Mobile coverage mash up

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Read more! Typically, this was an awesome day (job) with a massive low (death). Just another day in the broadband campaign world. However, our approach by car to Leeds (top 10 city in UK), highlighted the utter failure of the mobile network. For broadband in-fill - fugged about it.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

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Spent the day at Leeds Uni - awesome! Made far more exciting by it being my PA's alma mater (LOL not maitre d') and it is fresher's week. But Leeds has changed since my dad's and my time, and discovering that there is no mobile coverage up to about 200m of the ring road from the north (for no apparent reason) stimulated a discussion about using mobile broadband as an infill for the USO. (How much do you want to be in our car on journeys such as these?!)

Has anyone mapped the reality of mobile coverage in the UK? It is bloody awful. We drove down the A1 from just below Scotch Corner and had fairly consistent NON COVERAGE for miles and miles and miles. We thought, as we were approaching Leeds, we might be able to contact our meeting participants to say we were approaching Leeds. Nope.

We were just approaching the Roundhay Park turning on the ring road before the mobile coverage kicked in, and Leeds was laid out before us by then. You are going to use mobile coverage to provide the USO????? I think not. I don't care if your mast looks like a tree or a pigeon, you need to map the mobile notspots. They are HUGE, gaping holes across the UK.

Mobile broadband is not a goer. I can drive miles without mobile coverage, whilst remaining less than 100 miles from Orange HQ in Darlington.

If you continue to try and "sell" me mobile broadband, I will take a week off, map everywhere in Cumbria and North Yorkshire where no mobile signal is available (an offer I made over 10 years ago for the YDNPA and the Tourist Board through the UWN - get on Google to find the links!), and blow you out the water for even offering such a simplistic, undeliverable solution.

If you - Orange, O2 etc - cannot deliver mobile coverage within metres of the Leeds ring road, why would we believe you can cover rural areas?????

And let me put this really simply. You - Ed Vaizey et al, who sit in Westminster and think the rest of the UK has the same mobile coverage, allow me to drive you from Penrith to Scotch Corner via the B roads. There is bugger all mobile coverage, even in major tourist honey pots like Hawes. This plan needs re-thinking, mate.


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The killer app is not an app...

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Read more! I know I'm not the first to say it, nor is this the first time I've said it. This is a post about video....

For many, the Internet as it stands is still inaccessible. Why? Because of literacy standards. Because it is still text based. Because it is still mainly in English, not Swahili or French or Spanish etc. Because it is 'scary'. Most people do not conduct their daily communications via text or through a keyboard - they speak, gesticulate, roll their eyes, react to body language and so on. Yet, this is still difficult for the average person to do using the current technology available to the masses.

Yes, we are moving towards more video content, but for the average person who is comfortable in their own skin but not on a keyboard, we still live in a world where much of our communication is not possible using a camera or a video link.

The infrastructure which would allow us to video conference etc is just not there in many parts of the world. Yes, there are mechanisms for doing so, and many manage to use video, albeit somewhat jerkily, to communicate with others, but it is not easy, nor even possible in some places. (Skype video here? Hmmm, not so it becomes a practice you would adopt as quickly as just going to a meeting and touching flesh with the people you need to talk to).

There are problems with coding and codecs. As memory etc has become more easily available, so coding has become looser, using the bits available, meeting tight deadlines etc instead of programming very tight, memory restricted, efficient code. Instead of being able to easily video conference with suitable quality of service, it has actually become harder as it uses more resources - eg bandwidth and processing power.

But where is the biggest problem? In the infrastructure that is required to carry full-motion, colour video so it feels as natural as a conversation. Whilst people keep rabbiting on about how 2Mbps is plenty, the reality is that it can't physically carry the necessary information to make video conferencing, or other forms of visual interaction, possible.

For instance, 2Mbps is not sufficient for telehealth, or education over video. By a very long chalk. It isn't sufficient for me to have a conversation 'as if I was there' with one of my kids when I am away on business. And whilst I may be able to communicate with them over text, email, on a voice chat, etc the lack of physical and visual signs that we all rely on as humans means that there are often important clues that we miss that make the interaction far less valuable than it could be. To both parties.

