Broadband in the news
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There has been a huge amount of coverage around the state of the UK’s broadband this week.
It has been focussed around two specific areas : firstly, the speed and state of the broadband within the Uk and also whether improving it, could help the country in fighting the global and national recession.
Let’s look at the first point:
The average speed of a broadband connection in the UK is 3.6Mbps (megabits per second) according to new research from regulator Ofcom.
This is unsurprising and depressing reading, for two reasons. One, 3.6Mps is SLOW compared to many other countries, including Sweden where I saw 89Mps up and 82Mps down in November, and left me reeling. Secondly, with the VAST majority, if not all ISPs advertising 8Mps lines, for example, they rarely, if ever deliver that. (Read the full article here).
Honesty and transparency is something that ISPs really need to include within their dictionaries. It was good to see this from the Ofcom Chief Executive:
Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards described the study as “the most comprehensive assessments of consumers’ broadband experiences to date”. He issued a warning to ISPs. “We want to see all internet service providers meet the needs of their customers by clearly explaining what speeds they should expect and by ensuring that their networks meet consumers’ increasing demand for higher speed broadband,” he said.
There is a huge need for clear communication and guess what? Of course there is a need for faster speed, not only from consumers, but also businesses. This brings me on the second area: could an investment in the UK Digital infrastructure rejuvenate the country? The BBC’s article here, makes interesting reading, and I am hoping, praying, that there is some truth in this.
After the depression of the 1920s, US president Roosevelt started a public works programme which saw billions of dollars pumped into a series of projects, including the building of roads, airports and dams in an effort to reignite the economy.
In the UK there are increasingly loud rumblings that a similar thing is needed in the UK, with a superfast broadband infrastructure a prime candidate for cash.
Finally someone is seeing some sense:
“It would be easy to see broadband as an expensive luxury in difficult times but it is encouraging that Gordon Brown has recognised that investment in the broadband infrastructure could provide long-term benefits to productivity,” said Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholders Group.
This nails it for me, an increase in productivity – better for people, better for small and large businesses, encouraging creativity, web-based investment for startups and ideas. Just what the UK needs right now. David Cameron made a very good point, and one I had not really considered before:
…that the long term benefits of such a technology, which allows for upload and download speeds of up to 100Mbps (megabits per second), could facilitate a new era of teleworking which in turn could reduce the traffic on our roads.
This hugely encouraging, and to be honest, any party who is going to be leading the country in the future must make this a reality. Rory Cellan Jones has also been writing about this topic over on his BBC blog, and points out that BT and Virgin are probably the only big players who could take a fibre network across the Uk. This makes sense, but from a very personal, and geographic perspective, where does that leave Hull with it’s ‘unique’ telecoms offering. This is a major topic, and one we are starting to investigate and discuss more and more over at Hull Digital.
Whatever happens, this is not a short term project. There will need to be some serious decisions in the short term, but make no mistake, the implications are long term, and it needs to be closely followed in 2009. The UK is in dire need of the next generation of digital networks, but to be honest, it is not even the next generation – there are plenty of countries who for them, fibre has been standard for years. Once again, we are playing catch up, and we need to get FTTH (fibre to the home), just to be on a level playing field. The call must go out, that this HAS to happen and soon.
No related posts.
I think that one of the great unanswered questions when it comes to broadband in the uk is one of privacy. While speed and integrity of transmitted data will become an enabler, many companies will be pit off because of the ludicrous surveilance practices of our current, unelected, leader. And don’t forget that any system will be run and maintained by an external company, maybe not even a British company. I can’t see many businesses being comfortable with exchanging large amounts of data over a network that may very well be monitored by one of their competitors.
I don’t believe there is a massive technological barrier in this country, after all, we’re a relatively small island with a reasonably centralised population (compared to, say, the US). I live in the suburbs of a fairly large city and I can download at around 1.5M/s (actual speed, advertised as 10). My ISP can go faster if I pay. While thats not on par with many of our neighbours, its never prevented me doing anything. What’s stopping me moving more of my life online are the rumours of deep packet inspection and tools such as phorm. For me it’s more an ideological problem than a technical one (of course, if I were getting 50k/ s it might be a different story!)
