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Articles on the topic : Broadband News
Reluctance To Cancel Broadband During Recession
Despite the current economic slow down and recession, the popularity of broadband is still at an all time with many people reluctant to cancel their broadband connection.
With companies closing down each day and thousands of people unable to find work, broadband is proving to be a vital job hunting tool – making it an essential service in the home alongside the likes of water and electricity.
Saving Money By Using Your Broadband Connection
Not only can your broadband connection help you find new work, it can also be used to source cheaper deals on groceries too.
You can shop online, find out which supermarkets have the best deals and also get your shopping delivered straight to your door.
By not travelling to the supermarket you don’t get tempted to buy things that you don’t need. So shopping online saves you money in more ways than one.
As well as grocery shopping, you can also compare energy providers as well as car insurance quotes – enabling you to change suppliers where there’s savings to be made.
Overall if you have a broadband connection and are indeed wondering whether to cancel it, just think about how it could help you.
Using your broadband connection wisely could help you to save quite a lot of money. Even in times of a recession, if you make small cut backs then it could really make all the difference.
With the internet being one of the best ways to find out about new job opportunities, why not start making your broadband connection work for you today?
Slow Broadband Speeds & Lord Carter’s Digital Britain
With the UK experiencing slow broadband speeds averaging around 3.6Mbps, it seems rather odd that Lord Carter’s suggestion in his recent Digital Britain report was for every home to have a minimum broadband speed of just 2Mbps.
In comparison to other countries such as France, Japan and Sweden, the UK is clearly lagging behind with its slow broadband speeds.
In fact, the difference between the figures is actually quite staggering. In France, the average download speed is 17.6Mbps, whilst in Sweden it is 18.2Mbps.
Japan is the world broadband speed leader with an amazing 61Mbps – which makes the UK’s paltry 3.6Mbps speeds look far from impressive.
Many people were hoping that Lord Carter would set Britain’s minimum broadband speed targets far higher in a bid to catch up with and compete with the leading countries. His less than impressive 2Mbps is certainly disappointing.
If the UK wants to catch up and provide a high speed, competitive broadband service that will drive economic success, then the minimum download speeds discussed by Lord Carter must be increased.
UK Broadband Connections Near 17 Million
New figures from Ofcom have revealed that the number of UK broadband connections is nearing the 17 million mark.
The regulator’s latest Telecommunications Market data tables show that up to the end of Q3 last year, there were just over 16.9 million active residential and small business broadband lines in the UK.
The tables, which detail the broadband connections between 2006 and Q3 2008, show that during this period there were slight market share falls for industry leaders BT Retail and Virgin Media.
In the case of BT, this is largely due to the increase in broadband connections using local loop unbundling (LLU). These line connections are provided by the likes of TalkTalk and Sky who have installed their own equipment in the telephone exchange – meaning they can offer users discounted prices and so called ‘free’ broadband services.
In fact, as at the end of September 2008, there were 5.1 million local loop unbundling lines (LLU) in operation, compared to just 1.3 million back in 2006.
A reduction in broadband network expansion and increased competition from smaller providers are thought to have been the main drivers for Virgin Media’s market share reduction.
UK Wide Fibre Optic Broadband To Cost £28.8bn
The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the UK government’s leading advisory group on broadband has released a new report stating that installing super-fast fibre optic broadband across the UK with speeds up to 1Gbps could cost up to £28.8bn.
The £28.8bn bill is for full fibre into each home for the whole of the UK – while an alternative option, fibre just to the BT cabinet on the corner of your street could cost £5bn and deliver speeds up to 100Mbps.
Whichever route is taken the BSG warns of a new digital divide ahead between town and country. Providers like BT and Virgin Media, whilst committed to investing billions in UK roll out, will concentrate on major towns and cities first to help them recoup their investment.
