Broadband for All: the Future of a Digital Britain

Each UK home will get to connect to broadband, mobile or fixed, by 2012 in a proposal made by Communications minister Lord Stephen Carter. Lord Carter wants to ensure the, amongst others, 1.75 million rural homes which at the moment don’t have access to broadband, will do in the next three years.

Aiming to maximise use of broadband and levels of service, broadband access is a main element to MP Lord Carter’s 22 proposals listed in the Digital Britain report, which focuses on the whole of the media industry in the UK.

The plan states that broadband lines will have a line speed of at least 2 Mbps, which is speedy enough to download a film overnight.

Mobile broadband connections are accessed through a dongle, provided by mobile phone companies, while fixed phone lines are installed within a house.  Fixed line broadband can be accessed either through a modem attached to your laptop, or a wirelessly within the home.   

]]>

It’s guaranteed that all UK citizens will be able to use the internet despite their social situation, allowing everyone an equal attempt to access a wide range of information available on the internet.

Broadband for all is looking to make broadband systems more efficient for new and current users, transforming it into a five-star system in the future.    

A new national minimum will be implemented for broadband connection speeds. Broadband connection speeds have been a major complaint for mobile broadband consumers in the past year, after finding that patchy coverage and slow downloads opposed what mobile phone providers led them to believe as a speedy system through claims of speeds up to 7Mbps.

It will be a legal requirement for phone companies to create and pay for a broadband network throughout the country, however public cash might be involved.

The 2012 deadline set by Lord Carter might be seen as too short a period to implement a broadband system around the whole country into place. George W. Bush’s 2004 statement that affordable broadband for citizens residing in America would be available in 2007, has now been taken on by Barack Obama – with no happenings two years after the original deadline.

Some critics are unsure of the minimum broadband connection speed of 2 Mbps, saying that the proposals are ‘timid’ compared to the current national average connection speed of 3.6 Mbps. 

Phone company BT’s recently reported profit dip could be hard for the broadband for all proposal to be implemented, after the amount of building a broadband network, which BT and other telecoms would be legally required to do, is estimated at £3.5 billion.    

Source: ArticlesBase.com

The advantages and disadvantages of Mobile PAYG Broadband

For years, broadband was nearly always tied down to a contract and our homes. Broadband suppliers would need a phone line to offer their services and getting on a contract for less than a year was very rare and very costly. However, with the advent of mobile broadband technology that allows internet access through mobile phone signal rather than phone lines, the internet has been “set free” and no longer requires having a landline installed. While mobile broadband is often offered as part of a contract as well, it’s also started a new craze of PAYG Broadband – paying for broadband access only when and where you need it.

The advantages of being able to go online whenever and wherever you want are obvious. Devices like phones, laptops and netbooks can suddenly become portable workstations which allow you to access the internet and email without the need to find a Wi-Fi network. This makes mobile broadband the perfect option for people who commute daily, or people who move and travel around the country often and aren’t really in a position to make the most of a home broadband connection.

]]>

Being able to pay when you need the broadband also makes a lot of sense, especially for special occasions or light internet users. For example, you might be happy with your landline broadband at home, but if you’re going on a camping trip but need to be able to keep up with your emails, simply paying for the broadband you might use on your holiday is very cost effective. You never have to worry about paying for more than you use, and you know exactly how much you are spending every time, making it a good option for people who want to keep control of their finances. Mobile broadband isn’t perfect, though.

If you’re considering a PAYG server you need to be aware of some of the key disadvantages to the service, no matter what provider you choose. Firstly, mobile broadbands reliance on mobile signal might give you greater freedom, but it isn’t perfect. Indoors you might find that your mobile broadband is significantly slower than advertised without a good signal, and even outdoors you still need to be reasonably close to a mast in order to make the most out of the higher speeds a service might offer. Rural areas might be cut off completely from mobile broadband, though most villages should be able to pick up some level of signal. Secondly, mobile broadband is expensive, and PAYG is the most expensive way to pay for it. Comparing PAYG mobile broadband to a standard fixed line contract could see you having to spend as much as twice as much for a similar (or slower) service.

That doesn’t mean that PAYG is never worth the effort though, just that if you find yourself constantly paying for PAYG mobile broadband it might be cheaper and easier to sort out a mobile broadband contract instead. If you’re interested in PAYG broadband but you don’t want to go down the mobile broadband route, there are even a few fixed line providers that offer broadband at reduced contracts. Plusnet even offers a month by month contract which means that providing you give the company 10 days’ notice you can cancel whenever you like. Just like PAYG mobile broadband though, these methods are much more expensive than their contract counterparts, and you normally end up having to pay for the hardware as well.

Source: ArticlesBase.com