The blame for reduced broadband speed has fallen on many factors in the past including distance from the telecoms exchange, or heavy streaming from fellow users. However, have you ever thought that a common household product such as your TV may be to blame for sluggish connection?
This week, BT Wholesale announced that it was planning to launch planning to launch a new device that could potential increase the speed of ADSL broadband connections.
The £10 device is claimed to speed up connections by reducing electrical interference from household objects such as televisions, set-top boxes and fairy lights – common objects that BT says can reduce a broadband connection to a snail’s pace.
According to the telecoms firm, interference from these household objects is caused by excessive noise on the line. The new device called an Interstitial Plate (iPlate) is said to reduce this phenomenon and after being placed in the master telephone socket it is designed to eliminate noise and subsequently boost broadband speed.
BT says that it has provided around 1,000 customers with the iPlate for an initial trial run and has been happy with the results. “We’ve seen huge increases in speed,” said Ashley Pickering from BT Wholesale. “On average, it makes one and a half megs of difference.”
The iPlate is expected to launch with the next couple of months and BT says that it should be simple enough to fit without an engineer. The device would be installed by unscrewing a plate in the master socket and slotting in the iPlate.
Recently, BT claimed it managed to fix the broadband connection of an entire neighbourhood by buying one of its customers a new television.
As a result of electrical interference from the faulty TV broadband services were affected within a 200m radius: “Lots of people in that neighbourhood were experience connection problems because of one person in that area,” said BT Wholesale’s Ashley Pickering. After tracking down the cause of the problem Pickering said that BT had trouble convincing the owner of the TV that he was causing problems for his neighbours: “It’s very difficult to tell people they have a faulty television when they’re watching it. In the end, we bought the guy a new television.”
Ciaron Dunne from Broadband Genie commented on BT’s latest findings: “At a time when broadband speed is in the spotlight, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly where the problem lies. While it might not be as cut and dry as a faulty TV, if you’re having problems with speed it’s definitely worth investigating the cause to see if you can improve your situation. Whilst BT’s new iPlate may not drastically aid your individual problem, at such a low price even the slightest increase in speed would be worth the money.”
Notes to editors
Broadband Genie allows users to compare broadband online, and is part of Genie Group.
Genie Group Ltd is a leading independent provider of internet comparison shopping services in the UK, and was set up in 2004 by Philip Wilkinson (co-founder of Kelkoo UK). Genie Group's unique selling point is 'the Genie', which makes personal recommendations to internet shoppers based on ground-breaking, intelligent technology. This gives Genie Group the ability to provide an enjoyable and satisfying internet shopping experience, and deliver an unmatched quality of sales leads to our affiliate merchants. Genie Group launched its flagship broadband comparison service Broadband Genie in January 2005.
More information can be found at http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk . Please direct all media enquiries to Stephanie Rogers. Interviews with Philip Wilkinson can be arranged on request.
