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BT Retail hits broadband accelerator

 

BT Retail is now offering millions of customers the chance to boost their broadband speed for free following the introduction of faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and the launch of the BT Broadband Accelerator.

BT Retail broadband customers already enjoy download speeds of up to 8Mb/s, but in enabled areas that will leap to up to 20Mb/s to deliver consistently faster broadband all day and night even at peak times. Upload speeds will also increase from up to 448Kb/s to up to 1Mb/s.

And, unlike other broadband providers, BT Retail is offering the faster speeds at no extra cost.

Faster speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving ten million, or 40 per cent of the UK’s homes and businesses. Coverage will increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.

The BT Broadband Accelerator - a speed booster pack worth £15 - will be free for BT Total Broadband customers who order it online, with postage of just £1.20.

The BT Broadband Accelerator includes a small plate that customers, who have more than one phone socket, can easily insert into their main telephone socket to reduce the impact of electrical interference.

This could potentially increase broadband speed by 1.5Mb/s.

The device also comes with a handy self-install guide as well as a comprehensive ten-step guide on how to optimise broadband speeds in order to help customers get the most out of their broadband connection.

BT research shows that one of the main causes of slow broadband is customers’ home wiring. The BT Broadband Accelerator plate, also known as the I-Plate, isolates a redundant wire in the socket which can slow connections. Although speed improvements are likely, they cannot be guaranteed.

Increased stability

However, even if it does not improve speed, the device can help stabilise broadband lines making them even more reliable.

John Petter, managing director of BT’s Consumer division, said: "The BT Broadband Accelerator can make a big difference to the speed of your broadband. We think it is so important we’ve taken the decision to offer it to our customers for just the cost of the postage."

"Between that and us more than doubling headline speeds for millions of homes and businesses, most customers should start to see a rapid boost in the performance of their connection. We have a track record of not charging customers any more when we increase the speed and this time is no different. BT broadband customers won’t have to pay any more to get higher speeds."

"These two moves demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK move closer to the kind of widely-available speeds published in the Digital Britain report."

More.