Happy birthday to you: Broadband Britain is 10 years old

Posted on 29 Mar 2010 at 11:01

Ten years ago, on 31st March 2000, Virgin Media (then NTL) launched the UK's first broadband connections. The lucky recipients of this groundbreaking technology were residents of Gillingham, Kent.

The cable service meant people could say farewell to their frustratingly slow dial-up connections, which made them wait ages just for web pages to load. Downloading files was an altogether unpleasant task as it meant both high phone bills and long periods when friends and family were unable to call, since dial-up internet was simply a phone call (albeit a data call) on your landline.

According to the Office for National Statistics 18.3 million households had internet access in 2009 - 70 per cent. In London that figure rises to 80 per cent. 90 per cent of those households have broadband connections, which means some poor souls are still struggling with dial-up.

Spare a thought, though, for the 20 residents of Clun Forest in South Shropshire. They are facing being disconnected from Broadband on 31st March as supplier QI Comm says it's no longer economical.

Author: Jim Martin

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