Ofcom launches Broadband Map
12:02 in News by Louis Mosley
The map was published this morning.
The map shows:
· The availability of superfast broadband
· The average broadband take-up
· the average maximum speed for current generation broadband and cable services
· The percentage of homes getting less than 2Mbps
The map is divided in to 200 authorities. Each area has been ranked according to a score given for each of the measures above and colour coded with green ranking highest, and red lowest.
Unfortunately, it shows how much there is to be done in Cumbria.
Cumbria scores very badly on the all important measures of the percentage of homes getting less than 2Mbps (Cumbria scores 21.1% - among the very highest in England) and the availability of superfast broadband (a big 0% in Cumbria). Only take-up is respectable (if not a glowing result).
Let’s make sure that we reverse this situation by 2015!
The only way to reverse it is to get fibre out to the hardest to reach areas and don’t let the funding announced today be wasted like project access funding was. Take up is respectable because Cumbria needs internet access due to limited facilities locally, ie libraries etc. If we invest in a futureproof solution now the ROI in the future will be enormous. If we squander it on a patch up job the next generation will not forgive us. Let the telcos deliver their ‘superfast’ and try to compete with real rural fibre networks who will encroach on their territory, that is the way to do it. Market forces. Make sure the funding is well spent…
Sorry Louis but your first sentence is incomplete… (not your fault!)
The map shows….nothing.
You cannot take an area as large as say North Yorkshire or Cumbria and map in a single colour the reality of broadband on the ground.
This is yet another red herring. And undoubtedly a waste of enough money to have actually connected people to a gigabit connection.
Does the zero % superfast ignore Smallworld cable in Carlisle ?
http://www.smallworldcable.com/Fibre-Optic-Broadband/50Mb
Well so much for all the fees we pay Ofcom! We have indeed been left off and I’ll get on to them about it. Over half of Carlisle has 50mb broadband already, with 100mb sometime in the next few months.
David Durnford
MD
http://www.smallworldcable.com
How abou smallworld compleating the work there predesessors started and get the other half of carlisle wired up!
where i live i get 3.1meg, my brother gets 45meg via smallworld
@AndyC is there a demand for faster broadband in Carlisle? Maybe if you got a gang of folk together Smallworld would extend their network? Its always going to be a numbers game.
my own personal belif is that people in carlisle have had such slow speeds that the vast majority dont know any better, for example when i first got online it was 56k dialup which i was on for so long i got used to it and planned around downloads, it wasnt until omne came along with there then top spec 2mb package that i found out how much easyier the net could be, i didnt have to start something then go make tea while it downloaded the data.
Now im in reverse haveing come from 14mb adsl2 to my current “just over” 3mb and its painful.
to answer your suggestion ive emailed smallworld asking about expanding the network and the responce was a straight no which suggests to me they say a part formed network from a provider that went bust and got it on the cheap knowing they could make money and do sweet fa, as for demand look at the current bt rollout where 80% of it is in areas already covered by higher speed cable companys, so they oviously think theres money to be made there altho i have to ask would you leave a 100meg cable connection to go down to a 40 “if your lucky to be within a few yards of the road side box because of our increadably old system we carnt be bothered to update” connection?
If there was a rural network near carlisle and it offered 1gigabit symmetrical no limit (obviously within reason) data transfer what would you be willing to pay to join it? It would be a community run project, so everything you paid would stay local. All your comms could come through it, phones, films, data, tv etc. What would that be worth do you think?
even i would admit that at the momment 1gb is serious overkill but any network that is put in place should be able to acheave that bandwith as it would be very useful for hospitals but public……. no not yet.
However if the cost was reasonable (as in not priced to get a return of investment by the end of the year type thing) then yes, i think i would. as long as everything is done local and i dont end up haveing to phone another contry inorder to get a problem fixed.
A question tho, would a rural system be allowed to run within a city limit.
Gigabit fibre isn’t overkill. its no more expensive really than 100megabit fibre… for a bit more you could have 10gigabit. It is the artificial obsolete business model that makes internet access expensive. Yes it would be allowed to run within city limits if enough wanted it, because it won’t be funded, it can go wherever there is demand. It would be priced to get a return on investment in three years in rural areas. Not sure about urban ones, as the business model is for rural, but I would have thought if you can get fibre to a farm up a mountain that doing a street would be more profitable?
Go on, tell me what you would be prepared to pay? what is such a connection worth, to someone who already has internet access? all my research is with those who have nothing, and many are already paying over £1k for a satellite connection and £40 a month for 1 meg down and a fraction upload, and £15 a gig data transfer after they have used the measly month’s allowance of a gig or two.
It would be interesting to know what people in urban areas think its worth.
chris
the duct and the fibre cost the same, but does the kit to go on the end ?
When you want to connect to the internet you’ll be paying what - £20 per Mbit/s of transit per month. So your willy waving gigabit fibre isn’t going to be backed by a gigabit of internet transit, is it.
Given the option of 50M broadband many virgin cable customers have turned up their noses, takeup is very low at about £40/month.
Our willywaving gigabit will have a gigabit of internet transit. actually.
I doubt I would change from adsl2+ in an urban area if my connection was good, to cable. I would probably not want to mess about changing for so small an increase in ‘speed’ which is probably capped, throttled and over contended. But I would for gigabit. if the price was right.
so Phil, what would you pay for an always on, as much as you can eat, futureproof fibre connection? forget the speed, it is a gigabit internet access now but the upgrade path to multi gig is there at little expense when the time comes… goan goan goan, what is it worth to you?
I used to pay about £100/month for two channel ISDN paying per minute before the 0800 access options became available. Couldn’t afford that now. £40-50 per month.
But I’m not typical, you need the masses to sign up if this is to have a snowball’s chance in hell of working. They haven’t demonstrated a willingness to sign up to Virgin’s fast cable service en masse, so there is definitely a price sensitivity and I think you need packages to reflect that - like some US fibre networks offer a 15M service or Rutland’s FTTP project will have GB limit and pay per GB.
A mixed economy of customer types is more likely to succeed. You need the Talk Talk users to buy in as well as bleeding edge early adopters.
Why do we need to ration the internet Phil? Do Rutland peer, or buy off wholesale do you know?