ISPreview Criticises UK Governments 2Mbps USO Broadband Options

The UK government’s 2009 Budget recently gave support to a new universal service obligation (USO), which would require that everybody in the country be able to access a broadband Internet connection that is capable of at least 2Mbps (download speed) by 2012. The move, which was first proposed by Lord Carter’s Interim Digital Britain report earlier this year, is a welcome one.

However ISPreview.co.uk, an impartial independent information and consumer review site covering UK broadband Internet Service Providers, has serious concerns about some of the potential technology choices and fears that the USO is in danger of short changing UK Internet users.

Please find below some comments from Mark Jackson, editor of ISPreview.co.uk.

“We welcome the governments support for a 2Mbps USO but are concerned that some of the technology choices being considered may short-change consumers with deeply inferior products,” said Jackson. “Upgrading existing telephone lines will only get you so far without totally new infrastructure and the apparent lack of a stronger financial commitment from central government suggests that this will not happen.”

“Instead we fear that those desiring a better rural broadband service could be fobbed off with costly and restrictive Satellite services or a fledgling Mobile Broadband solution, which has yet to prove that it can handle the expected and sudden increases in demand for its capacity that would follow a new USO.”

The Pitfalls of Mobile Broadband

1. High latency – Current services often suffer from high latency, which makes most fast paced multiplayer gaming almost impossible and can cause time delays on VoIP calls.

2. Connection stability – Even in areas of strong coverage we’ve witnessed sudden connection drops and unreliable service speeds. However, Future LTE and WiMAX technologies may improve stability and capacity concerns.

3. Excessive image compression – Most of the major mobile operators apply aggressive image compression algorithms to ease their bandwidth burden. This can make viewing websites an altogether uglier experience and causes problems with online web design and picture manipulation related fun/work.

4. Blocked services and applications – VoIP, IPTV, P2P and critically important Instant Messaging (IM) applications often seem to be blocked by some operators. This seriously limits the workable use of an Internet connection.

The Pitfalls of Satellite

1. High latency – same as above.

2. Meagre usage allowances – Satellite data can be expensive and as a result many impose highly restrictive usage quotas on consumers, after which service speed can become seriously restrictive. There’s little point in offering an affordable 2Mbps service if the allowance is so tiny as to be of little productive use for modern day surfers.

3. Huge installation / hardware costs – It is possible to develop a close to affordable satellite broadband solution for rural areas, but only provided somebody else pays the half a grand or so it’d cost you to buy the required hardware and have it installed!

Concluding Comments:

“If the government is serious about delivering on its promise of a workable 2Mbps USO then it should consider designing basic criteria for such products. We would suggest that no service cost more than around £25 per month and must be capable of downloading at least 10GigaByte’s of data in any given month while retaining a sustained service speed of 2Mbps,” Jackson proposed.

“We firmly believe that it is in everybody’s best interest that the government avoid approving inferior platforms where service restrictions and high costs conspire to limit flexibility. Many people living in rural and remote locations are also on low incomes, they need something cheaper and more flexible, not the other way around.”

Mr Mark Jackson
(Editor-In-Chief)
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