed the price of its Virgin Media XXL (50Mbps broadband deal) from £50 a month to £38 a month (deal without Virgin Phone). If taken with phone service, the new price of this package will be £28 per month.Virgin Media cheap broadband deals will be available from September and make Virgin Media’s top package more affordable to many customers, it is expected.

UK’s top Cable ISP has also announced its trial higher uptream service which is likely to be launched in near future. Initially, Virgin will offer 10Mbps upload speeds in demand areas to get market feedback, it was reported. The trial service would also help Virgin Media to work on pricing and other technical issues. It should be noted that Virgin Media’s 200 Mbps trial is underway in areas in Kent.

Virgin Media has also introduced free Netbook offer with selected fixed line broadband and mobile broadband packages. The Freedom Netbook (Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor) that comes with these packages worth £300 and has support for 802.11n wireless standard. 

Virgin Media’s latest price cuts and free laptop offer will certainly add great value to the existing deals. The next generation broadband roll out and the discounts in prices, will make the offers from the UK’s fastest ISP to sound more attractive to customers who are looking for cost-effective, high-speed services. 

 customers who are looking for cheap faster broadband services may consider Virgin Media’s new offers.

Vaioni, a business broadband provider is to roll out 2Mbps leased line for the business firms who are based in Manchester and Liverpool, according to a report. The new product will cost £375 per month exclusive of VAT. However, the clients who sign up for the deal will get nearly 100 percent service level agreement(SLA) and also a DSL backup connection. The leased line can be installed within a fortnight, Vaioni says.

Sachin Vaish at Vaioni has said:
“Maintaining our position with Extraordinary Connectivity Services, we are now helping the smaller business and branch offices by providing them with an ultimate leased line service that competes on price and service that is unrivalled.”

Leased line or data line is a dedicated bandwidth line which normally uses fibre to connect two locations for voice and internet services. Compared to the cheap home broadband services, Leased lines are generally very expensive and used by business firms for stable connection.

The ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association) has announced the winners of its UK Internet Industry Awards for 2009.

This year’s Best consumer fixed broadband ISP award was won by O2 broadband while Claranet was named the Best Business fixed broadband ISP. Vodafone bagged the best mobile broadband ISP (consumer) award and Freedom4 was awarded the best business mobile broadband ISP for 2009.

Here is the category-wise list of ISPA award winners for 2009.

Broadband download speeds in the UK continue to be up as the UK broadband users get 4.340Mbps download speeds on average, according to the speed testing results for June 2009 released by broadband.co.uk. This compares to 4.248Mbps in May showing a slight increase in download speeds. However, the upload speeds for June remained unchanged at 0.433Mbps.

Virgin Media is still the fastest broadband provider showing remarkable increase in download speeds for June. The cable broadband ISP delivered 6.135Mbps in June as compared to 5.874Mbps in May. The second fastest ISP, O2 offered slightly lower download speeds in June when compared with the previous month. the speeds fell from 5.778Mbps to 5.632Mbps.

However, O2 broadband still retains the first position when it comes to upload speed. O2 and Be offer 0.748Mbps upload speeds which is far better than the average upload speeds. Other providers like Sky and TalkTalk have also moved up in the table as they have recenly upgraded speeds of their packages.

Top five broadband providers offering faster download speeds

1. Virgin Media- 6.135Mbps
2. O2 & Be Broadband -5.632Mbps
3. Sky Broadband -3.592Mbps
4. TalkTalk -3.482Mbps
5. Orange 3.427Mbps

Top five broadband providers offering faster upload speeds

1. O2 & Be Broadband -0.748Mbps
2. TalkTalk -0.481Mbps
3. Virgin Media -0.467Mbps
4. Orange -0.406Mbps
5. Sky Broadband -0.395Mbps

BT is placed in seventh position for download speeds and in nineth position for upload speeds. AOL has shown the worst performance in the speed test results and sits in the 10th position.

Vodafone, the UK mobile broadband provider has recently slashed its mobile roaming charges from £4.99 per MB to 0.20p per MB, according to a report.

The new mobile roaming charges that have been released by Vodafone show that the internet access via mobile phone is much cheaper than using laptops to access mobile broadband. The rates also change depending on which countries you will use Vodafone mobile broadband service. For instance, the rates of mobile roaming tariff vary between Zone 1 and Zone 2 which refer to European countries and the non-European countries respectively.

In Zone 1 (which includes European countries), the new mobile roaming rates will be £4.99 for each 25MB when you use phone and the tariff almost doubles (£9.99 for each 25MB) if you use laptop to access mobile broadband.

In Zone 2 (non-European destinations), it is £14.99 for each 25MB for internet access via phone and £29.99 for each 50MB for laptop users. So, using your phone seems an affordable solution for mobile broadband users in abroad. Since, it is a per day mobile broadband plan from Vodafone, the rates for a day begins at midnight of UK timezone.

However, £4.99 rates apply only after you have used one MB and the charges will be calculated per kilobyte till you reach one MB. So, it will be 50p per 100Kb before your usage cross 1MB.

No one will deny that mobile broadband is becoming quite affordable these days. Slashing prices, additional usage and introduction of new features attract many UK customers to go for mobile broadband. However, using your mobile internet in other countries is often looked upon with fear due to the expensive roaming charges.

It is always a good idea that you watch your mobile broadband usage while you are traveling in other countries outside the UK. When you are connected to mobile internet in abroad, always check the usage periodically so that you can be always on a safer side when you get the bills.