Broadband

As an AV enthusiast and broadband advocate, I’ve been very excited by the rapid roll-out and take-up of TV streaming services. These have increased consumer choice and introduced Ultra HD 4k content and Dolby Atmos sound. Disney has just launched its Disney Plus service in the UK and at the great price of £5.99 per month. Because of the coronavirus crisis, UK streaming providers have reduced bit rates to lessen their load on the UK’s broadband infrastructure so the service currently does not look or sound as good as it should. However, the service is certain to prove popular among families isolating in their homes and with children not going to school.

I have produced a review below (which will be updated when bit rates return to ‘normal’):

Review of Disney Plus in the UK: shame about the picture and sound quality

Superfast broadband arrived in Spaldwick in July 2014. With take-up well above national levels, our village received a great deal of national attention, including a visit by Ed Vaizey – the then Broadband Minister – and senior figures from BT and Government.

I have seen Broadband Ministers come and go, and now over 80% of residents in the village in which I live subscribe to superfast broadband.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the Connecting Cambridgeshire team (above), who are a great bunch of people. I recently produced the following video for Connecting Cambridgeshire. It summarises the state-of-play with superfast broadband and looks ahead to possible improvements such as Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).

The video shows that superfast broadband is revolutionising how people access TV, which in many ways is the ‘killer application’ for high-speed broadband. It also shows that the technology used to deliver superfast broadband – known as Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) – has a major weakness. Because it uses the existing copper (or aluminium) telephone cables from the street cabinet, speeds typically reduce the further you are located from the street cabinet. A technology called Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) would address this. I intend to work with Connecting Cambridgeshire to help bring FTTP to rural areas of Cambridgeshire.

To get the most out of your broadband connection, don’t forget to visit my site, which contains lots of guides:

Increase Broadband Speed