Virgin Media TV is absolutely offer the moon to announce the launch of two great new HD channels for those that enjoy football and films. With the World Cup fast approaching, as of April 2nd 2010 you will be able to receive ITV1 HD, which is perfect for the Champions League latter stages, the FA Cup, and of course the little matter of the World Cup that kicks off in June. I for one am looking forward to watching all the fun with a cold can in HD, unfortunately I’m not so looking forward to England getting knocked out in the quarters finals (again!).

ITV Director of Television, Channels and Online, Peter Fincham, said -

The availability of High Definition content is something viewers have come to expect as standard and, as we approach the 2010 World Cup, I’m delighted that we are able to launch our new channel, ITV1 HD, on Virgin Media. All of our output will benefit from the stunning picture quality that High Definition offers, whether it’s ITV’s original drama, landmark factual shows, entertainment events or our live football.

Alongside this great news, Virgin Media has also announced the upcoming launch of Film4 HD and E4 HD. This is great news not just for the lover of films, but also those cool cats who enjoy the likes of Skins and The Inbetweeners. Film4 has long been held in high regard by movie buffs around the country for not being afraid to show independent and foreign films alongside the latest Hollywood blockbusters, and now all available in glorious high definition.

Executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, Cindy Rose, said -

Channel 4 has a great track record in delivering innovative and compelling content and we’re delighted to bring some of their very best films and most popular programmes to our customers in stunning HD. As more and more households become HD-ready, we’re lining up content that makes the most of High Definition and are making HD available to all our of customers for no extra fee.

Virgin Media already carries several hundred hours of HD programmes on demand, from popular films to whole back catalogues of drama, plus the BBC iPlayer HD. It looks like the latest installment in their choice of HD channels is going to have even more customers flocking to order.

> > Click here to order Virgin Media TV today

The Berkshire village of Woolhampton has been chosen by Virgin Media broadband to trial their pioneering new service which will be delivered using telephone poles. By connecting the village’s homes directly to their fibre optic network, Virgin Media will be increasing broadband speeds to the rural community ten times faster than the previously relied upon copper network. Alongside this ultrafast broadband, the villagers of Woolhampton will also be offered the Virgin Media cable TV service which includes 5,000 hours of catch up TV and on demand content alongside the usual popular channels.

The trial is scheduled to run for six months and is part of Virgin Media’s plan to bring next generation services to people who live beyond the reach of their fibre optic network. Virgin Media is also planning to extend it’s network to more than 1million more homes through the deployment of their award winning service via the new telegraph pole system.

Chief executive officer of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett, said -

This unique trial will allow us to understand the possibilities of aerial deployment and may provide an exciting new way to extend next generation broadband services. With everything from BBC iPlayer to YouTube increasingly demanding reliable ultrafast broadband speeds, we’re keen to ensure that all communities, in towns, cities and villages right across the UK, stand to benefit.

With Virgin Media’s extensive network already reaching 12.6 million homes in the UK, this old school method of data transfer could be the perfect transport system to reach those parts that the fibre optic cable cannot. Thanks to years of telecommunications via telephone poles across the country, this is a fantastic way to ensure that more homes across the UK are given the opportunity to enjoy Virgin Media’s ultra fast service, and not just those who live in built up towns and cities. The trial will start this month and if successful could see up to one million extra homes benefiting from speeds of up to 100Mb.

> > Click here to order Virgin Media broadband

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O2 Mobile Broadband are making major changes to their tariffs to give their valued customers even more value for money on what is already one of the most competitive on the market today. Thanks to extensive customer surveys and feedback, O2 has flipped the script on a few things to tailor their tariffs to cater for what their customers require. These changes include -

• Half price dongles only £10 until 11th March 2010
• First 3 MONTHS FREE on all 18 month contracts
• Reduced average cost per MB to just 2.4p
• 24 month contracts only with laptop deals

These changes are being put into place thanks to O2 mobile broadband really listening to their customers, as they’re the ones that pay the bill, they get to have their say too. O2 have done away with the 24 month non laptop deals to allow consumers more flexibility and control over their contracts, and with 3 months free on every 18 month deal, now is a great time to order your mobile broadband with O2.

> > Click here to order O2 mobile broadband

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You may have the fastest internet connection in the world, but you should also be aware of what your download limit is. Now in some countries, this is explicit. That is to say that when you sign up for internet services, the ISP will give you a data transfer allowance.

That means that only a certain amount of data can be downloaded for the monthly fee you pay to your ISP, beyond that, the ISP will charge for every megabyte downloaded..

In the UK Fixed line ISP’s generally have no explicit data transfer limits, but do monitor usage, and for those who download a lot of data or are hogging bandwidth, their speeds tend to get choked by the ISP. If you are accessing the internet from a mobile device, then it is more than likely that your provider will have some data transfer limits.

So what speed do you need? well that really depends on the kind of internet usage you expect to engage in, below is a rough guide to speeds and what certain speeds would be most suitable for.

512 kbit/s

Most ISP’s will have a 512 kilobit per second service. This may be fairly slow, and some people may wonder what is the point. If you rarely use the internet and just check emails occasionally, then this type of connection is more than adequate.

