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posted by n1 on Monday November 09 2015, @03:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the in-5-years-you'll-have-what-was-fast-5-years-ago dept.

All UK homes and businesses will have access to "fast broadband" by 2020, David Cameron has pledged.

The PM is to introduce a "universal service obligation" for broadband, giving the public a legal right to request an "affordable" connection.

It would put broadband on a similar footing to other basic services such as water and electricity.

Labour said it meant "another five years on the broadband back-burner" for those struggling with their service.

In 2010, the coalition government promised the UK would have the best superfast broadband in Europe by 2015.

Then, in 2012, a pledge was made by then-Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt that the UK would have "the fastest broadband of any major European country" by 2015.

He defined high-speed broadband as offering a download speed of greater than 24 megabits per second (Mbps). Communications regulator Ofcom defines it as 30Mbps.

Mr Cameron's latest announcement is aimed at ensuring consumers have access to a broadband connection with a speed of at least 10Mbps, no matter where in the country they live or work.

[...] Chi Onwurah, shadow minister for culture and the digital economy, said the government needed to set out how the new pledge would be funded and when consumers would "actually see the benefits".

"Five years after abandoning Labour's fully-funded commitment to universal broadband, the government's "superfast" broadband rollout is still being hit with delays and at the mercy of a single provider," she said.

The government has already given BT £1bn to extend broadband to some rural areas, although its record has been criticised, BBC reporter Rob Young says.

It is unclear whether more taxpayers' money will be available for this latest ambition, he adds.

BT says faster universal broadband needs to be "commercially viable". Virgin Media has argued against state subsidies.

In September, BT hit back at rivals calling for its break-up, as it announced a strategy to make the UK the fastest broadband nation.

It revealed plans to connect 10 million homes to ultrafast broadband (300-500Mbps) by the end of 2020 and raise the minimum broadband speed for homes that cannot get fibre to 5-10Mbps.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 09 2015, @05:25AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 09 2015, @05:25AM (#260658) Journal

    Since you ask, http://grammarist.com/spelling/curb-kerb/ [grammarist.com]

    Curb vs. kerb

    In American and Canadian English, the noun meaning the edge of a sidewalk or roadway is spelled curb. In varieties of English from outside North America, the word is spelled kerb. But everyone uses curb for the verb meaning to check or restrain and for the verb’s corresponding noun (e.g., curbs on spending).

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday November 09 2015, @07:55AM

    by frojack (1554) on Monday November 09 2015, @07:55AM (#260686) Journal

    Love these little bouts of pedantry.

    Didn't we have Tires and Tyres the other day?

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday November 09 2015, @09:17AM

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Monday November 09 2015, @09:17AM (#260705) Journal

    I no longer have to deal with the curb / kerb dilemma, since my 3-year old coined the phrase "road crust". Downside: Now I can't look at a road without getting hungry for pies.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 09 2015, @10:00AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 09 2015, @10:00AM (#260712) Journal

      Hah - A few years back, the wife and I had to go somewhere. I can't remember where, but we let the eldest son drive. Mother sat up front, I rode in back. I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation, my mind was wandering. One snippet caught my attention though: "Keep it between the mustard and the mayonnaise!" I'm like, "Huh? I didn't see any food - what's going on?" You guessed it, the boy had drifted out of his lane. In all my years of driving, I never thought of yellow and white lines as food.