Adverts using the word "fibre" to describe services deployed over copper lines are leaving UK consumers baffled, according to research commissioned by alternative network providers. The research, conducted by market research agency Opinion Leader using focus groups in London, Sheffield and Swansea, found that the majority of …

Smaller ISPs are dealing themselves out of discussions about the inevitable transition to IPv6, a Spanish consultant warns, and could find their future defined by large telcos. Frustrated at their indifference, Jordi Palet Martinez of Consulintel has appealed for just a bit more enthusiasm (and participation) from ISPs in IPv6 …

Broadband providers may have to ensure at least half of customers can receive advertised top line speeds, under a proposed crackdown on consumers being misled. Current standards require speeds quoted in broadband adverts to apply to a minimum of 10 per cent of all customers, providing they include the words "up to". It …

Exclusive Hewlett Packard Enterprise has quietly axed its OpenSDN suite, effective immediately. Its sales staff have been instructed to shut down customer demos and proof-of-concept installations. IT buyers will be told to try other gear if they want to evaluate and roll out software-defined networking. HPE workers have also been …

Less than a week after President Trump signed the law allowing ISPs to sell customers' browsing habits to advertisers, Democratic politicians are introducing bills to stop the practice. On Thursday, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) submitted a bill [PDF] that would enshrine the FCC privacy rules proposed during the Obama …

Analysis President Donald Trump has rescinded America's digital privacy protections over what ISPs can do with their subscribers' data, signing into law on Monday a joint resolution of Congress. The resolution passed a controversial vote in the House last week by 215 votes to 205, which followed a vote in the Senate a few days earlier …

So, the US House of Representatives has voted away internet privacy (in concert with the Senate), and the legislation will be heading to the White House for Trump's imprimatur. He's expected to sign quickly, so as internet users it's time to get really serious about privacy. Under the terms of the legislation, your ISP would …

Ofcom has begun consulting on the UK government's desire to compensate consumers and SMEs when telco companies fail, as set out in the Digital Economy Bill, even though the Bill hasn't reached the Royal Assent stage yet. Ofcom interprets the crowd-pleasing gesture as involving automatic compensation for delayed services, …

Analysis Looking back, it should have been obvious: when Google announced in 2011 that it would roll out its own super-fast internet service for just $70 a month, offering 1Gbps over its own fiber, it started out in Kansas. Another extravaganza that started in Kansas, in the very center of the United States, was the Wizard of Oz – the …

Google is once again pulling resources out of its Fiber network venture – this time it's employees. The Mountain View advertising broker told us it is indeed moving a number of employees from Access, the branch of parent company Alphabet that handles Fiber. The workers are not being laid off, but rather are going to take jobs …

Internet providers in the UK could be given powers to block user access at their own discretion in an amendment to the controversial Digital Economy Bill. The Bill, currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords*, will introduce age verification checks for online porn. Under the proposed legislation, pornographic websites …

Updated DomainMonster finally resolved problems with its hosted email service on Tuesday, more than two weeks after they first began on 21 December. Reg readers affected by the problem were eventually told that a data centre networking issue was to blame for the extended outage. This remains unconfirmed since neither DomainMonster, a …

Hackers have graduated from planting malware on the vulnerable routers supplied to consumers by various ISPs towards stealing Wi-Fi keys. Andrew Tierney, a security researcher at UK consultancy Pen Test Partners, noticed the switch-up in tactics in attacks against its honeypot network over the weekend. Customers of UK ISP …

The government “probably won’t” force internet service providers with no history of working with the intelligence services into retaining internet records following wide-ranging new powers passed in the Investigatory Powers Bill, the Home Office has said. Last week the Investigatory Powers Bill - dubbed the Snoopers Charter - …

For the past nine hours or so today, bungling Brit broadband ISP Plusnet's internet service has been rather wobbly – with network packet loss wrecking some connections. This lack of stable connectivity for unlucky punters will hit things like online video and voice calls, gaming and streaming the most. Uptime-adverse Plusnet …

Outage-prone Plusnet is bringing its service to mobile phones, making use of parent company BT's EE network gobble earlier this year. As of 29 November, Plusnet Mobile will become the newest mobile provider in Blighty, the company said in a statement. The biz is joining forces with mobile network LIFE Mobile, part of the EE …

The FCC has formally approved its new rules for internet service providers on the handling of customer data, and it seems few people on either side are particularly happy. The rules, adopted Thursday [PDF] by the commission after months of debate, call on any company currently providing broadband service to obtain opt-in …

Google has acquired fellow ISP Webpass in a move designed to expand the reach of its high-speed Fiber service. The deal will give Google yet another way to deliver its internet service to additional markets in the US, specifically those in apartment buildings in markets where Google does not already have cable laid. Webpass …