Map of the Week: Can we live without broadband?
So, when it comes to tightening our belts, we'd give up books before broadband.
That is one conclusion from today's Ofcom report, which considers the place communications technology now has in our lives, (Communications Market Report 2009 [2.09MB PDF]).
Such is the importance we place on phones, internet and television, that we'd rather cut back on clothing and footwear than reduce our spending on our media devices.
What's more, when forced to prioritise among communications services, consumers who had all four were least likely to cut back on broadband.
A fast internet connection has, for those who can access it, apparently become a necessity.
This view chimes with research published earlier this year by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
It updated its work on Minimum Income Standards (A minimum income standard for Britain in 2009 [426KB PDF]) - a consultation exercise in which panels of ordinary people are asked what they regard as the essentials for an acceptable minimum standard of living. (Some of you may remember my post on the original research in 2008.)
The panels were asked to consider whether internet access should still be regarded as a luxury.
Increasingly, I suspect, those who are don't have a fast internet connection know only too well what they are missing. Stuart Burgess, chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities, recently wrote (Mind the Gap [1.11MB PDF]):
The CRC's report, published this summer, claims that digital technology is "vital for the sustainability of rural communities and economies" and includes a map of those parts of England which are denied fast internet access.
I am told that some rural communities are so desperate to get connected to broadband, that they are digging the ditches and laying the cables themselves.
It reminds me of the early days of the railways when small towns would do whatever it took to get the tracks to connect with their neighbourhood.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~12~RS~)
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may be if these cable companies expanded and broad band was not tied to BT lines things would speed up, but with so many areas of this country running outdated lines the cost of upgrading will be high.
some areas are treated as second class by the cable companies becouse they are lower population or seasonal and that creates a them and us feeling.
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Yes, broadband can be just a lifestyle/entertainment thing but don't forget the people where it is a rather more concrete issue.
Anyone who runs a business from home or anyone who 'works from home' probably checks broadband availability in a given postcode before even viewing a house for sale. Likewise people on higher education courses often can't complete the course without access to online learning and email.
Broadband might actually be an essential for some (not all) people.
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When I heard this news on the radio this morning I was deeply sceptical. What person in their right mind thinks that their mobile phone is more important than a holiday?
Many thanks for going into a little more detail, Mark, now I understand perfectly how they came up with these obviously perverse figures.
First, I note the research was commissioned by Ofcom. Not exactly unbiased, are they?
Second, the research report gives no details of the sampling methods. We are not, for example, told how participants were approached, the age mix of the respondents, etc, which suggests that maybe we are dealing with a biased sample. Results of surveys like this are more or less completely meaningless if not accompanied by a detailed description of the methods and the characteristics of the respondents.
And the way the question was asked is rather skewed towards big-ticket items such as holidays scoring more highly than smaller expenses such as mobile phone calls.
But the biggest explanation of the bizzare results is in the caption to the figure: "Base: Those that have a landline, mobile phone, pay television and broadband (n=862)". So we are really not talking about a random sample of the population. We are talking about those to whom communications services are so important that they already have a landline, mobile phone, pay television, and broadband.
It's pretty obvious that people in that category would consider communications services to be more important than everyone else.
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I find it hard to believe that someone would give up music, dvd's and books before papers/magazines and tv subscriptions - fair enough, mobile phones I can see and broadband also, who'd want to go back to the days of dial up and call boxes but I'd gladly lose a tv package anyday over books and music.
Infact, I place my music and books above clothing and a home phone line - make do and mend as well as the mobile will suffice.
Oh, and whilst I'm on my soap box - healthclub/sports memberships over nights out, not on your nelly.......
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I don't see how you can conclude "we'd give up books before broadband", when books are covered in the broader option of "music, books or dvds"? I'm sure books by themselves would represent a smaller portion than broadband! Saying that, offered the choice between the two it would be a difficult one!
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I would find it very hard to get along without broadband, I do 90% of my shopping, all of my banking and keep in touch with my family as well as booking holidays etc.online. At my age I'd find it hard just to get to a decent shopping centre from where I live and would certainly not buy at the same rates in a shop, where the punter is in the main , ripped off.
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Can't understand why you would ask "Books or broadband?" There is no need to ever buy a book, libraries cost you nothing to use. So you can't compare something which is free against something that costs you. People need to use libraries more often. If you do have broadband then you can order books from your local library website, get an e-mail when they are waiting for collection, see what you have read for the past 6 months. If people don't use libraries they will close and then you will have to buy books.
