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Europe IV: The Final Hour

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    Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-bus-live-news

    Corbyn says the fibre broadband that UK citizens would receive wouldn't be a slow bas service, it would be a high standard connection to a level that currently only 8-10% of the country receives. Rural and low connection areas would be serviced first, then towns, finally urban environments.

    He also says that closing tax loopholes would cover the cost of the pledge with the green transformation fund covering initial costs. They also say that every campaign pledge they are making has been fully costed.
    The thing is, I have absolutely no issue with them leveraging a tax to pay for rural broadband. I feel in our ever-increasingly-online society, it's pretty vital people have access to the internet for commerce, and it isn't always financially viable to provide that to far-flung communities, so the government should step in and make that viable.

    However, conversely, for the rest of the country, although I dislike privatisation in most areas, broadband is one of the services were time has shown that can actually work if the conditions exist for it to be a genuine market. In much of the country, if you move into a new house, you can choose from ~10 providers, some cheap, some expensive, some better, some worse, some streamlined, some part of TV packages...

    This isn't like with the trains. I can't rock up to my local station and look at the different tracks, and think "I'll take the PepsiCo train because the Coca-Cola one is expensive, the Virgin one provides a meal which I don't need, the Amazon one is faster but costs more and I don't need to get there so fast..."

    It feels kinda unnecessary.

    Comment


      I think you're missing the point he made. Yes, it's a genuine market... for 8-10% of the country if NI's figures are about right. So you personally might be in a position where this works for you but that doesn't mean it's working for everyone. I guess you're looking at your own broadband choices and wondering what the problem is that needs to be solved and I can understand that but it would be the same if you were on a great bus route with an underground station right next door and a taxi right beside it and yet large chunks of the country had no access to any public transport.

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        Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
        They also say that every campaign pledge they are making has been fully costed.
        Did you see this interview where Conservative Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng piles into Labour's costings (based on how the Tories totted up every pledge) but refused to comment on Conservative costings?

        DRINKING GAME! Take a shot every time he says "infrastructure"!

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          Well that's exactly it. Anyone trying to do anything decent gets a grilling on their costings or are told it can't be done and yet if you just slapped a post-it over broadband infrastructure that read 'DUP payoff' or maybe just 'war money', the Tories would find the money quick enough.

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            Absolutely no issue with them investigating other parties' planned expenditure, but you can't clam up about yours when asked.

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              If we've got free decent FTTP broadband in 2030, I'll eat my modem.

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                Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                I think you're missing the point he made. Yes, it's a genuine market... for 8-10% of the country if NI's figures are about right. So you personally might be in a position where this works for you but that doesn't mean it's working for everyone.
                Are you seriously saying that 8-10% of the population has access to more than one broadband provider? Is that the figure they're putting forward? As if so, then that's a really serious problem and I'm surprised it got this bad.

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                  Originally posted by Asura View Post
                  Are you seriously saying that 8-10% of the population has access to more than one broadband provider? Is that the figure they're putting forward? As if so, then that's a really serious problem and I'm surprised it got this bad.
                  No, I don't know the figure at all, hence that bolded part about it being based on Neon Ignition's estimate above mine. So I'm not going to stand over that! I don't know what it's like there in the UK. I know here, we have that exact problem though. If you looked through the broadband ads, you'd think the country had some of the hottest broadband on the planet and yet the percentage who can actually access it is tiny (even bizarrely within cities) and large areas still don't even have workable broadband. Only the most profitable areas will get served first.

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                    I don’t have enough bandwidth for my household. We have it coming soon but only because enough locals with enough wealth committed to it. And I’m not even in that remote of an area. Left to companies who put profit first these areas will never get it. Not saying it’s even doable but it’s a good goal.

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                      Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                      No, I don't know the figure at all, hence that bolded part about it being based on Neon Ignition's estimate above mine. So I'm not going to stand over that! I don't know what it's like there in the UK. I know here, we have that exact problem though. If you looked through the broadband ads, you'd think the country had some of the hottest broadband on the planet and yet the percentage who can actually access it is tiny (even bizarrely within cities) and large areas still don't even have workable broadband. Only the most profitable areas will get served first.
                      Yeah, to give some context, I made the assumption that the UK figure was much higher than that. A quick look shows...

                      Check progress on superfast and ultrafast broadband roll-outs across the UK and the speeds people are recording?


                      So over 96% of UK properties already have access to >24mbps broadband (this is an important distinction; it isn't population or land area).

                      Now, of course, this doesn't mean we should rest on our laurels. Some people don't have access to decent broadband and that's a problem. I just mean that the current system has got us to 96% coverage in ~20 years, so I'm saying that a major shakeup might not really be the best approach.

                      Comment


                        Yeah, those figures aren't bad at all but, yes, the central point remains and it is clear that, for many people (certainly working people), broadband is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity of modern life. And so that throws it into the realm of public service if the private sector is not serving everyone. And they aren't even when the figures look pretty good.

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                          Why are the battlebusses so disappointing, I expect something vaguely A-Team with some improvised armour plating, a machine gun cupola and a grenade launcher that fires home made grenades with compressed air.

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by vanpeebles View Post
                            Why are the battlebusses so disappointing, I expect something vaguely A-Team with some improvised armour plating, a machine gun cupola and a grenade launcher that fires home made grenades with compressed air.
                            I wonder who designed them?

                            Comment


                              He’s got my vote based soley on that video

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                                Originally posted by Brad View Post
                                I don’t have enough bandwidth for my household. We have it coming soon but only because enough locals with enough wealth committed to it. And I’m not even in that remote of an area. Left to companies who put profit first these areas will never get it. Not saying it’s even doable but it’s a good goal.
                                I live on the edge of a major city. My broadband download speed never goes over 5mb/s and I don’t even have the option of cable. I even tried 4g but that was worse the the broadband. There’s not enough houses affected (about 60) to get together for a community fund. Openreach has no plans to upgrade us in the future.

                                Fair to say I still buy physical released games!

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