Jersey Telecom applied to the JCRA for permission to offer broadband to everyone at 2mb per second, that’s basically four times the speed most broadband users get and 40 times the speed most Dial-up users get. They will still be keeping their three tiered service, but instead of the price you pay being based on the speed you get, the price will be based on how much bandwidth you’re allowed to use.
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I’m guessing half of you are scratching your heads in confusion, half have already left and the other half already know what all this means, so aren’t interested anyway, but I’ll continue all the same. Basically, the amount of bandwidth you use is the number of You Tube videos you watch, the length of time you listen to BBC Radio Jersey live online, how many web pages you look at, photos you send or games you play. It’s everything you do over the web. At the moment the cap Jersey Telecom put on their broadband service is a lot higher than most UK providers. Even their lowest tier is 20 GB and to use that much bandwidth you’d have to be online a lot. A 20 GB limit would let you download approximately 4000 average length music files, listen to BBC Radio Jersey live for around 100 hours (which would basically be Jersey Today every day for a month) or when the BBC iPlayer launches next year, download around 50 half hour TV shows (every episode of Eastenders and Neighbours for a month).
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With the explanation out of the way we can move on. Although the cap is high it’s going to become harder and harder for companies to apply download caps in the future, as broadband speeds get faster and content available to download gets larger. It’s likely that the iPlayer will offer High Definition content for download and if it does the files will probably come in at well over 1 GB each, so a few of those a month and you’re 20 GB limit is nearly gone. There is a bigger sting in the faster for everyone tail though, and this is where Newtel have come in with a complaint to the JCRA. While they’ve been increasing their download speed for all users, Jersey Telecom has lowered the upload speed from 384kbit/s to 256kbit/s. This might not sound a lot, and to be honest it might just seem like nonsense but it does make a difference.
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The upload speed determines how fast that large e-mail with the photos of your kids, friends or yourself gets sent; it also affects the speed you can play online games at, and for the more techie users affects things like Bit Torrent and FTP. Newtel have lodged a complaint with the JCRA on a couple of issues relating to the Jersey Telecom changes including the lower upload rate. The other complaint was against what Newtel describe as a “predatory” broadband promotion JT have announced. Basically from November any new customers signing up for broadband with JT will get the first six months half price and a free connection. Newtel have asked that the offer be made available to them and other wholesale customers at a wholesale rate so they can compete on equal terms.
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In a press release Newtel have said “If [Jersey Telecom] are unprepared to do this, Newtel believes that the offer constitutes a blatant breech of their obligations as a dominant operator and predatory pricing. “JT is selling the service to new customers at less than the wholesale cost. The loss is increased further if the proposed free connection is included. Newtel believes that the proposed prices and discount scheme are wholly unsupportable under the terms of Jersey Telecoms’ licence obligations.” Regardless of the outcome of the JCRA complaint Newtel will be offering 2mb broadband to all new and existing users for £16.99 per month with no download limits. All this talk of 2mb download is all well and good but the actual speed you get depends on a number of factors. These include how far away you are from an exchange, how many people in your area have broadband, and the way you have your equipment set up at home. You may also get a lower speed if the line is low quality; there is noise on the line and if the Americans have woken up yet or not. Over to you
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Does it really matter to you? Will you be jumping on the broadband bandwagon now you can download four times faster for the same price as your average dial-up service, or are you still happy paying for what you need with a free service like JT Freesurf? Do download caps matter to you? Does having to restrict yourself to 20/40 or 60 GB worth of content a month make a difference or are you never likely to get close with the odd e-mail and web page? Would you be happy with a slower, free island wide WiFi service paid for my the States of Jersey? Is broadband a right or a luxury? | 
