Phones, Broadband &TV

Transcription

1 Phones, Broadband &TV This talk is divided into 3 Phases What it was like in the late 1970s What happens now What it might be like in the not too distant future

2 Pre Telecommunications Act 1981 The General Post Office (GPO) Mail & Parcel Service Rationing Pensions Finance: NS&I-Savings Account- Premium Bonds Road TV Licence ( ) Phones Telephone Lines - Network Telephone Billing

3 The 1981 Telecommunications Act This Act transferred the state owned network to a new statutory corporation called British Telecommunications which was branded as British Telecom or BT as I shall refer to it! In 1984 BT was privatised and 50% of the shares sold to the public with the remaining government stake being sold in 1991 & That s the History! Involved in the transfer were the phones, the network and the billing

4 The Phones Once the monopoly ended many players entered the UK market and now Which? Magazine have reviewed 315 different options which are currently available. These vary in price from 14 to 150+ but most are answer phones or multiple answer phones

5 Answer Phone Options/Features Message memory (10 mins to 1 hour plus) Speed Dialling Phone Book (10 to Unlimited) Caller Display Call Blocking Ring tone options Conversation recording Remote Access Baby Monitor Free overseas calls And many more!

6 Cordless Phones Which? Magazine have reviewed 18 providers of which the main ones are : - Gigaset (77) with many Best buys BT (90)with many new additions and Best Buys Panasonic (60) with many Best buys Binatone (34)with several Don t Buys Others are Phillips, Argos, Currys, Tesco, etc

7 The Network This is owned and maintained by BT but for competition reasons BT were required to operate the network through a separate (but wholly owned company) known as Openreach. There is now a call for BT to rid itself of Openreach completely. Openreach employs its own engineers but also sub contracts to other companies and individuals. Cabling and Fibre Optic Cables

8 The Cabling (2 wires per phone number) Your Home The Green Cabinet The Exchange Sky Talktalk BT Plusnet etc The Big Wide World

9 The Internet Service Providers (ISP) There are three main contracts provided and these are based on the download speed. Up to 17 mbs Up to 38mbs More than 38mbs Upload speeds seem to be roughly in line Many ISPs offer more than one speed.

10 Speed Downloads Contract Year 1 Year 2 Which? Direct Save 17mb Unlimited Direct Save 17mb Unlimited Fuel Broadband 17mb Unlimited Talktalk 17 mb Unlimited % Post Office 17mb Unlimited % Utility Warehouse 16mb Unlimited % Plusnet 17 mb Unlimited % EE Broadband 17 mb Unlimited % Sky 17 mb Unlimited % Zen 16mb 50GB % BT 17mb 10GB % BT 17mb Unlimited % John Lewis 16mb Unlimited %

11 Fibre Optic Speed Downloads Contract Year 1 Year 2 Which? Sky 38mb 30GB % Sky 38mb Unlimited % Plusnet 38mb Unlimited % Talktalk 38mb Unlimited % Direct Save 38mb Unlimited BT 38mb 20GB % Utility Warehouse 76mb Unlimited % EE Unlimited 38mb Unlimited % Zen Internet 38 mb 50GB % John Lewis 38mb 100GB % Virgin Media 50 mb Unlimited %

12 Other benefits provided by ISPs address Change address/ Personal Video Recorders (PVR) ISPs often provide PVRs free but some are better than others! Prices range from 0 to 429 Humax, Sky & BT best which? scores. HD ready & HD BT Router

13 Routers ISP or Independent off the shelf? The independent routers (Netgear or Belkin) are generally no better than the free ones so why buy one?? Prices range from 30 to 100+ What speed do you need? Download/Upload What speed do you get? Download OfCom Upload Ofcom BT mbs mbs mbs mbs Standard Fibre Fibre EE Fibre

14 Why are they different? Distance from green cabinet Location in home Quality of router Quality of ISP Password protect wi-fi Activity on website Avoid peak (evenings) web hours Broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk

15 Inducements offered by ISP s In addition to the sweeteners resulting in the first year being much cheaper than subsequent ones M&S Vouchers Sainsbury Vouchers Sky Free 32inch Samsung TV Favourable mobile phone terms And many others!

16 Broadband & TV There are only 4 providers that offer pay to view TV channels. SKY Talktalk BT Virgin Media (Cable only)

17 Sky TV Bundles Catch Up TV, Sky+, Sky Go Entertainment, Free to air HD, Free to air Original Bundle 20 ( ) Variety Bundle 30 ( ) Family Bundle 36 ( ) Sky Movies Bundle (11) 37 ( ) Sky Sports Bundle (7) ( ) The Complete Bundle* *Family Bundle +Movies + Sports + Box Sets +HD

18 Talktalk Plus TV costs 10 per month & offers Over 70 Freeview channels some in HD Youview+ set top box Pause & rewind live TV Catch up TV Sky 1, Sky living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports news No Sports or Film Channels

19 BT Bundles Starter Pack (12HD) Freeview Channels, Catch UP TV. Entertainment Plus 7.50 Starter Pack plus 25 Premium Channels Entertainment Ultra HD Entertainment Plus and 22 (13 HD) premium Channels These include 4 BT sports Channels for free and SKY sports 1 &2 for 22

20 Virgin (Cable) Big Easy 22 50mb 60 Chnls 468* Big Bang mb 130+Chnls 588* Big Kahuna mb 230+Chnls 948* Big Daddy mb 260+Chnls 1458* Includes Sky Sports & Sky Movies & BT Sport Up to 152mb & unlimited downloads *Annual cost for year 2

21 TV Broadband & Sports Channels Sky BT Talktalk Virgin Big Kahuna Sports EE Direct Save Broadband Year 2 17mb Sky Sports BT Sports Licence Fee Total 1, , , , Broadband Year 2 38mb Total 1, , , ,189.90

22 The Future! 6G, 7G,?G Phones, I-Pads, Laptops The Network? The BBC Licence Fee?

23 Conclusion With a total Government monopoly of the telephone system and the licence fee the only choice there used to be was over which TV you bought. Simple! In the last 35+years there has been so much improvement and choice over phones, mobile phones, Service providers, access to TV programmes (particularly sport) and seemingly endless and changing deals the options are now incalculable. To get what you want and the best value for money is quite a headache! Complicated!