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back to article New competition minister makes broadband rallying cry

Competitiveness minister Stephen Timms has called for a road map to push forward the UK's move to super fast broadband. In his first major speech as competitiveness minister, Stephen Timms said the UK is in urgent need of setting out a clear route for its move to super fast broadband and warned that other countries are already …

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  1. Guy Jarvis

    Positive Movement

    It is good to see some direct involvement by Stephen Timms in pushing for the rapid rollout of next gen networks in the UK as he has credibility from previous efforts to drive the widespread uptake of initial first generation broadband services.

    Whether in terms of data rates (upto Gbps) or longevity (decade warranty) fibre to the premises FttP is the ultimate objective if individuals are to have equality of access in a future-proof form.

    It is simply a matter of time and will for any given community to have FttP universally available.

    The central issue for any existing or emergent FttP utility service provider is the level of uptake - if 50% of residents in a given ward, estate, suburb or city commit to taking FttP service then a deployment becomes commercially interesting.

    The OPLAN (Open Public Local Access Network) model combined with community shared ownership (perhaps through a members co-op) of the fibre infrastructure would provide the kind of end game solution that our friends in Holland have been enjoying for several years eg www.onsnetnuenen.nl

    Guy

    www.neoeon.com

    www.broadband-uk.coop

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Generic Title

    Why not superfast switchover.. I moved house 20 days ago and I still have not got my Broadband back yet.

    UK BB is a Disgrace!

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  3. Lee Sexton

    Maybe

    This guy shouldn't be looking at overall speed and look at what the ACTUAL throughput we are getting with the majority of ISP's actually is. I'm sure he'd be even more horrified and could push even harder for more investment into the broadband infrastructure if he did this what with all the throttling going on.

    http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/broadbandripoff/

    Please sign.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ho Ho Ho

    "Next generation broadband will involve the delivery of services capable of providing more than 20Mbps downstream, which would be sufficient to support services such as multiple HDTV feeds, broadband internet and voice services"

    Not if you are with Virgin Media. I have a 20Mbps connection right now and during the evening (hey I like to be weird and use my connection then), it can take 10-15 seconds to open a basic web page, 15-30 mins to download a 100MB video podcast and several hours for a DVD image direct from a server.

    Multiple HD Feeds?? You are having a laugh. With FttH, this will just encourage VM to cram more users onto each router so contention will shoot up but the *actual* throughput delivered will stay the same.

    We have no clue in this country. Quality is always bottom of the list.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sounds like bullshit to me

    How about government taking care of the important things like having full employment, eliminating child poverty, improving the health service and bolstering education? Aren't they meant to be government priorities instead of impoving broadband for idiots to download porn/warez/bootlegs/MP3s, delete as applicable? On the scale of improving the quality of life for the nation where does this shite fit in? Am I the only one absolutely tired, fed up to the back teeth of all these whinging fools endless complaining about Broadband? Why don't you all just bugger off?

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  7. Jon Press

    I seem to recall...

    ... that this was precisely the argument used to justify the creation of cable franchises. Look what a great business model that was...

    I don't think there's any evidence that there's a demand for *commercial* services that require this kind of bandwidth. If Stephen Timms believes the exchange of pr0n torrents reequires further government investment, then he doesn't really understand the market or human motivation.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cry for the fire

    How did he make broadband rallying cry? Did he steal its lunch money?

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  9. Brendan Weir

    If he wants to do something useful

    He could remind the Advertising Standards Authority and ISPs of the dictionary definition of "Unlimited"

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never mind Super Fast access

    How about access for all first !!!!

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