BBC reveals broadband ‘not spots’

About three million UK homes have broadband speeds of less than two megabits per second (2Mbps), research reveals.

The government has proposed to provide all UK homes with a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps by 2012.

Research commissioned by the BBC and carried out by Samknows reveals that these ‘notspots’ exist not only in rural areas, but in suburbia and major towns as well.

“We had assumed that these notspots were in remote parts of the countryside,” said Alex Salter, co-founder of broadband website SamKnows.

“That may be where the most vocal campaigners are but there is a high incidence of them in commuter belts,”
“In some cases, people aren’t able to shop online, aren’t able to view certain websites or use social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter, and they can’t watch the BBC’s iPlayer. It also prevents flexible working. If the problem is fixed, it means a lot more people could work from home which offers a very real way to improve society.”

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