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Author Topic: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means  (Read 2827 times)

UncleUB

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Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« on: February 25, 2010, 08:27:45 AM »

Quote
A committee of MPs has attacked the Government's pledge to deliver universal 2Mbits/sec broadband, claiming it has no "clear definition of what it means".

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked both the Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to define the 2Mbits/sec promise, but was left bewildered by their responses.

When asked to clarify what the 2Mbits/sec pledge meant, Timms replied that "we will give virtually everybody access to a line capable of delivering 2Mbits/sec".

http://tinyurl.com/yhcpc82
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BritBrat

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Re: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2010, 10:48:07 AM »

Quote
"We believe that the Universal Service Commitment should deliver a minimum    
2Mbits/sec under normal circumstances, to all users. This achievable objective
would provide a greater range of services to all areas of the United Kingdom."



The committee seem more on the ball than the ministers, what a surprise.

If I am paying a tax so others can get a 2Mbits line and my line already supports 6Mbits I will want and demand the goverment minimum standard that I pay my taxes for.

Here is another read:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2010/02/23/what-the-government-really-knows-about-broadband

What they should do is bring Openreach back under public ownership as there is no competition anyway, then fund Openreach from taxes and provide free bandwidth to the ISPs who then use their income to provide better speeds and service.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2010, 11:05:47 AM by BritBrat »
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2010, 11:42:35 AM »

I've not paid much attention to it all, but my understanding here was that the problem the government tryiing to solve was that of poor connection speeds.  That presumably means rolling out some alternative technology, e.g. fibre, to those relatively few (in percentage of population terms)  poor souls who can't currently connect at 2meg.  That's actually quite a worthy goal and if that's what they're doing, it's probably a good thing.

But the problem the vast majority of people, who already connect well in excess of 2meg, would like them to solve - and hence the one that would win votes an an election, would be to ensure that everybody gets an actual download speed of 2meg or more all of the time, regardless of contention and regardless of ISP congestion.  I think that would be much harder to achieve, but they'll be reulctant to admit it as few people would understand the difficulties or impracticalities.

edit: added 'or more'
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BritBrat

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Re: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2010, 01:06:42 PM »

The point is we need to have a digital brittain and do you think a target of 2Meg is what we will need in 2020?

The target should not be 2Meg it should be 20Meg.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2010, 01:10:42 PM by BritBrat »
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2010, 02:05:53 PM »

@Britband, I don't disagree, 20Mbps is a reasonable goal, but I feel we need to be reallistic too, and that may mean not everybody can get it.

With the ongoing rollout of BTs 21CN, we are probably well on the way to an 'up to 20mbps' service for most people, without any government intervention.

At the other extreme, people who haven't a got basic browsing capability of, say about 2Mbps, really are being left behind at the moment and I think it's reasonable that effort should be made to rectify things for these people as a priority.  2mbps, as an absoulte mimimum goal, seems reallistic to me.
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BritBrat

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Re: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2010, 05:00:24 PM »

With the ongoing rollout of BTs 21CN, we are probably well on the way to an 'up to 20mbps' service for most people, without any government intervention.


You have not been reading the same posts I have on BT's 21CN then, a lot of people are getting slower speeds and going back to the older ADSL.

should be made to rectify things for these people as a priority.  2mbps, as an absoulte mimimum goal, seems reallistic to me.


I also would agree with that but from the look of it that is not what they are saying, you will get a line that supports UP TO 2Meg but the speed could be a lot lower.  What good is that?

If they make it statutory that if your line supports 2Meg you should at least get 1Meg if it supports 6Meg you should get 2Meg and no lower at any time unless there is a short time fault.

Otherwise what is the point of paying a tax so they can upgrade the system but once upgraded you DO NOT GET THE SPEEDS.

I think they should either put up or shut up.

Sorry but this make me angry as we are being conned again.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2010, 05:40:24 PM by BritBrat »
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Government Doesn't know What 2meg Promise Means
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2010, 08:51:47 PM »

Sorry but this make me angry

You're entitled to your opinion, as I am entitled to mine.

That's what makes it a friendly forum, so let's leave it at that? :)
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