back to article Hunt vows: 'UK will have fastest broadband in Europe by 2015'

The government's pledge to provide countrywide broadband access by 2015 has received another boost from the Culture Secretary, who has promised the "fastest broadband of any major European country". In a speech at Google's Campus in East London, Jeremy Hunt said that speed was the most important aspect of the government's …

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  1. LarsG
    Meh

    Some people are surrounded by a reality distortion bubble.

  2. 0laf
    Mushroom

    Sure we will

    The fastest broadband in Europe....

    Only available between MP's houses and their local exchange.

    The rest of us will continue to manage with 'up to 20Mb' or 2Mb in the real world.

    Fast broadband has the biggest impact in the towns and villages the furthest away from metropolitan centres. Exactly where they won't be putting fast broadband any time soon.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sure we will

      The headline says 'fastest in Europe'

      His promise is actually 'fastest of any major country in Europe' - which conveniently allows the UK Government to redefine 'major'

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. John H Woods Silver badge

        Re: Sure we will

        Major country - any country which once had a premier called 'Major'

  3. Kynth
    IT Angle

    Fastest broadband in Europe? Top of the Championship isn't Top of the Premier League.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

      You mean coming 4th out of the 200ish countries on the entire planet isn't enough? (The Netherlands is currently 4th.) We should instead waste billions upon billions trying to get better speeds than Hong Kong, which is rougly the size of my left shoe, out to every Shetlands farmer who hasn't even heard of the interweb, let alone needs/wants it?

      Do you apply this total lack of perspective to the rest of your life? Do you insist on only drinking Kopi Luwak coffee, and eating beluga caviar with solid platinum cutlery and crockery, because if it's not the absolute best it's just not worth doing at all?

      Oh, and regarding your 'Where's the IT angle?' icon - it's an article about broadband. How much more 'IT' can you get?

      1. FartingHippo
        Trollface

        Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

        Well somebody got out of the wrong side of bed today, didn't they, Mr. Grumpychops.

      2. nematoad
        FAIL

        Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

        "We should instead waste billions upon billions trying to get better speeds...out to every Shetlands farmer who hasn't even heard of the interweb, let alone needs/wants it?"

        Speak for yourself.

        I live on an island, and yes I have heard of the internet, I was an IT professional, and I DO want something faster than the pathetic connection speed I get at the moment ( approx 300Kb) Why should I not not get the same as other people? I pay the same taxes and charges for a phone line plus the charge my ISP demands. Or is it really that you want everyone else to subsdise you?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

          "Why should I not not get the same as other people? I pay the same taxes and charges for a phone line plus the charge my ISP demands. Or is it really that you want everyone else to subsdise you?"

          You misunderstand me. I think that you absolutely should get the same as everyone else. My issue is with people unable to accept that something can be excellent, and more than adequate, even if it's not the absolute 'best'.

          4th is a realistic goal - the Netherlands are much closer in size and population density to the UK than Hong Kong, so getting that speed broadband out to your house is relatively achievable. Claiming that trying to do that is somehow aiming too low is what I take issue with.

        2. JC_

          Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

          "I live on an island, and yes I have heard of the internet, I was an IT professional, and I DO want something faster than the pathetic connection speed I get at the moment ( approx 300Kb) Why should I not not get the same as other people? I pay the same taxes and charges for a phone line plus the charge my ISP demands. Or is it really that you want everyone else to subsdise you?"

          And if you were to fly to Singapore from your island airport you'd pay the same travel taxes, too, so why aren't 747s landing there? Sorry to be facetious, but if you're getting the benefits of living on your island (air that's breathable, for a start!) then you must've accepted the inevitable trade-offs some time ago.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Why should I not not get the same as other people?

          You're not as equal as them.

      3. ed2020

        Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

        ...which is rougly the size of my left shoe...

        But not your right shoe?

        1. Slabfondler
          FAIL

          Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

          But not your right shoe?

          He'd have to pry that one out of his mouth to see if it measures up.