Video is the killer USE of the fat pipes. It will become the justification for them. Anyone who has failed to see this, and who still thinks that "content" means that stuff that Hollywood, the music industry, the BBC etc produce, is missing the way things are going. Interactivity will not mean pressing a button to vote for some trivial ex-celebrity. Interactivity will mean communicating with others, whether they are family, friends, peer groups, colleagues, the medical expert for our condition, a teacher, your MP, etc.

I remember standing next to Stephen Timms, watching a group of school children in Alston, competing with pupils from a school in the Midlands - and I say "with" because the teams were made up of pupils from both schools - to make a giant paper airplane over a video link. Up here in Cumbria, it is rare to see anyone who has different colour skin, or hear different accents in daily life, let alone talk to them, work as part of a team with them etc. The benefits and undoubtedly changed attitudes that resulted from that video session are numerous, and almost impossible to replicate without physically shipping kids around the UK. However, the kids couldn't continue their new 'friendships' from home, because the bandwidth required for 2 way video like this is just not available.

Imagine a physiotherapy session required by someone who is housebound due to their condition. At present, you need either a taxi or an ambulance to take you to hospital. That's an 80+ mile round trip for someone here. You then work with your physiotherapist to train your muscles back to life. This has to be done 'in person' because the physiotherapist needs to closely monitor your reactions to new exercises, to understand which muscles may require extra work, see your grimaces of pain and so on.

However, in many instances, this type of therapy could be conducted over a suitable video link. You could be in your home, not requiring the resources of an ambulance, taxi, nor to extend your carbon footprint to reach the hospital. Current and planned 'broadband' infrastructure is totally insufficient to make this possible without FTTH or fat pipes.

Let's go one step further. Project Natal gives some sense of how animation and great coding, including AI (artifical intelligence), could be used in future to deal with many issues, freeing up scarce human resources to carry out work which could not be carried out by an avatar.

Imagine that person who needs to be encouraged to carry out their physiotherapy every day, at home someone who is lonely, who is shy, who is agoraphobic, who needs to socialise but doesn't know anyone. Project Natal type programming could help to build confidence, listen to problems, bring people out of their shell, enable people to communicate about issues they struggle with. And so much more. Your imagination is the only limit on this one - get pondering!

But whilst you may want to do this on your XBox, there are times when this interactivity needs to be shared with a professional. Perhaps a GP who can see that the anti-depressant prescription is wrong for this person, or a psychologist, or a teacher or learning mentor with a difficult pupil. That requires a video link over the appropriate infrastructure to do that.

Once you start to think of all the possibilities for video, on a PEOPLE based level, not a monetary one, then you really begin to get how totally inadequate the current proposals for a USC, for 2Mbps, for asymmetric connectivity, and for Digital Britain really are.

Take away the shareholders, the policy tick boxes, the need to win seats, the use of public funds, and think purely about the PEOPLE. The consumers of this technology. Ask what people want, first. Then think about how we need to deliver it. Not in a piecemeal, this'll do for now fashion, but to reach an eNdGAme where the people who make up this nation are being best served. Think about your neighbour, the person sitting at the desk next to you, or on the Tube. Your family members, friends, the stranger in the doctor's surgery, the farmer down the road. Think about how being able to use video, invisibly, seamlessly, as part of their daily existence could change their life. What could it do for them, or for you? For your life, your business, your community, the nation?

Imagine health, education, security, communication, support, love, friendship, public policy directives, meetings, business deals, conferences, and everything else you can think of delivered on an "as if I was there" network.

And next time someone tells you that the USC of 2Mbps or any type of asymmetrical connection is fine for years to come, put them right.

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The Spanish join the party

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Read more! The Spanish government have joined Finland in making a minimum speed of broadband a LEGAL RIGHT.

From 1st January 2011, every Spaniard will have the right to a minimum speed of 1Mbps, announced the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Commerce at the 3rd Digital Content International Conference. Finland's law takes effect from July 2010, and in 2015 will increase to 100Mbps as LAW.

