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Watching television has taken a closer step to the future with the addition of BT Vision in December of 2006. BT Vision is a service offered by BT utilising a BT broadband connection and a digital video recorder to stream films, music, and shows directly to your home or office when you want to watch it, how you want to watch. On-demand television has made BT Vision a unique, affordable solution available to homes across the UK. Not interested in on-demand content for your television viewing pleasure? BT Vision also offers downloadable content for an additional fee. You get to watch a program as many times as you want, when you want, and where you want. Availability for BT Vision Currently, BT Vision service is only available to BT Broadband subscribers located in the UK. Since the launch of BT Vision in December of 2006, BT has been swamped. The service is unique and highly desirable making the actual acquisition of the service a bit time consuming. Registration is completed most quickly online, and after registration and a sometimes lengthy wait time, a BT Vision technician helps install service via a simple telephone call. Let’s Be Honest – Affordability The assumption that BT Vision is expensive is fallacy. Actually, customers of BT Total Broadband get the BT Vision service absolutely free. The V-Box necessary to utilise BT Vision service is free as well. All the consumer must spend is £90 which covers the £30 activation free and the £60 installation fee. There is a fee, however, for downloading and saving the downloadables and on-demand programming available through BT Vision service. As of March of 2007, BT Vision charged between £1.99 and £2.99 for a 24-hour rental of a movie, between £.79 and £.99 per episode of many programmes, a starting cost of 49p for various popular kids programming, prices starting at 29p for music videos and £1.99 for all exclusive concerts, and for the gamer in all of us, for only £.50 per 30-minutes, play various popular games of every genre. Pretty straight forward. Let’s Talk About Content Of course, no matter the price, if BT Vision service only offered poor service, no one would be interested in spending the £90 to get BT Vision service. The on-demand movie content is quite impressive covering the action/adventure, comedy, drama, family, horror, romance, sci-fi, and thriller genres. Looking for a good movie title? BT Vision has offered An American Haunting, Matrix, Signs, The Wedding Planner, Babe, Forrest Gump, Lost in Translation, and Pirates of the Caribbean in the past with new movies added regularly. When you are looking for the freshest content, BT Vision offers the best. The BT Vision Hub or V-Box Perhaps nothing is as important as the hardware added to an existing home entertainment system. With BT Vision, the Home Hub offers a direct connection between your television viewing experience and the internet. So what exactly is this Home Hub, and what can it do for you? The Home Hub is a broadband router intended to be utilized with BT Total Broadband. Additionally, the Wi-fi access point means connection between components without a lot of wires to clutter your home or office. Internet calls have never been easier with the Home Hub and BT Broadband Talk. Finally, the Home Hub supports video phone, cordless phone, fusion, and home security all in one little box. The BT Home Hub comes supplied with a USB lead, phone to RJ11 converter, power adaptor, a RJ45 ethernet cable, broadband cable, and 2 ADSL microfilters. The modem supports up to 24Mbs, the Wi-fi supports WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK with the traditional 802.11b / 802.11g. With a size of 194 by 64.5 by 230mm, the Home Hub is conveniently sized to seamlessly fit into any home entertainment system. The Choice is Made BT Vision has little competition in the UK. As such, BT Vision has paved the way for other such services in the future. However, with affordable rates, reliable and stable service, and positive customer service, BT Vision is the chosen service for many customers within the UK. If you have current broadband service with BT, the getting BT Vision service is a logical and smart step, but if you currently have another broadband service, BT Vision does deserve a more thorough look. When all is said and done, BT Vision offers a popular service to customers, and customers are definitely going to make sure there is a Home Hub in every home in the UK.
Staff editor, Broadband Section, March 2007 |
