Press & PR

Following much recent discussion of the manner in which the rise in popularity of online video services should be handled by internet service providers (ISPs), it has been suggested that a charter should be established to ensure fair access.

The BBC's director of future media and technology Ashley Highfield has commented that under such guidelines, ISPs should adopt clearer marketing policies to give consumers better guidance on whether they would be able to access services such as Channel 4's 4oD and the BBC's iPlayer efficiently and without charge.

Mr Highfield suggests that currently, unlimited broadband packages are something of a misnomer, with ISPs looking to enforce restrictive fair usage policies and introduce charges for high-usage customers.

Unlimited broadband packages must truly be so, he suggests and for ISPs that genuinely offer such services, they should be heavily marketed as such.

"Content providers, if they find their content being specifically squeezed, shaped, or capped could start to indicate on their sites which ISPs their content worked best on (and which to avoid)," Mr Highfield suggests.

Mr Highfield holds responsibility for the promotion of many online BBC services and oversaw an increase in traffic to BBCi sites from 4.6 million to 14 million visitors per month.

Vonage allows broadband customers to make cheap calls using VoIP services with relatively low bandwidth requirements.