Spain may have some difficulties implementing this new law because of the topology, and will undoubtedly have to resort to wireless in some of the most remote and mountainous regions. However, having seen a few FiWi projects in Cataluña, they have plenty of in-house expertise to do so. The announcement is backed by 100million euros of public money, which will then release a further 300million euros.

Once again, we are not leading the way in any sense, and are actually falling behind other European countries by removing the legal rights of our citizens in moving from USO to USC.
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Next gen broadband education has to reach all sectors of society

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Letter printed by The Cumberland & Westmorland Herald (15/08/09) in response to a letter from the Eden Local Strategic Partnership saying that, as it seemed that networks such as Alston Cybermoor were unlikely to be sustainable or replicable in other Eden villages, the LSP were advising adding your postcode to ThinkBroadband's notspot site and the LSP would lobby so we and our kids could get on the Net in our spare time....

Dear Sir,

In Letters this week (Improving broadband coverage a priority for partnership), the LSP seems to have entirely missed the point about why broadband is needed, and, in particular, in rural areas such as Eden. This is no longer about accessing the Internet in your spare time, nor working from home. Broadband provides access to Health, Wealth and Learning opportunities, for instance, telehealth, education, business opportunity, and access to government services, but additionally, it has been proven that Fibre To The Home (FTTH) and hence superfast broadband (100Mbps+ symmetrical) regenerates communities, stimulates new business and innovation, is environmentally superior to ADSL, and improves the quality of life across all sectors. In the very near future, broadband will become the fourth utility. The changes that will bring will be equivalent to those felt when electricity or piped water first entered our communities.

The assertion that FTTH is too costly for rural areas comes only from those telcos unwilling to invest against shareholder interests, and government offices unwilling to fund it, not from fact. Whilst the LSP may be interested only in lobbying, I respectfully suggest that we would do better to adopt the approach of our neighbours, both here and abroad, and just get on with dealing with the problem.(JFDI)

Just down the road in rural Lancashire, and in many other communities, both urban and rural, across the UK, local people have taken control of digging in their own fibre optics and combining these with the latest wireless technologies (FiWi) to address the issue of next generation access for themselves. The costings for such digs now show that the figures which commercial companies, such as BT, quote for such work seem to be up to 100 times more than the reality when the community gets involved, as has happened across Sweden, Holland, Estonia and so on already.
The payback for every community is in social capital, community well-being, economic regeneration, new business, reduced cost services, and so on. This is not about investing to give the telcos a cut, but to revive our communities, invigorate them, make substantial cost savings across the county as a whole, reduce environmental pollution, and much, much more.

FACT: Digital Britain (Fibre To EVERY Home) could be delivered at less than a third (worst case scenario £28bn) of the money which has been used to prop up the banks.

FACT: FTTH equipment requires substantially less electricity than ADSL broadband equipment, and hence FTTH is the greener option.

FACT: The savings to our public service providers through use of broadband would be immense and we would, for once see Return on Investment for spend of public monies.

FACT: The telcos are operating to make a commercial return by creating "false scarcity from abundance". Bits are not rare, and they are not expensive in these days where data transport costs are approaching zero.

FACT: The telecommunications companies, such as BT, Virgin et al do not need to own the network. It can belong to the consumers of that network using a co-operative model eg Industrial Provident Society, or a Community Interest Company. This is particularly important if we want to protect next generation networks for our next generations.

FACT: Community ownership models keep the money within the community (the "blue pound" scenario) rather than giving it to national or international companies to spend outside the region.

FACT: £19.5million has already been spent by NWDA on supposedly equipping Cumbria with broadband through Project Access. Here in Eden, many people are still unable to get a connection that even with a stretch of the imagination could be called "broadband", which will allow iPlayer, Youtube and so on to work.

FACT: Approximately 20+% nationally will be unable to get even close to the USO of 2Mbps by 2012, proposed by the current government. In rural and remote areas, such as Eden, the figure is likely to approach or even pass 50% unable to get that speed.