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The ofcom research as presented reported here doesn't reflect your opening sentence "we'd give up books before broadband." at all. It states that people would rather give up music, books, DVDs than broadband. This laughably broad category makes the research pretty redundant for any sort of serious analysis.
The arbitrary lumping together of music (presumably everything from itunes to limited edition vinyl), with books (ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, second-hand) and DVDs creates a category which in its breadth brings much more complexity than the simple statement books (not an individual category) before broadband. If we were to lump together mobile and landline (both communication tools in the same way music, books and DVDs are all paid for entertainment) then we could make the equally vapid statement "when it comes to tightening our belts, we'd cut back [note not give up, which wasn't the question posed by ofcom] telephonic communication before music, books, and DVDs".
Furthermore using as a base those that have mobile, pay TV, landline, and broadband restricts the "we" you refer to in the opening sentence. Landline usage is falling, broadband is currently 28.8 per 100 population, and that the total number of people this graph refers to is 862 (or 37% of the total respondents to the ofcom comissioned research). All in all I pretty select bunch to make sweeping front page of the BBC News Website generalisation about.
Interesting that in your comments relating to broadband being the least likely to be cut back when consumers were forced to prioritise among communication services you make no mention of ofcom's own note
"The identification of the mobile phone as first choice does not necessarily imply that it is the service consumers would be most happy to do without – it may be connected with the perception that their mobile service is the one where the scope for reduced spending is greatest (e.g. by switching to a SIM-only or pay-as-you-go tariff)."
All in all I believe this to be pretty lazy and badly though through journalism especially from a site that else where has incredibly interesting articles about the ability of comment to twist statistics to make sweeping and erroneous, or at the very least misleading, statements.
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If the choice is giving up either a holiday or broadband then I'd give up the holiday.
Broadband is now an essential service that allows me to pay my bills, manage my finances, study & work from home (sometimes), keep in touch with friends & family around the world, access news & media and many, many other things too and as such frees up a lot of time that I can then spend doing things I enjoy. Just paying bills & managing my finances used to take up a day each month, now I can do it in a few minutes without leaving the house.
I'd happily give up multi-channel TV, but only if I still had broadband.
Unfortunately one of my mobile phones belongs to work and I need it to do my job, I'd happily give it up but I doubt my boss & customers would be very happy as it would be much more difficult for them to get hold of me. I'd happily give up my personal mobile phone, I use it primarily for texting and these days Facebook has provides for most of my texting needs.
Broadband is one of those things that seems unimportant until you've got it, then after a while it's hard to imagine living without it.
It's nice to get away from it sometimes but I wouldn't want to live without it for more than a couple of weeks.
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This is an interesting argument. Personnally for me, I only have a mobile and just recently was able to get an appartment with broadband included (prior to that I was using very ordinary mobile broadband).
For me the internet is more necessary than most other things. Why? Because not only do my parents live in a different country, so too do my sister and brother and his family. As such I use Skype and other internet capabilities to keep in touch with them at a fraction of the cost that I would incur to have a landline or use my mobile to call them all.
Hence while for some a landline is essential, I would say it is become even less essential as time goes on. But it's interesting to see where people are cutting back on. Personally if I have to choose between cutting back on a TV subscription (which I don't have - actual don't even have a TV anymore) or holidays, then the TV sub would be one of the first things to go. However the internet and broadband would definately stay as I can gain a lot more houses of entertainment from it that I could from a TV.
Books I like, but then again I don't go through that many books in a year as I just generally read while on the bus/train/plane.
but getting back ot the original statment of can we live without broadband? While as we will see in the next few years, it will soon become a necessary item as the majority of entertainment, bill paying options etc will more readily and cheaply be available over it than anything else.
What do I mean? Well where can you go, or what else is available that can provide you with a cheap source of TV programs, Movies, music, travel research & booking options aswell as games etc, all in the one spot?
I struggle to keep my life upto date and keep in contact with people without the internet, but maybe that just because of the type of transient life style that I live. I stuggled for 8 months on mobile broadband and was harrassed by my housemate for it nad not being able to live without the internet. But I still had to go to a friends place so that I could upload photo's taken from holidays (all of them I organised and booked on the internet) onto my flikr page so that my family and friends from o/s could keep up to date with what I am now doing and seeing. This is how much internet is important in my life and I guess for me being able to keep readily and easily in touch with my family cheaply is more important that a lot of other things which may have happened in the past.
I think I may have lost my way and point in all of this and if so I appologise. To sum it up in one sentance. The internet and broadband is one of the most important things in my life for being able to keep in contact with family and friends as well as organising my life.
