This is an interesting little gem of a story I found whilst skimming the net. Prince Charles, no less, is calling for greater broadband speeds in rural areas to the unison cries of ‘finally’. The government has formed some kind of rural superpower called The Rural Coalition who is now recognising the decline in support for remote villagers not just for the huge drop off in trade for small farming outlets and village shops but ISP’s turning their back on rural areas. The government admitted that it had “…undervalued the countryside and failed to meet the needs of rural communities…” I believe that’s what happens when you allow supermarket chains to build mammoth stores wherever there is a free square mile of land!
“…The Commission for Rural Communities estimate at least two million people in the countryside have slower speeds than 2Mbps, not to mention those 166,000 in “not spots” where there is no broadband at all…” – surely something that has been accurate for some time. ADSL suppliers, I’ve always believed, have been ripping people off for years. I have friends who live in rural areas and barely break a meg, antique wiring, ropey phone connections and the old classic “…I’m sorry sir, your actually paying for up to 8 meg but I see your 17 miles from the nearest exchange…” bah! Sort yourselves out! You’ve been taking peoples cash for years, time for an upgrade methinks, not like these huge companies don’t have the capital.
“…High-speed Internet access will be essential in years to come for all businesses – rural and urban – and those communities that do not have it will be at a severe economic and social disadvantage…” said Charles Trotman, Head of Rural Business Development. Ok now this is a classic statement, this would have been perfect if claimed in the early nineties but the internet is not a new development it’s been researched since the 60’s and started to fully emerge as a viable technology in ’89 so its 20 years later and ALL businesses, in some form or another, rely on the internet for lots of things from email to stock checking.
“…The Government has promised everyone will have speeds of 2 Megabits per second (Mbps) by 2012…” Sigbritt Löthberg of Sweden has been supplied with an internet speed of 40 gigabits, that’s right 40 GIGABITS! I’m sure she would laugh her Swedish behind off at the above statement. This lady was supplied this speed internet last year so I guess it just comes down to that old fashioned excuse, money, or should I say the unwillingness so spend it. Down with copper wire! Let’s start moving into the noughties with fibre optic, let’s show the rest of the world that us Brits do want to move forward technically, stop building domes, focus less on tea drinking and move forward with the rest of the world. Amen.
Google is highly likely to be shutting down Google Search in China, after discussions with Chinese authorities regarding censorship laws appear to have reached an impasse.