FACT: Korea is intending to deliver a USO of 1Gbps in the same timeframe. The UK government are attempting to set the bar so low that we as a nation are almost inevitably destined to become a third world player in the global knowledge and information economy unless we take appropriate action for ourselves.

There are long term broadband campaigners, such as myself (14 years) and others who live and work in this and neighbouring counties, who are delighted to read that the issue of broadband is being addressed by the LSP. However, having been there, done that, and got the tshirts, we know that the solution is not to lobby, but to start digging. Should the LSP wish to host a public meeting on this issue, we would be happy to invite on their behalf many of those (including from some of the world's largest companies and smallest communities) who know precisely how this could be achieved, and thus share this information with other residents of Eden suffering on the wrong side of the digital chasm.

Yours etc

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That bloody 2Meg argument again

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Read more! There are always going to be people who are quite happy with their bicycle and have nothing better to do with their days than cycle tranquilly everywhere. Others think we should all drive around the country at 40mph or whatever the latest national speed limit is to be. That's fine if you only ever have to drive a couple of miles to get to all your local amenities etc and have plenty of time in your day to do everything you need to.....

However, if you are trying to, for instance, run a business or a family where your time is precious and finite, that slow speed to achieve anything is hugely restrictive. And so it is with 2Mbps.

Every forum, every press article about the USO etc has some jerk saying that 2Mbps is plenty. Look folks, it is dead simple, it bloody isn't.

Let's put it into a really easy to understand visual tool that FTTH Council and Utopia have provided to get through to people why FTTH is needed.

It's here Fibrespeed - click on it, check out the numbers, and think about what those speeds mean. How many hours and minutes will your life have in it? We don't know exactly but life is finite. Our time here is finite. We do not live forever, however invulnerable we may feel.

I run a digital business and have done for 14 years. I am an early adopter I guess, mainly because I am hyperactive on the net - that is my job. I export my skills to countries around the world, hence bringing money into this country ie I partake in the global economy. And my competitors can do things I can't even dream of doing.

An example: If I want to download 100 photos from a prospect, over a 1Mbps connection let's say, it takes me almost 9mins. That's 9 mins where my connection isn't going to want to be doing anything else particularly strenuous. So, I sit here and try to fill the time doing something else that doesn't need to eat into my connectivity, which seriously affects my productivity. But it's also 9 mins where one of my competitors could well have seen the photos, picked up the phone, pitched, and won the business. And that's just one instance of my daily problems running an e-business without true broadband.

As a mum with two teens, I get their frustration only too clearly about why they can't even contemplate downloading a film that their mate in Denmark has told them is fab. She can download it in minutes. They are digital teenagers, brought up in the world of 'NOW' that is the Net, but their 'NOW' to talk about this film is at least 5 hours away. The moment has passed, the conversation moved on, they have missed out.

Am I getting anywhere explaining this?

Imagine if you can do things with your mobile that many of us adults wouldn't dare even attempt for fear of knackering several hundred quids worth of hardware. You create stop animation films with music scores you have written, played and edited in yourself, for instance. Wanna share it with your mates? Well, it's a damned good thing it's the summer holidays then and you have plenty of time on your hands. Because whilst you sit and wait for it to upload, your friends elsewhere, including in urban Britain, have uploaded at least 3 other films. And you can't download them whilst you're waiting because the next door neighbour has decided to watch the Xmas special of Dr Who and the contention rates means your connection has ground to a halt.

Get it yet?

This is not about being content to watch iplayer, or read emails. This is about pushing the envelope, even just a little. And many of us want to do far more than that. This is about being hyperactive on the Net and NEEDING to do 10 things at once. It doesn't take much application of technology to set up processes running simultaneously to bring 2Mbps to its knees. And we have no idea what is round the corner, although some of us have had glimpses of new applications and are now very close to the realisation that in order to live our lives how we wish to, there is gonna be little option in the next decade but to take our earning capacity, skills, family, and pay taxes in another country.

This 2Mbps bar is way too low. I don't care that there are 7 million people who couldn't give a figroll if they ever get on the Net or not. They aren't earning online and paying taxes from their earning. I don't care if matey 3 doors down is perfectly happy logging on once a week and reading his emails and thinks 2Mbps is generous. "What on earth would you do with it?" LOL. Come and sit in my house and watch my kids trying to do things you have never imagined with 1s and 0s, and you might understand.

