“Bill Smith, 38 year old mechanic was found dead in his house in Manchester, UK. A neighbor reported after seeing the sparks coming out of the window. Mr. Smith  who was chatting with his friend on the internet last night, died due to a high voltage which passed on his broadband cable. His wife reported that she was sleeping after dinner. She came running after a loud cry from her husband.  It was found that the house experienced fluctuation of power due to rain and a high voltage passed on the modem while he was attempting to adjust the internet connection. “This is the 3rd accident that has happened this year and we are under thorough investigation to identify the root cause” the police said. Mrs. Smith has filed a case against the broadband company for a compensation and to take necessary actions in identifying the root cause for the problem. – Reported a UK daily newspaper. 10 Oct 20**.

But how did the power supply get in to the internet line? Yes that’s the invention yet waiting for approval of standards. Don’t worry no one is dead with the internet. **The above said news is just an imagination, do not take is seriously.

A common electric outlet might be a path for your broadband connection in the future. Broadband has been coming out with different emerging trends like satellite broadband, mobile broadband, broadband gaming and now its time for broadband over power lines(BPL). BPL is a broadband technology that is developed by Current Communications Group and Enikia along with power companies like Ameren and EPRI to get it off ground. It has been tested in many cities of the United states and United Kingdom, but still awaiting FCC and IEEE’s approval for standards.  AC power was used for data transmission by the electric companies to monitor the performance of power grids. But the method was simple and relatively slow.

We know that the phone companies haven’t laid enough fiber optic lines to facilitate all the users for a broadband service. But this is not the case of electric lines. Power from the power plant reaches the transmission sub station and then distributed to high voltage transmission lines. The first obstacle for the data traveling are, these high voltage lines (155,000 to 765,000 volts) which can drop or damage the data since its too noisy. BPL bypasses the issue by not using the high voltage power lines. Instead the data is transmitted through medium voltage power lines (7200 volts). Repeaters are installed at safer distance where there are chances for the data to drop down. Then a CT coupler is installed which by passes the transformers and converts the medium voltage of 7200v to 240v which can work in a normal household service. After reaching the CT coupler or the bridge, the data can be transmitted either through electric cables or wireless. After reaching the wall outlet a BPL modem is used to convert data using a specially developed modulation technique and sends to the computer. This modem handles power line noise at a wider spectrum.

Even though the broadband on power line technology seems to be innovative, it receives heavy opposition from American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Both continue to say that BPL will cause severe interference issues. BPL said those issues have been solved, but the ARRL was not ready to give ears. So BPL is hoping  for slow progression. Broadband service over the power line would reach almost everyone who struggle with a dial up or have no connection. Do we have an unlimited usage on that? Caution: Electricity Bills?!?!?

The first components would arrive in the summer commercially online, as part of the Twenty First Century Network plan of British Telecom. Besides, the rollout of the fibre-to-the-cabinet network of BT that is estimated GBP1.5 billion would also be carrying on bringing fresh commercial services in 2010.

As part of the newly announced packages, an Ethernet small sized business plan rollout (symmetrical connection) in the First Mile that ensures same downlink and upload speeds is expected to attract the attention of the market.

Greg Duffy, the official spokesman of BT Business expressed the hopes of the company that more outward traffic is expected to go over the network once more people start working at home, creating the ideal platform for the functioning of the symmetrical connection. He added that to fill up a broadband connection of the ordinary stature, the participation of too many people was not required.

The move from BT broadband firm is all the more important in the current circumstance, as Virgin Media their major rival has rolled out a 200Mbps broadband pilot scheme in Kent, to a group consisting of hundred consumers.

The UK mobile broadband sector is getting all the more heated up with a good number of deterrent hands fighting it out, apart from the fresh entry of a few more who are highly potent of posing a serious threat to the existing big names. The last one, but definitely not the least to hit this segment has been none other than British Telecom, the biggest name in the fixed broadband sector of Britain.

The mobile broadband enthusiasts of the present times in the UK, had been deeply involved in the 900MHz spectrum release controversy that involved O2 and Vodafone, apart from Ofcom, the watchdog itself. In the backdrop of the widespread disappointment of many in the country that the talks on releasing spectrum has fallen flat, has emerged a new ray of hope in the form of a potential merger.

The merger mentioned here has not taken place, but if materialized would be between T-Mobile and 3 Mobile. It is an undeniable fact that T-Mobile’s parent firm, Deutsche Telecom is very much strained by the lobbying of it business partners, and is contemplating over selling off their UK division to see itself out of deeper troubles.

If such a move is likely to come from the German telecom company, the most ideal candidate to acquire the assets is certainly 3 Broadband. 3 is regarded as the most potential bidder, especially for the facts that currently it shares the mobile broadband network of T-Mobile and most significantly, 3 lacks a 2G mobile network of its own.

Once this deal is realized, a dramatic boost is expected in the already growing customer base of 3 Broadband, transforming it into one of the most formidable service provider in the broadband sector. The business tactics of 3 had been meticulously executed till date to take the company to a remarkable position, led by dongle sales that hit greater than a million in the first quarter of the year. The introduction of their fresh laptop-broadband bundle packages is also expected to hit the bulls eye in a very short time.

]]> http://www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/uk-isp/a-new-mobile-broadband-giant-in-the-horizon/feed/ 0 http://www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/uk-isp/o2-digital-joggler-for-broadband-customers/ http://www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/uk-isp/o2-digital-joggler-for-broadband-customers/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 05:36:57 +0000 Angeline http://www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/uk-isp/o2-digital-joggler-for-broadband-customers/ Reports reveal that a fresh digital organizer and calendar have been unveiled by the telecoms firm O2 with a prime view to offer the niceties to their broadband connection users. At present the Joggler comes with a cost, and will be available at the retail outlets of O2, though this can be expected to accompany many broadband connection packages as offer in the future.

The joggler that comes with a price tag of GBP149.99 is being touted as a multi-purpose digital device that features a cutting edge multimedia player for music, pictures and videos, apart from news and weather updates. The most significant feature of the joggler, though is its touchscreen with a diagonal size of 7 inches.

The joggler is designed with a view to enable families to organize their lives along with their activities, when clubbed with any broadband internet service. The joggler promptly stores important information such as work deadlines, appointments, school runs and birthdays in its calendar. It also texts reminders of the upcoming appointments, as well as events while communicating with mobile devices.

O2, in a recently let out statement, had said that the joggler has been designed keeping in view, the hectic family life of the present times that can be difficult at times to manage. The statement as well as the joggler of O2, also comes at a vital point of time where a survey result published by the same ISP had revealed that a large number of households in Britain valued their broadband service dearer than family holidays.

According to the analyst agency, an annual broadband connections count of above two hundred million is expected by 2013, which would be dominated by long-haul connections. It has also revealed that the studies conducted on the context also predicted that more connections would be generated by notebooks and netbooks, as against smartphone and PDA like handheld devices.

Another result revealed by the survey conducted by the agency is that this year would witness the generation of a worldwide revenue of above forty nine million dollars that would expand to an annual revenue of above one billion dollars by 2012, mainly owing to the numerous broadband-savvy airlines passengers.

It is also worth mentioning here in the circumstance that British Airways had revealed in January, their plans to introduce later this year, an in-flight wireless service that enables the passengers to engage in emailing, short messaging and browsing the internet. The service will be launched, according to the airlines company, on a business class plane that connects New York JFK and London City airport.