Slashdot Mirror
The UK Decides 10 Mbps Broadband Should Be a Legal Right (engadget.com)
British homes and businesses will have a legal right to high-speed broadband by 2020, the government said Wednesday, dismissing calls from the network provider BT that it should be a voluntary rather than legal obligation on providers. From a report: Ministers originally considered adopting BT's voluntary offer, which would have seen it spend up to 600 million pound ($804 million) giving 1.4 million rural residents access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps. However, in a statement today, the government confirmed that it now will go down the regulatory route as it provides "sufficient certainty and the legal enforceability that is required to ensure high speed broadband access for the whole of the UK by 2020." Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said: "We know how important broadband is to homes and businesses and we want everyone to benefit from a fast and reliable connection. We are grateful to BT for their proposal but have decided that only a regulatory approach will make high speed broadband a reality for everyone in the UK, regardless of where they live or work."
No, that is incorrect. This is the government deciding that, in the 21st Century, access to broadband Internet is a fundamental part of national infrastructure as the electric grid and telephone, and that there are minimum standards that must be met by providers as per the law.
You aren't getting a 10 Mbps connection for free, just like you aren't getting electricity for free. What they are saying is if you elect to purchase access to those universally available services, there will be a minimum standard available to you.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
For download speeds, anything over 10Mbps is fine for 99% of normal users
Indeed. At 10 Mbps my wife and daughter can each watch a different movie, and I can still get work done. That is enough for me.
Quibble: The UK is saying that 10 Mbps is an entitlement, not a right. An entitlement is what someone else is required to give to you ... although you still have to pay your bill to get your bits.