Try running my business where I can't even make a Skype voice call to my clients in Canada. Then work out how much of my profit is going to BT and The Phone Co-op, not the Treasury or my local economy, because I have no option but to make an international landline call. Video conferencing. ROFL. I could be retired by the time the rural areas of this country can do that to any degree of usability if we attempt to infill with mobile instead of fibre. I will definitely be living abroad though if this continual noise about 2Mbps being sufficient continues.

What we are doing is allowing a BIG LIE to become truth. And we are allowing the spreading of that lie to be done by people who are entirely ignorant of what they are saying, the impact this lie will have on our nation and citizens and businesses and children and communities and rural areas and LIFE.

---Thursday rant over----
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Digital Britain Unconferences

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Read more! After attending the Digital Britain Summit recently via the backchannel aka Twitter, it was no surprise that those of us on Twitter decided that an unconference was in order. There are now multiple events planned which will be taking place all over the nation from May 5th 2009 (prior to the publication of the Carter Report) and you need to be there!!

Firstly, the Summit was pretty appalling really. There was 100 times more controversy, joined up and future-proofed thinking, experience, expertise, and passion on the Twitter channel. The backchannel was the place to be, though sadly, the majority of the "decision makers" have probably never actually tried Twitter and were no doubt unaware of the furore ongoing there during the Summit. Hence the unconferences for the digitally aware.

You can find more info here about the Digital Britain unconferences or of course on the #digitalbritain channel on Twitter.

Secondly, the fact that a not for profit site - Write to reply - could produce a working and popular method to seek public comments on the DB report against a Government produced DBERR comment site (which didn't actually accept any comments for the first few days) is an indication of the state of understanding of IT and usage by government in this country. Write to reply have now set up the Fake Digital Britain report and anyone involved in any way with Digital Britain, NGA (Next Generation Access), broadband etc would do well to keep abreast of the latest postings there and contribute.

For those in this country who sell/export/use their digital skills (never mind what Stephen Fry said about using a mouse, some of us have world beating digital skills we are selling to other nations who have a stronger currency than the pound), it has become increasingly apparent that the government and the telcos in this country are completely out of touch with what is required to be a digitally connected nation.

FTTH it has to be. No interim measures, no false arguments about expense, no technical disputes, no dithering. FTTH. No half-hearted USOs that were ten years out of date before conception. No rural areas last. No last century, trad telco ownership models. No suits. FTTH owned by this community which is the UK - citizens and businesses.

Many are no longer just blogging or talking/shouting at events but are taking the situation into our own hands, and barcamps, mashup events etc will bring together those who can JFDI and make FTTH happen in the UK. Already there are projects flying under the radar which intend to turn this ludicrous broadband situation on its head.

It will no doubt prove not too difficult to show those who have exhibited an almost criminal incompetence to lead this country into the light for the last 25 years (yes, it really was 1984 when FTTH was first proposed on a national scale in this country) how to JFDI Fibre To Every Home.

Please forward this blog post, or pass on the links to the unconferences and other resources mentioned to ANYONE you know who cares about the state of this country, their business, the economy, their community, their children. Solving this problem affects everyone of us, now and in the future.


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How bad is it in broadband Britain?

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Read more! I thought I would video my attempts tonight to watch a Youtube video or something on iplayer and share the pain. I have now spent over an hour trying to upload a 16.7MB, 1min 13secs video to illustrate the problem of buffering, downloading, poor connectivity etc by showing exactly what it is like here in the UK.

I have to admit defeat. Or perhaps success in proving my point?

This is on a connection which speedtests have running at almost 2Mbps, in the middle of the night, when the rest of the village is asleep so contention should be at a minimum. Imagine if I was trying to share a video of a wedding ceremony, or similar, with family overseas. It would be a far bigger file than this, and my chances of sharing it during this lifetime from a UK connection would appear to be slim to zero. To be brutal, I couldn't even share it with my next door neighbour, which also highlights the idiocy of everything going out to central peering points unnecessarily.

