Tag: broadband

Posted on by Tim Worstall

These People Are Insane About Public Broadband

A letter to The Guardian containing a piece of entire economic insanity. I am not kidding either, this is mad.

Do note the point that I am to make here. It’s not that public broadband is a good or a bad idea. Sure, of course, I have my opinion (it’s insane) but that’s not the issue I’m drawing attention to. Rather, this:

Economic benefits of Labour plan to provide free broadband for all
The objection that the proposal is an election ‘giveaway’ should not be taken seriously, say 13 signatories including Ha-Joon Chang and Danny Dorling

OK, letter to the paper, blah, blah, yay our team and all that.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Laura Pidcock Is Misspelling Her Surname

There should be a couple of ls in there judging by this tweet:

So, that idea of nationalising the broadband provider. Swedish broadband is provided by the private sector.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Just So We Know Where Labour’s £59 Billion Productivity Rise From Broadband Comes From

An interesting question elsewhere:

…nationwide full-fibre is estimated to provide a potential boost to productivity worth an estimated £59bn.

I’d like to know where they get this figure from. Having an internet connection is a vast benefit. But how many businesses benefit from a data rate better than can be obtained on a 4G connection? You’d have to be handling an enormous amount of data in real time. How many businesses do that?

So, where does it come from?…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Mr Hancock’s Further Tech Idiocy

From our Tech Correspondent:

Every NHS hospital, GP practice and community care service in the country will be given access to a full-fibre – also known as fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) – broadband service as part of the government’s 10-year NHS Long Term Plan, health secretary Matt Hancock has announced. As previously outlined, these include a so-called “digital first” approach to primary healthcare, giving patients the choice of online or video GP consultations, more virtual clinics for hospital outpatient departments and cloud-based record keeping – all in the name of improving efficiency and outcomes within the NHS, backed by more than £20bn “gifted” to the service for its 70th anniversary in 2018.

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

As Uganda Finds Out, Demanding National Broadband Costs Money In Reduced MTN Fees

Entirely so, of course we’d just love to have complete and clear national coverage for voice and mobile internet. Even, for broadband over mobile. Just as we’d entirely love to power the place on unicorn emissions and have candy floss for tea every single day. The thing is it’s not possible to have all we want. Other than the non-existence of unicorns everything has a cost to it. Like, having reliable, clear, national – even in remote rural areas – telecoms coverage costs money.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Of Course The UK’s Broadband Is Slow – It’s A Rich Developed Country

The Daily Mail is reacting with horror to the thought that the UK has slipped down the broadband tables. We’re only 35th in the world for average speed now! The correct answer to which is that yes, of course the UK’s broad band speeds are slow, we’re a developed and rich country. Which doesn’t mean that yes we’ll have the latest in shiny infrastructure. Rather, it means that we put in infrastructure some time ago and thus have the infrastructure from some time ago.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

Of Course Sexbots Will Reduce Sexual Violence, Don’t Be Silly

It’s entirely possible that the arrival of sexbots will not solve any loneliness problems people are having. But the idea that they won’t reduce sexual violence is truly ridiculous. For we already know about this, we know that sex not with people is a substitute for sex with people, not a complement to it. That is also true of that portion of sexual violence – like rape say – which is about sex and not so much the violence.…

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Posted on by Tim Worstall

What A Shocking Finding About Rural Broadband! Shame!

This is just such a shame, such a one that we should all hang our heads in it. Rural broadband is slower than urban!

Broadband speeds in rural areas are up to three times slower than those in neighbouring cities, analysis has found.

That just is such a disaster, isn’t it? Do note the near obligatory Lake Wobegon reference:

Statistics published by the county councils network show that more than two-thirds of England’s counties are below the national average download speed of 45mbit/s.

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