I must be among the first people in the UK to have a 24 Meg broadband internet connection (sorry about my confusion, see below). It’s 24 times faster than my previous internet connection, and at £20 a month, it’s costing me £5 less.

I must admit, it feels faster, but not 24 times faster, at least when I am using Internet Explorer or Firefox. To get the the full benefit, I have to use the Opera Web Browser, and that really does let rip. Even the cumbersome FT.com loads up in under an hour using this system. It’s good for downloading podcasts and videos. I think it’s helpful for Skype too.

I think that Be (who sponsored the recent Podcastcon conference) are the only people offering this kind of speed in the UK at the moment. They sent me a free modem/router, which includes a wireless connection to use the laptop around the house. All you have to do is plug it in and go. They aren’t very good at telling you how to put wireless security on your system. That information is buried somewhere on a disk. But I called their helpline in India, got through quickly, (in the morning, there was a long wait in the evening and I gave up) and they told me what to do.

Another good thing is that the connection is really quiet, so it doesn’t interfere with the phone line adding lots of crackle and hiss to conversations.

If this sounds a bit like a sale’s spiel, well it to tell you the truth, I have an ulterior motive in passing on this bit of useful info. If I refer you to Be, I get a month’s free access. If I refer 24 people, I get a lifetime’s free access. But the good part is, you get a month free too. And then you have get the same deal, refering your contacts. It’s a good old pyramid scheme.

So if you live in the UK and have a BT phoneline, and want to change your internet service provider (ISP), drop me a line at hugh@blog-relations.com and I’ll refer you to Be.

(Update: I got a good earlybird deal. It’s £24 a month now).
(Second update Stupid me! 24 Gig, not meg. Had to change the title of this post too!)
(Right the fist time, thanks David. 24 Meg. I’m embarrassed by my confusion. Don’t know what got into my mind)

Latest update. A reader got in touch to say that he’s only getting 7.5 meg out of Be, even though he’s only 600 meters from the exchange. I checked and see that I’m getting over 21 meg. I suppose it partly depends on your copper wires.
He also pointed out that Parental Control doesn’t seem to work on the Be Box. I tried to block FT.com and redirect it to Blog Relations. I couldn’t get it to work either.