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In all the talk of what the future may bring in the world of broadband: Full mobile broadband coverage, 200 Mbps speeds and HD streaming, it’s worth taking a look at the problems many Brits are facing today just getting on the very first rungs of the broadband ladder. In the Digital Britain report, the government has promised 2 Mbps as a minimum for UK wide broadband by 2012, but despite aiming for a rather slow speed by today’s standards, it’s looking less and less likely that the plans will succeed.
A report issued this week by BBC News Online and SamKnows Broadband has found that around 3m homes are currently without an adequate form of broadband at all, either not being able to connect or managing speeds of only 0.5 Mps; only ten times faster than dialup and nowhere near fast enough to enjoy the more interactive side of the web including high quality streaming video or music.
The study was conducted by taking postcode data and comparing that with the estimated line length for the area. The data was based off 1.5 million records, estimating around 15% of UK homes are using lines that simply aren’t capable of reaching higher speeds – some are even connected to exchanges that can’t provide broadband, a rather embarrassing state for a modern country that is meant to be technologically advanced, or at least competitive in the international marketplace.
This is despite a study by BT referenced in an interim version of the government’s report that suggested only 7% of homes were without the ability to maintain a 2 Mbps connection.
There are already some serious concerns being raised about the government effort, including its rather short term approach to the solution. When the country does finally see nationwide 2 Mbps services, many cities and other built up residential areas will be enjoying speeds of between 40 and 100 Mbps, potentially fifty times faster than the governments ‘minimum’. The problem of this disparity? The more internet users who connect at higher speeds, the more services are aimed at those users, leaving those people with their brand new 2 Mbps in the dust before they’ve even signed up for their first broadband contract.
Currently the government is expecting to fill this 3 million home gap using a variety of technologies. Many of which like wireless, mobile broadband and satellite wont rely on underground cabling of any type to connect people. However, the report currently only focuses on the minimum speed of the connection and there’s no mention of service level or price. If you live in an area that the government classes as ‘2 Mbps’ but your only service is available via satellite, you might be a bit frustrated that you’re paying hundreds of pounds more than your neighbors in a nearby town. Likewise, mobile broadband contracts are on average slower and more restrictive than their fixed line counterparts.
Worryingly it’s not just in remote areas of the Lake District and the highlands where people are suffering from a lack of broadband connectivity, but generally populated areas in counties such as Hampshire. Alex Salter, co-founder to SamKnows told the BBC: “We had assumed that these notspots were in remote parts of the countryside. That may be where the most vocal campaigners are but there is a high incident of them in commuter belts.”
The full Digital Britain Report is due out next month, and we’ll be covering it in depth.
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