Digital Britain my foot.

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Originally Posted by Hazell B

Hate to point out the bleeding obvious, but you're wrong in a way. Every time you ring out, wherever to, the miles of lines are needed. Just as if somebody from out in the sticks calls you.

Not a subsidy in the same way as this new version.

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That's true. But what they are talking about is the cable needed between the exchange and the home, and for IP, not voice.

Once it's at the exchange it's sent down high bandwidth firbre connections. The network for this is already well in place. I believe it's commonly referred to as the 'final mile'.

And I think I live even closer than Dave to the exchange. I'd estimate it's about 100 metres away, if they had a wifi router on the roof I'd be able to pick it up :p

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Originally Posted by Mark

That's true. But what they are talking about is the cable needed between the exchange and the home, and for IP, not voice.

Once it's at the exchange it's sent down high bandwidth firbre connections. The network for this is already well in place. I believe it's commonly referred to as the 'final mile'.

And I think I live even closer than Dave to the exchange. I'd estimate it's about 100 metres away, if they had a wifi router on the roof I'd be able to pick it up :p

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If WiFi actually operated at anywhere near the ranges it claims to :mark:

Surely Wi-fi is the answer all along rather than put an extra tarrif on all land line phones? We use Orange Wi-Fi in the Lake District with no trouble at all, who needs a landline and broadband anyway?

3G coverage isn't pervasive so not everyone can use it.

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Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

In short, this was a brilliant opportunity to ensure that our broadcast and communications industry would be in rude health for decades to come, but instead its tinkering at the margins and dithering about all the important stuff. Utterly pathetic.

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Never a truer word spoken.

DAB is good.. up to a point. The fatal flaw for me is that my digital radio completely cuts out when I turn on the computer sitting near it, forcing me to switch to FM. FM radio works, it has worked for years and will continue to do so. At least when the signal is weak I can make out the odd word! It'd be more sensible to move to internet radio rather than a short-term switch to DAB.

Which leads me on to 2Mbps.. pfft. We've only just got 2 meg broadband round our way, and were the last in our (built-up) area to get it at all! An investment in fibre optic cabling up to the exchanges at least is a necessity. It'd be money very well spent.

ITV getting the licence fee? No thank you! BTCC aside, I cannot think of a single programme that I watch on ITV, with four channels to choose from that says a lot. BBC regional news is perfectly serviceable, at least here in the north west, and even with soaps and dramas that I have no intention of watching, I still feel I more than get my money's worth out of the BBC. Leave it alone!

Who watches ITV news anyways? Does this mean they won't put adverts on during the news? Or do they get the adverts and the funding?! What about channel 4 and 5? :p :

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Originally Posted by GridGirl

Surely Wi-fi is the answer all along rather than put an extra tarrif on all land line phones? We use Orange Wi-Fi in the Lake District with no trouble at all, who needs a landline and broadband anyway?

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Wireless is crapola. It'll be a few years yet till any sort of wireless technology is able to provide a service comparable to ADSL.

Christophulus, if I'm not very much mistaken there is already fiber to the exchanges. The thing that will really speed broadband up is fiber to the roadside cabinet or to your doorstep. If that was to happen you'd still have the problems of ISP's throttling bandwidth as they are now. Some of the iPlayer speeds I get around peak usage times are woefully bad.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Wireless is crapola. It'll be a few years yet till any sort of wireless technology is able to provide a service comparable to ADSL.

Christophulus, if I'm not very much mistaken there is already fiber to the exchanges. The thing that will really speed broadband up is fiber to the roadside cabinet or to your doorstep. If that was to happen you'd still have the problems of ISP's throttling bandwidth as they are now. Some of the iPlayer speeds I get around peak usage times are woefully bad.

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There has been wireless technology for years that is faster than most people ever experience ADSL. I seriously doubt it will ever come down in cost to the consumer level any time soon, but the companies feeding your ADSL have been using it for years and years.

ADSL has high transfer rates in theory, fiber seems to consistently have higher rates in practice.


I'm not sure why private companies don't make it worth in other countries, but here in the US they seem to be doing a good job of making it available. We have fiber to the side of the house and can currently order up to 50 meg down and 25 meg up speeds. We're on the lower tier for internet at 10/2, and consistently actually get that speed. When we had copper we had the same throttling at peak problems that you're talking about.

Wi-Fi is great for me, especially when I'm in rural locations. I suppose it all depends on how you use the internet. I really only use the internet to come on these forums, read a few newspapers, do a bit of social networking and Wi-fi works well for all those things. I'm guessing I'd have problems with Wi-fi if I were to use the internet to watch tv, play games or download things.

Maybe the government should do more research into to what a typical internet users actually uses the internet for?

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Originally Posted by GridGirl

Wi-Fi is great for me, especially when I'm in rural locations. I suppose it all depends on how you use the internet. I really only use the internet to come on these forums, read a few newspapers, do a bit of social networking and Wi-fi works well for all those things. I'm guessing I'd have problems with Wi-fi if I were to use the internet to watch tv, play games or download things.

Maybe the government should do more research into to what a typical internet users actually uses the internet for?

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3g is great for that :)

But a good deal of people torrent, play games, download big things, what iPlayer and other video on demand services and so on which just don't work well at all with 3g.