Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Black Sheep]

Our CEO (Clive Selley), has personally hailed it as an engineering marvel.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/01/government-hails-95-uk-coverage-24mbps-superfast-broadband.html





Admin - Amended Topic Title

[kitz]

Completed on time. The Government has today confirmed that an estimated 95% of the United Kingdom can now access a 24Mbps+ capable fixed line “superfast broadband” network as a result of their national £1.7bn Broadband Delivery UK programme, but many gaps remain.

../snip/..

The programme is now expected to continue until around the end of 2020, when it’s hoped that the network will reach 98% of premises (the 10Mbps+ USO has been designed to tackle the final 2%).

We have come a long way in a short space of time, with one of the fastest broadband deployments in the world. This is an important milestone – but we’re not stopping here. We’re determined to get Britain – the whole of Britain – hooked up to decent broadband speeds. We want to get on with the job of delivering better broadband to everybody in Britain, and we don’t want people in not-spots to wait any longer.

Good to see things are on target

[Weaver]

So 5% failure. Grrr. But, seriously, BT have done a vast amount of work. And they are not a charity nor should they be expected to become one. It's hardly their fault if politicians are failing us.

[Westie]

95% success doesn't sound too bad if you're sat in Westminster.

But for the unfortunate 5% (and I'm sure they outnumber those in Parliament) it's 100% failure! 

I wonder what speed the 95% who can currently get 24Mbps+ will be on by the time the 'final 2%' have made it to 10Mbps?

[sevenlayermuddle]

90-95% is, very roughly, the percentage of modern population that live in big towns and cities.

Thus from a glass half empty perspective, BT are ‘celebrating their success’ in bringing 24Mbps to approximately 0% of the rural population.

I personally do live in a rural location, and I do benefit from FTTC, for which I am grateful.   But I only just reach that figure of 24Mbps, many of my neigbours do not.  Other friends in other villages are still on ADSL, 2-4Mbps.   So which remote Island do I live on?    Densely populated home counties, about 45 miles from London.

[Black Sheep]

I've a sneaky feeling ...... some would still have a whinge, even if the entire population of the planet had symmetrical 1G speeds ........ 

[kitz]

I know its not much consolation if you are one of the 5%, but the headline was to confirm that part of a longer term project is on target.  That in itself should be good news?

The aim was to reach 95% by the end of 2017 and 98% by 2020, so there is still work to be done, but things are progressing to plan. 
The final 2% being the most difficult to achieve :/

[gt94sss2]

90-95% is, very roughly, the percentage of modern population that live in big towns and cities.

About 83% of England actually live in urban areas (roughly half of whom live in cities)  - a % which goes down further if you include Wales, Scotland and NI.. so rural UK is quite a bit larger than you might think

[sevenlayermuddle]

About 83% of England actually live in urban areas (roughly half of whom live in cities)  - a % which goes down further if you include Wales, Scotland and NI.. so rural UK is quite a bit larger than you might think

Before posting I confirmed my hunches with a quick web search, took my figures from a source that I regard as respectable....

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/aug/18/percentage-population-living-cities

Shows circa 90%, and growing, for urban for uk.

I do accept that is only a newspaper, and even one with political bias, and also dated 2009, so it may not be accurate.

Cynically, I would also caution against regarding any web page residing at “.gov.uk” as a source of straightforward  ‘facts’.

[Westie]

It depends on your definition of 'rural'.

On the Government website for England:

Category                                      Population    Proportion (%)
Rural, comprising:                         9,260,892   17.0
Rural town and fringe                     5,003,956     9.2
of which those in a sparse setting      192,085     0.4
Rural village and hamlet                 4,256,936     7.8
of which those in a sparse setting       298,045     0.5

So the 'rural' population in England could be 17% ... or 7.8% ... or 0.9%,
depending on your viewpoint (and probably influenced by where you live).

[Weaver]

We have to understand what a daunting amount of work it has been for BT and its contractors. And there is the matter of the upstream bandwidth increases needing architectural changes to the core network. And all of this solely for the benefit of Netflix and a few MPs. :-) But no, I jest.

[sevenlayermuddle]

So what exactly are the targets for the remainder?   I see it suggested in various places that the 95% will become 98%, using words like “hoped” but can’t find an authoritative reference to such a goal?

Incidentally, whilst I may doubt the significance of that 95% figure, I do respect BT for delivering what they were asked to deliver, and paid to deliver.  It is not their fault if nobody asked them or paid them to do any more.