Broadband Speeds Drop by 35% In the Evenings

According to comparison site uSwitch, UK broadband speeds drop by an average of 35% from their off-peak highs during the evenings when most people go online.

The report said that peak surf times were between 7pm and 9pm, meaning that was the slowest time to be online.  It went on to say that the best time to be online was between 2am and 3am.

There were also huge regional variations between evening and early morning surfing times.  Users in Evesham, Worcestershire, fared worst, according to the survey, with a massive 69% drop-off between off-peak morning and evening surfing.

Broadband speed is becoming more important as bandwidth-hungry services such as on-demand TV become more popular.  Telecoms regulator Ofcom recently revealed that British households download an average of 17 gigabytes of data every month over their home broadband connections.

Critics say consumers are being misled by internet service providers who continue to advertise their maximum broadband speeds, even though many users do not get them.

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4G Airwaves Auction set for 2012

Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards has laid out the new timetable for the rollout of next-generation mobile services in the UK, at the FT World Telecoms Conference.



The first half of 2012 will see the airwaves that enable 4G networks being auctioned off to mobile operators. The original auction was earmarked for 2009 but was delayed because of legal action by mobile firms such as O2 and Vodafone.


The auction will see two chunks of the spectrum sold off - the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands. Due to the digital TV switchover, the 800MHz slice has been freed up, which allows mobile signals to travel over greater distances, making it invaluable in the search to find ways of bringing broadband to rural areas.


Due to the litigation last year we are slightly behind other countries in offering services. Germany, for example, auctioned off its digital dividend spectrum and others are planning to do so very soon.

Delay for Broadband Britain

Labour gave 2012 as the deadline for Broadband Britain to be in place, giving the whole of the UK 2 Megabits per second. With that deadline fast approaching, the new Government has pushed it back to 2015 citing a lack of “sufficient funding” as the reason.

All seem to be in agreement that a universal service of 2 Mbps per second is the minimum required but BT has warned that it will cost billions to get fast broadband to every part of Britain.

Steve Robertson, chief executive of BT Openreach, believes that the goal can not be achieved without around £2bn in public funding.

The government wants the industry to be imaginative in solving that problem. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt believes that the previous administrations goal was unrealistic and had this to say a recent industry conference:

"I have looked at the provision the Government had made to achieve this by 2012. And I'm afraid that I am not convinced that there is sufficient funding in place.

"So, while we will keep working towards that date, we have set ourselves a more realistic target of achieving universal 2 Mbps access within the lifetime of this Parliament," he added.

Does the Digital Economy Act stand a chance?

In Finland, 96% of its 5.3million citizens are now connected to the internet. In a law passed in October and brought into force last week, their citizens now have the legal right to broadband access.



There is a stark difference between Finland and the UK. Our Nordic friends are treating broadband as essential to its infrastructure, whereas here in the UK, the highly contentious Digital Economy Act offers the potential for structures where people could, in theory, be cut off if they are judged to have broken copyright law.


The Lib Dem arm of today’s coalition government is taking steps to have the Act repealed, and it will be very interesting if they manage it. They are in favour of most of the act but are completely opposed to the parts that relate to the blocking of people's internet connections.


Under the law in Finland, telecomms providers are obliged to offer always-on high-speed internet connections to all citizens, with a minimum speed of at least 1 megabit per second. In the UK, the government is aiming at 2Mbps for 99% of the population by 2012 - but there's no law to back it.


We are now ranked 33rd in the world when it comes to broadband speed, with an average that is nearly five times slower than South Korea. Reminiscent of the 2010 World Cup then!

If the Liberal Democrats manage to get the act repealed they have stated that they will “"take it off the statue book replace it with something better”. Do you have any suggestions for them?