Every Briton with a fixed-line phone will pay a "small levy" of 50p per month to pay for faster net access.

The national fund created by the levy will be used to ensure most Britons get access to future net technologies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8102756.stm

Another sneaky new tax

& You can bet it won't remain at 50p for long

I am livid, why should I pay for someone else to have a faster broadband speed. I pay extra for my faster connection, ok I live in an area where I have the option of faster Internet connections coming down fibre optics but then on the other hand I would love to live in the countryside and forgo the faster internet speeds but many factors stop that happening and the main one being cost. Many of those who live in the rural areas choose to do so and can very often afford to do so so why should I be forced to pay for their faster connection especially as it will be of no advantage to me. If, as Gordon Brown suggests, this is now an "essential" service why is the cost not being funded by central government.
And what about the elderly, I have several relations who rely on their fixed line phone service, do not have a mobile phone and have no interest in a broadband connection and yet they are being forced in to paying for the few, often well off, country dwellers to have a faster broadband connection. I know we are only talking about 50 pence a month but trust me it won't stop there. This is nothing but another form of tax and it's wrong.

And will we also have to pay tax on our gas and electricity bills to pay for mains connections for those who choose to live out in the sticks. It is time to replace this mob and put someone in who can run a country properly without slipping in a stealth tax at every opportunity.

I'm against it too. Why should we have to subsidise people who choose to isolate themselves in small villages away from urban areas? Electricity/water etc. fair enough as they are important to live - a fast internet connection on the other hand is a luxury.

The sickening thing is that tight crappy companies like BT will still throttle traffic to save load on their servers.

Ditto, I pay VM a lot for my broadband and object to paying another tax because that nice mr Brown has spent all the family jewels over the last 10 years and so never mind organising a 'p' up in a brewery he can't pay for it, No bad idea.

I dont mind paying 50p a month extra if I knew I was going to get over 2mb speeds most of the time.
I can see why some would think its just another unfar tax.

Darren

So VM customers can avoid paying by getting rid of the phone service (and using VoIP - which isn't fixed line) while the rest who HAVE to have a fixed line to get an internet connection (because you can't have ADSL without an active phone line) have to pay?

I assume that all those who have a phone line but no broadband will also be forced to pay? It's going to annoy a few people I guess!

I wish i could just go out and waste other people's money, and then when it's gone, go back and force some more out of them to pay for the things I should have done in the first place - which is what the Government are doing.

So someone with a fixed phone line who doesn't have any intention of having broadband themselves pays six quid a year so others can get it? That hardly seems fair.

If they must have a 'small levy' then what they should do is apply it to anyone who has a fixed broadband connection, with an extra 'small-ish' one-off payment introduced for new subscribers. Then at least those it will be those who have broadband who would be subsidising the expansion of the network.

Excellent, fast broadband for £6 a year
Well done Mr Brown

who is getting less than than 2meg bb and why would it cost the nation 50p each to pay for any upgrade .

Gordon Brown can shove that 50p per month levy right up his arse. Why should I pay for somebody else to get faster broadband when BT can't even sort out the noise that is on my line that is affecting my broadband. I should be getting nearer 12meg broadband, but cause there so much noise on the line O2 have to suppress it and reduce it so that I'm lucky if I get 8 meg most times. I've been in touch with BT and they will do nothing to get this sorted and O2 won't do anything about it either so my hands are tied at the moment until I get away from BT.

"It is a contribution which we are asking people to make - it's six pounds a year - offset, as we make very clear in the report, by the likely continued reduction in headline prices because of the competitive market we have in this country," said report author Lord Carter.

Yeah? Well you've asked, and I say no. I'm not contributing anything. I get 20Mb broadband and while I feel for others who have to suffer poorer performance as a result of the limitations of the technology, I don't see why I should have to fork out yet more money. People can say "oh it's only 50p", but you can be guaranteed that the cost of both my o2 and BT packages will rise, additionally to this tax, at least once in the next five years and I simply don't see why people should have to pay more for other people to have faster internet.

I'm lucky, I live opposite my telephone exchange so I actually get over 20Mb with o2 but if I didn't and I wanted faster internet, then I'd have to go with Virgin. It's not like the option isn't already there for faster internet for people whose ADSL options are poor. Sure, Virgin traffic shape and throttle but let's face it, most of them do now. It's a piss poor state of affairs really, we're paying more and more for a service which in my eyes is getting worse and worse due to traffic management. I've always believed that ADSL customers should have to pay proportionally less for their broadband connection, dependent on the average speed they get each month as opposed to the supposed speed of the connection.

Storm in a teacup, people who say this goverment this, this goverment that, there a dame sight better than the other side, this tax if thats what people want to call it is for the benifit of everyone, or have people got the same mentality as the tories, I'm alright and my old school tie chums are alright, who cares about everyone else, I get 17mb with Be*, 50p so the minimum BB speed no matter where you live in the UK is 2mb is fair

What about all those people who do not use a computer or don't wish to? Why should they pay?

i.e pensioners/low income people who can't afford it and never use internet?

I had the same problem as you. I phoned them up every day until they sorted it out.

I had to have a new line and they blamed my equipment.

I'm sure the whole country can get 2Mb service from satellite broadband, but would cost alot.

How is it a benefit to me? How do I benefit by some country dweller having a faster connection? I already have a 20meg connection which I pay for it myself. My connection is not subsidised in any way so why should I subsidise someone elses connection?

And as I said before, how about the elderly who do not have broadband, do not want broadband and in many cases do not even know what broadband is and yet they will be forced in to paying £6 per year for something that will never benefit them.

As for the Tory comment, I have been a Labour supporter all my life and proud of it, I think you'll find the majority of those country folk lean more towards the ideologies of the Conservative Party than that of a more socialist way of life.

Deleted as duplicate post created in error
Last edited by zigthedog : 17-06-2009 at 13:30

Is that right? I think you will find that most of the posters here are stereotyping rural people, what about the Scottish islands for example? Most people live there because they were born there as is the case in many rural locations.
There are many areas mainly in the south where the wealthy city dwellers have moved in and priced out the original locals but this is far from the norm.
Take large areas of rural Scotland, Lincolnshire and the like, not many fat cats living there but you will find broadband speeds appalling next to the speeds some posters are crying about, 8mb, my idea of heaven....
Take my connection I live two miles from the exchange on a good day I'll get 1 meg but on some days (or nights) I'm lucky to get 128k and that's not just the throughput, that's the sync speed (and no I cant get my line changed, there arn't any spare lines on our pole)...
I'm not saying everyone else should pay for it with this tax as I know I would probably feel agreaved if the boot was on the other foot.
I would love to move to a town, but my house is here, if I sold it I would have to take a significant cut in standard of living as for some reason posters here seem to think that rural property is worth a lot of money, well is some areas maybe it is but in many its not and we're stuck.
Those lucky enough to live in the city with modern communication infrastructure do need to spare a thought for those still on cables 30 years+ old, at the end of the day I'm sure that profits made from rural phone lines not being upgraded for decades has been used to upgrade city equipment, so isn't it time and only fair that we should get an upgrade?