  UPDATE *4th July 2011*: On 13th May 2011 the UK government finally set upon a definition that agrees with our own conclusions. BDUK said that 90% of "people in each local authority area" should have access to superfast (25Mbps+) broadband ISP services by 2015. Thank god for that.Here is an incredibly simple question, what is a bicycle? At this point your mind has probably conjured up something resembling a two wheeled vehicle that is powered by foot pedals and you'd be correct. Now try this one, what is broadband? Are we having fun yet, what did your mind come up with this time? Some of you probably came close but we can almost guarantee that nobody got it perfectly correct because the term "broadband" can, it appears, have different meanings depending on the context. There was a time when broadband came synonymous with "fast internet access", albeit spoken in comparison to 56Kbps dialup connections, yet crucially what was fast then is slow today. A small selection of broadband definitions from around the internet (global):
The use of ambiguous wording like "fast", "high data rate" and "high bandwidth" receive a great deal of use in most attempts to define the term and yet they remain highly subjective to the time period in which they were first penned, not to mention the impact of individual perspectives; each giving rise to a new context. Back in 2003 the UK telecommunications regulator, Oftel (now known as Ofcom), ran a review (consultation) on the 'Wholesale Unmetered Narrowband Internet Termination Market' in which it defined broadband as "higher bandwidth always-on services, offering data rates of 128kbps [0.12Mbps] and above". Flash forward to March 2010, and Ofcom's review of the wholesale broadband market, that defines the service as merely a "connection which is capable of supporting always-on services which provide the end user with high data transfer speeds". Ah, "high data transfer speeds" again, now what does that mean, exactly? We asked but Ofcom couldn't tell us. 
Comments page 1 of 1
Manila: Sẽ kiện Trung Quốc ra toe0 e1n Liean Hiệp QuốcManila – Viean chức cao cấp nhất của nge0nh ngoại giao Phi Luật Te2n đe3 thf4ng be1o cho đối te1c Trung Hoa của f4ng ta biết le0 Manila cf3 kế hoạch mang chuyện tranh chấp le3nh hải ở quần đảo Trường Sa ra toe0 e1n Liean Hiệp Quốc.Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Phi Luật Te2n f4ng Albert del Rosario nf3i hf4m nay thứ Hai nge0y 11 the1ng Bảy le0 Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Trung Quốc f4ng Yang Jiechi đe3 khf4ng cf3 the1i độ đe1p ứng khi f4ng nf3i với f4ng ta ở Bắc Kinh tuần rồi về kế hoạch mang chuyện tranh chấp le3nh hải ra Toe0 e1n Luật Biển Quốc tế.Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Phi Luật Te2n: Sẽ kiện Trung Quốc ra toe0 e1n Liean Hiệp Quốc. Nguồn hecnh: Reutersd4ng Del Rosario nf3i f4ng Yang lập lại le0 Trung Quốc cho mecnh cf3 chủ quyền trean toe0n bộ biển Nam Hải ve0 ce1c quần đảo cf3 tiềm năng chứa nhiều dầu ve0 khed đốt ve0 f4ng nhắc lại le0 Bắc Kinh muốn giải quyết chuyện tranh chấp le3nh hải ne0y với ce1c nước khe1c một ce1ch song phương.d4ng Del Rosario cho hay f4ng đe3 nf3i với f4ng Yang le0 Phi Luật Te2n thedch một diễn đe0n đa phương hơn, như le0 Liean Hiệp Quốc để giải quyết chuyện tranh chấp ne0y.Cf9ng với đe0 ne0y Việt Nam ve0 Philippin cũng đồng thanh kiện Trung Quốc ra tf2a vec tội cf3 fd đồ ve0 he0nh động xe2m phạm chủ quyền của ce1c nước le1ng giềng, đề nghị Liean hiệp quốc điều tra ve0 le0m rf5 việc Trung quốc tuyean truyền sai sự thật một ce1ch trắng trợn chủ quyền của họ trean Biển Đf4ng với nhe2n de2n Trung quốc, đồng thời cf3 những đednh chednh kịp thời để những người de2n Trung quốc hiểu rf5 bộ mặt thật của chednh quyền đang cai trị mecnh luf4n lừa bịp nf3i sai sự thật để họ ảo tưởng sai. Đồng thời đề nghị ce1c nước trean thế giới tẩy tray he0ng hf3a của Trung quốc, tẩy tray những the0nh quả về kinh tế của Trung quốc đạt được do ăn cướp của những nước nhỏ…đf3 le0 ce1ch tốt nhất trong tecnh hecnh hiện nay để bảo vệ le3nh thổ của ce1c nước manila, Philippin ve0 Việt Nam
Heck yeah bay-bee keep them ciomng!
it was the same in poland but after many cmiplaons to the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection form customers our government decided that it's against the law and now you could have broadband without land line. of course you have land line but you pay only for broadband. just few minutes ago i was ordering bt broadband here in uk and i was shocked that they forced me to order land line so i'll have to pay 10.99 for something that i'm not going to use. it's 18.99 for option 3 broadband and land line for broadband should be included in this price. i think the problem here is that bt is a one big monopolist in uk so every single company is forced to use their existing cable network. what is heppening now they have money for your land line rental and i'm 100% sure other companys are paing them for using bt land line to provide you with broadband so bt is paid well, twice from you directly and from your broadband company (aol, tiscali, virgin etc). bt is afraid that they'll loose lots of money if you go for skype calls or other internet communication software that alowes you to call any number directly from the internet. i'm really surprised that there is no any big customers complain on bt to government or something sorry it's my egnlish, but you know what i mean. someone should say stop because it's like a stealing in a day light and everyone around looks happy with that.
HI NICE... JUST WONDERING IF THIS POST IS UPDATED. I MEAN IF YOU ARE STILL SELLING THIS PREPAID BROADBAND KIT AND IF EVER YOU ARE, IS THERE ANYWAY I CAN BUY IT ONLINE? COZ I AM HERE IN CALIFORNIA AND I WANT TO GET IT FOR SOMEONE AND WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED AT EXACTLY COZ I DON'T WANT THEM TO TRAVEL FAR FOR IT AS THE PERSON I AM GIVING IT TO HAS AN ILL AND LEGALLY BLIND MOM TO TAKE CARE OF. LET ME KNOW PLS. I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD EMAIL ME AT dmstuckey98@yahoo.com THANKS FOR THE TIME NICE, HAVE A GOOD DAY!
by definition internet access should mean just that. A pipe to the internet. Down or up it your data will flow. Just like any other utility. You can have a swimming pool or a cup full. Depends what you want or need or are prepared to pay for. The only thing that can deliver it to everyone is fibre. For too long we have been held to ransom by a copper cabal flogging an obsolete solution to protect their old business model. Time to move on before it is too late. Light the fibre to every home. RIP copper.
MichGreg, i agree. We need 100Mbps fibre nationally.
I think we really need 100mb - 100% nationally but everybody knows that won't happen in the next 10 years. But I don't want them to use existing ADSL, satellite or mobile tech and call it NGA either, that's just mad. Nice insight into all the different explanations.
<1>
|