UK Online

Infobox Company
company_name = UK Online
company_
company_type = Internet Service Provider
foundation = 1994
location = UK
key_people = Chris Stening
area_served = United Kingdom
industry = Internet
products = Internet service
parent = British Sky Broadcasting
homepage = http://ukonline.net/

UK Online is a consumer Internet service provider that operates within the UK, and began as a dial-up provider in 1994. Network provider Easynet acquired the company in 1996.

Initially launching an ADSL based broadband product in November 2004 with a 1MB service, they did not appear to be offering anything out of the ordinary. However, they quickly followed up by launching one of the UK's first consumer 8MB services in the same month [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4016031.stm | title = UK broadband gets speed injection | date = 2004-11-16 | publisher = BBC News] . At the initial price of £39.99 a month, the service caused quite a stir in the UK broadband market. The 8MB service was only available in areas serviced by the parent company Easynet's LLU operations. Areas not covered were offered traditional speed products based on BT wholesale products. Along with planned speed upgrades by cable supplier Telewest, the "UK Online" 8MB service helped spur a series of investments by other ISPs in the UK in an effort to keep up.

As of October 2007 "UK Online" provided three packages, "Lite", "Pro", and "Premier" - all with "unlimited" usage limits. [ cite web
url = http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3246-new-packages-at-uk-online.html
title = New packages at UK Online
date = 2007-10-16
publisher = think broadband
author = Andrew Ferguson] However a Fair Usage Policy applies to all packages and heavy users will be moved onto so called "bad boy pipes" (although this appears not to happen with LLU connections).

Since the regulatory approval of ADSL2+ technology in the UK, "UK Online" have been able to offer services with speeds up to 22MB, and were one of the first companies to do so on a national scale. [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4422098.stm | title = Super-fast broadband hits the UK | date = 2005-11-10 | publisher = BBC News] This is still based on the "Easynet" LLU coverage however.

In October 2005 BSkyB purchased "Easynet" [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4363036.stm | title = BSkyB swoops on internet provider | date = 2005-10-21 | publisher = BBC News] and so now also owns "UK Online", however "UK Online" continues to exist as a separate entity from Sky Broadband.

In spring 2008 "UK Online" announced it would shortly be launching a number of competitive new services, including domain registration, Microsoft Hosted Exchange email and commercial web hosting on Windows and Linux. The development of the planned services was cancelled and all mention of them, including the pre-registration page, quietly dropped from the website in in May/June 2008. (This ISP should not be confused with the UK Online Centres [http://www.ukonlinecentres.com] network of community internet access points run by Ufi Ltd.)

References

External links

* [http://www.ukonline.net/ UK Online website]