2.5 Mbps with bursts at 100 Mbps is "higher than anyone currently needs"
So they didn't go for next generation speeds. Verizon doesn't either (although they do go a little higher these days). I can understand that they wouldn't want to send a message to their 4bn current customers that the speeds they get are outdated, but testing higher capacity services could also have demonstrated to the market that Virgin Media is not the only company capable of delivering 25 Mbps +.
Still, I can sort of understand it.
What's more surprising to me is the public response BT made to this veiled criticism. Quoting the BBC Technologies article:
But a BT spokesman said that the speeds would be "very decent".
"Higher in fact that anyone currently needs," he added.
Higher-in-fact-that-anyone-currently-needs.
Wow.
That's a bold assertion.
And a pretty short sighted one too. I know for a fact that this is not the view of all the BT people I talked to, so I can only wonder at how prepared this response was. It comes out with such arrogance...
Sadly, it also confirms that Ebbsfleet is little more than window dressing, and not much of a full blown trial at all...
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1. At 20 Jun 2008 15:33, Lindsey Annison wrote:
And the consumers have been asked what we want ...when?
The BBC 'Broadband Britain' news reports by Rory Cellan-Jones saw the highest ever response through the BBC website. I hope BT and others in industry have taken a long hard look at many of the comments, and those on other consumer fora, which show that us lot - you know the guys who PAY for the services - are not happy with current connectivity.
2Mbps (if we could only dream of _that_ in rural areas) is not enough to do Internet Banking, upload our Youtube videos, share large graphics files, or any of the other daily processes we need to live, work and play. Have you tried shopping on TescoDirect in a rural location? It is faster to get in the car and drive 41miles to the nearest Tesco.....and back.
100Mbps is closer to true broadband, but many other nations have examples of that already, and it still isn't enough for current applications, usage etc.
And this persistent insistence on asymmetry is driving many of us to seriously consider emigrating. We want a service that gives us an absolute minimum of 100Mbps symmetrical and the sooner you (read: industry) get to 1Gbps, the better. This is not some high-falluting daydream, this is about accessing services we need to engage in our daily lives.
We live in a global knowledge economy, and knowledge is power. What this impoverished connectivity is doing is withholding access to knowledge, and hence stymying innovation, creativity, and access to that global economy. Considering the current economic downturn, surely what we need more of right now is bandwidth? The costs of which are now approaching zero.....