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As widely expected, BT Retail ISPs are today announcing the free speed upgrade of all their customers, following suit of many of its rivals. The upgrade represents an complete overhaul to both the BTYahoo and BTOpenworld Business product portfolio.
For the main, all consumer and business customers will be upgraded to 2Mbps where the line is capable, which could see 4x increase in downstream rate for those customers on 512kbps products. The only exception to the rule is that BT Broadband Basic customers on 512k will get a two-fold increase in their downstream rate, to 1Mbps. The upstream rate remains unchanged at 256kbps.
As said, the changes reveal a complete overhaul of the BT Retail ISP offerings for both businesses and consumers. BTYahoo Broadband and BTOpenworld Broadband's new product line up is shown in the tables below.
For the consumers (prices include VAT) ...
| Product |
Price |
Speed |
Usage Allowance |
| BT Broadband Basic |
£17.99 |
1Mb |
1GB |
| BT Broadband |
£24.99 |
2Mb |
15GB |
| BT Yahoo! Broadband |
£26.99 |
2Mb |
15GB |
| BT Yahoo! Broadband |
£29.99 |
2Mb |
30GB |
... and for Business customers (prices exclude VAT) ...
| Product |
Price |
Speed |
Usage Allowance |
| BT Business Broadband Single |
£29.99 |
2Mb |
Unlimited |
| BT Business Broadband Share |
£45.99 |
2Mb |
Unlimited |
| BT Business Broadband Network |
£65.00 |
2Mb |
Unlimited |
| BT Business Broadband Network (with SLA) |
£100.00 |
2Mb |
Unlimited |
The new speeds take effect from 17th February 2005 for all new consumer customers, and 1st April for new business customers. Existing customers can expect to be migrated from the same dates (we've checked, and its no April fools joke!). The change will effect all BTYahoo and BTOpenworld Business customers.
Worthy of note, is that there is no change in the line capability to receive a 2Mbps downstream service, which continues at 43dB.
The news follows our article earlier this week detailing a bit more info on BT Retails 'usage allowance'.
For those 512k or 1Mb users users not happy with the impended cap being introduced, they'll now have a mixed bag of feelings. Its nice to be upgraded for free and to reap the benefits, but that also means a user can potentially hit their cap significantly quicker. Details have it that an option for BT Yahoo customers who have hit their monthly allowance, could be to accept a reduction in speed on their service. Given that all (most) connections would be 2Mb, using a service crippled to 150kbps , less than 10% of their theoretical maximum, could just be a step too far for some.
Edit : We're also aware of a 10% discount to be applied to at least some BTYahoo 2Mb customers, seeing a reduction from £29.99 to £27.00 for 3 months. Details here.
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