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AT&T Turbo will offer customers the opportunity to purchase enhanced mobile data.

Beginning May 2, AT&T will launch AT&T Turbo, a new service that will enhance wireless connectivity, for $7 per month.

In a press release, the operator stated that the service “allows users the choice to optimize their network when they want by adding additional network resources to their mobile data connection”.

The service is touted as ideal for mobile applications such as gaming, video broadcasting and video conferencing. When every millisecond counts, the new Turbo service can offer less freezing and lower latency.

The Turbo add-on will increase a customer’s level of “priority” on the network. Networks offer various “Quality of Service Class Identifiers” (QCIs)  which determine which users get priority access and faster speeds. A lower number is a better QCI.

With AT&T Turbo, the operator will exercise their ability to adjust a user’s QCI and bump Turbo customers’ service up a notch. Turbo customers will get QCI 7, while other plans sit at QCI 8. An AT&T official noted that “setting QCI levels is not like changing a radio channel. It includes advanced and complex technologies”.

AT&T customers can easily enable or remove the add-on. By using the company’s app or online, customers can add Turbo to eligible plans and remove it when they don’t want it. Once Turbo is enabled, the higher priority service will be available immediately. The service will not use standalone (SA) 5G technology, but will require users to have a 5G-capable phone.

The press release announcing the Turbo launch made explicit reference to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) newly re-instated net neutrality rules. The statement specifies that “consistent with open Internet principles, once turned on the boost applies to a customer’s data regardless of the Internet content, applications and services being used”.

AT&T has gone further to clarify that Turbo will not run afoul of net neutrality rules. A spokesperson stated that network slicing is not involved. Ahead of the FCC’s net neutrality vote, AT&T and other wireless providers had requested the agency to avoid rules that might prevent services like network slicing.

Network slicing allows operators to offer varied service tiers over dedicated portions of their networks. This requires SA 5G technology and is in the early stages of being rolled out by some operators. In the FCC’s final net neutrality rules, there was no specific mention of network slicing.

Despite the lack of clarity about the future of network slicing, AT&T has already hinted that it has big plans for enhancing customer experience. While this may not necessarily involve network slicing, the operator stated that it plans to “continue to advance and evolve AT&T Turbo”.

Cox Communications had launched a similar  “Elite Gamer” service in 2020. This add-on also cost $7 per month and offered customers the opportunity to improve the connection between their home internet service and video game servers by up to 32%. Cox discontinued the service in late 2023, citing lower than expected demand.

Given the potential for changes to internet regulation after the 2024 presidential election, and the failure of Cox’s service booster add-on, there is some uncertainty about AT&T Turbo’s future.

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The group announced the trial in July last year 

BT Group’s startup incubation arm, Etc., has upcycled a now obsolete BT street cabinet in East Lothian, Scotland, into an electric vehicle (EV) charging point.  

This is the first installation as part of a wider initiative aiming to explore the feasibility of using BT Group’s existing street cabinets for EV charging, helping to address the country’s shortage of vehicle charging infrastructure. 

The charger in East Lothian has been deployed as part of an initial pilot scheme allowing residents to use the charger for free until the end of the month.  

The pilot program is set to expand West Yorkshire in the near future, with plans to ultimately test 600 sites across the UK. 

EV drivers can access the charging point via an app, which allows drivers to find available charging points, monitor charging sessions, and view charging history. 

In Scotland specifically, there are only 5,052 EV chargers, an amount which, according to BT, is unable to meet the current demand. The repurposing of street cabinets could provide up to 4,800 additional chargers in Scotland, nearly doubling the available infrastructure.  

Consumer adoption of EVs is that being greatly hindered by this lack of charging infrastructure, with BT noting that 78% of petrol and diesel car drivers see not being able to easily charge an EV as a barrier to purchase.  

The UK government aims to increase EV charging points in the UK from 53,000 to 300,000 by 2030, a plan they say will cost the country £1.6 billion. In 2022, when this aim was announced, this tied in with the government’s decision to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030, although this has now been pushed back five years. 