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I consider books to be more important than internet access. But I would stop spending money on them before I cancelled my broadband, simply because I can get pretty much any book I want to read, for free, from the library. Owning books to keep at home is more of a luxury than reading, which is an essential.
(and before someone points out that I can get internet access at the library as well, I can't take it home with me as I can with the books)
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My husband and I operate a small business from home, with another partner who works from his home. We are totally reliant on our broadband for access to our accounts, shared documents, e-mail and even business phone line.
Currently we live in the South East but in the future we would love to move back to the Highlands to have a family and work from there. However this is impossible as there are no plans to improve the broadband there (currently 0.5mbps max).
These areas are rapidly becoming depopulated due to a lack of employment opportunities and the only people moving into the area are retirees. This is resulting in the threat to close schools and other vital services in these communities. Our business is perfectly suited to operating from a remote area - and would be likely to provide more employment there, were it not for the lack of broadband provisions.
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It's a silly comparison, because we're not talking about 'giving up' books, DVDs, just about not buying any new ones for a while. You still have access to all the books, movies, music etc that you've bought previously. Whereas if you give up your broadband connection, then you have no broadband at all.
Also it's more of a commitment. If you 'give up' buying books, but then change your mind about that decision, you can just go out and buy a book as soon as you feel like it. If you terminate your broadband contract (which incidentally may involve a fee) then it's much more of a hassle to get re-connected.
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Q:If you were forced to cut back on spending, which of the following items would you most likely spend less on ?
I think people are thinking about new books rather than second-hand ones.Do you get 'second-hand broadband'?...slow,unreliable ??
The list looks like an inverted answer to what matters most.That is,essentials like food,to choice items like entertainment.
What's the (cheaper)alternative to mobile phones/internet/TV?
Social exclusion ?
The days where the kids played with the one's next door seems to be declining.
Maybe they just get involved in an online group session on Playstation,unwittingly with the kids next door,unmoved from the sofa.
In my area they still holler across the glen and flash lights and mirrors at each other.
We call them,
'The Day-Carers That Ate Paris Hilton'.
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Ill give up most things b4 my 50 mb broadband.
the tv can go b4 the internet as TV is so bland ive asked the wife if i can use it as a monitor but she says NO :)be so much easyier to use the internet on a 42" plasma.
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I think this is a case of you ask the question to get the answer you want.
The term was 'cut back' which is easy for meals out, just go to Pizza Hut instead of the Ivy, holidays, take 2 weeks in Spain rather than 2 weeks in Mexico, home improvements, just replace the bathroom every 6 years instead of every 5, books as mentioned get them 2nd hand or from the library,
But the internet, I'm on the best value for service package I could find, if I could have got it cheaper then I would have, it's very hard to cut costs when you're on the cheapest already and we all know how bad the service can be on the cheapest options with dropped connections and poor download rates.
The same can be said for mobiles, I'm on the cheapest tarrif I could find for my usage so it's hard to cut those costs.
The statistic that caught my eye was that only 3% of people would cut expenditure on cosmetics et al.
I would have thought of all the things to do without it's £50 tubs of facecream and designer lipstick, but then again, I am a man.
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I can believe that most BBC journalists would be happy to abandon books in favour of broadband, but just in case your use of the word 'we' implied that I am included, let me assure you that I am not.
And, as has been pointed out by others, the existence of public libraries means that your assertion is irrelevant.
Sorry, but this is just another example of shallow journalism.
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The way we have restructured society makes broadband as essential to some as a car is to many and in the future the internet will b more important to most than the car will be
Problem is most of us and nearly all with a vested interest elsewhere are oblivious to the forces of this change.
the implications and the ramifications on society will be major and lasting we aren’t going back and that means finding false jobs for about 25% of the population maybe we include keeping all pensioners in work to 70 that could be as high as 35 % or we can reduce the working week to 25 hours and run with unemployment at 10% that is where we will be by 2020.
Who is taking up this obvious challenge? no one because those who should be, either believe it is the next generations problem or think they have enough stash in the off shore account to outrun the inflation there are going to be a lot of tears before bedtime with this one. Ask Mr Murdoch. Mr Grade and many others
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addictions come in many forms. Why connect with a neighbor when you can connect with the world?
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Before I moved into the house I'm in now I checked to make sure I could get broadband at a sufficient speed (I live in a rural area of Wales). If I hadn't been able to get it I would've found another house to live in. I could not live without my broadband...and go without such great blogs as these? ;)
So for me the answer is a definite NO.
