Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
There was a report on the BBC News last night which suggested there could be widespread changes to that way things are done with regard to public broadcasting. For example some of the TV license money may be lopped off and given to the ITV news services which have been cash strapped in recent times and unable to deliver. We notice this everyday in our so-called local television news channels with more items about that far off land called Brighton than ever before. Its a total bummer. THis may or may not happen but of course not if the burly BBC have anything to do with it.
Another poison gem in the package is the suggested new tax on Broadband at the annual charge of £6 per person in the UK. This my friends is a dark destroyer. An evil sneaky little pesticide of a tax, akin to the tax on windowlight in the dark past. Okay £6 isnt much you say....but guess what happens then in the annual Budget?? you dont need to be Einstein to figure that one out. The TV license used to be £10 once!!
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
It is all relative, it's a small fraction of the overall cost and if it leads to use getting a decent download speed out in the sticks (well on the edge of the sticks!) then I am all for it
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 686- Registered: 5 May 2009
- Posts: 556
But what about those of us that already pay through the nose for high speed broadband?
The only provider that can't seem to deliver the goods is BT - and I gave up with them years ago.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/492825988.png shows the sort of speed I'm getting from Virgin Media. I could do with a slightly higher upload speed though!
Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!!
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Be nice to get that sort of download speed
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 686- Registered: 5 May 2009
- Posts: 556
Virgin say it's up to 20 Mbit/Sec but the best I've had is around 15 Mb - still plenty fast enough for streaming video on iPlayer though!
A lot depends on how far you are from the exhange of course - and how many of those green boxes there are in between.
Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!!
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,302
I've never had a need to download large files hence never paying over the odds for a fast connection. I was quite happy with Virgin's 1Mb service and then noticed via a speed checker that it had gone up to 2Mb. The system is being revamped at the moment and a nice man has just fitted a new box which gives me a measured 9.7Mb.
What will I do with it I wonder.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
This tax is a bloody disgrace and is typical, not of Labour, but of the UK in general. We develop something great and before long the government are taxing us or making us pay a licence fee for it. A broadband tax/licence will be just like a TV licence (which, incidentally, makes the UK a laughing stock in other countries), or the PRS licence to listen to a pocket radio at work (quite possibly the BIGGEST rip off in the UK). Before now, the internet was in the hands of private enterprise and has done pretty well on it. Frankly, with the cost of broadband connections being what they are, I am not interested in paying a tax to help those with poorer connection speeds. Can I get the government to charge the UK a tax in order to improve everybody's car graphics? Exactly!
Yet again we are being ripped off by the country that seems to do nothing but rip us off at every possible turn. Whoever thought up this idea can get stuffed. PaulB is quite right, every budget will pile on the cash and within a decade we will all be paying over £100 a year for our "right" to buy and use a broadband service.
And they probably won't spend the money developing a better broadband architecture anyway, they'll be wasting it all on moats and prostitutes knowing that bunch of slimy no-good ****s !!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
you sound like you are not fully in agreement rick.
the prs licence(though it exists) is an unenforceable tax, it can only really apply to premises such as restaurants and pubs.
i cannot imagine that snoopers would enter offices and factories to catch people.
at least, i hope not.
Guest 686- Registered: 5 May 2009
- Posts: 556
Terry: When you're playing around with website design as well as uploading pictures and video you need a fairly fast connection.
Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!!
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Oh they do Howard, they do indeed.
I had the PRS people on to me at our guest house to pay for the music a guest may play on the alarm-clock radio or TV in their own paid-for guest-room.
These are not public areas, but private rooms; I was absolutely livid and told them, in no uncertain terms, where to go. I also wrote to all the other guest houses in Dover, telling them to ignore any demands from the PRS.
Roger
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
I read this mornings papers from the Philippines and they were praising Browns vision of making Britain the Digital Capital of the world.Funny how differently other nations view this country..and yes they also mentioned that the costs or part of it would be met by a special tax.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
They wont have to pay the bill Marek.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Marek yes I heard this old baloney last night on the BBC..about Brown's vision to make us the digital capital of the world. Who damn well cares whether we are the digital capaital of the world or not, its a false goal. Nobody else is charging towards it. Its only a vision a waning dumbo politician could have. All we want is broadband that works, we care not a jot about the digital capitalisation of the globe. My daughter was staying with me up til yesterday and she was shocked to hear me shout abuse at the tv...I mean...strewth!! It woke me from my near permo slumber and I was very tempted to throw my slipper...so there!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
quite shocked by rogers post.
sounds to me like the prs overstepping the mark.
maybe they thought that hoteliers and guest house owners would be browbeaten into paying.
well out of order.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I agree Howard and many guest houses signed up due to their threats.
A rip-off if ever there was one.
Roger
Make no mistake Howard the PRS are a bunch of parasitic thiefs out to spoil a harmless bit of purely innocent enjoyment at work. Even on the days when I work alone, with no other staff and no clients, I am NOT legally allowed to play music in my workplace despite the fact that EVERY SINGLE music track I own is legal and paid for. They have basically made the act of listening to music an act of piracy. The radio station pays the PRS, and now so must we if we listen to the radio anywhere except at home.
I propose we set fire to their beds. All of them. Now.