      4. davemcwish

        Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

        Uncivilised yob, don't you know its mother-of-pearl spoon for caviar (doesn't taint the food).

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Yeah, because 4th on the planet would just be a failure, wouldn't it.

        You might want to take a look at this then, they're not all farmers up there in Shetland, many oil engineers, and the farmers are pretty bright anyway, maybe it's all that fish and fresh veggies and fresh air ;)

        http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/08/31/shetland-islands-begin-laying-superfast-fibre-optic-broadband-cable-to-scalloway.html

        http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2012/01/13/with-fast-broadband-weeks-away-communities-are-urged-to-join-up

        http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2012/05/15/broadband-link-proves-its-quality-with-puffin-show

        They also have a rather nice almost-castle fort thing (at the middle of the town Lerwick) which was burnt by your guys when it was empty last time they came a-raiding in 1673! (apart from that lots of trading went on)

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Charlotte,_Shetland

        And many Dutch yachts, racing and otherwise, come to Shetland, so I am sure you are very welcome there.

        Additionally, a certain Mr Topiary was arrested there ;)

        http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2011/08/01/man-accused-of-hacking-grew-up-in-yell

  4. Simon Rockman

    Not all fibre is the same

    We need fibre to the premises. I've got fibre to the cabinet, and 100Mb is very nice thank you, but to get a significant increase - which I'll want - it needs to shed the copper.

    1. Chris Miller

      Re: Not all fibre is the same

      Have you any idea of the cost of laying fibre to every premises in the country? If you're in the .01% of the nation that needs FTTP, you're free to pay for it yourself. If you're living in a tower block with hundreds of others (like many people in Japan or S Korea, it needn't be all that expensive.

      1. Fuzz

        Re: Not all fibre is the same FTTP

        If fibre is already available in the cabinet then premises can be fibred to the cabinet. As long as the cabinet has enough back-haul to the exchange there's no need for every property to have its own fibre back to the exchange.

        I doubt the length of fibre costs much more than the length of copper the real costs are in the terminations and the transceivers. With a system like this though you could use cheaper multimode and still get 1Gb connections within 500m of the cabinet.

        I think BT already have a system like this on trial in some areas, at the moment targeting businesses but there's no reason it couldn't be extended to homes for those that want more than VDSL is providing.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Not all fibre is the same FTTP

          Actually you'll find the biggest cost in in the labour.

  5. SJRulez

    Not exactly setting the bar very high, fastest in Europe. Akamami's recent state of the internet shows Asia occupies the top 3 spots and pretty much has for quite a while.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Who is this Akamami that you speak of, Earthling?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Murdoch doesn't want to launch anymore satellites

    So he's getting the government + other companies to pay for his broadcasting infrastructure.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    you got it wrong!

    he said: "the fastest"

    he meant "up to the fastest" *

    * for full T&C click here. Sorry about the timeout, we're working as fast as we can!

  8. Khaptain Silver badge

    What about upload speeds

    No one ever seems to mention Upload Speeds. For the community at large SDSL is what is required not ADSL. The cloud and P2P users benefit enormously from symetric connections.

    1. FartingHippo
      Stop

      Re: What about upload speeds

      But P2P users are all pirates, no?

      (c) The Music and Film Industry, or what's left of it after home taping killed music. Ahem.

    2. Vic

      Re: What about upload speeds

      > For the community at large SDSL is what is required not ADSL

      Not so.

      Look at the typical user's pattern - he will download at least an order of magnitude more than he will upload. ADSL is exactly right for that sort of user

      Now of course, you can find exceptions - I am one myself. But we are the atypical users; almost everyone else needs ADSL. Repurposing bandwidth from downstream to upstream would simply mean their access would become slower for no improvement elsewhere, as that extra upstream bandwidth will simply be wasted.

      Vic.

  9. dotdavid
    Pint

    'UK will have fastest broadband in Europe by 2015'

    "It will be installed into the House of Commons bar"

    "What, I never said it would be UK-wide!"

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Let's all hope...

