Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator Talkmobile, which is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) on parent Vodafone’s (VodafoneThree) national UK 4G and 5G network, has finally begun to offer eSIM (Electronic SIM) support to new customers who join by taking one of their SIM Only plans.

The eSIM standard is an alternative to physical SIM cards, which works by essentially embedding an electronic SIM into your device (Smartphone) that could – once fully implemented – make it easier and quicker to switch between operators (e.g. not having to wait for a SIM card to arrive), as well as to use additional networks alongside your main mobile plan (e.g. eSIMs for travel when abroad).

Credits to one of our readers (Zakir) for spotting the change, which occurred last week.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The BBC’s Research & Development division has extended the testing period and increased the number of devices able to take part in their beta trial of “low latency streaming” on their iPlayer service. This aims to reduce the delay on live TV shows/events that exists between terrestrial broadcasts and streamed content.

The delay on iPlayer, which partly occurs due to all the extra processing and connectivity that’s needed to stream a live broadcast, has reduced significantly in recent times but is still around 40 seconds, though it is not the same for all viewers. Many streaming services today have similar delays. By comparison, the BBC’s broadcast services deliver an end-to-end delay of around just 8-10 seconds.

The new testing phase will allow the BBC to measure more precisely how well low latency streaming performs outside of their lab and in people’s homes, across different networks and conditions. “It’ll also help us to understand what it takes to deliver live content online as fast and reliably as broadcast,” said the BBC earlier this week (here).

Melissa Darragh, Senior R&D Engineer at the BBC, said:

“As of this week, we’re entering a new phase designed to broaden device support and extend the hours of operation. This is so we can reach more reliable conclusions about how low latency streams behave in the home, at scale. This will also increase participation from homes with different internet service providers, Wi-Fi setups, and network stress patterns. Low latency puts the player closer to the ‘edge’ of what the network can support; so, diversity in real-world conditions really matters.

Extending when the trial is available lets us capture performance through different live moments such as sports, music, or breaking news, as well as across weekdays and weekends. This will result in a larger and richer dataset, which will allow us to measure smaller differences in performance.

Working with the teams responsible for our TV iPlayer product, we have once again arranged for a low latency stream to be available via iPlayer beta.”

The table of supported devices now includes a couple of Amazon Fire TV Sticks, BT’s TV Box Pro, the Sky Glass Gen 1 TV(s) and various TV models from Bush, Sony and Toshiba. But the BBC acknowledges that this is still very much a work-in-progress trial and “more work is needed before we could deliver a fully resilient fault tolerant low latency stream at the scale needed for a major sporting event.”

Anybody who wants to give this a go on a supported device merely needs to switch-on iPlayer Beta in the settings and watch BBC Two live – the trial stream is currently available from 8am – 10pm BST for viewers who have set their location to England or Scotland. It is expected to run for around a month. Credits to Thinkbroadband for spotting this development.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Newcastle City Council has announced the launch of a pilot scheme with digital connectivity provider Purple, which will see an “extensive city-wide Wi-Fi” network being rolled out for residents, students and visitors to help them connect to the internet. The service is expected to be free to access.

The new wireless network is expected to be deployed across Council buildings and other participating venues, including gyms, libraries, commercial buildings and public spaces. Users will be able to “connect once and roam freely across hundreds of hotspots without repeated logins“, thanks to the use of Purple’s associated ConneX App.

To accelerate adoption, Purple is also giving away £120,000 of free Wi-Fi hardware and licenses to 1,000 small and medium-sized businesses.

Cllr. Paul Frew, Newcastle City Council, said:

“Even with near-universal broadband coverage, not everyone can afford reliable access on the go. We’ve used government funding to improve our free public Wi-Fi offer to improve performance for residents, and this new partnership will enable us to further tackle digital poverty and give residents free access in more places. This project is about fairness as much as technology.

Seamless, free connectivity helps level the playing field, ensuring no one in Newcastle is left behind in the digital age. It also supports our ambitions to be more evidence-led and data-driven. The insights gained by working with Purple will allow us to better understand people’s use of public Wi-Fi and how we can deliver the best possible service for residents, businesses and visitors.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Residents covered by the Rhydlewis Exchange in Ceredigion (Wales), which serves 1,058 premises across 127 postcodes, may be pleased to learn that their stop-start deployment of a new Openreach based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network can now finally complete after they worked together to raise £1.4m in pledges.

The exchange previously had some of the lowest fibre (FTTP) coverage in the county, with just 30% of local homes and businesses able to access such a network, but that is now set to change. Work to roll-out the new network did in fact start once before, after the community succeeded in securing pledges for 217 vouchers under the government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) by the summer of 2024.

“Unfortunately by the summer of 2025, it was obvious the network build had dramatically slowed down and in June 2025 Openreach informed the community it had experienced unexpected challenges and costs and needed to raise the target to 325 voucher pledges to ensure the complete network build,” said local resident Sandy to ISPreview.

