New developments in internet cabling look to be getting started in September, with the UK’s sewers providing the gateway to the world wide web. The Merseyside based company H20 Network’s ethos ‘using the Past to Connect the Future’ came up with their system F.O.C.U.S (Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer) in 2003, and have been in discussion with councils in Northampton, Bournemouth and Dundee to see which one of the towns will be first to receive the 100mbs service. This is super fast when compared to current fastest broadband providers Be Broadband who offer 24 meg, and O2 broadband who offer 20 meg. This is particularly exciting news for Venturian Media as our Northampton service currently runs at around 4 meg, meaning will the new H20 service we would be running at 25 times our standard rate!

This environmentally friendly cabling service can be installed 80 per cent faster than traditional wiring methods. This will save the Government over £1billion a year in roadworks, plus another £4billion will be saved by cutting down traffic disruptions. Another thing that won’t be disrupted is customers connections, where 2km of cable would usually take 12 months to be laid under roads, H20 can provide the same system in 4 hours.

Managing director Elfed Thomas came up with the idea of using sewer ducts for fibre optic cables some years ago.

“We have big infrastructure problems in the UK yet we have all this piping, so I thought why can’t we use the sewers? The alternative way of laying fibre involves digging up the roads. This can be extremely disruptive, expensive and slow, with it costing between £150 and £200 per metre to dig up a road. There is also the added advantage of the new cable lying 5metres below the ground, compared with 450mm for conventional cables. The H20 system eliminates the additional connection fee telecom companies charge when adding extra bandwidth. With our cable having no restriction on bandwidth, the customer is firmly in control and has the ability to upgrade at any time without the additional cost.”

With over 360,000 miles of sewerage pipes in the UK alone, this system can cut costs nationwide. It also opens up the possibility of more fibre optic usage in the more remote parts of the country. Although people will be claiming we’ve been ‘laying cable’ in the sewers for centuries, this vast network of underground piping could not only help the people of Britain, but also the environment.

>> Check out the current top 10 Broadband Providers

O2 broadband have been causing quite a stir since their launch at the back end of 2007 and their offer was really cost effective for 02 pay monthly mobile customers as they got £10 off o2 broadband prices. Now o2 PAYG / Prepay customers are eligible for the same great discounts on O2 Broadband!

02 Broadband packages for O2 mobile customers are :

• Standard - up to 8 Meg Unlimited Broadband - £7.50 per month
• Premium - up to 16 Meg Unlimited Broadband - £10.00 per month
• Ultimate - up to 20 Meg Unlimited Broadband - £15.00 per month

PAYG / Prepay customers will need to take out a 12 month O2 Home Broadband contract and will automatically get their discount off the O2 Broadband bill when they top up their mobile by a minimum of £10 every 3 months. If a Prepay customer fails to top-up their mobile by the minimum £10 in the 3 months before their Broadband bill is generated, they will be charged for their Broadband service at the higher (non-discounted) price for that month.

Existing Prepay customers who have O2 Home Broadband benefit too - O2 will automatically apply the discount!

o2 Broadband are also running a special offer for non o2 customers whereby they get £5 off a month from the usual price (Offer Ends 30/4/08) so they have no need to feel left out!

>> Sign up for o2 Broadband Today!

O2 Broadband have lowered the prices of their excellent value broadband packages to non-O2 pay monthly mobile phone customers. Their new prices range means that if you don’t have an o2 mobile phone you can now get broadband for £5 cheaper per month - for the duration of your stay with o2 Broadband!

The new prices are as follows :

• Standard Up to 8meg unlimited broadband from only £7.50 for O2 pay monthly customers, standard price £12.50 instead of £17.50
• Premium Up to 16meg unlimited broadband from only £10 for O2 pay monthly customers, standard price £15.00 instead of £20.00
• Ultimate Up to 20meg unlimited broadband from only £15 for O2 pay monthly customers, standard price £20 instead of £25.00

>> Sign up for 02 Broadband from £7.50 a month

>> Read our review of o2 Broadband

All o2 broadband packages include :

• unlimited downloads
• o2 wireless box included - connect up to ten computers at once with In built security
• 100 day money back guarantee
• FREE uk customer service available 27/7
• O2 e-mails to your mobile: its free to recieve up to 1,000 e-mails every month. They appear on your screen like a text message
• 1GB of storage for main email account and 200MB for all the others
• Online calender
• McAfee security included
• Up to 10 email addresses with 1Gb storage space

Various media outlets have announced that o2 Broadband will be launching on October 15th 2007 and they have set their prices so that pay monthly mobile customers are set for a cracking high speed broadband deal! Initial reports suggest that o2 broadband will be available at two speeds - up to 8mb and up to 20 Mb.

There will be two pricing categories :

o2 Pay Monthly Mobile Customers :

• Up to 8Mb broadband - £7.50
• Up to 20Meg broadband - £15.00

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The word on the underground broadband grape vine is that the eagerly awaited o2 Broadband could be launched within a matter of days. We’ve noticed that there are the first signs of an online media campaign with paid search listings appearing in the Google search results offering customers the chance to pre-sign up – this in itself suggests that the launch of o2 Broadband is imminent. According to our sources, the delay in launching their own broadband product following o2’s acquisition of broadband provider BeThere broadband early in 2006 has been caused by several factors.

Firstly, o2 were keen not to go down the same route as rivals Orange whose own broadband product has been poorly received and plagued by problems with customer service. This is especially of concern to o2 given Be Broadband’s excellent reputation for customer service and it’s growing popularity through viral methods. Be Broadband offers customers up to 24 meg speeds and this, coupled with its great customer service and competitive price point, has seen its popularity rocket, particularly now that it is available in far more areas than it has been historically. O2 Broadband are now faced with the tricky decision as to whether to drop the Be Broadband brand or to run with two broadband products simultaneously which are effectively competing with each other! (more…)

Hot on the heels of picking up the Apple iPhone contract o2 have announced that their broadband packages are soon to go live. O2 purchased Bethere broadband in August 2006 and since then the broadband world has been waiting for an announcement as to when the super fast broadband would be bundled with the o2 phones. O2 are now taking registrations and no firm date has been set yet but we’re thinking a Christmas launch would make pretty good business sense!

>> Read more about o2 broadband