Turin and Italy in general has as good as abandoned it’s Fibre optic infrastructure for domestic use – after enormous infrastructure investment by Fastweb in cabling all urban areas – apart from the fact that Fastweb is more expensive and less reliable than competitors running over the standard Telecom copper connections – apparently and understandably the Fibre laying is a bit like the Channel Tunnel in terms of the debt creation that needs financing plus I am told the on-going maintenance costs of the fibre network make it unsustainable
I would give reliable symmetric 2Mb to the home far more credibility than current 8mb asymmetric and capped / throttled / reverse QoS’d.offerings but no one is keen to market it to me for less than my current “8″ and for good reason.
On the whole, most people do not realise that ISPs have to pay for data exchange, and while this varies wildly the medium sized player may be averaging £20 mbit. So – lets see, you are using 8 – how much are you willing to pay for that connection – or are you really expecting them to fund you.
The media spin on “it advertises 8″ is full of holes as well. Initial deployments saw fixed, non negotiating data rates. If you could not sustain the advertised 512Kbit/1Mbit/2Mbit that the DSLAM was expecting you where disconnected. ADSL2 as now is advertised as “8Mbit” is a godsend on this front as it will negotiate a line speed. For people who continue to moan about 8mbit connectivity they should be reduced to the half one or two speeds of the old system – see how they like that.
As for fibre – sure – who’s paying for the dig? The government subsidised project to deliver fibre to each business park in North Wales has an entry level connection with five figures? Show of hands?
Fast fibre for all I say – but if it cost £30mil to link 11 business parks within 200km… who wants to pay more tax… hmmm… anyone? You there at the back?
This is all very akin to all the noise being made over the FibreSpeed broadband Wales (as mentioned) – MP/AM’s and local groups making a lot of noise to have it run past them so they can make use of it – with all the media spin on “good for business, necessity” etc.. Its funny no one actually thought about now much a fast fibre connection would cost to install, use, maintain? No. Copper, over phone lines is a much more diverse system, and far more robust in terms of routes, aggregation, existing infrastructure, and manageability.
While we are at it – copper versus fibre kit prices… have you looked recently? It would not be 14.99 with a free modem.
I want it, I need it, and I want it for a tiny fraction of cost… can you see why I had to say something? Sorry Mossman.
SO, to conclude – three questions for you:
1) How much install fee would you expect?
2) How much yearly connect / backhaul fee?
3) How much for termination?
The following caveats and points for you:
A) This is not directly my line of work, but it still sits in the same rack, so close enough;
B) SDSL is available in many areas for considerably more than your ADSL connection should you require symmetric connectivity;
C) You may also want to look into bonded ADSL lines, which will save you a zero or so on fibre;
D) There is nothing currently stopping you from taking a BTnet is there?
E) Surely your real issue is with LLU and your Hull ISP as opposed to anything else, are they allowing it, and if not why not?
F) Start ups with a leased line have too much cash
…………aaaaaand relax.
Guys, some great feedback, ideas and thoughts, thanks for sharing!
@Simon – privacy is a very good point, perhaps something I don’t consider enough. However, if businesses and the government keep on stumbling around, we are, once again, going to be left behind. If other countries have done it, they have encountered the same issues, and they have manged to overcome them.
@Nick Welcome to the humble blog! Very interesting to hear about what is happening in Italy…. How an earth is the fibre not as reliable as the copper? Have they not installed properly?
@anthony Brilliant!! Great, great points and a lot to consider. There is something stopping me going for BTnet and that is Kcom, the local telecoms, or rather, no one wants to come to Hull as the profits are so minimal for such a small catchment area.
I agree, I would love a solid 2mb up and down, rather than a patchy 4 mb down and 400kb up which is hugely restrictive.
Yes, there is a big cost for fibre but someone, the government, needs to shut up and cough up. I wonder how many days of military spend would add up to sorting out the whole digital infrastructure of the Uk? Not many I would hazard a guess.
It’s about time we stopped poking our noses into other countries’ business and started mending our own country.
Your Hull based provider not offer SDSL, or bonded ADSL (while not symmetric would offer more up combined). Again – as with anywhere its ££ if you want something not out of the box.
