Londoners could soon see broadband speeds triple to 24Mbps, thanks to a recently launched company that has promised to deliver ADSL2+ Internet services.
Be, a new Internet service provider, said the service will dwarf current top speeds of 8Mbps, and will be available in the capital in three months' time.
The company is currently keeping its pricing strategy a secret but said the service, which works over local-loop unbundling, will be "competitive".
The ISP is one of the first operators in the UK to use French telco Alcatel's routing equipment and technology.
Boris Ivanovic, co-founder of Be, has already tried his hand at the broadband market. In 2001 he bought Swedish ISP Bostream, which launched 26Mbps broadband.
Ivanovic said: "The deregulation of the market makes this a very exciting time for the UK and Be is here to make the most of it, offering customers the full capability of ADSL2+ from launch. There is no reason to drag out the increase in speed and launch in steps of 1Mb or 2Mb when the capability is there to offer the maximum speeds available — which is what Be is all about."
However Mark Blowers, senior research analyst for the Butler Group, was sceptical there is sufficient demand for the service: "I think it's good news for the broadband market that people are starting to roll out higher speeds. The caveat to that is that you don't always get the speeds because of copper quality and distance to the exchange.
"This will be good for high-definition images and open the market for other television things. Although it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation — are there those services currently available? Sometimes these companies neglect what customers actually require from the service."
Talkback
don't matter if there are services that warrant it.... guess we can all 'evaluate' software and music far quicker now....
:) got 2 luv microsoft
You complete idiots... why can't i have 24mbps! greedy MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!!
F-a, excellent, I think that is the kind of thinking this country needs. This'll wake BT up, I hope to see this expand outside of London to all parts of the UK - that includes Scotland.
I will certainly consider it provided that the price is reasonable. There is NTL and EasyNet to consider...but what is the upload hope it's more than 500Kb.....should be at least 5Mb!
All this might get that C&W shower at Bulldog to move along ....... have been waiting for five weeks for 'upgrade', latest excuse is 'no ports free' in local exchange......not fault of BT might add....for once.......the blame is with Bulldog slow rollout of this service.....there will be 'questions' at AGM......
Bronco W3 8QZ
Of course there are services that warrant higher broadband speeds. My office for example is currently sharing a 1mb service between 6 workstations. With all 6 accessing the web at the same time, this roughly equates to 170kbps bandwidth per machine vs 4mbps with a 24mbps connection. A massive difference!
its not like using adsl to stream tv is new... theve been doing it in hull for years now.
I believe that this is the beginning of an amazing expansion of net speeds... although i would be worried about all the illegal downloads as increasing the broadband download bandwidth will only lead to many more illegal downloads... - keep in mind that you only need so much speed to surf the net and listen to music... but to download movies illegaly this is the perfect opertunity!
Bulldog customer service is useless today, I cannot see how they can be the leaders in new technology promotion
Dont' fall into the trap and never forget that the further you are from your exchange the slower your speed will be. They can't sell service anymore so they are trying to sell speed. And even if you do sign up, check the duration of the contract otherwise you'll be stuck for 12 painful months....which can lead to hair loss!
I believe that this is the beginning of an amazing expansion of net speeds... although i would be worried about all the illegal downloads as increasing the broadband download bandwidth will only lead to many more illegal downloads... - keep in mind that you only need so much speed to surf the net and listen to music... but to download movies illegaly this is the perfect opertunity!
Couldn't care less about mediocre movie trailers, demo tracks, low quality goal videos, adverts and other rubbbish ISPs try to bundle with the connection and call "Service"!
This "concerned voices" from competitors are pure attempt to prevent spreading of technology and hold back the development.
Give me the bandwidth and I can choose myself what to do with it, thank you very much!
Britain is already 10 years behind the rest of the world on technology.
Boris Ivanovic for president!
Amen!
It hurts brittish pride to be outdone by something.
But to be outdone in their own home must make them see red!
No least because they love money and see them leave contry will be a devastating blow!
We swedes have always been on a forefront of the technology while britain got stuck in the industrial revolution back in 1700s....hahahaha
Now Sweden will deliver you 24Mbps while you brits are still in your infantility are trying to reach 8Mbps.
Maybe next millenium you can have residential 100Mbps fibre optics - something japan had for almost 10 years and sweden for past few.
Bulldug is crap