Back in August 2000 BT first launched its high-speed internet connection to customers. Initially only available to around one third of UK households and costing £500 a year it was the first step in many to Broadband Britain.
There are currently only 2 ways to connect to ADSL in the UK. Recently a technique called Local Loop Unbundling means you don’t need to have a BT phone line, but at the moment only 1% of people on broadband in the UK use this method. The only other way to connect transforms an existing BT phone line into a high-speed digital line. This is only available with a BT phone line though, so even if you don’t subscribe to BT’s package your ISP still has to pay BT money to maintain and connect your line. Because of this BT has been able to dictate the availability of broadband in the UK for a few years now.
For fear that UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom would break-up the company because they held a monopoly by owning all the phone lines and means to connect to broadband, BT has agreed to offer rival companies access to the “Local Loop", which is the network of telephone lines around the country. By doing this BT could stand to lose many customers as other companies can offer their broadband directly and without having to pay BT expenses.
Since the introduction of ADSL in the UK many potential customers found their local exchanges were simply out of date and the lines too old to be able to handle this new technology. Campaigns run country-wide as BT will only upgrade exchanges if there is adequate interest. ADSL is still not available in many villages and more rural areas of Britain but BT is vastly expanding and upgrading its network to try and cover all the country, Broadband is currently available in more than 96.6% of all UK households.
BT’s standard package is 2Mbps with a 1 GB monthly download limit. This means you can only download 1 GB’s worth of content, be it WebPages, music or movies, a month. This is more than enough for typical WebPages, but excessive music downloads will result in your account being suspended or limited for the rest of the month. You can upgrade your broadband to a 15 GB monthly limit for a little extra a month. BT also offers Pay As You Go dialup and unlimited dialup contracts.
BT Broadband also offers a variety of packages and upgrades designed to suit every user. You can upgrade to a gaming account to play xbox and PS2 games online, you can setup parental filters for your children, and there’s protection against spam, junk mail, pop-ups, virus’s and online intruders.
One of the main reasons people will continue to signup to BT is its reliability. They have broken the mould of all ISPs having poor customer service and are incredibly helpful with setting up your connection.
BT are aiming to trail their 8Mbps connection soon, intending it to be in common use by the end of the year. BT’s ultimate goal is making broadband available throughout the country, including rural areas.
Bt Broadband Speed Test
British Telecommunications known to many as BT is the nations largest telecommunications provider. Not only do they offer phone lines to their customers but a range of packages including television and broadband or internet services as well. Despite the fact that there are other providers of this service, BT still ranks as the top provider with their unbeatable prices and fast connection speeds.
As a part of their promotional offer, BT is now offering three months free broadband to their customers. It states that all customers will have the opportunity to sign up to packages that brings all call back to BT will be getting free internet for three months. What this means really is anyone on broadband and a call package or anyone signing up to their triple play package with the company, calls and BT vision, their digital television service will in exchange get three months free broadband.
The three packages that the broadband comes in gives 8Mb speed. In addition to this they are also offering their customers 24/7 customer phone support from UK landlines as well as an online always available support system. Of the options they have on offer, option one gives 10 GB downloadable limit. If however you need more in terms of downloading capacity you may find that option two with a downloadable limit of fifteen GB is what you are after and finally you have option three which offers the customer unlimited downloads.
They also offer packages which start as low as seven pounds seventy eight per month and go up to a reasonable thirteen pounds sixty nine per month depending on what you require. Be mindful that after the initial three months the prices may differ so be sure to know which package would best suit your needs.
Not surprisingly there are mixed views on what customers think of the service offered to them by this long standing company. Despite the mixed reviews, customers have to admit that even if they have experimented with other service providers they find that they end up coming back to BT.
One customer reported to have been with BT since broadband was made accessible to him in his area which happened to be approximately three miles from the exchange. He reportedly finds them and their service to be second to none. In fact he has praised them to be excellent. Technical support he found to be spot on, where they were rather very patient, kind and understanding, wanting only to resolve the query or problem in the best way. Like most services offered, there is always room for improvement and he had this to say in terms of giving feedback.
Sad to say he has advised against using their Norton bundle as well as their browser setup which both proved to be a disappointment for him. On the upside, the BT Net protect/ Mcafee product is reportedly quite good and does the job well. Another customer has praised their service and boasts of getting 700 kbs from 12 - 5 pm . As with any service provided in life, we each have our preferences and so one will find that what happens to be an excellent offer, good customer service and reasonable deals for one turns out to be quite the opposite for another. You really just have to test the waters and see what works for you.
Both Neil Shevlin & Caroline Telford are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Neil Shevlin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Broadband, Computers and The Internet and Broadband. About The Author:Neil Shevlin is the owner of UK Cheap Broadband which is a great place to find broadband links, resources and articles. For more information go to:. Neil Shevlin's top article generates over 14800 views. Bookmark Neil Shevlin to your Favourites.
Caroline Telford has sinced written about articles on various topics from Blackberry Review, Broadband and Mobile Phone Reviews. About the Author:Compare broadband internet from home and mobile broadband providers in the UK. View all the deals that. Caroline Telford's top article generates over 450000 views. Bookmark Caroline Telford to your Favourites.
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