    ...Jeremy isn't taking something wild and giving us spouted rubbish. He better start injecting some government cash to BT and co to make this even possible. Would of made more sense to inject the billions of pounds that saved corrupt banks to create tech/infrastructure jobs to do this years ago and catchup with the likes of Eastern Europe and Asia. Currently, the fastest speeds are compromised by VMs stupid traffic shaping and lack of capacity at the local exchanges.

    OFCOM don't care as long as we get the bottom line in an acceptable fashion. The only way to get low-latency, "ultra-fast" broadband is to buy some Tier 1/2 ISP grade connections at data centres. Might as well, you get your air-conditioning thrown in.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Let's all hope...

      Wouldn't worry too much about Eastern Europe, yeah, the Internet's fast in some areas, but not many people left to use it now, since the Great Recession kicked off ;)

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Today's superfast is tomorrow's superslow,". If that is the case exactly what does he think 2015's 'superfast' will be then?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    HMMM

    My parents live 5km outside Barnsley. Granted Barnsley is not a high tech hub but it's not a idle backwater. The entire estate they live on can *just* get 1MB on a good day, more usually .5mb or .25mb. Sometime there are days the modem just can't connect, and multiple ISP's have said it's all down to distance and the line quality.

    Barnsley is part of the "Digital Region" that was another goverment scheme to bring superfast broadband to orifinally 97% of the people in the area. Guess what, not the part my parents live in, they are too far from the exchange, and the targets now dropped to 80% of the population due to cutbacks.

    My Parents don't want 1billion mbps internet, they don't stream music and video around the house, they don't do online gaming, and they certainly don't do any major downloading other than Windows Secutiry patches. They do want a reasonalby fast, reasonaly cheap (read sub £15 a month) package that works reliably and consistantly.

    Lets fix what we have before promising these blistering speeds that will only be accessable to the folks living closest to the exchange or are lucky enough to live on the streets that the the project decided to fibre up..

    1. Trygve

      Re: HMMM

      whereas for comparison, in a house on a pretty much deserted road 7km from a little town of 4K people in the logging district of central sweden I can get a reliable 8Mb down and 0.8mb up.

      The local ISP doesn't even need you to have a current landline subscription, just that a telephone cable has been installed by someone, at some point.

      Imagine the reaction you'd get in Britain if an ISP were to offer the option to add an extra £100 on the install fee and never have to deal with BT ever again....

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. dakisan
        Facepalm

        Re: HMMM

        Sounds like my house in West Sussex. Apart from the pine trees and the .5 meg Virgin broadband (on a good day).

        Still, I'm glad Sir Richard's got a fast space plane and hangs out with the cool kids like Usain the Fast.

        1. the-it-slayer
          Facepalm

          Re: HMMM

          Usain the bolt... get it right :). Doesn't help anyone that is infrastructurely buggered. Government aren't putting pressure on BT to get green boxes in distant places enabled so that they can go directly to FTTB rather than ailing with ADSL forever. Even Virgin are strapped for cash to even bother stealing customers from BT to push their coax/fibre to new streets.

          Will 4G actually cover stuffed communities in the short-term? OFCOM better get on with it if they want to sprinkle magic over broadband connections in the next 3 years.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: HMMM

        Wait, you'ŗe a lumberjack and you'ŗe OK? You sleep all night and you work all day? Or perhaps you do IT for them ;)

  13. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Meh

    Politicians in "we can manipulate reality to be bestest" shocker

    Yeah, I will be at the cineplex to get MY does of escapism.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    .... with access for 90 per cent of the country...

    I take it he is talking population and not geographically....a bit like Virgin media like to do.

  15. Tim #3

    I presume this statement is just a coincidence, coming the day after my "8Mb" Plusnet connection's down-speed recorded a new low of just 1.8Mb. Approx 4 or 5 years ago it would run at around 4Mb and even peak at 6-7Mb on occasion, and has gone downhill ever since. Maybe Mr Hunt should aspire to restore speeds to their historic levels to start with.

    (apols to all those who can't even get these, er, heady speeds)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not unique

    It'll be a future consideration when you buy a house.