Thankfully, the same small community action group that had been so effective at raising the initial batch of funding was able to spring into action again and raise pledges for a total of 325 vouchers (£1.4m). The catchment area was also increased to include over 800+ premises (up from 700+ originally). All of this was enough for Openreach to continue the build.

A Spokesperson for Ceredigion County Council said:

“This latest milestone shows what’s possible when rural communities come together to secure investment in their digital future – and offers encouragement to others still working towards their own targets in Velindre, Maesycrugiau, and Llandysul.”

At present some 154 premises are already Ready for Service (RFS) with the new full fibre network and work can now continue across the catchment. The bulk of this roll-out is due to complete by the end of 2025, although a few properties won’t be covered until the Spring of 2026 due to delays caused by road closure procedures.

“We are very grateful for the support of our local MP, Ben Lake, Senydd Member, Elin Jones, and the local council, Ceredigion County Council. So, come the Spring of 2026 our rural community should be celebrating the success of FTTP!,” said Sandy. We should point out that the community has been designated a Voucher Priority Area (VPA) by the government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

SpaceX’s popular Starlink service, which offers ultrafast low-latency broadband speed across the world via a mega constellation of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), suffered another global outage this morning that started at around 5am. But services now appear to be returning to normal for many, but not all, users.

Starlink currently has around 8,400 satellites in orbit (c.4,800 are v2 / V2 Mini) – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km – and they’ll add thousands more by the end of 2027. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £75 a month, plus £299 for hardware (currently free for most areas) on the ‘Standard’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which promises UK latency times of 26-33ms, downloads of 116-277Mbps and uploads of 17-32Mbps. Cheaper and more restrictive options also exist for roaming users.

The network operator’s last major global outage was in late July 2025 (here), although this one won’t have been quite as disruptive because it occurred late at night for much of the world. For example, most of the impact in the UK appears to have hit between just after 5am and then ended just before 6am (roughly 1 hour). But a few users still appear to be reporting problems.

Starlink itself acknowledged the outage by posting a brief message to their website: “Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage. Our team is investigating“. At the time of writing the cause of this latest wobble remains unclear, although we note that it coincided with a modest G1 solar storm. Starlink’s network can usually adjust for the impact of space weather, but disruptions may still occur.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Telecoms and broadband giant BT Group has this morning announced that Bharti Mittal, the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel Limited, will both join the company’s Board as non-independent non-executive directors.

In case anybody has forgotten. Last year saw Bharti Global (via Bharti Televentures UK Ltd), the Indian multinational conglomerate, agree to acquire French billionaire Patrick Drahi’s (Altice UK) stake of 24.5% (issued share capital) – worth around £3.6bn at the time – in the BT Group (here). But BT’s market cap has risen significantly since then (it’s now about £20.50bn), thus this stake is likely to be worth closer to £5bn.

However, while Patrick Drahi seemed more inclined to be a fairly passive shareholder, Bharti may have other plans. But they’ve thus far been very supportive of BT Group’s existing CEO, Allison Kirkby, which is hardly surprising given the operator’s rapidly improved share price over the past year.

Adam Crozier, BT Group Chairman, said:

“We’re delighted to welcome Sunil and Gopal to the Board of BT. They bring significant experience and global perspectives in the telecoms industry, and we look forward to their contribution to the Board and to the future success of BT Group.”

Sunil Bharti Mittal said:

“I am delighted to be joining the Board of BT, an iconic company delivering critical infrastructure and services for the UK. I look forward to working with Chairman Adam Crozier, the Board and CEO Allison Kirkby to drive forward the strategy to win in the market and deliver world-leading services for BT’s customers.”

Gopal Vittal said:

“I am honoured to be joining the BT Board at a pivotal moment for our industry. I look forward to bringing my experience at Airtel to help support BT, whose unique assets and businesses offer valuable opportunities for growth. Airtel and BT have much to learn from and contribute to each other.”

Such developments often have a habit of triggering talk about takeovers etc. On that front, BT itself could be said to have overcome some of the obstacles and uncertainties that often-discouraged potential bidders in the past, although there are still plenty of hurdles for a suitor to consider (e.g. the increasingly competitive UK full fibre market, the high level of debt, high interest rates, political opposition and so forth).

Doing anything serious on this front would thus require a green light from the UK Government, although the UK’s relatively new National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) is unlikely to throw up any real obstacles until or unless Bharti’s stake goes beyond the 25% mark.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

UK ISP TalkTalk has followed last week’s launch of their refreshed branding (here) by kicking off a nationwide marketing and TV campaign. The campaign will run across social media, video-on-demand, outdoor, and audio channels, and features the provider’s new tag line: “Now you’re TalkTalkin“. They’ve also cut the price of their 150Mbps full fibre package.

According to the announcement, TalkTalk’s 150Mbps broadband package has now been reduced to just £25 per month, albeit rising to £28 from April 2026 and £31 from April 2027. The package is available on a 24-month minimum term and includes a wireless router (Wi-Fi Hub 3), as well as free installation and internet security features.

