Being held back

[Quige]

Originally posted by Embattle
Sadly it isn't something the government can do too easily and comparing us to S Korea is pointless, you have to look at the bigger economic picture.

Which is that the UK has a richer economy than South Korea, but apparently hasn't the ambition to aim higher. I'm not sure what your point is regarding "the bigger economic picture". Even if UK gov can't stump up large quantities of cash up front to invest in infrastructure they could at least give tax incentives to companies that do, surely. (and lets not wonder how much tax payers money is being spent on our current war adventure in Iraq.)

UK GDP purchasing power parity - $1.52 trillion (2002 est.)

S. Korea GDP purchasing power parity - $931 billion (2002 est.)

This seems to have strayed away from the original subject. sorry.

 

[Clowneh!]

WAP forever

 

[Embattle]

Any large amount of money from the government might be considered by the EU as state aid which is a big no no since it would give an uncompetitive advantage to companies like BT.

GDP figures aren't that important to this subject tbh but here is one that is:

UK

Debt - external: $NA

S Korea

Debt - external: $128.2 billion

If you carry on looking through the CIA world factbook then you'll also see some key other differences between us and S Korea.

S Korea is borrowing, and has so in the past, massive amounts of money and some of this will naturally enable them to pin their future hopes to the internet which I find a little strange considering the internet so far hasn't turned a great profit, if any at all. Plus using the basic logic the UK government may have more on the income side of things but they also have higher expenditure.

The UK is a country that is transferring from an old industrialised based economy to technological one whereas S Korea building its first main economy around technology, the creation and usage of it. It is much harder to transfer than it is to start a fresh.....sort of like doing a fresh install of windows instead of an upgrade.

1mbit connections are not really a requirement for online shopping, web browsing, email etc etc and this still takes the lions share of the market when it comes to how people use the internet. File sharing may be another growth area that is ideal for broadband but again this is an area that has no return in profit, well most of it is illegal content.

Coverage is slowly increasing in the UK, as are speeds, but no company is going to lose money just so more people can have broadband access and at faster rates, esp not the a market that is rather rocky and sees the big telecoms companies having financial difficulty....this is the market that S Korea is betting its future on and if it doesn't materialise S Korea will be left with massive debts and no one to pay them.

At the end of the day I don't want money diverted from the NHS so that country bumpkins can buys pigs at the online pig market or send crapmail faster

argh ramble mode, better get back on subject

 

[gremlin]

Originally posted by stu
Most of the T&C agreements for broadband providers "expressly forbid" the setting up of servers on their lines.

Actually you'll find most DSL providers don't care whatsoever. I'm aware there is certain restrictions on cable.

 

[Will]

Was my reply not good enough for you, Gremlin?

Can we go back to talking about games now? This is stuff we've gone over time and again in the (now pretty much unused) Broadband forum.

 

[Quige]

Originally posted by Embattle
At the end of the day I don't want money diverted from the NHS so that country bumpkins can buys pigs at the online pig market or send crapmail faster

All very good points that I wasn't aware of, especially the points about debt and the NHS. That's what you get for being an arts graduate I conceed defeat.

 

[MYstIC G]

Originally posted by Will.
The UK government leaves everything in the capable hands of Oftel

You can't complain about Oftel, they're there to protect us from people like YOU!

 

[Will]

*cuts G's connection*

 

[Gumbo]

Originally posted by Embattle
Any large amount of money from the government might be considered by the EU as state aid which is a big no no since it would give an uncompetitive advantage to companies like BT.

Fuck the EU, seriously. We really are getting fuck all out of it and we can't do stuff useful to us because of it, Wankers.... grrrrrrrrr

 

[Will]

Gumbo in "sweeping generalisation shocka".

 

[gremlin]

Originally posted by Will.
Was my reply not good enough for you, Gremlin?

You were referring to cable though.. i was mainly referring to DSL.

Can we go back to talking about games now? This is stuff we've gone over time and again in the (now pretty much unused) Broadband forum.

Aww, talking about games is boring.

 

[Gumbo]

Hehehe, I'm just getting fed up of it all, and if what Embattle said is true it's another example of the EU putting a barrier on governments helping their own people.

Of course what's more, with this sort of EU rule, which we would obey, plenty of other members would not, or at the very least 'interpret differently. Like Slaughterhouses for instance....

 

[Will]

Broadband just isn't a government priority, and that has nothing to do with the EU. The minister placed in charge of these issues has the option of taking ADSL or a cable modem, and yet he doesn't have any sort of BB connection...now that has to be a bad sign.

 

[Gumbo]

yeah i know BB is not an EU issue, I just snapped when I saw Embattles post, back to the anger management classes I guess.

Please ignore the outrageously OT stuff posted below....

The slaughterhouse thing by the way is a goodie, EU law said you had to have vetirinary staff at all slaughterhouses 24 hours a day. The british government said this had to be a Vet living on site, obviously a huge cost, the Spanish said you could have a couple of vet nurses living somewhere a bit close. The result is all the local British Slaughterhouses close as they can't afford it, and diseases get spread across the country in no time as animals get taken to one of the few massive slaughterhouses still operable.

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by Will.
Broadband just isn't a government priority, and that has nothing to do with the EU. The minister placed in charge of these issues has the option of taking ADSL or a cable modem, and yet he doesn't have any sort of BB connection...now that has to be a bad sign.

That is true, as I said about my tax going towards things like the NHS etc was more important that BB.

My mention of the EU was just an example of various hurdles regarding massive government investment, if they actually wanted to which they don't.....although I don't really have a problem with that since I already have a 1mbit CM

BTW Gumbo many countries have been smacked over state aid although as a country that now has many services in the private sector its not something that effects us as much as many of the other european countries..........Now back on track..........death to 56kers

 

[Gumbo]

Yeah, death to 56k!!!

Long live 64K!!!!!!, oh