You know well who was the first broadband service provider to offer its customers free calls. You also know perhaps who was the first to offer its phone customers, broadband bundles for free. If your answer is, TalkTalk ISP, and if you are an ardent subscriber to the company’s service, you can rejoice. For, all the customers of TalkTalk would be able to enjoy the free local call offer anytime from the first day of May. More, you can also make calls to all 0870 and 0845 numbers from the 2^nd day of June.

TalkTalk had found out that a great proportion of the UK calls, its customers have made in the present times were to local numbers. Therefore, this promotional attempt by the UK Internet Service Provider is expected to keep its subscription base intact, by bestowing on them the liberty to chat without the fear of a exorbitant bill. However, TalkTalk has already declared that it would hike the standard line charge to GBP11.25 per month. The decision to offer free calls is viewed by many as a consolation to the damage effectuated by the increase of prices.

You might also be interested in listening to the comments of the managing director of TalkTalk, Wendy Becker, which seemed to make clear that they at TalkTalk were constantly contemplating on providing the customers a better deal, particularly in uncertain times like the present times. She held the opinion that making the 70 percent local calls that the customers of TalkTalk used to make, free of cost; they were very much on the path to boost their customers’ loyalty towards the company.

The Madrid demonstration staged by the owner of O2 Broadband in Britain, the Spanish incumbent Telco, had witnessed the revealing of the key objectives of Telefonica, one among which pointed towards their commitment to technological innovation and leadership.

Telefonica, here has a great advantage of having a potential partner in Ericsson. The pair had successfully demonstrated an LTE mini network based video call and VoIP call. Other demos included image and data download and a video conference.

In the broadband comparison, Telefonica claimed that above 140Mbps speeds were achieved by the network, which was ten times quicker than the present optimal speed offered by HSPA based 3G network.

Besides, Telefonica also revealed that in the demonstration, a prototype LTE network was connected to the existing 2G and 3G networks, which indicated that the application was very much around the corner. However, many have already criticized the hype over the technology on the basis of its roll out obscurity.

Although, twenty six vendors have confirmed that LTE services would be rolled out by them from 2010 to 2012, till this date no domestic UK internet service provider has announced an LTE services launch in the UK.

For the latecomers or the ones tuning into the sector after an extended break, the spectrum allocation dispute is nothing but the long running quarrel over a spectrum range of 900MHz with Vodafone and O2 on one side and telecom department of the UK on the other. For some more history, Vodafone and O2 were originally awarded a chunk of spectrum against their promise to build a digital phone service infrastructure. This spectrum now has been identified very much suitable for the mobile broadband augmentation.

On Thursday, Lord Stephen Carter, the communication minister of the UK, has imposed a deadline finally on the quarelling mobile broadband ISPs to sort out their differences, failing which the government will be forced to take coercive measures. The spectrum is all important, for many experts consider this frequency ideal for better carrying of signals as well as increased penetration into buildings. This in turn allows better coverage; the main reason for the government’s as well as the rest of the industry’s wanting Vodafone and O2 Broadband Provider to share some spectrum with other ISPs as well.

Due to the dogged approach of the two big ISPs, the government had put forth a warning back in February this year, which obviously pointed to intervention. However, no much progress had been made in the matter by either sides till the date. Now, the government can resort to an imposed solution of unspecific character, provided the disputing parties fail to reach an agreement by the end of April. Whatsoever, things do not bode well for the prospects of Vodafone and O2 to hang on to the goods, as government would not like to bring things to an impasse, as that would affect their Digital Britain plans.

As British Telecom is working earnestly on a fibre optic roll out in the UK that would increase the broadband speeds in the UK up to 100 Mbps, an internet service provider based in America has been found offering its Japanese customers, world’s fastest broadband service undoubtedly.

J:Com is the American ISP that is offering its Japanese broadband customers a maximum speed of up to 160 Mbps. A fact that could trigger heart attacks to the UK ISPs. According to the current situation in the UK, the fastest broadband service offered is an up to 50Mbps service by Virgin Media.

More news related to this are pouring out from the land of midnight sun that seems to compound the woes of the UK ISPs, which are very much under criticism for their high broadband prices. The charge fixed by J:Com for its upgraded modem is GBP35 that is reasonable considering the high speed nature of the service.

Nevertheless, the monthly charge for the superfast broadband service of up to 160 Mbps that has been fixed at GBP35, is obviously a price that most of the UK’s broadband consumers as well as ISPs would regard as jaw droppingly low.

It seems that Britain has a lot to learn and adapt from Japan, such as the low connection costs for home broadband services in Japan. The average broadband connection cost of around GBP55 in Japan inclusive of the modem, is considerably lower than the prices charged by their counterparts in the UK.

The Wimax technology, obviously is not a popular one in the UK, though Intel believes that this could be the one technology that can be successfully harnessed to fill in the rural broadband gap. No wonder, Intel ardently recommends the application of this technology in the global broadband map.

At present, Wimax is very much looked upon as a potential competitor to LTE technology. There are numerous experts in the broadband segment who prescribe Wimax to developing countries, marked by mediocre fixed communication infrastructure, especially for its capability to offer a significant link to the digital world.

The acronym Wimax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. To enjoy the benefits of this technology the preliminary measure is to avail adequate silicons for its modems. This technology is hyped by numerous broadband experts as the successor to Wi-Fi as well.

On the paper, it can deliver data rates of up to 70Mbps over a 50 km distance, although the actual range is subject to a number of variables that include environmental status, topography and network capacity. However, it can also compliment other wired broadband technologies such as cable and DSL.

Many experts foresee the capability of Wimax in filling the gaps left over by cable and DSL, which could culminate into the realisation of virtual lifelines to the rural areas of the developing nations with incompetent fixed communication infrastructure.

As far as the UK is concerned, this technology has been already laid through its paces in four trials by BT in remote areas in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. Although, it was tested in odd conditions, the feedback it received from the customers were remarkable.

This could have urged the spokesman of BT to say that in ensuring a hundred percent broadband access across the UK, this technology could emerge quite crucial. BT would be offering Wimax eventually in the form of a ready-to-install modem, much like its plug-and-go DSL package that had helped in the launching of broadband back in 2002.