scte long read
“You can’t just write them off from society. You can’t just say, because you’re not engaging with the digital world, then you don’t exist as far as this service is concerned.”
Dennis Reed, Silver Voices
Foundation and the Digital Poverty Alliance both like the idea. It would need some ironing out, funnelling the money to through appropriate channels would take some effort, but it could work. Who would really notice a £1 on a bill going out by direct debit anyway? Data is also an issue, as ironically, like celebrities gifted Rolexes to wear on the red carpet, it is those least able to afford it that end up on pay-as-you-go style tariffs, which are outrageously expensive; social tariffs are provided by all major mobile phone operators and are in line with the broadband fees per month. But the cost of all this will add up if you are literally weighing up if you can do without heating or eating. Digital skills training Assuming we have overcome this hurdle, Ian Nock took us back to the skills leg of the stool, reminding us that installing and using broadband in the home requires some know-how and there are agencies providing skills training. Digital exclusion shouldn’t exist if you have a full fibre connection; but he observed, “There is a lack of familiarity with the basics of good home installation that consumers don’t try first.” Unlike tuning your aerial on top of your analogue television, it doesn’t seem immediately obvious that placing your router behind a fish tank or in a cupboard would affect your signal.
Cyberthreat
free Wi-Fi available on-site for public use. Such initiatives are laudable and should be recognised but proving free Wi-Fi for those receiving state benefits is going too far and ultimately, unsustainable. Paddy Paddison echoed this sentiment. “It is odd that there is somehow an obligation placed on a commercial organisation to provide something for nothing.” Further pushback from beleaguered ISPs on this is understandable. Ben pointed out that now that internet connectivity is considered a utility alongside gas, electricity and water, and since the government implemented a USO (Universal Service Obligation) for broadband in March 2020, giving all households and businesses a legal right to request a decent and affordable connection, as a utility superfast broadband for £15 per month is well below what households are expected to pay for their energy costs, which have risen around 41% since 2021 (ONS, 2021) and nobody is lobbying for free electricity. Conversation with Ben turned to the possibility of a voluntary tick box that new customers could check on their ISP contracts, offering to donate an additional £1 per month to provide internet access for vulnerable communities; this is commonplace in the retail and hospitality industries already. The Good Things
Barely a week goes by when another multinational sheepishly admits to another hack, ransoms paid, colossal data breaches that affect consumers and shareholders for months, and those are the ones we hear about. As we increasingly rely on all our personal data to be stored online, in our phones, scattered across anonymous data centres worldwide, an analogue version as back up is surely sensible rather than preposterous. Dennis shook his head. “Companies love the idea of apps because all that information about their customer base is available to them and you become the target for more and more marketing. There’s a short-term profit motive because you can do away with a lot of staff, if you digitalise your services; but they’re not thinking of the future. It’s all short-term thinking, political imperatives, business imperatives; there is no strategic approach to it.” Dennis Reed was firm on this. “Broadband is very vulnerable. It’s not very reliable compared to some of the analogue alternatives. There should be a legal obligation on businesses and public services to always have an analogue backup to their digital systems. It’s common sense; for the future safety of society. That’s what we’re saying about this TV argument. What if everybody is on IPTV and the Internet is brought down by a hostile bad actor, or there’s another
Volume 47 No.4 DECEMBER 2025
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