So they use paper maps? (Just kidding)
But you make a good point, you could definitely cut down the internet to its minimal capped use and be okay.
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Essential. Eldest gets homework that has to be done and submitted online. She could stay over after school and do it but that’s £16 for a taxi home. Online food shopping saves a £14 taxi every week. Manage accounts online. Print out recipes online. Fill out forms online. Download free kindle books. Saves a fortune overall.
Have the cheapest fibre I could get complete with free sky tv
But if you were saving for a house could you happily do this short term knowing how beneficial it will be for you to get on the property ladder? Your mortgage is generally cheaper than renting too so you’d be able to look forward to having more money after all your sacrifices.
Probably 
: 
They could be missing out on the cheapest utility deals, where the prices are supplied online-only.
What would happen if they needed support later in life and the council pointed them to their online provision to find things out?
What when they get a letter from the supermarket they have a loyalty card for saying that in order to activate their latest discount they need to log in or fill out a form online?
They’ve purchased travel insurance, and the insurer says they need to log in to their account on the website to print out the insurance certificate.
Or they have to print out flight tickets.
These are just but a small number of situations where people have had to use library computers in order to access the internet when they don’t have it at home. And librarians, while they do the best job they can’t, they don’t always have the time and the skills to sit with people and help them through doing any of these things.
How much is the statement “parents can cope fine without broadband” actually supported by having their children or other family/friends take care of online things for them? And what happens to those who don’t have children/family/friends?
I’ve made sacrifices to save; the market has consistently outstripped my ability to do so. It’s like I’ve spent the past few years just running to keep still, almost.
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I’m not saying that they should live without broadband forever, I’m not an animal 
In our hypothetical situation I’m saying that if you were in debt or really knuckling down to get on the property ladder would broadband be considered an essential or something you could do without while trying to achieve your goal.
Some good points though (apart from the holiday one 
)
Define “short term”. Cos the average time to save for a deposit is 8 years. 8 years without holidays, internet, tv, etc…
I guess they could use a TomTom, and use a laptop on cafe WiFi to update it? Such a hassle.
Yeah, I have friends like that. They have the top sky package that they pay £100 a month for, phone contracts that cost £60-£70 a month, cars that cost £300-£400 A month on finance. And they still live with there parents but still always complain that they have no money! They probably earn similar money to me and i have a home, go more holidays than they do each year, invest some of my wage each month and still have plenty left over! I literally do not know how they can spend so much money. P.s. I do, its designer clothing, alcohol, and drugs…
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Yeah, I get where you are coming from (it’s a slightly more extreme point than I was making earlier about Sky TV).
But whereas you can still watch freeview, and arguably some of the popular channels in BBC and ITV (or sack that off and watch Netflix instead), with broadband (and therefore, internet access) - It’s not that simple.
So much is now online only (kids homework, forms to fill in, deals to be had to save you money, banking) etc etc.
I personally believe that every single home needs access to the internet - If a judge was going through someones finances (who were flat broke), I don’t believe internet access would be something that would be seen as a luxury.
Again, it’s just my beliefs, and I’m sure there are people who live without the internet, and are very happy (maybe even happier).
But in general, it would come down as an essential for me, alongside gas, electricity and water.
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I would say home broadband is a luxury. If you need to do some serious work go to a library and use the computer there. Mobile data is so cheap to add on to a phone plan that everyone will have anyway that I would say you may as well have it even if it isn’t technically an essential
If you’re already working, and you don’t need the internet to work, and you’re not currently mid contract - sure, maybe then you could cut internet out for a year to save the pennies.
But chances of that being your situation? Not good. Assuming you already had internet before your situation changed, you’re probably mid-contract and you still have to cover it. Or you’re job searching, in which case the internet is almost essential. Personally, the convenience of having internet at home would be more important than any savings, so if I was in a situation where I had to choose between internet and [something else] I’d choose the internet.
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I wonder how many of them are paying £60-£70 on phone contract despite the original contract having finished and them now being on a rolling contract. Mobile companies are incredibly shit at alerting you to the fact that you’ve finished paying for the phone and should be switching to a SIM-only contract instead. I’m astonished it’s not a much bigger scandal.
Similarly, they should be playing chicken with Sky every year, trying to ‘cancel’ in order to negotiate a discount. Question, though - if they’re living with their parents, are the parents not covering the cost of Sky?
Just remember, in the long term you’ll be much better off because you’ll have savings and they won’t.
Yeah we have kind of got transfixed on broadband 
To circle back… my original point I was making is that you can strip out quite a few things such as sky tv to save some money and all those £10/£20+ bills will all add up to some significant monthly savings but some people don’t want to because they justify them as essential. To summarise from feedback on here there are pros and cons to needing these things so it is entirely dependant on each persons situation. 
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some of my friends pay for sky because their parents refused to pay for the top package with sport and movie so they are at least paying for some of the package
I wonder… Do people consider having a mobile phone as essential?
I don’t have a landline so it definitely is!
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But I’m assuming you get a phone package with your broadband?
I do… and I also don’t have a landline phone 
I’m sure I read that they would stop doing that at some point - But I won’t hold my breath.
No, I have virgin media with only the broadband. Although I technically did have a landline connection for the last year, it was never used, never had a phone in it and I have no idea what the number was. When virgin recently upped their prices I called to renegotiate and asked them to remove the phone so my broadband is now cheaper 
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Fibre? What a luxury…
We can’t get that here - Rocking 15Mbs at best!
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