I guess it is time to worry when you find yourself agreeing with Gordon Brown! Maybe it is the cold weather, or the fact that I haven’t been out of the apartment all year yet still feal totally in touch with the world, but I fundamentally agree with his article today in the Telegraph

Broadband will soon be seen as indispensable as electricity, gas or water, argues Gordon Brown.

Britain’s broadband networks have been ranked 31st out of 66 countries in terms of quality

Britain is lagging behind many other European countries in terms of its broadband technology, according to latest research.

It’s hardly a reverential name for some of the most significant social pioneers in Britain today: “yogurt knitters”. But this is how armies of determined campaigners were dismissed when they set about bringing broadband to the countryside.

BT has started handing out Broadband Accelerators to customers prepared to stump up £1.20 in postage, and promises an average speed increase of half a megabit.

At first glance, the Government’s recent commitment to a universal broadband service by 2012 may sound welcome. In fact, it could be catastrophic for the communities and businesses of rural Britain. This is because the plan is to aim for a speed of two megabits per second, which looks woefully inadequate when South Korea, for example, is aiming for a universal service that runs 500 times faster.

Without broadband, Becky Collins would be out of business.Collins, owner of Granny B’s Clothesline, said she was able to leave her job filing out Medicare forms and start her own children’s clothing business because of broadband availability in Homer, Louisiana, population 3,800. Collins, who started out selling dresses to friends, left her Medicare paperwork job in 2006.

Virgin Mobile’s just announced a prepaid 3G service under the Broadband2Go moniker, which will offer customers a contract-free internet option.

Almost every computer user in the country will have access to broadband internet by 2012.

Oh if only I believed the article below in the Telegraph but I don’t trust Government to deliver on these type of promises. They sound good at the time sure, but when it comes to spending the money it is always a budget that is easy to cut.

Too little too late as well! IF they were serious about this they could have got on and done it by now!

Ford not Ferrari for you

Just tread in the Register that BT chief executive Ian Livingstone defended his firm’s limited plans for faster broadband today, arguing there is not enough demand for fibre to the home to justify its cost.

What a load of rubbish!!! Lok back in history my friend. If companies had waited for the demand nothing would have got invented would it. Of course we need and want faster broadband, and we want it cheaper!!! That is your challenge to provide it and make enough of us buy it. Now get on with your job!!!