The UK’s average home download speed is on the rise, but it could be even faster if more users upgraded at minimal cost, according to Ofcom.
November’s average broadband speed was 7.6 megabits per second, up from 6.8Mbps in May, says the regulator.
Upgrades offered by Virgin Media and BT helped boost the figure.
Ofcom says many of the 42% of homes which subscribe to speeds of 10Mbps or less would benefit from switching deal or provider at little or no cost.
The 22% headline speed bump is a notable improvement, according to the …

Virgin Media will double the speed of its broadband service for over four million of its customers, the company has said.
The upgrade, which begins in February, will also see the service’s top speed increase from 100Mbps to 120Mbps.
The full roll-out is expected to be complete by mid-2013 at a cost to the company of £110m.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the investment would be a “great boost” to the UK.
“I welcome this announcement from Virgin Media,” Mr Cameron said in a statement.
“It will provide a great boost for the economy …

Mobile operator O2 is to provide free internet to “millions” of residents and visitors in central London by launching Europe’s largest free wi-fi zone.
The service will be rolled out across the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea in 2012.
It will be powered by a system installed on street furniture.
O2 said the deal, which will have no cost to the taxpayer, will enable visitors to “make the most of what London has to offer”.
Councillor Philippa Roe, cabinet member for strategic finance at Westminster City Council, said: “Westminster welcomes over a …

Superfast broadband will be available to more than half of the British population in 2012, BT has announced.

The company is currently unveiling the latest batch of telephone exchanges in its programme to upgrade Britain’s internet services. It said it would now be covering a further 1.8 million homes and taking its Infinity service to more rural areas.

The Government is aiming for Britain to have the best broadband network in Europe, and last week David Cameron and the Cabinet met Ian Livingston, the chief executive of BT, to discuss progress on …

The Countryside Alliance says plans to bring fast broadband to rural areas have stalled.
The government named four pilot areas last year, but local councils have admitted that they have not yet started work on their broadband projects.
Freedom of information requests were sent to councils in each area.
The responses revealed that none had received any money from the Treasury, chosen a company to build their networks, or started work on them.
In October last year George Osborne named Cumbria, Herefordshire, North Yorkshire and the Highlands and Islands, as pilot areas for rural …

The UK is at risk of missing out on a “connected-homes” economic boost, according to a report.
The study refers to new internet services including media, smarter energy meters, and access to education and health advice.
The British tech trade association Intellect claims the market could be worth £3bn a year within five years.
However, it says a range of problems must be addressed first, including a “bewildering” range of technologies.
The report says customers are confused by different types of cabling and multiple standards.
As an example it notes that the existing Digital Living Network Alliance, …

Better broadband networks in 10 cities across the UK are being promised by the government.
In his autumn statement, Chancellor George Osborne announced £5bn of spending on infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and broadband networks.
£100m of that is set to boost broadband coverage in London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
A further six cities will be identified later.
“For the first time we are identifying over 500 infrastructure projects we want to see built over the next decade and beyond. Roads, railways, airport capacity, power stations, waste facilities, broadband networks,” the chancellor told …

UK broadband speeds drop by an average of 35% from their off-peak highs when most people are online in the evening, according to a report.
The research, conducted by the comparison site Uswitch, was based on two million broadband speed tests.
The peak surfing times between 7pm and 9pm were the slowest to be online, the report said.
There were also huge regional variations between evening and early morning surfing times.
The report suggested the best time to be online was between 2am and 3am.
Users in Evesham, Worcestershire, fared worst, according to the survey, …

The mobile network O2 has started testing a next-generation mobile data service in London.
The nine month trial will involve hundreds of consumers and businesses using a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network across parts of the city.
O2 says its LTE downloads will be many times faster than those over 3G.
The news comes a fortnight after MPs urged O2 and other operators to stop fighting over how 4G airwaves should be shared out.
The experiment is an extension of O2′s LTE trials in Slough, west of the capital, which began in 2009.
Participants will be given …

Virgin Media, Sky and TalkTalk have been asked to block access to Newzbin2, a members-only group which provides links to pirated films and music.
BT has already barred its customers from accessing the site, following a court case brought by the Motion Picture Association.
The MPA is now extending its net in a UK-wide crackdown on piracy.
TalkTalk said it was “considering its response”. Sky and Virgin Media signalled they would obey court orders.
Legal battle
“There are some elements of the order, for instance that we have to pay the costs of implementing it, …