BT to boost broadband speeds

BT is to improve the connection speed of many of its business and home broadband customers at no extra charge.

Broadband seen as essential in UK

Using ADSL2+ technology the company has said it will provide "millions" of its customers with broadband speeds approaching 20Mbps.

The company has already begun rolling out the faster speeds to those areas with ADSL2+ enabled exchanges.

BT said that 549 of its telephone exchanges are capable of providing an up-to-20Mbps connection, which serve around 40 per cent of the homes and businesses in the UK.

Check your broadband speed

By March 2010, BT said that enough new exchanges will be enabled to offer 20Mbps speeds to 55 per cent of households in the UK. BT is currently the largest ISP in the UK with 4.8 million customers.

Web User has requested a list of the 549 ADSL2+ exchanges from BT but in the meantime you can register your interest in the 20Mbps broadband packages on the BT website.

One industry insider said that BT customers should think carefully about the upgrade.

"Existing BT customers will need to sign a new contract to qualify for the upgrade, so they should be comfortable with being tied to BT for another year at least," said Michael Phillips of comparison service BroadbandChoices.co.uk.

The news comes in the same week as BT was accused of throttling video-streaming services such as iPlayer for customers on its basic packages.