“It’s critical that we start looking at existing infrastructure to drive innovation at speed,” said Tom Guy, Managing Director at Etc. in a press release.  

“These trials present a unique opportunity to tap into existing assets to drive the important transition to electrification in the UK, and we’re proud to be working with local councils in East Lothian and more widely across the UK at this critical stage to play our part,” he continued. 

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TPG had initially agreed a similar deal with Telstra, but this was quashed by the competition regulator

This week, Australian telcos TPG Telecom and Optus have announced a new agreement that will see them create a regional Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN), extending TPG’s 4G and 5G networks.

The network sharing agreement will see TPG make use of Optus’ mobile sites across the country, increasing the company’s total number of available sites from 755 to 2,444. This, according to TPG, will more than double the company’s existing 4G network coverage.

TPG will also gain access to additional 5G sites deployed by Optus in future.

Optus, meanwhile, will gain access to some additional spectrum from TPG, bolstering their wireless network’s performance.

The deal is valid for 11 years, with an option to increase this by a further five years if desired. TPG says it expects to pay Optus roughly AUD $1.17 billion (USD $770 million) during this 11-year period.

“TPG Telecom expects this significant increase in the size and performance of its mobile network will enable it to accelerate mobile subscriber growth over time as a result of reduced churn and increased addressable market,” said the operator in a financial filing.

TPG initially agreed to a similar network sharing deal with Telstra back in 2022, with the move set to see TPG gain access to around 3,700 of Telstra’s mobile sites, while Telstra would gain access to TPG’s 4G and 5G spectrum.

However, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ultimately blocked the deal a year later, arguing that the move would harm competition. In particular, the regulator said the deal would disincentivise the companies’ rival Optus from investing in rural areas.

At the time, Optus had argued that they were the better potential network sharing partner for TPG, saying this pairing would better maintain market competition.

TPG, however, were indignant at the proposal, saying that “Optus wishes to use the authorisation process to remove Telstra as a competitor in relation to network sharing and leave it free to impose a less attractive, alternative transaction”.

Now, with the Telstra deal firmly off the table, it seems that TPG has gradually mellowed to the idea of a partnership with Optus.

Optus themselves say that the deal has been constructed specifically to address the concerns of regulators.

“There are some similarities between the transaction but there are some differences as well. And we believe that these differences are significant enough that the ACCC will not have a problem with this,” Optus’s interim CEO, Michael Venter told Guardian Australia.

He noted that giving Optus access to additional spectrum from TPG would not be as impactful to competition as giving it to existing market leader Telstra.

“We are confident that although we get access to the same level of spectrum, the starting position is very different in that Optus is not the dominant player in that region yet,” explained Venter.

The sharing agreement will come into effect in early 2025, assuming regulatory approval.

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The laws will force device manufacturers to implement minimum security standards into devices 

The UK government has announced that new laws have come into force today aimed at better protecting consumers from hacking and cyber-attacks.  

The legislation, a collaborative effort between the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the National Cyber Security Centre, and the Office for Product Safety and Standards, among others, rules that internet-connected smart devices must adhere to newly enhanced minimum-security standards. 

Most notably, these new regulations prohibit easily guessable default passwords such as ‘password’ or ‘12345’ and will prompt users to change common passwords upon device activation. 

A 2021 investigation by Which? Found that homes with smart devices could be exposed to as many as 12,000 hacking attackers per week. The average UK household contains nine connected devices, a number expected to soar over the coming decade. 

The new law forms part of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure regime, which is designed to improve the UK’s resilience to cyber-attacks such as the Mirai malware attack in 2016, which attacked 300,000 relatively insecure IoT devices and ultimately left much of the US East coast without internet. 

“As every-day life becomes increasingly dependent on connected devices, the threats generated by the internet multiply and become even greater,” said Minister for Cyber, Viscount Camrose in the announcement’s press release. 

“From today, consumers will have greater peace of mind that their smart devices are protected from cyber criminals, as we introduce world first laws that will make sure their personal privacy, data and finances are safe,” he continued. 

Starting today, all manufacturers of UK smart products will have to comply with the regulations. Find the full details of the act here. 

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