Broadband battle
BT has raised concerns that Virgin Media's new 100Mbps broadband package is too expensive for the average British family.
While it admitted ‘all superfast broadband is good for the UK' and it is ‘encouraging' to see Virgin upgrading its network by 2012, BT touted its own plans too, emphasising it is already rolling out fibre broadband to around 17m homes and businesses.
It seems BT couldn't help sticking the boot into its rival as it said: "It is good for UK plc that there will be another high speed network, albeit one that is isn't open to other companies in the way BT's is."
However, BT's real bone of contention seems to be the price of Virgin Media's super speedy offering which starts at £45 a month.
"Take up is as important as availability however and so we would question why Virgin is charging such a premium. Their new service is more than twice the price of BT's fibre product and so we are surprised by the high price when most family budgets are tight," said BT.
While BT may have a point that the broadband speed comes at a price (as one might expect,) it has not revealed how much its eagerly anticipated 110Mbps package, available from next year, will cost.
It seems BT's future speedy service may not be much cheaper than Virgin's 100 Mbps offering if consumers consider BT's current Infinity package which includes a 40Mbps download service, 10Mbps upload speed, line rental plus unlimited Wi-Fi minutes and costs £38.48.
Some savvy consumers might notice that the Infinity price is less than £7 cheaper than Virgin Media's new service that is over double the speed, causing some to argue that BT's money gripes may be a little rich.
However, a BT spokeswoman told HEXUS: "The point we are making is that Virgin seems to be charging an awful lot for 100Mbps when 40Mb or 50Mb offers enough speed to run several services simultaneously, which is supposedly the main benefit of 100Mbps."
BT has also launched a free app to make its bulky paper phonebook available on Android smartphones.
The app lets users type in their address or their current location then find the type of business they need nearby. BT said it allows people to plan a trip and get contact details, description, directions, customer reviews and ratings.
It also has options to search for rated companies, see results on a map, get driving instructions, leave reviews and ratings, save contact details and contact a business directly via email, text or call with one click.
