The ISPAs are the Internet industry's answer to the Oscars; awards designed to showcase the best companies providing Internet services. Last week, at the a black tie dinner in Grosvenor Square, the winners were announced:
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Best Internet Telephony | aql |
| Best Streaming | Astream |
| Best Business Customer Service | UKFast |
| Best Consumer Customer Service | O2 |
| Best Business Mobile Broadband | FREEDOM4 WiFi |
| Best Consumer Mobile Broadband | Vodafone |
| Best Business Fixed Broadband | Claranet |
| Best Consumer Fixed Broadband | O2 |
For full details of all awards, see the ISPA Awards website
It is rather surprising that ISPA still has an award for 'Best Dial-up' when we are talking about next generation broadband, however as winners Exa Networks said briefly in their victory speech, there are still many users who still rely on dial-up connections.
Customer support is an increasingly common issue for many providers as those who take up broadband services are more likely to be less technical and thus require more assistance. In addition to winners UK Fast and O2, the judges also praised the customer support of Best Internet Telephony winner aql.
Probably one of the most competitive and desired award categories, namely Best Consumer Fixed Broadband, O2 demonstrated its excellent value for money with its high speed service. O2 won the thinkbroadband Customer Service Award for Large ISPs by a significant margin three months ago.
Although Virgin Media did not win any awards, in the opening speech by Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said that if he had an award to give, it would go to Virgin Media on the basis of their commitment to provide its assistance to CEOP without passing on any costs in incurs in doing so.
Other award winners included Namesco, UK2 and UK Fast which received a second award. Also, ISPA awarded its "Internet Villain" award to Stephen Conroy and the Australian Government for their network-level blocking system and The Featured Artists Coalition won the "Internet Hero" award for its campaign to get the music companies to recognise new business models rather than targeting consumers and ISPs with legal action. We are very pleased to see the Best Telephony award being measured against the performance of an Internet Telephony service itself, rather than a broadband connection alone.
I just signed up with o2 and am an O2 mobile contract customer so already get their "up to 20Mbit" for only 9.90 a month. When you then take into account the first 2 months are free and also the fact that QuidCo.com offer you £50 cashback.
O2 definitely seem like the best choice :D