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free broadband isp - vermont satellite broadband isp
Pipex stick to limits
Pipex has announced new broadband packages today and are scrapping the old 'unlimited' tag in favour of clear and transparent download limits. The ISP is looking to be “honest and straight forward to customers" by giving customers fixed download limits rather than applying a Fair Usage Policy, which to most users is a grey area as these limits are not usually published. As before the packages come in Mini, Midi, Max and Pro and have the same up to 8Mbps download speeds, with download limits at 2GB, 10GB, 30GB and 100GB respectively. Prices range from £9.99 a month for the mini, which Pipex claim is suitable for 70 per cent of its customers to £39.99 for the Pro. Mini and Midi customers receive a free modem but can upgrade to the wireless router that Max and Pro customers get for an additional £30.
Carphone Warehouse takes home AOL UK
Parent group Time Warner hired Citibank in the first half of this year to review the options for AOL UK. The consultants concluded the company should abandon being an ISP in the UK to concentrate on its portal, which is benefiting from the online advertising boom. Carphone Warehouse became involved in June, when reports suggested chief executive Charles Dunstone wanted AOL UK's expertise in unbundling - the ISP has 600,000 dial-up and 1.5 million broadband customers in this country. Dunstone said on Wednesday: "The acquisition of AOL's UK internet access business is transformational for our broadband business. "This deal gives us significant scale to complement the rapid organic growth of our free broadband proposition. In addition, the joint development of AOL's already successful audience platform will bring us new advertising and content revenues in a proven and low risk manner." AOL UK's access business - including its customer base, management and infrastructure - will pass entirely to Carphone Warehouse, while AOL will continue to provide "co-branded portal, content and other audience services".
Orange widens broadband arsenal
Orange has been talking up its plans to be a mobile broadband provider, calling itself "the integrated operator", looking ahead to faster-than-3G HSDPA networks and bolstering its coverage in France using almost-3G Edge technology. Sanjiv Ahuja, Orange CEO, speaking at a press conference in Cannes at this week's 3GSM show, talked up the company's place alongside Equant and especially ISP Wanadoo in the France Telecom stable of companies. Part of the operator's 'Orange Everywhere' initiative is an end user being able to move seamlessly from a broadband session at home to one on the move, even using the same laptop. Ahuja said Orange is learning about broadband from Wanadoo, which in the UK was previously Freeserve. Orange is working with its existing main suppliers going forward but especially with Nortel for trials of HSDPA - which one executive described as "even better than broadband".
Orange to charge fat pipe waverers
The mobile operator and ISP will introduce a charge of �12 in December for customers who ask more than once for a MAC code. Customers need the code in order to move broadband suppliers without disruption to their service. Orange will initially release a MAC for free but if a customer asks again it will charge �12 for every additional request. A MAC expires after 30 days, meaning that if a customer does not choose a new supplier within that time, they will be hit by the extra charge. Orange said the charge is being levied to cover administrative costs. It said i a statement: "This is not intended to penalise our customers but follows the practice by other broadband companies of offering a service to customers which they cannot deliver on. This then generates multiple unnecessary requests for MAC codes which has both an administrative and financial impact on Orange as a business." The veiled reference to other ISPs is likely to be aimed at Carphone Warehouse, whose customers have experienced lengthy delays in trying to migrate away from the company.
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