Gallery

The great broadband con

Posted on 14 Aug 2007 at 14:34

Throttled connections, impossible migration and rip-off prices: Britain's fixed and mobile broadband networks are falling apart at the seams. We expose the broadband swindles - and how to beat them.

In the space of six years, broadband has grown from nothing to become an essential home and business utility. We increasingly depend on a solid connection to manage our everyday lives, whether it be for online banking, making telephone calls or even watching TV, not to mention the bread-and-butter applications such as email and surfing the web. In short, broadband has become indispensable.

But having learnt to depend on broadband, Britain has witnessed a massive decline in its internet provision over the past 12-18 months. Connection speeds vary wildly, ISPs are choking back bandwidth during the hours we need it most, and the cost of broadband has become a postcode lottery. People are thrown off their broadband service without reason, and then left to wait weeks and face stiff charges to connect to a new ISP. Others are effectively held captive on unreliable services because they signed lengthy contracts with punitive get-out clauses.

It isn't only fixed-line broadband that's suffering. Access via Wi-Fi hotspots remains both ludicrously expensive and woefully inconsistent. Mobile workers are often forced to pay as much as £6 to spend ten minutes checking email in an airport lounge. Although when compared to mobile phone "broadband", £6 for ten minutes can appear to be good value. Here the networks attempt to disguise their disgraceful prices, or try to portray tariffs with caps limited to just 30MB as "unmetered".

Over the course of this feature, we're going to expose the gaping flaws in Britain's broadband, explaining the problems that afflict fixed-line, Wi-Fi and mobile access. And, where possible, we'll also suggest solutions to help you avoid falling victim to one of the many cons that have come to characterise broadband Britain.

Click here to read "Fixed-line broadband."

Click here to read "Mobile internet."

Click here to read "WiFi hotspots."