The broadband revolution is in full swing...but dial-up isn’t necessarily dead

For most people, the dawdling days of dial-up internet are nothing more than a distant memory. The high-bandwidth internet revolution is now in full-swing across the UK and people can stream videos without wondering what ‘buffering’ actually means, and download entire albums from their favourite bands in a matter of minutes.



Of course, nobody yearns for a return to sluggish internet connections, but it may surprise some to learn that 10% of internet users in the UK connected to the cyber highway via ‘narrowband’ in 2009, according to a report by the Office of National Statistics.



Now, for those who simply need to send the occasional email, dial-up might just about suffice. But it really isn’t all that cheaper to connect via dial-up, and it’s far more convenient to plug an Ethernet cable into the back of a computer and be automatically connected, rather than having to mess about configuring software on your machine to ensure dial-up works.



However, some people have been restricted to dial-up simply because of where they live, something which is being tackled via a number of initiatives.

The vast majority of people currently enjoy speeds well in excess of 512kbps, with 10mbps and more the norm in many regions.



Crucially, plans are in place to bring high-speed broadband  to almost half of the UK by 2012, which could see speeds of over 40mbps reach millions of homes across the country.



How will this be achieved? Well, ADSL broadband traditionally uses a telephone line made from copper - which causes data-rates to drop considerably and quickly. Essentially, this means that a user’s internet speed depends on how far they live from the telephone exchange. With fibre optic broadband set to become the standard, more people will enjoy high-speed connections because fibre optic experiences very little data deterioration.



So, similar to how dial-up is increasingly being seen as a relic of yesteryear, ADSL could well be consigned to the history books within a few years, which can’t come soon enough for some people.



For now though, most people can enjoy pretty fast broadband access across the country, with the number of people on dial-up dwindling by the year. And depending on what package you sign up to, you may even enjoy free telephone calls at certain times and have a free wireless router thrown in for good measure.



As with anything, which broadband package you sign-up for very much depends on your needs. If you download a lot, you’ll probably want high speeds and unlimited monthly usage; if you don’t...then you’ll get by just fine on 5MB download speeds with a 2GB monthly usage cap.