The figures on broadband use in the UK are impressive. There are 4 million people in the UK who use ADSL and there are also another 2 million using cable connection. This means that there are 6 million people in the UK who use an always-on type of Internet connection. BT is considered the main supplier of broadband in the UK, because over 1.7 million people subscribe to one of BT's broadband packages.
It was in August of 2000 that BT first launched their high-speed Internet connection. While it was only available to around one third of UK households in the beginning stages, and it cost ?500 a year to have, it was the first step in a series to Broadband Britain.
Currently, there are only 2 ways to connect to ADSL in the UK. With the introduction of a new technology called Local Loop Unbundling, many more people were able to have broadband service. This Local Loop Unbundling makes it possible to connect without having a BT phone line. At this time, however, only about 1% of households in the UK have this kind of connection. The only other way to have a broadband connection is by transforming a current BT phone line into a high-speed digital line. This presents a problem for subscribers, because this is only available with a BT phone line, so if you are not a BT subscriber, your ISP has to pay money to BT for them to connect and maintain the line. BT has been in the enviable position to dictate how available broadband is throughout the UK.
Fears have surfaced that Ofcom, the UK telecom's watchdog, would force the separation of the company because they had a monopoly by owning all the phone lines and therefore the access to all broadband connections. Because of this fear, BT is now agreeing to let rival companies have access to the "Local Loop." This is a network of telephone lines around the country. The downside of this action is that BT could stand to lose many customers now that other companies can offer their broadband services directly without having to pay BT for access.
The introduction of ADSL in the UK found many potential customers with local exchanges that were out of date, and lines that were too old to handle new technology. BT's solution is to offer countrywide campaigns to upgrade exchanges if there is enough interest. Since ADSL is still not widely available in rural villages and smaller areas of Britain, BT is expanding and upgrading its network to meet the needs of these areas. Broadband is now currently available in at least 96.6% of all UK homes.
The standard package of BT is 2Mbps with a 1 GB monthly download limit. What this means for the average user is that you can only download 1 GB's worth of content, (movies, music, web pages, etc) per month. Most people find this adequate. But for people who do not abide by the monthly limit, they can have their account suspended or severely limited for the rest of the month. Users who want or need more can upgrade their broadband to a 15 GB monthly limit for an additional fee. To service every type of user, BT also has a Pay As You Go dialup and dialup contracts with no limits.
BT Broadband also has packages and upgrades designed to suit every user. It is simple to set up a gaming account to play Xbox and PS2 games online with others, and you get a variety of tools to help you protect your children and your computer from spam, junk mail, pop-ups, and viruses.
Reliability is one of the main reasons people will continue to subscribe to BT. They pride themselves on having excellent customer service, from setting up your line to many years in the future.
A new goal for BT is to make available for trial use their 8Mbps connection. It is their intention to have it in common use by the end of the year. BT's ultimate goal continues to be making broadband service available throughout the country, including rural areas.
Robert Michael is the owner of Best Broadband Review which is a great place to find Broadband Links, Resources and Articles. For more information go to: <a href="http://www.bestbroadbandreview.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.bestbroadbandreview.co.uk</a>
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