Nowhere to be seen it seems. Forget the hype and the stats, we are falling ever further behind other nations. The job is not done. ADSL is not broadband. And the digital divide within Britain and between UK and other nations, and hence digital exclusion for UK Plc and its citizens, is increasing rapidly. 

And we are supposed to shut up about broadband in Korea and Japan, fibre to the home in Holland and other countries, Gigabit or Bust and Utopia projects, dig where you live fibre projects, fiwi (fibre with wireless in the first mile) etc etc and pretend that ADSL is it? I think not.

Let's look at the reality here in the UK. Firstly, the definition used for broadband 20 years ago was changed.

Why? Because the telcos were failing to get any balls in the net, so what did we do in Britain? We moved the goalposts closer. Never mind that our broadband game is now a completely different game played on a much smaller field than many other nations. Competitive? We are in the nth division, instead of the premier league it would seem.

In 1984, broadband was:

Either

• at least 2Mbps symmetrical 

Or

• the technology to transmit and receive voice, video and data simultaneously

These two definitions amount to pretty much the same thing - a technology baseline that would enable consumers (whether public or private sector, or citizens) to use applications of interest, to be creative, to compete in a global knowledge economy. To be, in other words, DIGITAL CITIZENS.

What is the definition of broadband today in the UK?

Anything over 256kbps download as far as Ofcom and the government are concerned it seems. Upload is irrelevant, and confusing the consumers is the order of the day. (Shouldn't Trading Standards get involved in clarifying what can and can't be sold as 'broadband'?)

ADSL for your average home user (if you are lucky) is 512kbps download/256kbps upload shared with a bunch of others around you. Or you can buy the 'superfast' Business Broadband (appropriate price tag attached) which is 2Mbps download and 256kbps upload, also shared with others around you - wowee.  ADSL2+ (on an enabled exchange and there aren't many yet) - within 300m or so of the exchange should give you up to 24Mbps download and around 1Mbps upload. Further away than that on an ADSL2+ enabled exchange and you are looking at a maximum of 8Mbps within a couple of miles, then back down to bog standard ADSL.

Capped services are the norm if you want to pay around £15/month, allowing you to watch only a handful of movies a month. Yep, that's all folks!

Broadband elsewhere means:

Do we need to do more than look East? Korea and Japan - 10-100Mbps today to each end user. 1Gbps by 2010.

(For more info on worldwide connectivity, look at Om Malik's Broadband Wiki which is an ever-growing  resource)

 Now, who can get "broadband" in the UK:

• ADSL2+ will only be available to around 20% of the population because of line length. (Read Point Topic's latest report on line lengths)
• ADSL - the business broadband flavour of 2Mbps is only available to around 40% of the population.
• That must mean the rest of us, some 40% of the population of the UK, can only get 512kbps/256kbps for the foreseeable future (unless you are in a cabled area, on a satellite connection, or lucky enough to be on a community network).  And that, my friends, for now is all you can hope to get - a mere 200th of what Japanese and Koreans can have today, and when in 2010 other nations plan to have 1Gbps to every household (eg Gigabit or Bust), they'll have a massive 2000x fatter pipe than nearly half the UK population. Feeling a little left behind yet??

(Find your 'broadband' slow? At peak times, slower than dial up? Can't run the applications you expected to be able to from the expensive TV ads? Feel a bit misled? Better complain to Ofcom then. And your MP. And us. And the press. And Trading Standards. Make your voice heard.)

• Cable and wireless connectivity do not approach the percentage coverage of the old copper phone network but in most instances can provide higher level symmetrical services. WISPS and community networks are on the increase as people look to use more on-net applications, and in 'notspots' (see below). Satellite coverage is available across the whole of the UK but symmetry and latency are issues which require addressing. We are regularly told that the number of users connected via wireless or satellite is negligible and these users do not feature in Ofcom and OECD data. We would strongly debate that as overall the number of users within OECD connecting over these 'other solutions' has increased by 13% in the last year.
• There is one other group - those who can't get broadband at all of any flavour. Apparently, this is less than 1% of the population but it would be very nice if BT actually made available the true figures of those who can't get broadband because of distance from exchange, old copper, aluminium, DACS etc because there seems to be an ever-growing number of voices on forums and in the media who have tried and tried to get a connection and can't. C'mon BT, how many people can you not connect at all? And what are the Government doing to ensure that those who can't connect today will be connected with a future-proof technology as soon as possible? (Unlike the latest 'scandal' in the South West and Midlands.)

We keep being told that the achievement of being the most competitive broadband nation by the end of 2005 shows in our position in the league table. Well, the latest OECD figures have us at 13th...enough said.

The reality needs to be shared. The voices who know what is going on are often drowned out by the power of hype from millions of marketing and PR quids being spent by industry and public sector to convince us that we are the greatest nation.

But that's what Samizdats are about, innit?!

And The End Game conference on November 22nd will not only highlight and expose these issues but will seek to find realistic, affordable solutions that will truly permit us to be digital citizens, able to compete alongside other digital citizens worldwide.

Oh, and guess what? Despite a multitude of invites sent to ministers, public sector etc etc, none of them have deigned to accept our invitation to speak (except Ofcom). No-one wants to talk about the strategy for 2012, nor about the policies they intend to employ to get us there, nor about the importance of broadband and future-proofed infrastructure to the growth of this nation's economy. Seems broadband isn't very high on the agenda for this government - shame on them.

We would like to suggest that you go to the Broadband Summit at the QEII conference centre on 21st November and hear the official line, and then come and compare it with reality on the following day at the Broadband End Game,  CityPoint. Then make your own mind up about broadband Britain and what needs doing.

The views above are my own and not necessarily those of ABC.

Lindsey Annison

November 2nd 2005