The Future of Broadband in the UK
What's the future of broadband internet access in the UK, and how might it affect how we all work and play on the web?
Broadband is constantly evolving in the UK, and we are often put in the top five countries world wide in terms of both household uptake and broadband availability, as well as having masses of investment from both government and private firms to improve speeds and reduce costs across the board.
Because the only real thing holding most broadband connections back is speed this is a key area of investment and research, and there are a few new technologies on the horizon that could make broadband connections in the UK some of the fastest in the world.
The UK government want everyone in the UK to have access to a basic broadband connection by 2012, either via existing copper land lines or alternatively via mobile networks in the form of mobile broadband, and wants the industry to fund this nation wide roll out. £300 million of taxpayers’ money is going into paying for free broadband for children over the next three years.
Fibre Optic Broadband
Both BT and Virgin Media have recently announced plans for the future of their fibre optic broadband offered via the latest cable technology, although the economic downturn is expected to affect the growth of the fibre optic broadband networks as fewer people will be able to pay the higher costs for the service.
Currently 55% of UK households are in areas covered by Virgin Media cable networks, and their fibre optic service has just been offered with up to 50Mbps download speeds, over six times faster than the average 8Mbps ADSL connection over a BT land line.
The UK are currently playing catch up as countries like Germany have far better developed fibre optic cable networks, and fibre optic connections don`t suffer from the same problems as copper wire broadband connections as the speed and consistency is not affected by the length of the line.
Mobile Broadband
The newest of the broadband technologies which operates over the latest generation of mobile networks offers up to 7.2Mbps download on some networks in some areas, but has the advantage of requiring no land-line connection and so being suitable for business people who spend much of their time on the road or people and students living in rented accommodation or in areas in which broadband cannot be received over a BT landline.
In the coming years speeds will increase as new networking technologies are introduced, and speeds of up to 20Mbps have been tested on mobile broadband connections and are being prepared for the future market.
WiMAX
This is another wireless broadband technology that unlike mobile broadband is essentially a more powerful version of the signal that is currently broadcast by the wireless router that you may have at home and is expected to rival Mobile Broadband. However, this technology is still a few years away from the consumer market.
The Future of Broadband and Business
The increase in broadband speeds and the plan to make it available to everyone in the country by 2012 means that there is going to be yet another boom in the internet world and it makes doing business online and benefiting from an increased customer base who have access to the internet essential.
On-site content and use of social networking sites to get in contact with customers, as well as choosing the right broadband provider who will give you the right kind of connection and the right kind of options bundled with it. For example BT are currently offering a free mobile broadband connection when you opt for one of their land line business broadband options.
What next?
Increased broadband speeds will mean an increase in people using the web to do business. For a friendly chat about how we can help with your future web strategy, call 0792 0030077 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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