Meanwhile, if the UK really thinks it can get away with a 2Mbps USO without any reference to quality, latency, symmetry etc either in 2012 we are, to be downright honest, knackered.

So, just a reminder to all, comments etc are due in within 3 weeks (March 12th) to Carter's Digital Britain team. Email digitalbritain@berr.gsi.gov.uk expressing interest in commenting and they will get back to you. Honest. Just who knows when - we emailed them within an hour or so of the report being released (Jan 29th, 1.29pm to be precise) and have heard nothing, yet. Read more!

How much does 4G cost?

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Read more! Bearing in mind that the Carter Report is hinting at mobile operators being responsible for remote, rural and USO coverage, the likelihood is that will be over a mixture of 2 and 3G. How far behind us will that leave us? And what about 4G?

After all, NTT Docomo are switching off their 2G network at about the time our new USO is supposed to be in full swing. And the reason for the switch off? It will be more than just obsolete for them, it has already been more than surpassed, both wired and wirelessly.

For many of us, that little "3" on our smartphones is still an elusive little devil, and I've seen mine more times abroad than here in the UK. (And yes, I do get out the house!) Even if the mobile operators look to invest in making the most of those all expensive 3G licences from 2000, or are given tax breaks and incentives to do so, where is 3G coverage actually going to be by 2012? Should we really be 'giving' the auction monies from 2000 to subsidise an already out of date technology?

And so what about 4G and investment in that? The vice president of AT&T's network architecture, Hank Kafka, gave a to-the-point analysis of the issue only last week. Primarily, that 4G is about the 'mobile broadband world', whereas 3G can't deliver what many users need their mobile experience to give them TODAY. Can I just repeat that? 3G doesn't give a broadband experience TODAY and isn't much more likely to tomorrow, or next year, or in 2012. TelephonyOnline have a great article here.

So, to the point. If 4G is required to offer mobile broadband, what exactly are we going to do about a USO, a regulatory body, government advisors, telcos etc who seem satisfied to let UK consumers and businesses in 2012 struggle with something that in 2009 is known to be insufficient for present, let alone future, needs?

The reasoning behind the USO is sound. Yes, we need to all have access to affordable, ubiquitous, FUNCTIONAL broadband. It is the mechanism(s) to support it that seem deeply flawed. Yeah, 3G would be nice (compared to what is available today) but not whilst our mobile operators are permitted to screw us with 'unlimited' tariffs that aren't, disproportionate data costs, and at speeds which are NOT broadband any more than ADSL is. Encourage them to invest for 2012 and beyond certainly, but not in something that won't deliver. And the wireless cloud should be an overlay on a superfast FTTH network, not a substitute for it.

4G may prove expensive, but nowhere near as expensive as wasting precious public money on a solution that people from the top levels of industry down to grassroots know is 'unfit for purpose' already.


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Broadband USO on the horizon?

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Read more! I questioned yesterday the wisdom of removing the USO and pondered on whether we would see telcos failing to repair broken lines etc in areas where they no longer had an obligation to supply a service. It seems that this assumption, that it was a removal rather than a replacement, may have been a tad uninformed/negative as ThinkBroadband and El Reg are reporting that Lord Carter is expected to introduce a broadband USO of up to 2Mbps.

There are going to be mixed reactions on this.

Firstly, "up to 2Mbps" connectivity (I struggle to call it broadband) has been on offer for almost a decade. As is being proven amongst consumers, for many this "maximum requirement" of 2Mbps is already insufficient for today's surfing habits, let alone more exciting activities online.

The existing USO was put in place in 1984. Should this replacement be in place for a similar length of time, one can see that "up to 2Mbps" may prove more than just frustrating for those who have to rely on the USO to get broadband access in 2009, let alone 2030 and beyond. There is a huge difference between what is required to be able to make a phone call and having "functional internet access" which is what the current USO states - one can assume the new USO will have similar wording.

