Broadband News

Three million Brits can’t get 2Mb broadband

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

As many as three million Brits get less than 2Mb broadband speeds from their broadband connection, new data has shown.

This represents around 15 per cent of homes in the UK according to the study conducted for the BBC by SamKnows.com, and highlights the huge task faced by the Government if it is to deliver on its promise of 2Mb for all by 2012.

More than 4,000 homes are in a "notspot", connected to a local telephone exchange that doesn’t offer ADSL broadband at all, revealed the study. "We had assumed that these notspots were in remote parts of the countryside," said SamKnows cofounder Alex Salter, "That may be where the most vocal campaigners are but there is a high incident of them in commuter belts."

The research found that notspots even existed in unlikely places such as Sussex, Hampshire and Cambridgeshire, not just remote rural outposts.

"Living in a slow/no broadband area means not being able to do basic things that we take for granted," said Salter, "in some cases people aren’t able to shop online, aren't able to view certain websites or use social-media applications such as Facebook and Twitter and they can't watch the BBC's iPlayer," said Salter.

The Government’s full Digital Britain report is due next month and will outline exactly how the Government plans to fulfil its universal service promise.

Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: "It’s shocking that people living all over the country - including many in rural areas - are having to struggle without broadband."

"UK broadband providers such as BT Broadband (www.BT.com) and Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) are offering ever faster top speeds while some people languish in the slow lane. The Government needs to come up with a viable solution to bring these three million Brits up to speed."

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