Perhaps this isn't surprising given that every government department is making cutbacks, but when the UK government said they'd be delivering their verdict on Broadband Britain yesterday, I was expecting them to actually have a plan in place to make good on the promise of broadband for all. Did it happen? No. "There isn't enough money so we're not doing it." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10628273
That plus Digital Economy Act - enjoy the internet dark ages, UK. Anyone considering to move to Finland where it's a human right? EDIT: http://point-topic.com/content/dslanalysis/tfsmj2010.html
QFT Finland is heading in the right path to be honest, and the politicians here... are just doing what Canada did back a few years back, putting cuts on everything so the economy could recover. It's a shame that the DE act was passed with not much debate and whatnots.
The government can hardly be blamed for trying to get us back onto firm ground. To be honest it was expected that cuts would be made and certain promises would be kept back.
I'm sorry... I don't see what the problem is. Have we all forgotten about that teensy weensy little economic problem we have?? While improving the broadband infrastructure, especially for rural people, would be a welcome boon, I'm not not sure I want euthanise old people and the disabled to pay for it. We could close down a few schools and hospitals, I suppose. Or perhaps double the proposed Graduate Tax... How do all BTs current undergraduates feel about paying more so farmers can download porn a little bit faster? I'd say that in the current economic climate, broadband is not the most pressing issue.
Sorry bumsrush m8 with the rising cost of expensive wet string and the cost of tin cans these days Im afraid even that isnt possible anymore you have to remember we just had a very hot summer meaning there is a shortage of water so the wet string is definately out lol
When we're spending over £100 billion on healthcare, wasting £2-3 billion on re-organising a system that's already assessed as being the most efficient in the world, what's a million or 50 on improving the broadband infrastructure? EDIT:: Quote to back up the claim: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10375877
Whats laughable is the new Government has set a target of us having the fastest broadband in Europe by 2015. Never ever going to happen.
We're not even close when you consider what is available in other European countries.. Besides, it is hoped the re-org will help make £20bn in savings by 2014. I've no idea whether that is realistic, but the idea is that spending that money will save money in future. However, the 'million or 50' need for the broadband program is actually £2bn. £2bn. If it were £50m it would have been done years ago.
Either the goverment puts the money up, that will mostly likely help the economy to grow or streamline the way for ISP's to use BT/Water/Gas/Sewage pipes to improve networks however this will only affect certain areas. BT would proably fund a next gen network itself if it could get a decent return on its investment but ofcom wouldnt allow that. Just to upgrade all the UK's exchanges to asdl+2 would proably bring alot more people to above the 2mb basic. As for the digital switch over fund left overs it wont hardly scratch the surface of the problem. The copper cabiling could proably be sold for a profit if its replaced with fibre.
Ill take some of the copper will come in handy for some of my antenna projects for my amateur radio lol
50p/mth per phone line. Cancelled Q1 2010 (in anticipation of the election I think). Would be difficult to revive it at this time. Enough new and increased taxes coming to pay for Browns legacy already; I doubt the coalition will want to add to it if they can avoid it. Perhaps when we have go used to the new status quo, and people have figured out how to survive in this austere age, we can revive the idea without too much objection from Mirror and Daily Mail readers.
i think bt are bringing it in themselves from what i heard on the radio this morning. they are going to increase our bills by wait for it........ 50p per month, and increease the cost of calls by up to 10%
I think the train of thought is cuts rather than tax increases. Ive said it for years, throwing money at something doesn't solve the problem. Sitting down and making it more efficient does. Take the NHS, all it needs is a set of rules that actually forces nurses to work rather than having them pull in Agency staff. Its scary how much cash they waste paying stupid agency workers who work 2 days a week and can't carry out half the procedures. Back on point, TBH doesn't surprise me its delayed. In honesty it should never have been the governments job to improve it in the first place. BT should have an interest to invest in their own company to do it themselves out of their own pocket!! Intel improve their own products so why shouldn't BT? I also hate the fact they're laying them beside Virgin's network too rather in areas not covered by any optics at all. Such is life I suppose. I guess the only silver lining is Onlive. They have a huge interest in fast internet speeds for their own survival since higher speed and bandwidth means faster and more detailed games. Possible investor?
BT *have* invested in the network... everywhere where is was cost effective to do so. So *every* town over a certain size has at least 2Mb ADSL available, and the majority of small towns and villages also have it. However, some towns and plenty of remaining villages, and the vast majority of farms/hamlets/remote cottages, don't have the right infrastructure. And it will cost far more to provide the necessary infrastructure, than it will ever make back in revenues. So BT are never going to volunteer to do the work off their own back. As with bus and train routes, it is right that we compel the operators (in this case primarily BT) to re-route some of the profits from the most profitable areas of the business back into the business to subsidise the less profitable areas (i.e. the rural areas). However, given that it will cost several billion to bring everyone up to speed, it can't be BT alone. If the government can't chip in (they can't) then we need to raise money via a special tax or charge (politically sensitive at the moment) or we allow BT to make the charge themselves (might happen, I don't know).
Why not allow BT and other isp's to make a deal with rural areas where funding is split between the isp and the residents and possibly local gov if theres funding. As theres been a few examples of rural villages getting there own fibre installed by other companies, prehaps bit-tech should do a article on broadband development in the UK who we need to lobby etc to improve things.
