Information Research Weblog

I see that Tony Blair is gushing about broadband again. Of course, this is DSL broadband and the item is about the upgrading for telephone exchanges to allow 90% of the population in North-east England access to the astonishing speed of 512 kbits/sec, when most European countries are going for at least a 1 Mbit rate. Higher speeds are available through various ISPs, of course, but at a price, and as a Datamonitor was predicting in 2003:

monthly subscription rates for high-speed Internet services will need to fall to at least USD25 before mass-market uptake becomes a reality.

At the current rate of exchange $25 is £13.69 - and I am currently pay £23.95 ($43.71) for a 512 kbit/sec service - and that is with one of the cheaper suppliers. So, again, as with the 'weapons of mass distraction' [his Freudian slip] Tony doesn't really know what he is talking about.

We seem to be blessed in the UK with a bunch of politicians whose only skill - and they aren't very good at it - is news manipulation. No wonder the voters stay away in droves.