Given how fundamental an aspect of life internet access apparently is these days, and that we’re approaching a general election, I guess it’s not too surprising that politicians have been talking a lot about it, and in particular their plans for updating the UK’s broadband infrastructure, lately.
There certainly doesn’t seem to be any doubt as to the need to role out 4G mobile access as soon as possible; there are plenty of articles around which are talking about how the popularity of both smart phones and dongles are putting strains on the country’s current mobile broadband capacity! And although deals like being able to get hold of free sims, which themselves allow unlimited free Skype conversations, are absolutely great for consumers looking to save on call charges, it would appear that the popularity of the new technology has wrong footed some providers.
Although it does definitely have its uses, both business and pleasure, mobile broadband is only part of the country’s broadband dilemma, some would say that the establishment of decent high speed internet infrastructure is a bigger and more important challenge for the future, and that’s possibly why we’ve recently seen all the main parties come out with their ideas for how this can be achieved.
This article gives a pretty good overview of the positions of the main parties, and in my opinion is well worth a look if you want to get a quick, at a glance, summary of what each is proposing.
Of course, promises are easily made, and all the more so in the run up to an election, but are not always so easy to deliver on. There’s also the chance that they may suddenly become less urgent in the minds of our political masters once the next Govt is securely in power, and doesn’t have to bother with annoying little details like serving the electorate, or keeping election pledges, but we’ll see.
They certainly all seem to have plenty of ideas of how to skim more money out of us to fund these changes. The Tories would like to take BBC funding to bank roll their super fast broadband plans, while Labour and the Lib Dems are behind the idea of a land line tax, although it seems that the Lib Dems have thought a little more about the equitability of such a levy.
There are also differing approaches as to how to get the more remote areas of the country hooked up with super fast broadband; here the problem is that everyone’s agreed that it’s a good idea but no one really wants to pay for laying the cables.
Personally I’m not sure why the whole country should be clubbing together to pay for people who live in the arse end of nowhere to get a fast internet connection; If it was likely to make a significant impact on the country’s economy I’d understand, but if that were the case it would also likely follow that it would be a viable business move for some comms company to lay the pipes.
As it is, it seems to me that the whole country is going to be left subsidising a few, for no real good reason. Living anywhere has its plusses and negatives, that’s the nature of life; in the countryside you get clean air, beautiful views, less idiots and what would generally be considered a better, and more peaceful, quality of life compared to city dwellers. If people want to live there that’s great, good luck to them (I’m kind of jealous) but they should also accept that their choice to live in such a locale is also going to have downsides, like they might not have such a great internet connection, or may have to pay more to obtain one; I don’t see why that’s such a big deal, & I certainly don’t buy into this ridiculous idea that highspeed internet is now an essential utility, Christ! how soft is this country becoming?
In any case, although all the parties seem dead set on wasting an absolute fortune laying cables to the boondocks, it may be that decent 4G mobile broadband is actually a far more sensible option for the more remote regions of the country; sure it still requires its own infrastructure, and the speed aren’t likely to match the super fast connections which the politicians currently aspire to provide, but it’s surely going to be a hell of a lot cheaper for everyone, and perfectly sufficient for most home use. Ok, so maybe high tech businesses might not be able to operate out of remote areas, but maybe that should just be one of those facts of life, like inner cities not being the best site for a farm, or the Pennines not being such a great place to base a fishing fleet.