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Fast internet is higher up the list for me than TV, or a mobile, for which a cheap pay-as-you-go will do for me anyway
As far as luxuries go, only a car would beat the internet - holidays can be omitted as long I still get the time off, TV is pointless and it's mostly online anyway, I'm male so i'm uninterested in clothes or designer gear
Fast internet provides you with all the news you ever need, shopping, information, communication, entertainment - which reminds me I need to go and pay my credit card by tonight...couldn't do that by post
Do agree that 'more important than books' comment was slightly off - it was lumped with music and DVDs - both expensive purchases and probably far more important in cut backs than books, which are cheaper and available in a variety of ways
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Last year I was living in a remote part of the Big Island, Hawaii. I didn't even have municipal water but I had broadband. If I had to I could probably do without Broadband but honestly I would have lost my mind in the process. When the cable man finally arrived two months later to hook me up I was over the moon with excitement. I thank the BBC and Mark Easton's blog for helping me keep my sanity that year.
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'we'd give up books before broadband.'
Come on, people just say that when asked the question.
Seriously, how great a proportion of the public regularly buy non-fiction books? (People don't go on the Web to read entire fiction books online)
I suspect many households don't contain any books at all.
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These figures and maps are in-accurate. The problem of coverage is actually worse than BT state. The statics usually supplied only detail exchanges which are not broadband enabled, they do not account for areas which are too far from the exchange to receive a service. I have had painful experiences of BT claiming I should receive a service and being unable to due to line contention (too far from the exchange) The "not spots" are actually far more widespread.....
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Just another thought on this story:
It's pretty obvious that this story has been spun to make it sound like broadband, pay TV, and mobile phones are the most important things in people's lives, when they quite plainly aren't, for reasons articulated by me and others (particularly #11, #13, #14, & #16, who all make good points).
The interesting question is why? Wasn't there a story not long ago about how quangos have become too powerful? Isn't this just a fantastic example of the power of quangos? Ofcom is apparently so concerned about empire-building that it's commissioning flawed research to try to make it seem more important.
That, IMHO, is the real story here.
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There is something wrong with this article. Obviously, it is of interest to know what things people are cutting back on, but the conclusions drawn are flawed. How could you compare holidays abroad and home improvements with broadband and TV, for example? Yearly broandband costs ~£100-200, whereas even the cheapest holiday abroad wil be in the region of thousands of pounds. Of course people will cut down on holidays first, because those are the most expensive. But that does not mean people value broadband more than holidays. It is just that cancelling your broadband is not going to save you anything compared to cancelling your holiday, thus people do not bother calling the broadband company. If you want to compare what people are prepared to spend on, you should compare comparable things- e.g. broadband with cable TV; for holidays abroad the correct comparison will be home improvements or a new car. Then you could draw conclusions.
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I should also add that you may not be comparing like with like.
Books don't usually have a contract payment system(unless,you bought 4 for a £1 and have a minimum puchase of 4 more books),nor restaurants(unless you have a special deal).
So, even if you may think you want want to reduce broadband expenditure,your situation, that it would take months for thr opportunity to arise,suppresses your wishes.Months later your circumstances may change.
Many mobile phones also have lengthly contracts and the TV licence is usually paid yearly.
[Sorry if I have stated the obvious or it has already been commentated on.It could be argued that the contracts busines is already factored into the ''aspect'' of the particular good. It would be interesting,with regard to this matter, to see, if any, difference in PAYG and contracted mobile phone customers.
Is there data available ??]
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Broadband is an essential feature for me and I could possibly do without TV and certainly am not going to pay more than the licence fee for it.
I do wonder what is the purpose of OFCOM. To ensure competition in the telecoms industry provides the consumer with choice and competitive products? No can't be that as BT effectively controls the non-cable wholesale market for broadband and they ensure that we have to purchase a level of service that can't physically be delivered.
Hopefully the next Government will slay both impediments to progress.
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With most communication services you are tied down by a lengthy contract, which typically involves a huge amount of hassle and expense to cancel. It's not a surprise that people will give up impulsive purchases first.
If you are short of cash you have more nights in then usual. Canceling your phone line / broadband is hardly going to help short term cashflow problems.
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~27: when ''you '' is me.''you are currently signed in as SSnotbanned''
??
Seems as good as any place to meet up, Mark E..
The population count is 862,is this from a sample of 1000 ? i.e. 138 didn't have an answer ? The confidence levels would have a degree of variability.