If you want to do more than that, for example listen to music or watch video, you will need a faster connection.

More importantly it is really cheap, and I personally have a spare 512 kilobit per second connection from another ISP as backup,  just in case my main internet connection ever goes down (which happens more often than I would like unfortunately)

One to Two Megabits/s

This speed is common in many homes and small businesses; however the average speed of connection to the internet is getting faster by the day.

An internet connection of this speed is pretty much good enough to do most things on the internet, from just general surfing, to posting on Facebook, reading the news, and streaming music or video.

At its fastest it takes about 40 seconds to download a 5 minute long song.

Eight to Twenty Four Megabit/s +

Many would argue that a lightning fast connection will mean that loading web pages, even the most content heavy ones will be instantaneous, as will downloading audio and video.

The truth is and I speak from experience, you cannot really tell there is that much difference between a one or 2 Mbps connection, because no matter how fast you can download, you are still at the mercy of the speed of the source that you are downloading from.

If for example you download a video from a site, that only uploads a single file at 2 Mbps, then that is the fastest download you are going to get for that file, no matter how fast your internet connection is.

To make full use of your bandwidth you will need to download multiple files, and only then will you utilize the speeds you have available.

So if you are doing a ton of file sharing, are heavy on the game play, or heaven forbid, download torrents, this is the type of connection for you.

3G – Third Generation: wireless mobile services and applications offering users very fast access to the internet either through their mobile phone or through their computer wirelessly.

ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line: DSL service with a larger portion of the capacity devoted to downstream communications, less to upstream. Typically thought of as a residential service using copper cables to deliver the internet to the premises.

Bandwidth – The amount of data transmitted in a given amount of time; usually measured in bits per second, kilobits per second, and megabits per second.

Bit – A single unit of data, either a one or a zero. In the world of broadband, bits are used to refer to the amount of transmitted data. A kilobit (Kb) is approximately 1,000 bits. A megabit (Mb) is approximately 1,000,000 bits.

BPL – Broadband Over Powerline: A technology that allows broadband services to be delivered using existing electrical power supply lines and is now being rolled out in the developing world.

Broadband – A descriptive term for digital technologies that provides consumers with integrated access to voice, high-speed data service, video-demand services, and interactive delivery services

Coaxial Cable – A type of cable that can carry large amounts of data over very long distances. Cable TV and cable modem service both utilize this technology.

Dial-Up – A technology that provides customers with access to the Internet over an existing telephone line.

Downstream or Download – Data that flows from the Internet to the computer e.g. when a user surfs the internet, checks E-mail, that type of dataflow is downstream and the user is downloading.

DSL – Digital Subscriber Line: The use of a copper telephone line to deliver “always on” broadband Internet service.

FTTN – Fiber To The Neighborhood: A hybrid network architecture involving optical fiber from the carrier network, terminating in a neighborhood cabinet with converts the signal from optical to electrical.

FTTP – Fiber To The Premise (Or FTTB – Fiber To The Building): A fiber optic system that connects directly from the carrier network to the user premises.

GSM – Global System for Mobile Communications: This is the current radio/telephone standard in Europe and many other countries except Japan and the United States.

IP-VPN – Internet Protocol -Virtual Private Network: A software-defined network offering the appearance, functionality and usefulness of a dedicated private network

ISDN – Integrated Services Digital Network: An alternative method to simultaneously carry voice, data and other traffic, using the switched telephone network.

ISP – Internet Service Provider: A company providing Internet access to consumers and businesses, acting as a bridge between customer (end-user) and infrastructure owners for dial-up, cable modem and DSL services.

Kbps – Kilobits per second: 1,000 bits per second. A measure of how fast data can be transmitted.

LAN – Local Area Network: A geographically localized network consisting of both hardware and software. The network can link workstations within a building or multiple computers with a single wireless Internet connection.

Mbps – Megabits per second: 1,000,000 bits per second. A measure of how fast data can be transmitted.

Streaming – Streaming video is content sent in compressed form over the Internet and displayed by the viewer in real time. With streaming video or streaming media, a Web user does not have to wait to download a file to play it. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous stream of data and is played as it arrives.

Upstream or Upload – Data flowing from your computer to the Internet (sending E-mail, uploading a file).

Video On Demand – A service that allows users to remotely choose a movie from a digital library and be able to pause, fast-forward, or even rewind their selection.

Majority source: California Public Utilities Commission

O2 broadband are offering their mobile phone customers an amazing deal this Spring (yes, I’m officially declaring Spring!). For a limited time only, those O2 mobile customers who sign up for the O2 Premium or O2 Pro Home broadband packages will receive a FREE £50 credit into their mobile phone bill. This offer is available to -

• Pay monthly customers
• Pay as you go customers
• Mobile Broadband customers.

Plus, if you are not already signed up with O2 mobile you can still take advantage of this offer by simply buying a mobile product within 30 days of purchasing O2 Broadband.

