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One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

bbc.com

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Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#31

Post by jonathantf2 »

drumhead wrote: post #16

If you only ever use your phone then there's no point in paying for broadband. I think a lot of people have been taking a look at their subscriptions and cancelling things which they seldom use. Do you really need a sub for a 500mbit connection when you use you phone? You can always cancel it and switch to a much cheaper slower connection or just use you allowance. I had a Disney+ sub which I hardly used so I cancell…

Most connections in the UK are max 80mbps so if you live in a city you’re probably getting quicker speeds in 4G anyway

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#32

Post by makeitdouble »

Popcorn3865 wrote: post #21
onion2k wrote: post #8

Another reason to develop mobile first websites and apps, and focus perf testing on both overall page weight and high latency connections.

Although if "cost of living" continues to rise, cancelling mobile contracts may be next. Many less well off folk have annual or multiyear deals (which include handsets) so the cancellations would come at end of term for most. I suspect the issue at hand is that a fast growing number of people simply can't afford non-essentials, and in the process of deciding what's absolutely necessary and optional, access to the Int…

As counterintuitive as it might be, I think the cellphone and mobile contract come last (thought switching to a lower plan or a MVNO is an option).

There is a saying that if you don't have money you need connections, so as it gets tougher, communication becomes critical.

In particular missing a message from your bank alerting you of a operation that could get rejected, getting mail from social service of paperwork you need to get in order, alerts for tax deadlines etc. are essential.

On the other end of the spectrum, keeping in touch with your buddy's friend who's a garagist and can fix you in a pinch, keeping an eye on your elderly in case they fall short of something, answering the call when your neighbour needs you to see their kids for an hour or two as they have an emergency is also critical.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#33

Post by beardyw »

0xDEF wrote: post #19
gumballindie wrote: post #14

I dont think people comprehend how deep the economic issues of britain are.

The uncompetitiveness of Britain has been obvious for decades. For a highly developed English-speaking country it is very underrepresented in software tech. Britain should unironically learn to code.

If there is a high demand for coders in the UK it suggests that the tech environment is strong. Otherwise what are those coders going to do? I think the issue is more to do with business than technical competence.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#34

Post by koito17 »

veltas wrote: post #7
Anonasty wrote: post #2

Seems like counterintuitive but then again the article does not mention cellphones which is quite enough for many people.

Even 10 years ago I knew people cancelling their broadband to just use mobile internet. It's smart to cancel broadband if you're not streaming video, or if you are streaming but have a fast mobile network connection and decent plan. It probably sucks for any real-time stuff like gaming, but otherwise it makes sense. I don't doubt many people would rather cancel broadband than turn their boiler off.

Ironically, 8-10 years ago my carrier's cellular network felt so fast that a young, naive version of myself expected to never sign up for broadband internet. I used to actually play video games on this connection because it was way more reliable than my home internet connection. But in the past 4-5 years, this same cellular network has become a high jitter, low bandwidth disaster, despite "upgrades" from 4G LTE (i.e. faux 4G) to what my carrier claims is "5G".

I'm aware this is just an anecdote and n = 1 implies infinite variance and what not, but it's amazing seeing countless people have such a good cellular network they can just ditch broadband subscriptions.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#36

Post by gpderetta »

makeitdouble wrote: post #32
Popcorn3865 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although if "cost of living" continues to rise, cancelling mobile contracts may be next. Many less well off folk have annual or multiyear deals (which include handsets) so the cancellations would come at end of term for most. I suspect the issue at hand is that a fast growing number of people simply can't afford non-essentials, and in the process of deciding what's absolutely necessary and optional, access to the Int…

As counterintuitive as it might be, I think the cellphone and mobile contract come last (thought switching to a lower plan or a MVNO is an option). There is a saying that if you don't have money you need connections, so as it gets tougher, communication becomes critical. In particular missing a message from your bank alerting you of a operation that could get rejected, getting mail from social service of paperwork yo…

Another way to say that is that a minium amount of connection is essential these days.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#37

Post by prmoustache »

drumhead wrote: post #16

If you only ever use your phone then there's no point in paying for broadband. I think a lot of people have been taking a look at their subscriptions and cancelling things which they seldom use. Do you really need a sub for a 500mbit connection when you use you phone? You can always cancel it and switch to a much cheaper slower connection or just use you allowance. I had a Disney+ sub which I hardly used so I cancell…

OTOH the article cited as an example an old guy who go to the library to have internet access. It is very likely he can't even afford a mobile plan with data. I have known a number of people who rely on prepaid and only pay for it when they can. They will send you an email or ask someone to send you an sms so you can call them back.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#38

Post by samwillis »

An interesting thing to note in contrast to this is the massive amount of PE cash being pumped into privet regional FTTP broadband companies. Affluent areas, such as where I live, are even seeing multiple competing companies pulling fibre through the OpenReach ducts. We have two along with BT to chose from in a town of only 30k people in the midlands.

As others commenters have noted, the rich/poor divide is getting wider. On one end you have people canceling broadband, and the other massive privet fibre startups servicing affluent areas.

The country is broken.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#39

Post by Nextgrid »

chrisbolt wrote: post #15
gumballindie wrote: post #14

I dont think people comprehend how deep the economic issues of britain are.

Can you elaborate? I would like to comprehend.

Recently had to look at the property market again and the rents have increased significantly, in addition to the usual high cost of living increase and inflation/shrinkflation which doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

I very much wonder how they expect "normal" people to survive. It looks like you need to fall quite far into the highest tax brackets just to be able to rent something decent in London, and buying is absolutely out of reach.

Ironically enough, part of what makes those areas desirable is various businesses (such as food service, etc) that rely on low/unskilled labor to function, against which a war of attrition is being waged on. That war is being won and as a result a lot of those businesses have now themselves failed - I've now seen multiple repossession notices on closed restaurants/shopfronts and more and more vacant commercial property, and the high street never really recovered since the pandemic.

As far as I'm concerned I am considering leaving this country once my current lease expires unless business picks up significantly to offset the increased costs (doesn't look likely from what I see). There is no reason to pay the money I am paying here if I can get better food, climate and general quality of life for the same (or even less!) money elsewhere in Europe.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#40

Post by quickthrower2 »

0xDEF wrote: post #19
gumballindie wrote: post #14

I dont think people comprehend how deep the economic issues of britain are.

The uncompetitiveness of Britain has been obvious for decades. For a highly developed English-speaking country it is very underrepresented in software tech. Britain should unironically learn to code.

No it is not. What I liked about the UK was you could get a software job anywhere. Not just London, but out in the sticks, some small town, there will be a software company, hiring developers, selling stuff to industry, off the VC radars. In addition you have the knowledge hub of Cambridge, e.g. Microsoft Research and a startup scene in London, as well as being a financial centre that employs lots of IT for that. Britain should learn to code? It invented it! Turing. "Glasgow" Haskell Compiler, etc.
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