New UK Broadband Offerings

The ISPs World Online and Tele2 announce different UK strategies, one wireless, one wired, to take on the incumbent's ADSL offering.

by James Middleton of uk.internet.com [November 2, 2000]

Luxembourg-based provider Tele2 is attempting to shake up broadband access in the UK by offering wireless high speed 'always-on' connections for as little as £9.99 per month. The only catch (and there had to be one) is that customers will need to be within line of sight of one of the company's transmitter stations.

This currently means that if you live in either Bradford or Leeds, and are in line of sight of a base station, you can get a permanent internet connection for just under £10 a month (almost $15) plus a one off installation fee of £49.99 ($72.39). This gets you a receiver antenna stuck on your roof (but whether it stays there is another matter given the prevailing weather conditions in the North of England).

Despite beating BT and other potential broadband players to the punch by avoiding the wait for the local loop to be freed up, Tele2 is also looking to attract customers by offering static IP addresses. This allows users to host a website at their home or office — something other providers have avoided, claiming that it clogs bandwidth and generally slows up the service.

Users are guaranteed a 64Kbps connection 24-hours a day, which will be boosted to 150Kbps off peak between the hours of 6pm and 7am, when consumer usage is most likely to be higher.

Better than BT
The offering also looks more tempting than BT's initial asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) offer that starts at £39.99 ($57.91) per month with a £150 ($217.21) installation fee.

Tele2 was awarded a Wireless Telegraphy Act licence by the Radio Communications Authority in May of this year, which the company claims "placed it as the first licensed commercial broadband fixed wireless access service in Europe".

Not content with throwing down the broadband gauntlet to other UK providers, Tele2 also announced that it would be rolling out services in Brighton, Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh in the near future. World Online's offering
UK service provider World Online looks like its trying to make amends for dumping its unmetered access model late last month with an announcement that it will be offering an always-on broadband service by Christmas.

The company said the service would be available in December for a flat rate of £39.99 ($57.91) per month including line rental and free installation.

Existing users of the World Online internet service will receive the offer first, with non-subscribers expected to wait until the local loop unbundling allows World Online to extend the reach of its network.

The company said that it plans to sink more than £50m into its UK broadband offering and will begin reviewing the broadband pricing scheme as soon as the service takes off.

The news was welcomed by users who felt they had been slighted by World Online's discontinuation of its unmetered service. "I was very pissed off by the changes and was about to cancel until I got this offer," said one user.

—End