| BT Broadband & Vision
BT offer home broadband and digital TV packages in the UK. Total Broadband offers up to 20Mb download speeds and BT Vision delivers digital TV via your existing TV aerial.
BT Business Broadband packages offer enhanced support services where broadband is critical.
BT Vision is a digital TV package that can be added to BT Total Broadband and offers great value packages such as Bronze, Silver and Gold Packs. BT Vision is only available to existing customers or new customers who take a BT Total Broadband package.
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Up to 20Mb broadband & wireless BT Hub Includes wireless BT Home Hub. Basic security. Up to 20Mb broadband. 10GB monthly allowance. Up to 20Mb Broadband Inclusive Wireless BT Home Hub Free 24/7 Customer Support | Broadband & calls package Inclusive wireless BT Home Hub. Basic security. 10GB monthly allowance. Unlimited weekend calls. Up to 20Mb Broadband Inclusive Wireless BT Home Hub Unlimited Weekend Calls | Broadband & unlimited calls packages Inclusive wireless BT Home Hub. 10GB monthly allowance. Unlimited anytime calls. Up to 20Mb Broadband Inclusive Wireless BT Home Hub Unlimited Anytime Calls |
Featured BT packages
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| 18 months | FREE no fee | £7.49 for 3 months
then £14.49 | See Deal |
| 18 months | FREE no fee | £7.99 for 3 months
then £15.99 | See Deal |
| 18 months | FREE no fee | £19.99 for 3 months
then £27.99 | See Deal |
BT is the UK's biggest provider of telephone communications, including broadband internet and commercial services, and has also become a significant player in the pay TV market in recent years.
The UK's telephone network was originally set up piecemeal by private companies operating in separate areas, who gradually merged into a handful of separate companies by the late 19th century. These were eventually brought under the unified control of the the government's General Post Office (GPO), allowing a consistent unified service across the country.
When General Post Office ceased to be a government department and became a government owned company at the end of the 1960s, becoming simply 'The Post Office', BT was reorganised as a subdivision of the company, known as Post Office Telecommunications. This allowed a more dynamic approach to services and features were upgraded - for example to allow national and international dialling without the need to speak to an operator.
This reorganisation made the division more appropriate for divestment as a separate company entirely, and, combined with the costs of upgrading and the delays connecting an increasing number of customers, BT became one of the biggest examples of the privatisation of nationalised industries in the 1980s. Half of the British government's shares were sold to the public in 1984, with the rest being divested in the early 1990s, creating one of the world's largest telecommunications companies.
Throughout the 1990s, BT took part in takeovers of and alliances with other telecommunications companies, which allowed it access to overseas markets and enabling it to offer a range of commercial communications services. Since becoming a private company, BT had also offered mobile telecommunications via its subsidiary Cellnet, which was renamed BT Cellnet in the 1990s.
This was later divested to provide the company with more capital to invest in other services, becoming O2 in 2001. In addition, BT sold off its telephone directory division, The Yellow Pages, which became a separate company, known as the Yell Group. BT later reintroduced its own mobile phone and telephone directory services, under the brands 'BT Mobile' and 'The Phone Book' respectively.
In the 2000s, BT has continued international acquisitions, and the company's overseas business now accounts for over 1/3 of its total revenue. BT has now transformed from a phone company into a general communications and media company. As well as purchasing on line retailer Dabs.com in 2006, the company's acquisitions have made it a leader in network solutions and communications consultancy, as well as its traditional network service areas.
Because BT initially had a UK monopoly over telecommunications, they were prohibited from using their network to offer television services to allow the growth of independent cable companies at the time. However, by the 2000s, there was healthy competition in the pay TV industry, and this 'television ban' was lifted.
The result of this has been the launch of BT Vision, which is an integrated solution that works with a BT telephone line to provide services. Ordinary TV channels are received by a set top box that works in the same way as a Freeview recorder unit. However, the box is also connected to a BT line, which is used to deliver further channels and optional pay per view movies, programmes, music and sports events.
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