The present USO states that this functional internet access should be "..at least 28.8kbps" but in my experience of dealing with those in notspots and areas with poor lines etc, that would be a dream connection speed, which implies that for a percentage of the population the current USO has failed. However, even if you can get 28.8kbps, it is totally useless for internet banking, Youtube, submitting DEFRA forms etc.

And we have seen the ISPs approach to "up to 2Mbps". If true data were available on the actual connection speed of those where there is no 8Mbps+ broadband, (which inevitably skews the results on a national average) I suspect we would find that many people in the UK are suffering dire connection speeds of well under 512kbps download. If this were to continue under the new USO, we will find that many people would remain in a disadvantaged position and unable to do anything about it because the ISPS are interpreting the USO to the letter rather than within the spirit.

Really, that USO should insist on the 1984 definition of broadband, "2Mbps+ symmetrical capable of carrying voice, video and date simultaneously". Put the bar back where it was 20+ years ago, rather than continually lowering it. Cater for the consumers rather than the providers. And think long-term...what legacy does 'up to 2Mbps' leave to our kids??

Were this 2Mbps+ approach to be taken, it would assist in achieving the recently cited aim (see this week's posts) to make next gen access available to all, because it is obviously more sensible and cost-effective to put in a solution which will be in place for 20+ years eg fibre, rather than wireless or bonding aged copper. It would mean that communities where there were known connectivity issues (for instance, see the Notspot report and map ABC produced 4 years ago and which urgently needs updating for the benefits of UK Plc) could work with the providers in putting in FTTH on a mutual basis, thereby reducing costs, creating local jobs, and giving everyone a share of the FiWi Pie (more on this concept another day).

Secondly, although there has been plenty of noise about false and misleading claims in advertising by the ISPs about what they can actually deliver to any particular customer, (didn't you read the small print on the bottom of the TV screen from the other side of the room?) little has been done to prevent mis-selling by the ISPs to consumers. Yes, Ofcom have made attempts to prevent it with a voluntary code of conduct last year, but it hasn't prevented many customers feeling 'cheated' when the all-singing, all-dancing broadband service they have purchased on a 12, 18 or even 24 month contract actually hums tunelessly and only permits them to limp rather than tango around the Net.

Meanwhile, should you suffer from a poor service, the complaints procedure at Ofcom is stifled under a website equivalent of "Press 1 for...., Press 2 for.....please hold....." and then recommends only that you make an official complaint to the company concerned. Rather than Ofcom, who after all have a statutory requirement to "further the interests of citizens", having procedures in place which assist the citizen to make and resolve their complaint swiftly.

After all, under the current system, if a consumer gets lost within a corporate complaints system and finally gives up, there is no record of this with the regulator. Therefore, should there be a constant stream of complaints about a particular company or acquiring connectivity in a particular area, the regulator is a) unaware of the scale of the problem and hence b) not in a position to do anything about it, c) to apply pressure to the ISP to mend its ways, or d) to generate a map of known notspots around the UK. This knowing where the notspots are is absolutely vital if any successful intervention is to take place now and in the future.

Most consumers, unsurprisingly, have better things to do with their time than to spend hours on hold to a customer's complaints department at their own expense, when they could just cut their losses, and spend those hours and their hard-earned cash trying to find a new, better provider.

One can see how making it feasible for operators to provide a minimum service even by today's standards under a new USO could well lead to a proportion of those needing broadband connectivity feeling more than just under-served. And hence the digital divide could (or may, inevitably) widen.

On the other side, it is possible that forcing ISPs (whether mobile/wireless or wired) to have to connect users could see a growth in rural connectivity. But, it needs to be said, that unless there is a HIE (as referred to yesterday) approach to the problem, with the regulator and ISPs sharing info on where the problem sites and notspots occur, and then sharing infrastructure costs to solve the issues and offer consumers CHOICE, it could boil down to consumers' being quoted ridiculous prices for connectivity because that ISP doesn't want the hassle or expense of trying to connect someone in the far reaches of Outer Cumbria. (A job sadly not done with the £20million Project Access was given for the task).

At this point, would someone care to step in and point out the pros of the proposed broadband USO as I seem to have lost sight of what they might be?!