    If you like a particular school that allocates places by catchment, you buy a house in the catchment area

    If you're old and don't want to be 50 miles to the nearest hospital, you buy a house nearer the hospitals.

    2 Mbit/s in a rural area is fine for communication (banking, emails, shopping). If you need high speed broadband then make sure you don't live in the middle of nowhere. If you don't want mains sewerage and don't want to heat your house with oil, don't live in the middle of nowhere.

    I don't expect the NHS to build a hospital near me when I retire, I don't expect British Gas to lay a pipe to my house or the local water authority to offer me mains sewerage for free. Why do we expect to all have high speed broadband ?

    1. Jumble

      Re: Not unique

      " I don't expect British Gas to lay a pipe to my house or the local water authority to offer me mains sewerage for free. Why do we expect to all have high speed broadband ?"

      There are alternatives to mains sewerage [1] and piped gas but there isn't a sensible alternative to fast broadband. I'd love to have 2Mbit and I'd orgasm at 100Mbit. For now though, I usually trudge along at around 800Kb.

      [1] My septic tank works well and costs a lot less to run than the water people charge you for sewerage :)

  17. Andy The Hat Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Broadband?

    Why do the politicians prioritise 'superfast broadband' for business? If (and it is a big if) a business requires a super fast high speed link why on earth would it rely on a shared broadband connection whos speed varies with the number of users and time of day and usage by the porn baron next door? Shouldn't any business reliant on such technology be sited where it's available in the first place and looking at leased lines, FTTP and similar dedicated business connections?

    Seems like a government excuse to throw silly money at a (very) few private infrastructure companies as a means to repatriate some more hard-earned tax-payer wedge ...

  18. davemcwish

    So many questions...

    I'll pick the easy ones first.

    1. Define, in empirical terms, what Hunt means by 'fastest'.

    2. What are Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities ?

    3. Given that Hunt's department has estimated the cost if the state manages the project to be £25bn over a period of 10 years, who does he think can do it cheaper and in 4 years ?

    4. Where is the RACI chart ?

    5. Who will find the upfront investment ?

    6. From the Akamai survey, The Netherlands and Latvia are the top two EU countries based on average connection speed. Given that they are not mentioned in Hunt's speech, who are the 'major European countries we are competing against ?

    7. What is his plan to support the Digital Agenda for Europe target (50% of households having 100 Megabit/s or higher)

    8. Given 'Kensington and Chelsea, have deprived their residents of superfast broadband', how does he plan to get the service to more remote areas of the UK ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So many questions...

      4. Where is the RACI chart ?

      You got it wrong, UKGov despite authoring Prince2 and ITIL via the OGC docs doesn't do RACI They do RCI, no-one is ever accountable...

    2. Andy ORourke
      Joke

      Re: So many questions...

      In answer to your question 2:

      Tier 1 cities are where the MP's live (only those in his party, obviously)

      Tier 2 cities are where all the mates of those in Tier 1 cities live

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So many questions...

      2. What are Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities ?

      God you must be slow.

      Tier 1 = London

      Tier 2...are there other cities?

  19. GitMeMyShootinIrons
    Meh

    I for one....

    ...Look forward to seeing Hunt out with his pick, shovel and reel of Fibre. Virgin rarely do in-fill in the gaps they leave and BT are a shambles, happy to charge obscene rates and do little for it.

    I'm still waiting for the last government's target speed...

  20. Reading Your E-mail
    Coat

    cities = city

    "It hopes to introduce 'ultrafast' speeds of between 80 and 100 Mbps in major cities"

    that would be just London then!!!

  21. Silverburn
    Happy

    It could be the fastest.

    But only when:

    - not torrenting

    - not skyping

    - not surfing between the "peak" hours of 00:00 and 23:59

    - not sending large attachments. ie bigger than 92k.

    - the contention ratio number doesn't look like the same chances ratio of being struck by lightning

    - using an approved router. Even if it's shittier than the one you actually have.

