News - Broadband revenues set to overtake landlines

[HEXUS]

Another technology inflection point will be reached next year, says a report.

Read more.

[crossy]

Next year, telcos will generate more consumer revenues from fixed broadband than from telephone lines for the first time.

They're a bit late - we've been paying VM more for broadband than phone line for some time. In fact, when we renegotiated the deal a while ago, the phone line was a very minor point.

This will be driven by consumers continuing to shun their landline in favour of the mobile phone and the greater need for fixed broadband in the home to meet the demands of increasing video traffic, more applications and content in the cloud and more connected device

Very true, but I'd suggest the utility of the humble mobile phone has got more to do with it, than the "greater need for fixed broadband". Heck, smartphones are getting more and more capable, and I'm sure that there's some circumstances where a tethered smartphone could perhaps replace a low-spec broadband line. Meanwhile, I hear more and more folks commenting that - apart from 999 calls - they wonder why they've got a landline at all, (certainly not having one might help to cut down a bit on the telephone spam we all get).

Getting back to the broadband, more and more AV kit seems to be "network enabled", to the extent that if you've not got some Cat 5 whacked into it then you end up missing out on a good deal of functionality. Or at least, that's how it seems to me.

[shaithis]

Mobile tethering is never going to take off until something serious is done about the capacity and price of the UKs 3G network - and I cannot see anything huge happening there anytime soon.

I've used the feature twice and both times got the feeling that Orange was sucking money out of my bank account while tethered

I think it's just a combination of mobile calls and skype. A lot of people Skype me now and most of the time I am by a Wifi AP so SQ is awesome.

[crossy]

Mobile tethering is never going to take off until something serious is done about the capacity and price of the UKs 3G network - and I cannot see anything huge happening there anytime soon. I've used the feature twice and both times got the feeling that Orange was sucking money out of my bank account while tethered

Capacity, price and availability need to improve - it amuses me that I can get a faster download in the middle of a field at the back of my house than I can in some parts of Edinburgh/Glasgow (even allowing for the effects of buildings on signal strength).

As to the cost issue - One Plan from Three - not unreasonably priced and the usage terms are also quite satisfactory. If it wasn't for their worse-than-lousy customer service and the lower signal coverage v's T-Mobile, then I'd probably stay with them when my current contract ends in June. I've never been that impressed with Orange - along with Vodafone they always struck me as being a bit "old fashioned", hating the idea of folks doing things that needed a data connection.

[semo]

Getting back to the broadband, more and more AV kit seems to be "network enabled", to the extent that if you've not got some Cat 5 whacked into it then you end up missing out on a good deal of functionality. Or at least, that's how it seems to me.

It wasn't long ago when people thought I was talking nonsense when I suggested that internet speed and quality could affect house prices. I think internal networking is the next big thing that the UK hose market needs to get on board with.

And no, wireless is not the solution. Especially in business, no matter how small

[aidanjt]

Landlines are all well and good, but the price of telephony has been way too artificially high, and VoIP is a significantly cheaper solution which is only going to get more appealing over time. Mainstream broadband has put a dent in demand for all other home services, after all, who needs ludicrously expensive PSTN and broadcast satellite/cable when you can pipe all your services through broadband and use superior online services which are actually in competition.

[crossy]

It wasn't long ago when people thought I was talking nonsense when I suggested that internet speed and quality could affect house prices. I think internal networking is the next big thing that the UK hose market needs to get on board with. And no, wireless is not the solution. Especially in business, no matter how small

Problem is that retrofitting networking to the existing millions of houses is tricky/expensive. Plus it still amazes me how few builders are "net-enabling" their new builds. Not that I spend much time window-shopping at the showhomes, but I'd be surprised if as many as 10% of the ones I looked at were cabled.

The security folks where I work really don't like wireless - even if you explain that you've got WPA2-AES with a really secure key (max length, full alphanum set plus symbols). I'm using HomePlugAV gear from Devolo and it's working very well - especially as they do the "piggy back" units that you can plug the appliance itself into. The family object to having Cat5 dangling all over the place, and besides, the kittens kept chewing it.

Landlines are all well and good, but the price of telephony has been way too artificially high, and VoIP is a significantly cheaper solution which is only going to get more appealing over time. Mainstream broadband has put a dent in demand for all other home services, after all, who needs ludicrously expensive PSTN and broadcast satellite/cable when you can pipe all your services through broadband and use superior online services which are actually in competition.

Very true - and I wonder how the teleco's regard services like Google Talk (well if the podcast I was just listening to is to be believed) where you get a "public" number that routes to whatever telephonic device you choose, whether that be landline, mobile or VOIP.

As to the "cable via broadband" if memory serves me rightly (and it probably isn't) I thought the Tivo system that Virgin were rolling out does something similar. At least I remember something about it needing a dedicated internet connection that you get when they install it. But maybe that's for EPG download, apps, etc.

Apologies for the Tivo advert, but I've been looking at it recently - trying to figure if it's worth the extra money over the V+HD that I've already got. Plus since Tivo "runs Linux" maybe it'd be a bit more reliable than the V+HD.