One of the major developments that are taking place in UK broadband industry is the unbundling of BT exchanges by LLU operators like the Carphone Warehouse or O2 broadband provider. LLU providers are allowed to install their own equipment in BT exchanges and take the last mile connection to their customers. This method helps the ISPs to offer new features as well as make the prices more competitive. For instance, Sky broadband and Be offer ADSL 2+ broadband with speeds up to 24 Mbps to their customers who are within their LLU network. Likewise, the major LLU operator, the Carphone Warehouse offers free broadband to the TalkTalk LLU customers while reduced monthly prices only apply to the customers who are on the LLU network of AOL. Seeing the benefits and its impact on broadband uptake, Ofcom, the UK telecom regulator has instructed BT to speed up the unbundling process across the UK.
Improving broadband speeds
Using 8 MB broadband connection that has become standard nowadays, you can download a five minutes MP3 song almost instantaneously while the same task will take nearly 2 minutes with the basic 512 KB broadband connection. Ofcom reports that broadband speeds have increased manifold in the last three years and a high speed broadband connection is now 500 times faster than a dial up connection.
ADSL 2+ broadband which is slowly catching up with broadband customers in the UK, can offer speeds up to 24 Mbps giving a wide range of possibilities for the users that include streaming videos, playing high speed online games or accessing VoD or IPTV services.
Fibre based broadband that uses fibre optic cables to give super-fast broadband (download speeds up to 100 Mbps) is currently going on a few areas in the UK and is expected to overtake other broadband technologies and become the future broadband.
Prices are coming down
In early 2000s, any home user would find broadband out of his reach with a standard broadband deal costing over £30 a month. The only way to access broadband was through a leased line that was affordable only to the business users. However, the prices have fallen so sharply during the last three years that the same broadband deal is available for less than a £10 per month.
Packaged bundles
According to a broadband consumer report, nearly half of the home users buy broadband bundles that offer broadband, phone and TV services together. The benefits such as great savings and the convenience of single bill for all services are right behind their popularity. Currently, most major ISPs like Virgin Media, Sky, Tiscali and BT offer bundled packages and with the ongoing competition, prices are falling to the benefit of consumers.
Online gaming, social networking sites and IPTV services
High speed broadband has opened up the potentials of internet and the internet is being used in many ways than ever before. It is not just for the reasons of web surfing, emailing or online shopping, that broadband users would like to go for broadband. The faster connection speeds enabled the users to play high speed online games or connect Xbox to the internet or watch online videos of DVD or high definition quality in full screen mode. IPTV services like BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, Tiscali TV and BT Vision bring popular TV programmes and on demand videos to the home via internet that one day we may not require the traditional satellite TV service at all.
Social networking or P2P sites are hugely popular with many broadband users and according to a report, it is found to be one of the major reasons for taking high speed broadband services. Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook allow you to share and download music, video and software from other users although such file sharing is considered as illegal by owners of these files.