Susie Buckridge, CEO of TalkTalk, said: “We’re returning to our challenger roots, focusing on what our customers want which is simply reliable Wi-Fi without the jargon and the fuss, at the right price. Our new look website, strengthened by our brilliant new-look brand and engaging marketing campaign, are just the beginning of our journey and signal our intent to continue to shake up the industry on behalf of our customers.”

You can see the two new TV and streaming adverts below.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

New customers looking to join mobile operator Sky Mobile (Sky Broadband), which is a virtual provider (mvno) on O2’s national 4G and 5G network, may like to know that they’ve launched a bunch of new discounts on their SIM Only plans. For example, you can now get 1GB of data, including unlimited calls and texts, for just £1 per month (down from £3).

In addition, Sky Mobile’s 10GB data plan has been reduced to £10 per month (down from £14), while 60GB is now £14 per month (down from £22) and their top “unlimited data plan” is just £19 per month (down markedly from £29). All of these offers are on 12-month terms, with prices returning to normal thereafter. As usual, you’ll need to click the Sky affiliate links in this article to get these discounts.

Sky’s mobile plans also support data rollover (unused data goes into a piggybank for future use), as well as the flexibility to change your mobile plan up or down whenever you like, zero-rated data usage (free) when streaming on Sky’s TV apps and the ability to swap to a new phone, tablet or laptop whenever you want, albeit with some limitations.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile network provider giffgaff, which is owned by Telefónica and uses O2’s associated virtual operator (MVNO) platform, has provided customers of their new home broadband trial – based on nexfibre and Virgin Media’s 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP / XGS-PON) network – with additional speed options other than 500Mbps.

The trial has been running with “up to 500” live customers for a couple of months now (here and here). The service initially only offered a single package, which offered symmetric speeds of 500Mbps on a 12-month term for the heavily discounted price of £10 per month. Such pricing is only for the trial period and won’t reflect their final retail pricing, which is likely to be higher.

Customers who have signed-up to this typically seem to be ending up with exterior kit that still features Virgin Media’s branding (pictured), as well as an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) inside their homes from Arcadyan Technology (PB6802B-LG) and one of Amazon’s Eero 6+ routers (UI features giffgaff’s branding).

The main change this week appears to be that giffgaff have now introduced two additional trial tiers for customers. The first is an entry-level style 200Mbps package for the ridiculously low price of £5 per month, and the next is a higher end 900Mbps tier for £15 per month (although we’re starting to view 900Mbps as more of a mid-tier in the current market). Credits to couldbefaster on our forum for the update.

At present we don’t know when the commercial launch will happen or what their final packages / prices may be when that occurs.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Network operator Openreach (BT) appears to be giving UK migrations from legacy fixed lines to modern Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband services a boost by offering UK ISPs and their customers a special discount on rental prices, albeit only when upgrades occur via their Proactive Upgrades process.

Consumers are normally the ones to initiate an upgrade to full fibre (FTTP), but with Proactive Upgrades the initiator is your ISP. Proactive migrations thus arise where your ISP proposes an upgrade to new FTTP lines from your older broadband services (ADSL, FTTC etc.) and, at the same time, books an appointment for an engineer to carry out the upgrade (the end user can still confirm, reject or select a different appointment).

Openreach has recently been busy improving their Proactive Upgrade process, such as by significantly shortening its lead time (here). The latest development is that they’ve introduced a new special offer on this process, which essentially enables customers to potentially be upgraded to the “1000/115Mbps [download/upload], 550/75Mbps and 330/50Mb bandwidth tiers for the rental price of 80/20Mbps” – lasting for up to 24 months (details).

Just for context. The standard wholesale rental price of their 80Mbps broadband tier on FTTP is usually £259.20 +vat per year (£21.6 per month) and for their 1000Mbps tier it’s £469.20 +vat (£39.10 monthly), although in practice it may be lower than this due to the impact of certain Equinox 2 discounts. But regardless, this could be quite an attractive incentive to help people upgrade, assuming ISPs do pass it on (very likely).

The actual offer pricing is set to become available between 10th October 2025 and 9th April 2026 and, naturally, upgrades must proceed to a successful FTTP installation in order to qualify.

A New Feature

In addition to the above, Openreach has also launched the Proactive FTTP Upgrade journey for their slowest 0.5Mbps speed tier, which is usually meant to help support land-line only phone migrations to IP based voice alternatives. This will support “migrations from certain PSTN-based [Public Switched Telephone Network] copper services facing retirement (WLR, WLR + SMPF & ISDN 2).” The free standard connection charge offer thus now applies to this too.

Finally, on the issue of wholesale vs retail rental prices, it’s always worth pointing out that the price you pay at retail will be higher than at wholesale because ISPs have to add 20% VAT, profit margins and various other network/service costs on top in order to create the product you actually buy.