Broadband: how far have we come?

As 2012 looms, it seems appropriate to consider the promises of the past and the future of our broadband experience. Back in January of 2009, the BBC reported that the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had promised a bright future where every home would have access to broadband and faster download speeds of up to 2Mbps.

Categorised to be of the same importance as roads, bridges and trains, Internet and broadband services seem to be the cornerstone of today's society, a society where we are more likely to converse by email than engage face-to-face, to stream a movie rather than sit in a cinema.

At the time, Shadow Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt told BBC News that little more was promised to achieve these goals other than making more reports, and David Cameron himself believed that access to high-speed broadband for the majority of the population wouldn't be achieved for another five years.

So, who was right and have these goals been achieved?

uSwitch.com offered part of the answer in a November 2011 report which analysed data from two million broadband speed tests. The results found average speeds of 6.2Mbps between 7pm and 9pm with the major factor for a poorer performance being neighbours due to there being as many as 50 or more households sharing the same connection to the exchange.

Ofcom data released in November 2011 also gives some interesting insights: 97% of Northern Ireland's population and 58% of the UK's population have access to superfast broadband whereas only 30 to 40% of those living in Wales and Scotland enjoy similar service speeds.

So it seems that it's all down to location, location, location, with some areas far exceeding expectations, whilst others experience a frustrating lack of performance.

Although neither prediction has emerged as the definitive winner, there is great news around the corner. In October 2011, the European Commission proposed an investment of £8 billion into a massive rollout of superfast broadband so that, by 2020, everyone in the UK will have access to at least 30Mbps broadband and over half the population enjoying an incredible 100Mbps.