“Ofcom said up to 1.5 million rural households will have to wait for two to three years before getting a basic internet service required for a ‘typical’ family home.
Ofcom argues that internet speeds of at least 10 megabits per second (Mbits/s) is the “minimum… required by the typical household” with multiple devices to get a good service to stream programmes and access websites.
Broadband speed tends to be slower in the countryside because homes are generally situated further away from internet exchanges than in towns and cities.
However, in a report, Ofcom warned that there are “about 1.5 million, or 48 per cent of, premises are unable to receive speeds above 10Mbit/s” in the British countryside. …
… Why is 10 mega bits per second a measure for good broadband?
The internet speed 10Mbits/s is seen as the minimum speed needed to watch iPlayer and Netflix in high definition, and make reliable Skype video calls.
Ofcom says: “Evidence suggests that those consumers with faster connections are more likely to rate their broadband experience good. In general, 10Mbit/s appears to be the tipping point beyond which most consumers rate their broadband experience as ‘good’. This continues to support our view that a minimum of 10Mbit/s is required by the typical household.”
East Devon Watch 