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Dear SSnotbanned,
Someone changed my username . I've already complained about it to the BBC. It happened around the same time as the "Facebook" hack.
I don't know what's going on.
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I have had a quick look at the document hiding behind the coverage map in this blog, and I must say that I find myself alarmed at some of the contents.
Perhaps the most worrying point is that not having access to broadband is being described as "socially exclusive" and I would like to know the basis on which this rather emotional expression has been applied to this "problem". One "Case Study" that leapt out was that of parents who were told that children's homework would be delivered by email, apparently without the choice. Frankly, for a school to take that attitude is unforgivable, and "official attitudes" like that should be stamped on and out fast and firm.
While I find broadband useful, and I would miss it if it wasn't there I am not in the category for whom it is essential, and I accept that there are those for whom it is a necessary business tool. (For the record I rarely get in excess of 1.5Mb/s although my "specified" speed is 2Mb/s.) The charges I pay (at approximately £180 p.a.) are acceptable, but there is a point that no - one appears to have covered about "exclusion".
That omission is the capital cost of the hardware to connect to the broadband in the first place, and that could easily be outwith the budget of a large number of people. This problem is being looked at on the basis that everyone wants to have a computer, and chooses to spend the money on one. Of course in some cases one would not be sufficient; if little Johnny (or Jane, as the case may be) needs the computer for schoolwork what is mum or dad going to use for their working from home? If two children are competing for access, then the difficulties get worse.
And of course if multiple users are trying to use the computer(s) and its associated broadband access then 2Mb/s is possibly not going to be enough anyway, although obviously not all users are necessarily going to want to download large files simultaneously. The underlying additional cost of more than one computer per household cannot be wished away, and people may (a) just not have the ready money to buy computer(s) or (b) may not choose to spend their money that way whether they can afford it or not.
In a very real sense "exclusion" is being forced upon people by organisations from the government down, and perhaps this ought to be addressed before we become fixated on the exact availability of broadband speeds.
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I think you have got your reasoning wrong. What the graph clearly shows is the EASE with which we can 'give things up'.
You try getting out of a 12 month or 24 month broadband contract, or an 18 month mobile phone contract, or a 12 month satellite TV contract or whatever - it's not nearly so easy as not going out to the pub so often, not going away for long weekends so often, not buying that new furniture etc.
We, as consumers, get 'locked in' to our communication arrangements (broadband, TV, mobile phone etc), and it is MUCH more difficult to get out of them to 'give them up' than just not going out so often.
Hey ho.
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Mark:
Since, I don't live in the United Kingdom...But, I could not live without broadband Internet....
=Dennis Junior=
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
The problem is,and always has been,BT's stranglehold on the technology that allows broadband access into most peoples homes and businesses in the UK. They have been so slow to invest in the new technology that we are years behind the rest of Europe in this respect and the government seems powerless to force them to invest properly...but dividends to shareholders and management bonuses are clearly more important to private companies than Britain's future.
In Sweden,despite the deregulation of Televerket,the Swedish telecoms provider,the government installed radio relays to isolated areas to ensure fast broadband access throughout the country.They see that Broadband access is a right,not a luxury.It ensures that people in rural areas are not handicapped by inabilty to access web services...so vital these days for business,education,government services and private use.
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I like broadband saves me buying a paper!
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As I used to be with BT, I obviously can survive without it.
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7. tizliz - If you knew anything about libraries you would know they ofer FREE internet access too! Practice what you preach please!
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Mobile phones and the internet have become increasingly important in our hustle and bustle lives however too many people do take it to the extreme.
The internet and especially Broadband has opened up a whole new ball game through its ability to bring a whole range of facilities to the home user who may not be able to access them normally and services such as Skype etc makes it very easy to communicate with people all over the world and no telephone bill, you can even see who your talking to and exchange good ideas that can be life changing.
Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds since WW2 the problem isn’t with technology but those who abuse it.
Why would cosmetics take preference over food?
It just shows how wrong some can be over fundamentals required to live.
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In rural areas people have got by without mains Gas, mains water, and main sewage capabilities. They adopt alternative methods to those that have these luxeries, but are they socially excluded as a result?
Why is broadband a different case? There are ways to get broadband services in remote areas, mobile phone networks, satellite services for download etc. These things may cost more than Broadband in towns but surely its one of the disadvantages of living in the countryside (along with the aforementioned utilities one could add shops, buses, post offices banks and pubs to the list. Where do you draw the line on this sort of thing? People have choices over where to live, town or country, and market forces and supply and demand are the mechanisms for evening out the costs of those choices.
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