BT Infinity goes Totally Unlimited, ditches throttling

Ease up off the throttle, BT. BT Infinity is getting rid of limits on how much Internet browsing you can do with new Totally Unlimited broadband deals.

Internet service provider BT is scrapping traffic management -- the practice of restricting your broadband speed at busy times, also known as traffic shaping, or throttling -- on many of its broadband packages. And it's also doing away with 'fair use' restrictions, which are limits on how much you can download in a given period.

Only the cheaper entry-level broadband deals will now suffer from caps on usage, but anyone on the beefier Totally Unlimited broadband packages can download as much as they want no matter what time it is, making the most of their high speeds.

BT has also dropped its prices. BT Infinity now starts at £23 for download speeds of up to 38Mbps, while unlimited BT Infinity 2 is £26 for speeds of up to 76Mbps. Doubling your speed for only three quid more -- it's like buying extra-massive popcorn at the cinema.

It's a bold move from BT, flying in the face of complaints from other ISPs that we're all eating too much data with our cloud this, streaming that, and downloading t'other. TalkTalk and Virgin Media are among those that routinely manage traffic, while Sky blamed its recent sluggish broadband performance on the number of new customers coming along and hogging all the precious bandwidth. Incidentally, it was recently revealed that Britain's average broadband speed is slower than some Eastern European countries. 

What's the catch? 

Is there a catch? There's always a catch, old friend, and in this case it's that you have to sign a new 18-month contract. Even if you're a short-timer with just days left on your contract you have to re-up for a year and a half. Meanwhile, new customers get the first six months free.

Although the Totally Unlimited packages live up to their name, you'll still be capped on the entry-level £13 deal and Infinity 1, which costs £18 per month.

BT has also revealed BT Cloud, offering free online storage for broadband subscribers.

[Source: CNET]

Vodafone brings fiber optics to the Shard, gives you signal high above London

What good is a spectacular view if you can't use your phone to tell people about it? London's newly opened 95-story skyscraper, The Shard, measures 1,016 feet, making it the tallest building in the European Union. From the 69th and 72nd floors, you can get 360 degree views of the city, up to 40 miles out, according to the building's owners. But what happens when the 200 people who can fit on the platforms at any one time want to user their mobile devices? Vodafone'simplemented a fiber optic system that converts signal into light, allowing it to travel upwards at a rate of 100GB per second. Once they've hit the proper spots, its converted into a radio signal, which is then beamed to several antennas located on different floors.

[Source: Engadget]

Plusnet pushes its UK-fibre-optic broadband to 76Mb/s

Stereotype-embracing ISP Plusnet has added a new tier of fibre-optic broadband, offering speeds up to 76Mb/s. The revamped Extra Fibre package now offers upload speeds of up to 19.5 Mb/s, with a 250GB monthly usage allowance, matching those offered by parent company BT. Of course, those of us who can't even get ADSL2 will just have to watch on, with jealousy in our eyes.

[Source: Engadget]