Government to pledge £400m to push for full fibre UK network

[Corky34]

Got to love people.... Once these services are available you aren't forced to pay for them, but they are there for those that see the value. There's still nothing stopping you from disconnecting the internet and walking around with a tin hat on.

You mean like how you're not forced to pay for other basic services like water, gas, and electric?

And as for the comment on there being nothing stopping you from disconnecting from the internet is technically true aren't you being rather disingenuous, especially as internet access is widely seen as a basic human right, what with it being linked to exercising your right to freedom of expression and opinion and other fundamental human rights.

Lastly being concerned about your government introducing the most extreme form of surveillance in the world is hardly tin hat country, that's unless you think it's a good thing that the UK was rated alongside China and Russia in terms of privacy over a decade ago, since then we've probably become the most surveilled nation on earth.

[Myss_tree]

Successive governments have promised much yet still failed to deliver, Openreach should be made to split off from BT and along with water, gas and electricity should be state controlled for the benefit of all.
I would like FTTP however i would rather see a minimum Mbps nationwide first for everyone rather than the eternal race for faster speeds for a limited number of people.

[crossy]

Do we really need FTTP?
Seems like a waste of money to me

Does the country need this? I'd argue that there's probably things a lot more pressing, like the shortage of affordable housing in some areas; preventable poverty; desperately needed road repairs and so on. And if I'm going to be controversial there's also the increasingly grim fall out from Brexit and Trump.

Thing is though that we're living in an increasingly data rich era, with governments and commercial companies all making more and more demands of home internet. And with the best will in the world, the idea of delivering an acceptable standard over POTL is not going to cut it - you need a dedicated data channel ... after all I don't think you'd want your sewage and water supply lines to share the same pipe!

However, I see nothing coming of this latest announcement - putting it down to yet another pointless soundbite from an increasingly ineffectual government. After all, is anyone out there satisfied with the sums that have been spent on this already? It would seem that the only place where the UK is "world leading" is in having high aspirations ... meanwhile the far eastern countries seem to be quietly going about actually delivering it.

Anyone think that this latest pledge won't just mean either empty words, or studies followed by a few "trial" deployments and that's all we'll see?

(Apologies, I really should be more positive...)

[TeePee]

Given that the government is banning half the internet anyway, what's the point?

[Wozza63]

Even as someone in a decent area where I can get up to 76Mbps, I'd much rather see my friends in rural areas all getting a boost to say 20mbps than those living in a city going up to 300mbps.

[c12038]

Why is the Goverment investing £400 Million of tax payers money into companies that can afford it that £400 million could be spent else where like hospitals and schools, Seems unreasonable that public money spent in this way......

Wake up Great Britian your being Fleeced again what next Taxation on Free Air

[directhex]

That's only 8 days of post-Brexit savings!

[LeetyMcLeet]

Do we really need FTTP?
Seems like a waste of money to me

:O

You can NEVER have too much bandwidth!!!

[Ttaskmaster]

If no-one wants their ultra-super-über-fast broadband, feel free to give it this way!!

As for spending on hospitals and schools... No thanks - That's just more money for the management to misallocate (or divert into their own coffers) and 'prove' that everything needs to be privatised.

Money into affordable housing?
Why not just force developers to sell (or even rent) all the existing empty buildings for a reasonable sum? Most of them already skimped on the builds anyway and short-changed the contracts for a quick buck.

[chj]

FTTC = BT's G-fast = small selection of #### modem/routers which are compatible.

[DanceswithUnix]

How much money do Reaction Engines need to build a flying prototype? I like big headline projects, but this one I think is a bit lame.

[BiggYinn]

This is no comfort for those stuck on EXCHANGE ONLY LINES , when openreach still havn't installed a cabinet at the exchange to convert the existing copper lines to be fibre enabled ....not even an actuall fibre service as such as this would be FTTC fiber to the cabinet not FTTH fibre to the home

Six years and counting at my partners house she has 8mbps xdsl on sky broadband

I have 200mbps through virgin , she's not even in a cabled area ......too many wrinkies in her area objected at time of canvasing!!! 20 years ago!!!