Nowhere Fast

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy
or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

Where should infrastructure priorities be these days?

Most people I know are working from home these last eight months or so, due to Covid19 and the figure is over 25% I read, across the UK. Much accidental digital-shift has occurred, due to workplaces having to become quickly ‘fleet of foot’ and are unlikely to revert back exactly to the old ways, even if the various vaccines kick in soon. Home used for workplace, good or bad, will be here in some form now, I would bet, for the rest of many working lives.

Having a reasonable speed of access to the internet, supporting Teams, Zoom, Blue Jeans (WTAF? Other conference call platforms are available). is now as essential as water on tap and 240 volts in our 3 pin sockets. OpenReach have been generously funded and tasked over the years with providing the backbone to give the UK such a thing, for many years. So imagine my surprise to spot hidden in last weeks Budget statement, mention of further watering down the promise of GigaBit Broadband for all by 2025, and a drastic scaling down of central funding. Instead of £5b, there is just £1.5b (less than a third), for something as essential as this.

Read the full chapter and verse here.

Contrast this with HS2 spend of over £100b to get Joe Public, from London to Birmingham 20 minutes faster, in a likely future world where passenger numbers are more likely to fall, due to the digital shift. Would it not be worth spending the far lower £5b now to allow workers in rural Wales, Scotland, England & NI, to download large presentations 20 minutes faster, than the barely better than dial-up, many suffer right now?

I am lucky to be in a street where we have ‘Fibre To The Cab’. Generally I can see 22mbs download & 18mbs upload speeds available to me. Not blindingly fast, but pretty good for my and my families needs, unless the little fella on the xbox & ‘Er Indoors ragging the Netflix, like below😉.

I work with a variety of people in rural Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Many I know maybe live no more than 10 miles from a major conurbation, but are unable to use video on calls or suffer frequent disconnection issues. Without addressing this absence of infrastructure, how on earth will we support working digitally and the digital economy?

These two phrases, plus ‘Digital Strategy’ are actually starting to grate on me.

Everyone needs to accept that its (just) ‘work’, not ‘working digitally’
It’s not the ‘Digital Economy’, it’s (just) the ‘economy’
Organisations should not have a special ‘Digital Strategy’, its just digital elements in the bog standard ‘Strategy’.

Bricks and mortar, whether its offices, retail, hospitality etc, are not going anywhere anytime soon, but their role is changing, as we all realise the opportunities of better connectivity. Delaying or neglecting the priority of faster, more universal connectivity, however its delivered at a fair price, keeps the handbrake on our future growth and prosperity. If  any talk of ‘leveling’ up is serious, start with broadband speed and improved connectivity for all.

Related Post: How are we enjoying the working from home, New Normal?

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The Smiths – Nowhere Fast.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


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End of My High Wire Days

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

There’s a spooky thing in todays' news, two articles strangely connected, but not that obviously, but enough to make me nearly choke on my croissant. Jeeves did give me a thoughtful stare!

Today BT switched off its dial-up internet service, so no more listening to this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHW1ho8L7V8 . The company said it was taking the step as only a “tiny number” of its customers still went online, using a dial-up modem. Estimates suggest about 200,000 people still used dial up at 56K. While the majority of these users could migrate to broadband, in many rural areas, this can be quite expensive and often for barely 400kbs. Indeed, just 4 miles out of Warrington (quite a built up urban area), I know friends struggling with expensive BB from BT/Openreach at about these sluggish speeds.

These people can continue with dial-up however with BT subsidiary PlusNet, (what those nice Yorkshire folk? Yes the very same....).

Next to this news was that the cost of HS2 has grown already to £42Bn with a £14Bn contingency. Boss of the project Alison Munro says that “It is not true that costs are out of control”. Our chancellor (and MP just down the road from me in wealthy Tatton), assured the BBC today that he is “passionate” about the multi-billion pound high speed project, despite rumours that costs are spiralling.

This is a project to bring faster trains from Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds to London Euston, with many estimates using “savings in work time” to help justify this infrastructure. The idea is that less time will be spent on a faster train, meaning more time in the office. I can understand how many of these advantages could have been formulated back in 2008, when many of us were on dial-up internet, I seriously wonder if the numbers stack up now, nearly 6 years later. The Institute of Directors don’t seem to and they have a track record in knowing what makes business thrive.

Most of the ‘office crowd’ I mix with seem to spend and be encouraged to be less in the office, as its cheaper and productivity can be much higher.  On shorter rail journeys I am less inclined to get my laptop or tablet out and do some work. I don’t know it that is similar to your experience. Also the scope of HS2 for the estimated cost seems pretty humble.

In Japan, the Tokaido line of the Shinkansen (bullet train) was apparently in profit after just 6 years of operation.  Even if the quantity of passengers could be found to pay the premium these services will demand, how long will it take HS2 to break even. You only need to look at the queues at Euston now for the first evening off-peak trains north after 6.30pm, while the earlier pricier ones are only 2/3rds full, but four times the fare. A standard walk-on peak return London/Manchester on Virgin is £308 or £441 in first class. Now in the latter I must point out that in the 2 hour and 12 minute journey, you can drink as much as you can, with unlimited sandwiches, crisps and snacks. Even with my 12” plate packed in my laptop bag, I would struggle to consume £133 of freebies in that time.

You can see why a Skype / Webex conference, or 2 hours of chatting as a group as audio teleconference, may seem a more modern and practical alternative. Of course, sometimes there is no alternative to just being there. These things are not possible however if broadband infrastructure is not available. That is the connection with these two articles. What would be the cost to bring broadband to every community in England and Wales, rather than fast rail links to barely a handful of places?  I mean southern Cornwall, bits of Somerset, Hampshire, Brecon, Bala, bits of Northumbria, yes everywhere.

Even if we gave the job to BT/Openreach, I would be surprised we could not manage it for £42Bn with a £14Bn contingency. That would really change our country, energise business and innovation, providing a chance to catch up with South Korea and others where 4/5G and fast internet access is the norm. Now for me that would be a brilliant way to move forward, I agree with the protesters looking for super-fast broadband not HS2. We should have taken the chance to improve rail links in the 1980s/90s, let’s hope we don’t miss our chance in this decade to create a solid foundation for our digital future. 

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to asset management software and how its being swallowed up :

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/08/promaster-and-servant.html

Psychedelic Furs - Highwire Days.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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