£5.50?

What are these figures? I'm relatively certain that no proper ISPs offer broadband that cheaply.

what's wrong with slovakia, poland and hungary?

don't really get that sentence with Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Yes, we have better broadband there, especially now in Slovakia Orange has launched broadband over optical fibre with speeds up to 60Mb/4Mb for roughly £25/month - unlimited!!!!! Broadband here in the UK sucks. I've been with few providers and to be honest the best one is Be Unlimited.

Broadband is £5.50 a month average?

"Finns pay £2.54 a month for broadband compared with £5.50 in Britain"

Broadband for £5.50 a month? Surely they mean a week?

Does the average include "free" broadband as £0 per month to come to this value?

Not surprised in the least

I’m on 20mb broadband but the speed was so slow I had to call out a techy to have a look at it; sadly the twit made things worse by switching a few power cables into the wrong devices, so much for being a paid professional.

It’s becoming a recognised fact that no matter how much you pay for faster broadband speed, you are only going to see a fraction of it. But despite coming to this horrid realisation, what are you supposed to do about it?

You think YOU hav e it bad...

In the US (where 20% are still using dialup) the average speed is 1.9mbps. The average cost is about 4 pounds 53 for the broadband access. About the same for dialup ironically.

Of course the US most popular broadband provider, AOL, is about 10 quid a month.

what about the yanks?

While I can understand being upset for getting the worst service at the greatest cost, if you look at it on a per megabit ratio you're still WAY ahead of us 'Yanks. £5.50 per month, forgive my ignorance due to upbringing, but at a conversion of 2:1 thats only $11.00 per month. If you're paying that for broadband you're about $32 / £16 per month cheaper than the CHEAPEST offering in my area. That would give me 3mb/256k speeds. Sure its faster but given the choice, I'll gladly downgrade to 2.6mb for a 75% discount. Now I am fortunate enough to have access to a 10mb/1mb provider for only $50 / £25 per month. Your cost is still cheaper per megabit, but in this case I'll keep my provider.

More superficial than the BBC articles you keep knocking

Not a very good article really. The costs are misleading as I can only assume the rather important aspect of these prices being 'per megabit' or something is ommited, in which case (£5.50 x 2.6mbps) compared to (£2.54 X 21.7mbps) means that the Finns still pay more overall. Unless I'm assuming wrongly, in which case it's still the fault of the writer for leaving the reader confused.

Also, the so-called sick man of Europe actually equates to a 0.2mbps difference between the UK and Slovakia. That's good enough to be equal in my book, and there was co comparison between the UK and Slovak population, how many of them have broadband, how long they spend online, etc.

I don't think the UK broadband is as bad as some make out. Yes, the Scandinavians and Orientals have it better than us, but you only have to go as far as Ireland to find a lot worse. And I'm sure there was an article here or at the other place within the last year debunking the myth that the French have mega fast connections for pennies.

I'll think of this article next time I see someone at the Inquirer having a go at the BBC for lazy journalism over some pedantic point.

Thats cheap.

5.50 pounds a month is like 10 dollars canadian. Thats dirt cheap. I pay 45 dollars a month for 5meg service. I guess 5meg is better than two, but even our cheapest 1meg service is still like 30 dollars a month. Wish my net was cheaper. :O

Prices

Those prices make no sense, who offers broadband for <£10 per month?

Moreover do these figures include the line rental stealth tax (typically £10 per month)?

You still have it better

The Brits don't have it as bad as you think. In Australia I pay ***£30.00*** a month for 8mbps.

UK Is Not The Worst

Guys....i don't know where they got these figures from, but the UK is definately not the worst in the EU for BB. I live in Ireland and when i say it's expensive, i mean it's expensive. I have a 4MB/384kb line and cost me €120 a mth !!!!! Our main provider, state-owned €ircom, has been ripping people off for years and continues to do it (they resell most of the BB in Ireland) & the government seems happy to let them too :(

What about the rip off in Mauritius??

1 Mpbs = Rs 6000 + 15% VAT / 63 = 104 pounds sterling a month !!! , download speed if u r lucky = 60kbps direct download.......

Backward Britain

who offers broadband for £5.50 a month? The best UK broadband is BE Unlimited which is £24 for "upto" 24Mbit if BT allow it and don't screw it up on their ancient copper. BT has always been a rip-off and nothing will change that. Blueyonder has got worse since Virgin bought them out. All of this makes semifore a viable option.

it would be nice if we were on copper

I think you'll find a very high percentage still on aluminium for at least part of their line. This still accounts for a considerable amount of households.
Lets not forget the breaks in the lines caused by NTL & Telewest during their fibre installs, which were put back together with sticky tape!
(you think I'm kidding! BT had to come an fix my line about 10 years ago and found over 20 cables going across my lawn with the same 'fix')

Thats cheap.

5.50 pounds a month is like 10 dollars canadian. Thats dirt cheap. I pay 45 dollars a month for 5meg service. I guess 5meg is better than two, but even our cheapest 1meg service is still like 30 dollars a month. Wish my net was cheaper. :O

It isn't £5.50/mth

Brits don't get it for £5.50/month, I'd say most people pay between £18 and £25 per month for an upto 8Meg adsl connection, which actually only delivers about 2Meg, and even less during peak hours.

Some free or cheap players (sky/talk talk), have entered the market, but you have to take their TV/phone packages as well, which confuses the pricing.