UK broadband gets speed injection

MFour

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A friend in London sent me this. Wonder if telscum would like to send some of their staff to the UK for training on new technology and what it is used for?

Broadband's rapid rise continues apace as speeds gear up a notch.

An eight megabit service has been launched by internet service provider UK Online.

It is 16 times faster than the average broadband package on the market and will pave the way for services such as video-on-demand and broadband TV.

The service is possible due to a new regime which allows other operators to use BT's exchanges and will initially only be available in towns.

Wireless connection

It represents a "big leap forward" for broadband, said Chris Stening, UK Online general manager.

The service comes with a hefty £39.99 monthly price tag but will mean users can download MP3s in seconds and offers TV-quality video streaming.

The service includes WiFi as standard, meaning users can connect multiple PCs, laptops and game consoles from any room in the house.

Not everybody will be able to take advantage of the service, as it will be restricted to metropolitan areas.

The service will initially be available to users within 2km radius of 230 telephone exchanges in areas such as London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cambridge.

That represents about 4.4 million households.

The service is possible due to a decision to loosen BT's strangle-hold on telephone exchanges.

Korean example

The process, known as local loop unbundling, was put in motion by the now defunct telecoms watchdog Oftel but has only proved popular in recent months due to falling costs.

UK Online is looking at the possibility of bundling services such as cheap net telephone calls, video-on-demand and TV by 2005 if the service proves popular.

"The service is twice as fast as any other service on offer in the UK and 16 times faster than most broadband services," said Mr Stening.

"It takes a big leap for broadband and we are very excited about it," he said.

Countries such as South Korea and France have found the advantage of upping the speeds of broadband.

In South Korea, video-on-demand over the net is cheaper than renting a DVD and online gaming is huge.

Mr Stening believes the service will appeal to people in multi-occupancy buildings as well as easing family arguments.

"A typical family with two adults and two children is currently sharing a 512 kilobit service. This will basically give them 2 megabits each," he said.
 
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Korean example is a good one, local loop unbundling in SA would go a long way to resolving a few of our issues...
 
Yes, lets hope Telkom catches on some time soon. Just to prove it can be done, if they wanted to.
 
The rest of the world is always on affordable speed...

SA has clearly fallen behind bcos Telkomonopoly convinced Poison Ivy that the word "speed" was actually a reference to the drug of the same name, Telkomonopoly's argument being that they did not want to sell "speed" bcos it would highlight the immoral & unethical way they make their profits...:D (j/k)

Seriously though, I want to cry when i c that the rest of the world is always on speed, no tears have yet been forthcoming, but it does depress me a little bit - each time...
 
Just R463

KillKape said:
The service comes with a hefty £39.99 monthly price tag but will mean users can download MP3s in seconds and offers TV-quality video streaming.


:eek: Thats just R463 - help! thats so cheap! I want it - now!
 
The fact that SA is and has never been a market leader will always mean we will be following. But it's when we start running in the opposite direction that I really get pissed off. e.g. Telkom, Aids, etc.
 
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