So if you’re already an O2 customer, or not, now is the perfect time to not only pick up one of the best and cost effective broadband providers around, but also save yourself a packet on your mobile phone bill.

> > Click here to order O2 broadband today

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Virgin Media broadband has announced plans to release a 100Mb service, 24 times quicker than average speeds. The service, planned to be up and running by the end of 2010, is the UK’s biggest jump in speed capability ever, and will open up a whole new dimension of internet usage.

The new 100Mb service means users will be able to download -

• music album in as little as 5 seconds
• hour long TV show in 31 seconds
• HD movie in 7 minutes 25 seconds

The new speed tier will provide Virgin Media customers with the fastest internet on the planet, perfect for tech-savvy users. Virgin Media already lead the market in broadband services, and have already increased their top tier broadband from 20Mb to 100Mb in less than two years. That’s some fast work in more ways than one!

Thanks to it’s fibre optic cable network, Virgin Media has been providing next generation internet speeds to over 12 million homes throughout the UK. Plus with their cable networking, Virgin Media are one of the few companies who can actually deliver close to their advertised speeds.

Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, Neil Berkett, said -

There is nothing we can’t do with our fibre optic cable network, and the upcoming launch of our flagship 100Mb service will give our customers the ultimate broadband experience. Just as we led the way by launching the UK’s first ever next generation service, we want to keep giving our customers the very best broadband available, by investing in technological innovation and transforming the experience they have when they are online. The launch of Virgin Media’s 100Mb service will be a historic moment and will mean the UK will be comparable to other leading broadband nations.

Virgin Media will also be looking to recruit hundreds of customers to test their pilot 200Mb service in Coventry, which began work in Kent last year. The pilot system will be focusing on future technologies such as home teleconferencing and downloading HD programmes on-demand. All of these programmes will demand super high speeds, but it appears that Virgin Media have all this in hand!

> > Click here to order Virgin Media broadband

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O2 mobile broadband has been recognised as offering the fastest speeds in the country by independent study group SIRODA, who provide expert analysis across a wide range of communication technologies. The results of their  comprehensive 60 day survey across 150 UK locations, compared the data speeds of all five major UK mobile broadband providers.

The results showed that O2 offered the fastest average web access in London at 1.7 seconds, which was 30% quicker than the slowest provider. O2 mobile broadband also achieved the fastest music download rate in 12 out of 20 UK cities, with tests conducted  at peak periods throughout the day in London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Derek McManus, Chief Technology Officer for O2, said -

We’re very pleased with these conclusive findings, which have been independently verified. Our London customers are now seeing the benefits of the investment we made before Christmas, where we spent £30m delivering 40 new sites. Outside London, where network quality is shown to be strong, we continue to scale our investment and have committed to deliver a further 1500 new sites by the end of this year, building ahead of the demand for data services.

O2 mobile broadband is not only one of the quickest, but also one of the cheapest, with prices starting from just £2 a day. Plus with unlimited free Wi-Fi in over 7500 UK hotspots, it’s easy to see why more and more people are changing to O2 broadband.

> > Click here to order O2 mobile broadband

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Virgin Media mobile broadband has just released ‘EU Travel Passes’ for customers who want to surf the net whilst abroad. The passes, which start at just £6 per day, will offer customers great value for money when using their mobile internet and broadband to surf anywhere in the EU.

There is four different choices of mobile broadband EU Travel Passes, which allow customers to access data for -

• 1 day   = £10 for 10MB
• 3 days  = £15 for 15MB
• 7 days  = £30 for 30MB
• 30 days = £6 for 60MB

So now Virgin Media customers can stay online whilst they are away on business or pleasure without running up any unexpected bills. Customers can also purchase internet passes for their mobile phones whilst abroad for £4 an hour or £6 for a day.

Director of mobile at Virgin Media, Jonathan Kini, said -

Virgin Media customers never have to worry about accessing the internet while they’re abroad. Whether it’s searching for the best pizzeria in Rome on your mobile or uploading photos onto Facebook with a laptop and mobile broadband, customers now have control over what they spend on holiday.

> > Click here to order Virgin Mobile broadband

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Talk Talk broadband has extended it’s free connection offer on their Essential and Pro tariffs. This great deal will save you a tasty £29.99, and with package prices starting at just £6.99 a month with up to 24Meg download speeds, now is a great time to choose Talk Talk as your service provider.

The £6.99 Talk Talk Essentials Package features -

• up to 8Meg
• 40GB download allowance
• Evening & weekend calls to UK landlines
• Unlimited local calls, anytime
• Free technical & customer support
• Free wireless ‘G’ router

Whilst the £14.99 Talk Talk Pro Package features -

• Up to 24Meg
• Unlimited download allowance
• Anytime calls to UK landlines
• Calls to UK mobiles for 7p/min flat rate + call connection
• Free technical & customer support
• Free wider range wireless ‘N’ router

Both of these great deals are available on 18 month contracts when ordered with a Talk Talk phone line for £11.49 per month. So why not order online today and pick up one of the cheapest packages on the market and save yourself an extra £29.99?

> > Click here to order online with Talk Talk broadband

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