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UK Delays National Broadband For Three Years
DMandPenfold writes "The British government has said that it will not be able to complete the rollout of broadband across the UK until 2015, blaming a lack of funds. 'Under the previous Labour government's original plans, everyone in the UK would have had access to 2 megabits per second broadband by 2012.' On Thursday, UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt organized a meeting for major broadband providers 'to identify the current barriers to providing basic level broadband in rural areas as well as suggesting ways to make more use of publicly-owned networks, such as those connecting schools and hospitals.' BT, the country's biggest telco, estimates that the necessary government funding for the project will be as much as £2 billion."
From the article:
"Most grandmothers will get by without broadband".
As a 49 yo grandmother, feminist, and C programmer I am offended by this.
I don't think it should be scrapped. Remote locations are the ones that gain the most from having better communication links. Home delivery of groceries means a lot more when your nearest shop is miles away.
21CN isn't actually about the speed of the network, but rather about the management and organisation of devices within it. To achieve this management and organisation is having to upgrade a lot of the equipment. As a side effect the network will become a lot faster, but also upgrades should become easier. IMO it's a very good idea.
The main problem with this project is that BT are the ones running it. Being an an incumbent doesn't exactly encourage you to innovate and keep being an agile market player, and now they have been caught with their pants down because of the explosion of information services that are putting more strain on there network than ever before, so they have had to upgrade, and keep being able to upgrade. Which is what 21CN is all about.
BT is going to make a bit of a mess with this project. However If BT doesn't do this project though, they will make a bigger mess of our heavily subsidised telecommunications network than they already have, wasting billions.
Hi
I live out in the middle of nowhere where I enjoy clean air, wide open spaces and lower property prices. It's great but I really want it both ways and think I deserve a high speed internet connection as well.
Some people have suggested to me that I should move somewhere more densely populated if I want high speed internet access, but I find this proposition to be absurd. I think I should be entitled to high speed breadboard and furthermore I think everyone else should have to pay for it. I know it'll be extremely expensive to deliver a broadband service to where I live but I think I should be able to enjoy the benefits of living in the countryside as well as having access to the same facilities dwellers of urban areas enjoy.
I see nothing unreasonable about my position and demand you all start paying for my internet connection immediately!
Sincerely,
An owner of a large country estate
That 'talk' was sponsored by Mr Murdoch, who would just love to see the BBC's funding cut.
You'd *think* people would understand the point you're making about public infrastructure. At least here in the US, you'd be thinking WRONG:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575370950363737746.html
Note how every single pigfucker who complains about the gravel road voted against paying the taxes needed to keep it paved. See also California.
err how do you get the fibre to the CAB for that price pray? and DSL doesnt work at long ranges and the BB target is a lot more thatm 1MBS