I wouldn’t know how to use a VPN, but having said that nothing I do is illegal - and if you want to track my activity well, go on then and be prepared to be very bored. If your up to no good you need to be tracked - and if possible prosecuted. R-
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Do you also know that BT already offer BT Basic for those on low incomes which provides a telephone line and internet connection for £9.95/month or a telephone line only for £5.10/month (inc. a call allowance)?
https://btplc.com/inclusion/ProductsAndServices/BTBasic/BTBasicBroadband/index.htm
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If your up to no good you need to be tracked - and if possible prosecuted -
That’s certainly quite a bar to set - who defines what is “up to no good”?
Yeah and it doesn’t meet many needs, 15gb cap is a paltry amount for a family. It’s means tested anyway and takes a lot of faffing around with the DWP in my experience before BT will even consider it. And it’s still £10 a month plus extra fees if you exceed 15gb usage.
You can guarantee it would later be starved of investment as the government has to make a decision about whether it is money for the NHS or broadband.
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I don’t really understand the I don’t want free internet argument. We all pay about 30 quid a month for internet anyway, even without it being funded by big tech tax, would you be against paying that in taxes instead and then having your internet for free? Just a hypothetical question for people.
I personally don’t want an Internet service provided/controlled by the government. They’re already advocating the introduction of back doors into encryption algorithms, which misses the point entirely of having secure encryption in the first place.
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I’m less concerned about it being state controlled than the fact that it would be heavily under invested. There is a myth that the railways were better when state run under British Rail. It simply isn’t true. The rolling stock was old and the industry lacked investment. The same thing will happen with broadband or any of the other industries that Labour plan to nationalise. When faced with funding education, NHS, military and welfare then things like broadband, railways and utilities simply come second.
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It was a joke.
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In the style of Duncan Bannatyne? R-
IMO this is a poor proposal and likely just a headline grab from labour to get votes, I don’t ever see it actually happening, they’d have to be in power until 2030 for it to work.
Fixed line access isn’t necessary, now we have 5G a lot of things will be going mobile. In a number of years I see people not having fixed line access and just using a wireless service.
Nationalising OR will be a waste of money, starve long term investment, put thousands and thousands of people out of jobs.
I know they already could but it does make the whole “internet censorship” aspect easier for them if they did go down this route.
Big businesses aren’t dull. They’ll just shift their finances elsewhere to avoid taxation.
The investment should go to local companies to compete with OR to provide connections in poor areas.
I’d much prefer this money to be spent on things like our NHS.
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Potentially it would make them money from third party access. It also would not put thousands of people out of jobs. Openreach would still need all the engineers and staff they have now, frankly they’d need more with the wider fibre rollout and maintenance.
That line was in reference to staff who work for other ISP’s such as Sky, Talk Talk and many other smaller providers around the country.
I don’t see many people wanting to stay customers of other providers if they are getting a free offer for essentially the same service elsewhere.
I see, you specifically mentioned openreach which was where I was coming from.
A nationalised ISP (not openreach) would potentially have those implication. I think there’s a lot that needs to be considered in that regard.
There’s a lot of other considerations as well, openreach don’t own all of the networks, only some of it. The question would be if the rest of the network would be bought into open reach or continue to be run by private companies for example.
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I actually think free internet for all would create a lot more jobs than it would cost. If everyone has access to the internet, the long term picture for work and jobs looks a lot healthier in my opinion
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The best way to get widespread 5G access is through a dense fibre network. Otherwise, you have to have thousands of wireless stations. Which cause their own issues through being more expensive, harder to maintain and more power hungry.
Mostly 3/4G here in Dorsetshire. Might need a few more towers for mobile to work properly. R-
Whilst I get the sentiment I’m not sure I fully understand how.
I see broadband as outdated and would rather the money be put into 5g supply
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They should provide free public access to broadband across the country. High speed fibre broadband on high streets, in shops, libraries, shopping centres etc.
But in people’s homes, we should pay for our own broadband.
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