    - using a PC. Slow internet connection? That not your router or the clogged upstream, oh god forbid...it's your MAC.

    - downloading, not uploading

    - using UDP, not HTTP. Ignore the quality, watch the speed! Garbage or not, it's still 20mb!

    1. Arnie

      Re: It could be the fastest.

      couldn't agree more.

      Seems the home office is also going for the double championship win of having the most snooped internet in the west as well as the fastest. but it certainly wont be the BEST

      slow hand clap

  22. John 98

    Hmm - I do wonder

    I live inside the M25 on a recently fttc'ed exchange - except my cabinet ain't been done. Looks like BT will need a hefty boot up the fundament to get the whole country done by 2015. Even when, so a cynic tells me, they make so much flogging the surplus copper it more than pays for the work

    As for remote rural areas, we have cross subsidies for postage stamps - arguably justifiable - and other things. There are times when the cost and risks of distorting the free market are worth considering.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmm - I do wonder

      Would it be cross subsidy? Our 11,000 line market 1 exchange, ADSL enabled over 10 years ago is STILL on 8meg only. Given the higher charges that OFCOM have historically allowed over the frequently invested Market2/3 adsl2/2+ exchanges, Id say the disproportionate pricing has been subsidizing areas where BT have thrown upgrade after upgrade at customers that are paying a fair bit less on a service over upgraded & newer spec equipment. than those of us on ancient outdated 8 meg equipment.

      In a fibre area, I could get a far faster service with a comparable data allowance for just a couple of quid more than I am paying for 8meg via a fairly decent provider.

      The Phone line requirement needs to go too, I only have a voiceline for broadband. How much money are we blackmailed into paying for a service we neither use nor want when other countries CAN provide a data only line without us having to pay for voice services - the equipment for which MUST form a part of the pricing

      British Broadband - The year round pantomime!

  23. AndrueC Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    That article gives a more pleasing view of what the Lords said. I have no object to the general thrust of this article. We shouldn't concentrate purely on high speed for a few. I only take umbrage with those who say we don't currently have good coverage. Some people might only have half a meg but it's rare not to have anything at all and the high take-up of internet services in the UK proves that.

    It's a balancing act. The drive for higher speeds will produce technology that eventually trickles down to the more remote users. Also those currently on poor services need to be aware that there's no malice behind it. It's just that for whatever reason they are not as financially viable as someone who's just had a 100Mb/s fibre plugged into their house. A well run society will seek to address that through subsidies and incentives but there comes a time when you have to accept that equality for all is impractical.

    Harison Bergeron found that out the hard way :D

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Miseries. I've already got 100mbit interwebs in a small dormitory town of a northern city.

    You gentlemen just need to live in less terrible places.

  25. Not That Andrew

    So he's saying that it will be faster that Sweden? Seriously? Where even villages at the arse end of nowhere get 100mbit broadband?

    1. Timbo 1
      Joke

      It could work in the Scottish highlands......

      if they use a hybrid of Israel's recent approach, but with WAM technology (wireless access mules) instead of donkeys.

      "i'm at the top of Ben Nevis, and i've got me some pron, bee hutch"

    2. Fuzz

      Sweden

      He's carefully qualified it with the term "major"

  26. Steverico

    Here in the KC area of Hull I have just had fibre optic installed my speed now averages more than 150mbps download and 20mbps upload, not bad eh

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yeah, but you have to live in Hull? ;)

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "bringing together [..] Hollywood and Silicon Valley in one country"

    What, like the USA. Just sayin.

  28. localzuk Silver badge

    Cable?

    What happened to the old model of companies starting up, getting a tonne of investment to lay cable, then going bust and being bought out at a steal, then the infrastructure being used?

    That used to work well...

  29. The Root Of All Evil

    And we can rely on Jeremy Hunt to always tell us the truth about media deals.

    Why hasn't he been prosecuted for the BSkyB fiasco yet?

  30. Crisp

    When he says "Fastest"

    Does he mean bandwidth or latency?