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The digital divide may widen and deepen yet

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Read more! This blog post puts it as succinctly as anyone can and contains the relevant links to expand further on the post from two days ago.

The worrying part in all this is several steps back from next gen FTTH. If the USO were to be removed, rather than a USO for minimum level broadband introduced as per EU regulator thinking, then all those who I and others know who still do not have a landline under that USO are going to be joined by many, many others who have little to no choice of mobile coverage, let alone a chance of decent broadband this decade or possibly the next. Who is this going to affect most? Yep, you've guessed it - the rural and the poor.

How long would it be before non-functioning landlines in rural areas, which will no longer fall under a USO, are not repaired? Our telephone box in the village has now been broken for several weeks. Many of the people here, where the average wage is £16000 (half the national average) rely on that phone box. Only 2 days ago, my door was hammered on by a neighbour up the village who does not have and cannot afford a mobile phone as she needed to phone the fire brigade. However, even if she had a mobile phone, her choice of providers is restricted to two or three max - and you end up choosing around here by where you are likely to need to make a call from as coverage is patchy to say the least.

There are no 3G dongles in this village. What is the point? They won't work here. When I was in Scotland last September I was stunned by how often there was no mobile signal, not even to text, let alone to try to surf on my smart phone. But it really isn't much different in much of the north of England.

This latest thinking shows how we are heading backwards. Brown can make glib comments about Tennessee Valley type thinking, but someone had better start advising him and others fast on the reality of what is required. And the implications of what some of their thinking is most likely to lead to. Instead of a mutually owned FTTH network that is future-proofed well into the middle of this century, we stand to waste phenomenal amounts of tax payers' money creating a patchwork quilt of un-coordinated solutions belonging to a multiplicity of providers who are there purely to serve their own commercial interests, not UK plc and its citizens.

By removing the USO, rather than future-proofing it to a broadband level USO, we stand to turn the digital divide into a chasm, with huge insurmountable cliffs at each side of it. The assumption that by throwing money at providers they will attack the problem in a co-ordinated and sensible manner that will help this country out is ludicrous.

We should adopt the approach the Scottish Highlands and Islands did over mobile coverage, which was to sit the mobile operators down and say, "You need to provide coverage to here, here and here. If you want to join in the game, you must share masts, and this is where the masts will be sited. If you don't want to play, then count yourself out of the running now and leave the discussions." (Or words to that effect). This brought choice of provider for the consumers, a minimum amount of infrastructure with shared costs thereby meaning it cost each provider less in the long run to reach a new market, and less environmental impact and planning problems from masts dotted willy nilly across the horizon.

Do our politicos in London have any idea how widespread zero or very poor mobile coverage is in this country? Do they have any idea how many people still do not have a fully functional landline under the USO? Do we really want yet more masts littering our countryside to provide fill-in? Have any of the mobile operators or telcos actually been made to prove their broadband speeds with actual users? Or prove that the mobile and 3G coverage is where they claim it to be?

Does this government and its advisors (who seem to have an in-depth comprehension of telecoms, not) know how to reduce the costs of the civils to ensure that any money thrown at the solution of the next generation FTTH problem creates jobs now and into the future, rather than being wasted on bureaucracy etc? Have they considered where the advice is coming from about the costs and methods to do this FTTH job - the industry body and its members for crying out loud, hardly independent is it?? Have they considered different forms of ownership eg owned by the users on a mutual basis, rather than constantly pursuing the myth/fallacy that by encouraging the competitive marketplace to deliver, this country's citizens are being best served? It must be easy to see from the growing outcry on public forums, the BBC website, current affairs programs, research, consumer bodies and so on that IT IS NOT WORKING.

When is someone seriously going to query £51/month and similar prices for a connection over an infrastructure with reduced opex costs and reduced environmental impact at a time when data transfer costs are also now actually approaching zero?

The telco tail is wagging the UK dog and it is time it stopped before we waste our money on a solution that isn't, and which many, many informed people could resolve if they were only asked, and then listened to.

Ah, it's nice to be back! < / rant> Your turn!!
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