Auditel Consultant:
Jack Pokoj

A Broadband revolution is on its way!

16 Jun 2009 | Filed under: Communications

According to today’s Telecoms News, Zen Internet is introducing faster broadband services with download speeds of up to 20Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1Mbps at no extra cost for customers this summer.

Zen will start moving existing residential and business customers over to the new services later this summer, as long as they are available in their area. The new services, which will be on a “like for like” basis with current products, will not change in price but customers can, in most cases, expect to receive a higher speed.

Even though Zen will be providing these new faster services it will not be introducing a traffic shaping policy. ‘Zen has always had a very clear proposition around our services. We are retaining our current monthly contracts and just want customers to enjoy the benefits of our new faster services at any time of the day, with no gimmicks or restrictions hidden in a fair use policy.’ added Saunders.

The speed customers can expect to receive will depend on how far they are from their local BT exchange. Based on the results of Zen’s current trials, it is estimated that the average download speeds will be between 9Mbps and 13Mbps, but some trial users are already achieving over 20Mbps.

Zen has upgraded its own network and is using elements of BT’s new 21st Century Network (21CN) project to bring customers these faster broadband services. 21CN is a UK wide communication network upgrade project currently being rolled out by BT. This will involve enabling all BT exchanges for 21CN including the faster ADSL2+ broadband technology. BT plan to cover 55% of homes and businesses by March 2010, depending on demand.