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UK 25th in the world for broadband quality
01 Oct 2009 | 21.01 Europe/London
Broadband in the UK is "not fit for the future" and is only meeting the needs of today, according to a new joint study. According to research from the University of Oxford's Said Business School and the Universidad de Oviedo, the UK's only twenty-fifth in the world when it comes to broadband quality - and Digital Britain may not be enough to change that. For its authors, "the broadband gap is being redefined as a quality divide."
The Cisco-sponsored study looked at 24 million records gathered in May 2008 and the May to June period this year, with the data involved itself taken from website Speedtest.net. It's no surprise that South Korea had the highest "Broadband Quality Score" (BQS), with it's infamous status as the broadband land of milk and honey; its government recently proposed rolling out 1Gbit/s connections, perhaps just in a bid to stir up trouble for the likes of the Digital Britain team. The rest of the top ten reads as follows: Japan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Luxemborg, Denmark, Norway.
Once you get below the top ten things start to resemble the Eurovision Song Contest - somehow Malta, Lithuania and Estonia are all better ranked than Britain. Even Iceland, which is currently more famous for its economic turmoil than anything else at present, is better placed. But don't panic - apparently, we shouldn't be worrying about things like this. "It can be a bit misleading to look at the rankings," Cisco communications manager Joanne Hughes told BBC News. (Terry Wogan mustn't have been available for comment.)
It turns out that "the important thing" is actually "whether the broadband quality of a country is good enough for today's needs" and, according to Ms. Hughes, "the UK falls well within this category." And in case you were wondering, according to the team that actually put the report together - rather than just their sponsor - the needs of today centre on a download speed of 3.75Mbit/s and an upload speed of 1Mbit/s. Or, in more practical terms, enough for social networking, low-definition video streaming, basic video chatting, small file-sharing and standard definition IPTV. And, in yer laymen's terms, enough for yer Facebooks, yer iPlayers and yer MSN Messengers.
Where Britain falls down - and would struggle even if Digital Britain were realised exactly as Lord Carter once dared to dream - is in the world of tomorrow, when download speeds will need to be around 11.25Mbit/s and upload speeds something like 5Mbit/s. For the researchers that world is only between three and five years away; unlike most visions of the near future, sadly it involves neither apocalyptic conditions nor hover cars. Instead, their more pragmatic prophesy is one of "visual networking," high-definition video streaming, "consumer telepresence," large file-sharing and holographic-dimensional HD IPTV. Quality.
But it's ok - again Ms. Hughes says we needn't worry: she forecasts "the UK will improve because of things such as cable networks being upgraded and the Digital Britain report focusing on next-generation access." Of course, not everyone is so optimistic. “The switch from dial-up, to broadband in the UK increased connection speeds by about 80 times," Charlie Ponsonby, chief executive of broadband consultant Simplifydigital, told The Telegraph. "Since then, increases in broadband speed has slowed very sharply. The UK may “meet the needs of today,” but it has a long way away from meeting the needs of tomorrow." But if you'd rather form your own opinion, the full report is available for download here.
The Cisco-sponsored study looked at 24 million records gathered in May 2008 and the May to June period this year, with the data involved itself taken from website Speedtest.net. It's no surprise that South Korea had the highest "Broadband Quality Score" (BQS), with it's infamous status as the broadband land of milk and honey; its government recently proposed rolling out 1Gbit/s connections, perhaps just in a bid to stir up trouble for the likes of the Digital Britain team. The rest of the top ten reads as follows: Japan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Luxemborg, Denmark, Norway.
Once you get below the top ten things start to resemble the Eurovision Song Contest - somehow Malta, Lithuania and Estonia are all better ranked than Britain. Even Iceland, which is currently more famous for its economic turmoil than anything else at present, is better placed. But don't panic - apparently, we shouldn't be worrying about things like this. "It can be a bit misleading to look at the rankings," Cisco communications manager Joanne Hughes told BBC News. (Terry Wogan mustn't have been available for comment.)
It turns out that "the important thing" is actually "whether the broadband quality of a country is good enough for today's needs" and, according to Ms. Hughes, "the UK falls well within this category." And in case you were wondering, according to the team that actually put the report together - rather than just their sponsor - the needs of today centre on a download speed of 3.75Mbit/s and an upload speed of 1Mbit/s. Or, in more practical terms, enough for social networking, low-definition video streaming, basic video chatting, small file-sharing and standard definition IPTV. And, in yer laymen's terms, enough for yer Facebooks, yer iPlayers and yer MSN Messengers.
Where Britain falls down - and would struggle even if Digital Britain were realised exactly as Lord Carter once dared to dream - is in the world of tomorrow, when download speeds will need to be around 11.25Mbit/s and upload speeds something like 5Mbit/s. For the researchers that world is only between three and five years away; unlike most visions of the near future, sadly it involves neither apocalyptic conditions nor hover cars. Instead, their more pragmatic prophesy is one of "visual networking," high-definition video streaming, "consumer telepresence," large file-sharing and holographic-dimensional HD IPTV. Quality.
But it's ok - again Ms. Hughes says we needn't worry: she forecasts "the UK will improve because of things such as cable networks being upgraded and the Digital Britain report focusing on next-generation access." Of course, not everyone is so optimistic. “The switch from dial-up, to broadband in the UK increased connection speeds by about 80 times," Charlie Ponsonby, chief executive of broadband consultant Simplifydigital, told The Telegraph. "Since then, increases in broadband speed has slowed very sharply. The UK may “meet the needs of today,” but it has a long way away from meeting the needs of tomorrow." But if you'd rather form your own opinion, the full report is available for download here.
Dunno this Ms Hughes but am not impressed by her forecasts. I don't think she gets IT at all. Luckily this time people are starting to see through these press releases, even the beeb! The Telegraph seems to be checking its info slightly better instead of trotting off whatever telcos chuck at it. The tide is turning, and people are finally starting to think of the future. If we want to make the most of the fantastic talent in this country we have to have the pipes to deliver it to the world. The global village. I have read the whole report. Like I say, times they are a changing, at last. Now we just wait to see how long it is before government gets IT.
01 Oct 2009 | 21.51 Europe/London