    1. system11

      Re: When he says "Fastest"

      Indeed. Every time the speeds are hiked around here, there is a corresponding increase in latency and packet loss. Great - just what I needed.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fibre has always been weird ...

    20 years ago, they cabled where I lived, in Harrow (Videotron as 'twas). Dug the pavement up, and laid fibre. Meanwhile, on a brand new estate (where they hadn't laid the roads yet) a friend was told they wouldn't lay cable within the next 5 years. I really couldn't understand how they could miss out on an opportunity to effectively lay the cable for free, but would rather pay much more to dig the road up again.

    Where I live now (built 1962), we have true fibre cable. Yet a mile away, the in Laws (built 1997) don't.

    Can't the utilities local authorities and highways agency get their sh*t together, and lay fibre as roads are repaired, or replaced ? A few miles up the road from me now, Transco have just replaced miles of gas main in an un-fibred area. Surely they could have dropped a fibre alongside it ?

    1. Anonymous Cowherder

      Re: Fibre has always been weird ...

      Are you talking about somewhere north of Manchester?

      That is spookily reminiscent of something that has happened to, er, my friend, yes, my friend.....

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Fibre has always been weird ...

        No, when Videotron were laying cable in my street, my friend (2 miles away) was being told a 5 year wait (minimum) for cable in his street. I was in Harrow, my friend in Hillingdon.

  32. adam payne

    Fastest broadband in Europe through copper cables!

  33. Steve Brammer
    FAIL

    "fastest broadband of any major European country"

    Does that mean they are going to ignore countries like Sweden where 1Gbit connections are quite common these days?

  34. Tim Brown 1
    Holmes

    Stick to the bell-ringing Jeremy...

    I hear you''re good at that

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpHmDYVMXDM

  35. David 138
    Mushroom

    Sod the speed whats with the cost!!! If usage is an issue and that's why we pay so much for broadband, why on earth do the fibre lines pretty much cost the same!!!

    It should be proportional to the highest speed available so if they get gigabit in london mine should be 1000x cheaper :P. In fact broadband in my area is so crap i should get a disability and have it paid for by the government, then we would see them get off their asses.

    INFACT, all goverment staff should be limited to speeds as fast as their slowest constituent.

  36. circusmole
    Thumb Down

    Can I just have...

    ...something better that the crap 1.5Mb/s that I currently have? I live on the outskirts of a fairly large town in southern England - not on some remote island. I would happy with an 8Mb/s *reliable* connection.

  37. Tavistock Superfast Broadband

    Beyond Belief

    This will only be done by neglecting the slow and ensuring that the superfast are ultrafast plus . Something that the UK Government is fully supporting in England at least.

    Meanwhile in Tavistock we know our digital place - not in any funding nor on any roll-out plan to date...

  38. James Pickett

    Isn't this what Gordon Brown was promising a while back, and due to happen about now..?

  39. John A Blackley

    Too little imagination

    IN a time when Britain is crying out for meaningful infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy, there's an opportunity for the government to invest in a national fibre infrastructure which it could then lease space on to various private entities.

    Unfortunately that would take courage, imagination and commitment. Things that our politicians do not even understand, never mind possess.

  40. feanor

    "the average speed for a UK residential broadband internet connection reached 9Mbps in May"

    Amazing how those averages can be bumped up by connecting a few hundred people at Gigabit speeds isn't it?

    Maybe they should start quoting standard deviation as well as average, you'd see the real picture.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Have you ever heard of the median? Or trimming?

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jeremy Hunt

    A guy who looks smug and embarrassed at the same time.

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      Re: Jeremy Hunt

      So would you, if you were your own rhyming slang

      1. Vic

        Re: Jeremy Hunt

        > So would you, if you were your own rhyming slang

        I still bend double listening to James Naughtie corpsing on that :-)

        Vic.

  42. Dick Emery
    Facepalm

    UK will have the fastest broadband in the world by 2015

    But only if you live in a 1 meter square box in the middle of London.

    By the time we have 100Mbit in 25% of UK homes (cough!) the rest of the world will already have 10Gbit links to MOST homes.

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