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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

#101

Post by jstanley »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #58
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…

I'm surprised more people aren't doing the opposite. There are pay as you go phone plans that cost hardly anything. Meanwhile there is free WiFi almost everywhere, including at home. If you have broadband. So pay the cable company for fast internet and pay half that or less for mobile service, then connect your mobile to WiFi 97% of the time so you hardly use any mobile data. The math gets even more dramatic if you h…

> there is free WiFi almost everywhere

Have you actually tried to use this?

I can't remember the last time I used free WiFi and it actually worked as intended. It's always some combination of slow, broken, intermittent, and needs you to agree to terms and conditions too long to read.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#102

Post by fatfingerd »

drumhead wrote: post #80
ttlsa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the rise in food bank usage over the last decade and a half has been quite alarming[0]. You can find supporting statistics elsewhere too[2][3]. I know that plenty of people are doing alright and, in my opinion, this group is vastly over-represented on HN. The food bank usage stats suggest that the living conditions of people across this country have been getting worse for a while now, and while the pandemic a…

[flagged]

You are saying it cost money before? People drinking more tap water and less bottled water would be a sign of decline in purchasing power and that doesn't even include a factor of losing time for something of insufficient value.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#103

Post by ben_w »

dheera wrote: post #100
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…

> If you only ever use your phone then there's no point in paying for broadband. Um, I live 2km from the Google headquarters and I have zero cell reception in my apartment. That's the state of technology in 2023 for you. Yes, I need broadband and Wi-Fi to do anything at home.

On the other hand, before moving abroad I used to live in a sleepy quaint village a few miles north of Cambridge, and was already able to switch from wired broadband to mobile broadband back in 2017 — just a few percent of UK households is sufficient for "a million".

It isn't necessary for everyone to be able to do this to get headlines, and logic, like this.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#104

Post by vidarh »

drumhead wrote: post #80
ttlsa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the rise in food bank usage over the last decade and a half has been quite alarming[0]. You can find supporting statistics elsewhere too[2][3]. I know that plenty of people are doing alright and, in my opinion, this group is vastly over-represented on HN. The food bank usage stats suggest that the living conditions of people across this country have been getting worse for a while now, and while the pandemic a…

[flagged]

That is an argument for not assuming the absolute levels are accurate. It does not explain the increase unless you're arguing that people have for some unexplained reason gotten more steadily more willing to exploit it.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#105

Post by secondcoming »

sega_sai wrote: post #88

Also because just this year broadband companies raised the prices by inflation + several percents. I.e. my monthly bill increased by > 10 quid. And in the same time I'm in a contract (till the end of the year), so I can't even switch. It's not surprising that people cancel their contracts if they can.

If you can, move to a 5G 30-day contract.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#106

Post by yazzku »

jarym wrote: post #96

And 3 million depend on food banks. Things are getting tough for lots of people and that's with extremely high levels of employment. Not sure this will go well if there is a recession that causes the jobless rate to increase.

> Things are getting tough for lots of people and that's with extremely high levels of employment.

Capitalism has succeeded then.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#107

Post by uoaei »

jarym wrote: post #96

And 3 million depend on food banks. Things are getting tough for lots of people and that's with extremely high levels of employment. Not sure this will go well if there is a recession that causes the jobless rate to increase.

Employment metrics make less sense now that poorly-paid gig work is ubiquitous. Just because you "have a job" doesn't mean you'll be able to afford basic necessities.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#108

Post by secondcoming »

Accacin wrote: post #51
gumballindie wrote: post #14

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

Of course we do. However, other people have mentioned people might just be using their phones instead. As an example: https://www.voxi.co.uk/for-now - £10/month unlimited calls, texts, data for 6months - then you go onto a £10/month plan but without the unlimited data. We also have social tariffs for broadband too: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/compare-broadband-deals/br... Seems like a bigger issue is people not…

Smarty piggyback on Three's network and they're really cheap, however for some reason in 2023 they only support 5G on certain handsets.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#109

Post by Applejinx »

HlessClaudesman wrote: post #55
monk_e_boy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than london and a couple of other cities, most of the country was already ranked as most deprived in Europe. Throw in Brexit, cost of living and most normal people are fucked. I'm a lecturer (5 yrs) and I'm struggling to pay my bills. We've been out on strike and nothing happened. NHS is struggling. Pay rises are around 0% for most people I know. Food inflation is around 16%. Foodbanks are struggling to feed fa…

UK was already creaking at the seems in the 2000's. I left in 2011 and have spent the last 5 years crawling up a sewer pipe of regulations trying to get my post brexit immigration sorted. Brexit was just a fantasy of better days to come that was actually pretext for a right wing power grab. And what do right wingers ultimately want? A world of red in tooth and claw capitalism with themselves as the permanent winners,…

Harsh but fair. It's not significantly different in the US.

You know, it's not different in ANY of the empires, past or present. Look at Russia and it's just a couple decades of further decline, but the same thing.

If hackers and nerd idealists are worth anything, it's for trying to solve all this against a background of constant push-back. I sometimes wonder if the most important thing I could possibly do is try to depict this larger picture in such a way that people got it.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#110

Post by Nextgrid »

uoaei wrote: post #107
jarym wrote: post #96

And 3 million depend on food banks. Things are getting tough for lots of people and that's with extremely high levels of employment. Not sure this will go well if there is a recession that causes the jobless rate to increase.

Employment metrics make less sense now that poorly-paid gig work is ubiquitous. Just because you "have a job" doesn't mean you'll be able to afford basic necessities.

Potential counterpoint: most gig work is on a contract/self-employed basis and may not be included in "employment" metrics.
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