UK achieves Superfast Broadband coverage goal

[HEXUS]

More than 19 out of 20 UK homes and businesses can now get >24Mbps speeds.

Read more.

[Luke7]

Waiting for comments from people saying ~"well mine is still terrible so this isn't true".

[maverick77_uk]

Also, remember this is what is available - not necessarily what you get. For example, I still use copper broadband, which only gives me 2.5Mb (theoretical max 17Mb). Effectively this is my choice - I could go fibre, which would probably take me above the >24mb speed, but therefore choose not to (and save myself a heap of cash!)

[Agrippa]

How the hell is 24Mbps considered "Superfast Broadband" in 2018? Roughly 10 years ago I signed up for 30Mbps ADSL, which at that point was pretty fast given the general absence of fiber optic infrastructure. These days I'm on 500/500, which I consider very fast, but certainly not super fast.

[Friesiansam]

Waiting for comments from people saying ~"well mine is still terrible so this isn't true".

Across the nation more than 95 per cent of premises (residential and business) now have access to Superfast Broadband offering 24Mbps download or faster speeds.

It's important to distinguish between available (allegedly) and what is actually delivered. I'm on an up to 52Mbps service but, only receive 18Mbps, down from 26Mbps three years ago and yet, for the purposes of this coverage goal, probably still count as having more than 24Mbps available.


"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Mark Twain.

[Smudger]

I get 200+ on Virgin, but there's no other fibre in the area, so if I want to jump ship, my only option is 8Mbps ADSL. Limits my bargaining power when negotiating with Virgin...

So yes, we exceed that target, but as mentioned before, 24Mbps is not 'Superfast' these days and there isn't much plurality in terms of suppliers.

[Corky34]

How the hell is 24Mbps considered "Superfast Broadband" in 2018?

By the sounds of the 24Mbps it's the BDUK definition of "superfast" that's being used, most other organisation say it's 30Mbps.

[Biscuit]

The biggest problem with these things is the terminology. When they set the goals, "super fast" means something, by the time they reach it, the values seem laughable.

[spacein_vader]

How the hell is 24Mbps considered "Superfast Broadband" in 2018? Roughly 10 years ago I signed up for 30Mbps ADSL, which at that point was pretty fast given the general absence of fiber optic infrastructure. These days I'm on 500/500, which I consider very fast, but certainly not super fast.

Because the definition was decided in (IIRC,) 2010. They're also a year late, as the target was by 2017.

[DanceswithUnix]

24Mbps is the best you can expect from the ADSL 2+ spec.

So this is just specifying better than ADSL 2+, which is old enough now that it would make a rubbish target for anything.

[DanceswithUnix]

Effectively this is my choice - I could go fibre, which would probably take me above the >24mb speed, but therefore choose not to (and save myself a heap of cash!)

Keep checking the pricing on that. I switched to VDSL to save money, being the current tech I got a better deal given that the kids were already using a *lot* of data on youtube/netflix so the cheap deals were all unusable for me.

[scaryjim]

... These days I'm on 500/500, which I consider very fast, but certainly not super fast.

Given that many business LANs are still on 100mbps, and most people's wireless tops out at about 150mbps in perfect conditions, I suspect you're in a distinct minority there.

I'm on 38mbps fibre, although I rarely get more than 20mbps to anything useful, and I still rekcon that's pretty good. It's at least fast enough for the vast majority of uses - you'd need to be a serious downloader or streamer for less than 20 to be a big issue. I'd agree that by today's standards it's probably not "super" fast (although that's hardly a useful distinction anyway, is it...), but given the first internet connection I had was 56k dial-up, and broadband started out at 512kbps (with actual throughput probably nearer 100 - 200k most of the time), I'm not complaining about the technological progress that's been made. We've seen a real-world 100x increase in internet speeds over the last 15 years - name me something else that's become measurably 100x faster in the same time period...

[spacein_vader]

Given that many business LANs are still on 100mbps, and most people's wireless tops out at about 150mbps in perfect conditions, I suspect you're in a distinct minority there.

I'm on 38mbps fibre, although I rarely get more than 20mbps to anything useful, and I still rekcon that's pretty good. It's at least fast enough for the vast majority of uses - you'd need to be a serious downloader or streamer for less than 20 to be a big issue. I'd agree that by today's standards it's probably not "super" fast (although that's hardly a useful distinction anyway, is it...), but given the first internet connection I had was 56k dial-up, and broadband started out at 512kbps (with actual throughput probably nearer 100 - 200k most of the time), I'm not complaining about the technological progress that's been made. We've seen a real-world 100x increase in internet speeds over the last 15 years - name me something else that's become measurably 100x faster in the same time period...

The RPM of the average home electricity meter?

[Ozaron]

So I'm statistically proven to have worse luck than 95.008% of the country? And still climbing?

Damn.

[Ttaskmaster]

Because the definition was decided in (IIRC,) 2010. They're also a year late, as the target was by 2017.

Ah, no... see, it was achieved in 2017, but it's taken this long to get the report confirmed and published, y'see.....

[Agrippa]

Given that many business LANs are still on 100mbps, and most people's wireless tops out at about 150mbps in perfect conditions, I suspect you're in a distinct minority there.

I realise that's the case, but surely "super fast" ought to mean "approaching or attaining the maximum of what is possible/available"? If I wanted/needed/could afford to I could sign up for 2Gbps right now, so single-digit Gbps is what I would classify as super fast today.