The days of dial-up internet connections are numbered amid predictions that only 4 per cent of Britons will still use the technology by the end of 2010.
A combination of greater availability, lower prices and faster speeds for internet access will see dial-up packages virtually disappear within the next three years.
Tabling the prediction, price comparison site USwitch said that social networking sites, film downloads, and online TV and music shows have served to cut dial-up’s lifeline.
Providers of internet services have also played a part, evidenced by Orange’s decision to turn off its dial-up service, forcing customers onto broadband or to switch provider.
This means dial-up’s lifeline could be cut shorter than the minimal use predicted by 2010, if providers want to yield the cost savings of only offering a broadband service.
Steve Weller, head of communication services at USwitch, said: “There is no way the slow, cumbersome dial-up connection will have a place in the home of the future where entertainment will be underpinned by the broadband.
“The last breath of dial-up lays in the hands of the internet service providers themselves as there will always be a handful of people who do not want to switch to broadband.”
He added it is “baffling” that more than 2.5m internet users still rely on slow, cumbersome dial-up connections, despite some of them costing more than broadband, which starts at £9.99 a month.
USwitch said other myths around broadband include the belief that it only comes with long contracts, whereas in fact Plusnet and Namesco offer one-month contracts.
Other dial-up users believe broadband is difficult to set up, but in reality the majority of residential packages work straight from the box.
USwitch said: “With standalone 2Mb broadband costing on average £16.48, compared to 8Mb at an average of £16.53 – just 5p more – it’s no wonder that broadband providers seem to be phasing out 2Mb in favour of the faster speeds that consumers crave.”
Such economic sense has convinced more than 2million people to sign-up to broadband in the last12 months, the website said, cementing broadband as a “life essential” for 15million Brits.
Last week, figures from the Office of National Statistics showed 88.4 per cent of UK internet connections were broadband compared to 86.2 per cent the previous year.
Mr Weller said: “In a couple of year’s time, as technology advances, I’m confident we will be predicting the death of 8Mb in favour of something even faster.
“Next year suppliers will start offering up to 20Mb broadband, which sounds great, but ‘broadbanders’ in Japan already receive average speeds of 60Mb so we still have some way to go.”
In the light of providers advertising speeds that their service fails to actually deliver, broadband users were advised to use an online speed checker such as speedtest.net.
Nov 29, 2007
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