The speed increases are being carried out across the network for both new and existing customers.

Simon Duffy, Chief Executive of ntl, said: “Our enhancement of the broadband product range is focused on customer needs. Our customers want more speed, better email access and more newsgroups to enjoy, and that’s what we’re delivering.”

“We feel it’s time to give customers a broadband boost for no extra cost and offer them something they can’t get from an other broadband provider,” added Chad Raube, director of internet services at Telewest, in what was clearly a separate but coordinated move by the two cable companies.

Despite ntl’s claim that it is “boosting its three broadband services to higher speeds, at no extra cost to customers” like Telewest, ntl last week hiked its 1Mbps (now 1.5Mbps) service up £3, with the news buried deep in the results of its annual review. There are also other price increases in TV and Telco products. The £3 price rise was, however, offset partially by a reduction in the price of the Games Console Service from £5 to £2 per month.

A summary of the changes can be found below:

• ntl 150Kbps 300Kbps – £17.99 per month
• ntl 600Kbps 750Kbps – £24.99 per month
• ntl 1Mbps 1.5Mbps – £37.99 per month

• Blueyonder 256Kbps (unchanged) – £17.99 per month
• Blueyonder 512Kbps 750Kbps – £25 per month
• Blueyonder 1Mbps 1.5Mbps – £35 per month
• Blueyonder 2Mbps 3Mbps – £50 per month

As you can see, Telewest’s 256k service is remaining unchanged for the time being, but we may well see other changes in the speeds in preparation for a merger. All ntl’s services still remain capped at 1GB of data transfer per day, and ntl have yet to respond to queries on the whether this limit is suitable in light of 1.5Mbps speed.

Customers of both services welcome the move; read comments from our forum in the ntl speed increase thread and a Telewest speed increase thread.

• ntl press release
• Telewest press release
• BBC News coverage