Sky Broadband recently launched the new Sky Hub, which claims to be the router with best wireless range of any major provider, based on an independent study. The Hub offers Sky Smart Signal technology which constantly scans for interference in the home and selects the best wireless signal available. It also provides easy WiFi Protected Setup for WPS enabled devices.
Sky+ customers will be able to connect the Sky Hub to their Sky+ Box to access Sky's new On Demand entertainment services, which can also be accessed when out and about with the help of the Sky Cloud WiFi app.
The Sky Hub is provided to new customers as an inclusive part of their Sky Broadband package. Existing Sky Broadband customers can upgrade to the Hub for an introductory price of £39.
We also managed to get our hands on ten Sky Hubs and five Sky Wireless Connectors to give away in a competition that ran until the 6th of December. The lucky winners will hear from us by the 13th of December.
October 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test rise in comparison to the results from September's result, coming in at 18.04Mb. Average upload speed remained stable at around 2Mb.
Virgin Media's average download speeds have increased over last month to 33.43Mb (a 0.5Mb increase) and upload speeds remain stable at 2.17Mb. Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse maintained second place with an impressive 3Mb increase to 17.31Mb for average download speeds, and increased by 1Mb to achieve 3.21Mb average upload speeds. BT Broadband held third place and also increased speeds, with download speeds averaging at 14.4Mb and upload speeds at 3.26Mb. Plusnet came in at 4th place with 12.58Mb download, an increase in speed since last month.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 7.33Mb average download speed over their Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service.
Orange are now trading as EE, and speed test results only include numbers from their fixed line broadband packages, and not their 4G mobile broadband packages.
August 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test drop slighty in comparison to the results from July's result, coming in at 17.72Mb. Average upload speed remained stable at 2Mb.
Virgin Media's average download and upload speeds have increased over last month to 33.4Mb (a 2Mb increase) and 2.81Mb respectively, ahead of everyone else. Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse maintained second place with speeds dropping to 15.75Mb for average download speeds, and 2.65Mb for average upload speeds. BT Broadband held third place and also had a drop in speeds, with download speeds averaging at 14.17Mb and upload speeds at 2.79Mb. Plusnet came in at 4th place with 9.37Mb download, remaining stable since last month.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 6.06Mb average download speed over their Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service.
Due to a significant drop in overall tests by AOL users, AOL has been dropped from the list to ensure that overall results remain statistically useful.
July 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test remaining stable in comparison to the results from June's result, coming in at 17.26Mb. Average upload speed remained at 2.1Mb.
Virgin Media's average download and upload speeds have increased over last month at 31.2Mb and 2.62Mb respectively, ahead of everyone else. Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse maintained second place with speeds holding steady at 16.1Mb for average download speeds, but dropping slightly to 2.8Mb for average upload speeds. BT Broadband held third place and also remained stable, with download speeds averaging at 14.92Mb and upload speeds at 3.28Mb. Plusnet came in at 4th place with 9.49Mb download, a solid increase in speed over last month.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 6.46Mb average download speed over their Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service.
May 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test increasing in comparison to the levels achieved in April's result, coming in at 15.29Mb. Average upload speed increased to 2.29Mb.
Virgin Media's average download and upload speeds have remained stable at 24.34Mb and 2.66Mb respectively. BT Broadband held second place and increased speeds again, with download speeds averaging at 14.56Mb and upload speeds at 3.75Mb. Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse maintained third place with speeds holding steady at 12.94Mb for average download speeds and 2.48Mb for average upload speeds.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 6.44Mb average download speed over their Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service. Plusnet came in at 4th place at 6.60Mb, a slight drop on last month.
April 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test continuing to increase in comparison to the levels achieved in March, coming in at a staggering 14.13Mb. Average upload speed increased to 1.9Mb.
Increased speeds are likely in large part due to the start of Virgin Media's roll out of double or better speeds for cable customers, which will continue throughout 2012 affecting all but their 100Mb service. BT Broadband's Infinity 2 will also be having an effect on speeds. Virgin Media hold steady at first place, and average download and upload speeds have increased significantly by 5.16Mb to 24.79Mb with upload speeds seeing a small increase to 2.6Mb.
BT Broadband take second place this month with their own significant speed gains. Download speeds are up by nearlt 4Mb this month, averaging at 13.4Mb and upload speeds are up by over 1Mb at 2.91Mb. While Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse has dropped to third place, their average download speeds have increased by over 1Mb to 12.83Mb and upload speeds to 2.24Mb.
Plusnet came in at 4th place at 6.96Mb, a slight drop from last month. The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 6.09Mb average download speed over their Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service.
Virgin Media have revamped their TV, broadband and phone bundles, creating a new range of Collections. Each Collection offers super fast broadband of 30Mb or higher, Virgin Media's cutting edge TiVo service and a wide range of TV channels and on demand conent. The higher end Collections offer a great deal of additional channels and perks including an extra V HD box to view TV in a second room of your home. Each Collection has a range of additional options and upgrades available to suit a variety of customer needs:
The revamp corresponds with Virgin Media officially increasing their minimum download speed to 30Mb and their mid range packages to 60Mb. Customers interested in the 100Mb packages can take advantage of a price drop down to the level of Virgin Media's previous 50Mb range. That's twice the speed for the same price. Available stand alone or with a Virgin Media phoneline:
Virgin Media 30Mb Broadband Virgin Media 60Mb Broadband Virgin Media 100Mb Broadband
March 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test increasing in comparison to the levels achieved in February's result, coming in at 10.73Mb. Average upload speed increased to 1.48Mb.
Increased speeds are likely in large part due to the start of Virgin Media's roll out of double or better speeds for cable customers, which will continue throughout 2012 affecting all but their 100Mb service. Virgin Media's average download and upload speeds have increased significantly by 1.98Mb to 19.63Mb with upload speeds seeing a small increase to 2.48Mb. The trend sees Virgin Media's average download speeds increasing by 4Mb over the last two months.
Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse maintained second place despite seeing a small decrease in average download speed to a 11.51Mb average and upload speeds to 1.77Mb. BT Broadband held third place and made speed gains, with download speeds averaging at 9.47Mb and upload speeds at 1.75Mb.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 6.08Mb average download speed over their Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service. Plusnet came in at 4th place at 7.27Mb, a significant gain on previous months, but this is likely due sign ups for their competitively priced FttC Plusnet Fibre product.
February 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test increasing in comparison to the levels achieved in January's result, coming in at 9.32Mb. Average upload speed remained stable at 1.36Mb.
Virgin Media's average download and upload speeds have increased significantly by 2.3Mb to 17.65Mb and upload speeds were stable at 2.43Mb.
Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse made an impressive recovery from their January drop, increasing their average download speed to a 12.27Mb average and upload speeds to 2.09Mb. BT Broadband also see improvements, with download speeds averaging at 8.57Mb and upload speeds at 1.54Mb.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 4th place with 6.03Mb average download speed over its Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service.
January 2012 saw average download speeds recorded by users of our Broadband Speed Test increasing in comparison to the levels achieved in December's result, coming in at 8.21Mb. Average upload speed also increased to 1.31Mb.
Virgin Media's average download and upload speeds have increased to 15.33Mb and 2.46Mb respectively.
Fibre to the Cabinet provider Eclipse drop from last months speeds, with a 9.65Mb average download speed and 1.53Mb upload speed. BT Broadband remain stable this month, with download speeds averaging at 7.52Mb and upload speeds at 1.45Mb.
The best performing non-fibre-based provider was again BE and O2 (who share a common infrastructure) in at 5th place with 5.62Mb average download speed over its Local Loop Unbundled ADSL2+ service.