I would argue that 400kbps is not ‘hugely’ restrictive, but it depends on what you do – and how you manage the traffic you have leaving your LAN on the available bandwidth.
Fibre is fragile and not cheap, just has the advantage of longer runs. We are looking at entrenching costs of about £2 a meter. SO, give that some thought… .
More realistic would be community networks if you had favourable neighbours. I have a mate who did just that with a sat link, and resold to his equally ‘arse end of nowhere’ neighbours over wireless point to point.
*sssshhhh Mossman BTnet is a product – not the company (their entry level broadband with back-haul and internet gateway included).
** Climbs back into box.
*deep breath*
Fibre is made of glass (no, really) – we have some of the original dev team here as it happens in this building. It is used here for lenses and comms on the whole. I digress: Its a filament of glass, wrapped in another different density of glass. Bundled with a few mates, and then sunk into the ground with an armoured cable / plastic tube on the whole – although some digs use a slot cutter affair. It is normally laid with the usaul tape saying “oi no gerroff my fibre” and a metal cable so you can find it with a metal detector. Getting it through the ducting is an issue in itself as pulling / pushing on it can ruin your day.
It is in a word – fragile. It breaks. People have this habit of digging things up, which doesnt help. Currently I am aware of a break on our/peers network. Also You need two fibres for each connection (send / receive) and you need a redundant loop for each run you do via a diverse trench or network.
Termination / repair is not a quick / easy /cheap business – and depending on what manner of light you shoehorn down it – it has a finite distance before a repeater. Repeaters, and kit to light the fibre (most fibre is sold ‘dark’) are not cheap – so all in all at every turn its more beer tokens than copper.
So, adding to my list of ‘I am not a network engineer but…’ caveats – you also get the issue of running it if it is government financed. Just like the Chunnel – they could not afford for the ferries to stop, making it a monopoly. So – if you put the dark fibre in, who runs it? Surely not a public body? ‘I am not a businessman but…’ surely thats a tough one, as with the FibreSpeed project there is the complication of BT not running any real bandwidth across North Wales, hence the project, but once the WAG stump up 30 mill to link 13 business parks together, BT jump on and purchase a wedge of bandwidth. Is that fair?
In your world there you would probably be better off / more reasonable saying – govt funded dark fibre to ALL business parks. Then subsidised connectivity. As the project up here, they got their free network and now charging London rates to use it (which are cheaper btw).
*I need to waffle less (waves to boss)*
A wealth of info and experience Anthony! I must admit, my technical knowledge about fibre is limited, but am learning fast…
Thanks for posting – I had no idea about dark and light cable and the fragility of it, not surprising I guess being glass!
… and while we are talking about BBC misinformation and news for news sake. Google article today.
While yes, their impact is huge, however they are field / world leaders in reducing their impact – running stuff hotter, using laptop processors, tunnels not isles, smart meter / power stations, innovative cooling solutions. I do not think it really paints them as the green movers and shakers that they are. People like Google are the people who have the power to demand changes and efficiency… and they do.
In short – another article for news sake (like the ADSL one) with a high hit headline and managing to fall from the clue true without hitting a single branch on the way down.
I saw that – Google have replied to the report on their main blog today pointing out some inaccuracies and what the real life comparisons really are.
They do need to be praised for what they are doing, they have the money for research and it is on their best interest to deliver the greenest search solution.
… better still – the <a href=
I think it is not the fiber that us unreliable but that the company who installed it (Fastweb) is now saddled with so much debt that it struggles to find budge to be able to keep the thing running without setting it’s prices at a price that would allow it to cover it’s costs but would mean no customers :’( they started their fibre investment before copper became capable of high speeds and have now been overtaken in the speed/price race – it is catch 22 for the private fibre providers and the Euro zone will prevent the government from raising the extra debt needed for it to provide fibre
Hi Nick,
I see what you mean – massive overspend and trying to recoup it with unrealistic prices. Not a good recipe for success.
What we need IS the government to step in and fork out the cash needed, as otherwise, I fear we will be left behind.
Jon
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Thank you
I’m 99% sure it is part of the theme and not a plugin! I’ve tried discus and many others, but like the simplicity of this
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