Most of us already do exceed 10 Mbps by a large margin,

48.5% can order 200 Mbps if they want
87.1% have access to a 30 Mbps connection if they want to order it too

Reality is that just 5.8% of UK households only have access to a 10 Mbps or slower connection

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Need not be a fibre delivery system if only needing to deliver 10 Mbps

Indeed but my own personal take on the announcement today, over and above the headline 10 Mbps figure, will be that we can all expect (demand) a minimum broadband speed but the hope is that in reality, what will be available will be much bigger.

I think a lot of people for some time now have been proposing that broadband/internet access is a 'right', much like the traditional utilities that we all assume will be available to us where we live and again, enshrining this requirement in the form of a USO may well help in driving speeds and capacity up and new ways to deliver the service.

In reply to a post by sam_nospam:

... enshrining this requirement in the form of a USO may well help in driving speeds and capacity up and new ways to deliver the service.

How much do you pay for line + broadband per month, and what is your connection speed? What is your typical download amount per month in GB?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Most of us already do exceed 10 Mbps by a large margin...

I must be unlucky and know a lot of people who aren't in this situation.
Many on my friends, family and clients don't have FTTC as an option or even ADSL2+. These people are spread over many counties...

5.8% of UK households is roughly 1.6 million households, so would only be surprised if it was 0.00001%

And it seems that UK.gov has chosen the 10Mb number because it [1] sounds like a good number to most people and [2] the target value is already achieved *today* by using satellite broadband. So job done.

A poster in the comments section for the recent Superfast Essex announcement said that the most recent newsletter from Superfast Essex that they, and all other BDUK regions, will rely on satellite to meet the 10Mb USO.

So Yes they have announced a 2020 target for something that is already possible today. Well done to them.

In reply to a post by godsell4:

the target value is already achieved *today* by using satellite broadband.

For a given value of 'achieved'. There's not many people would consider 10Mb/s via satellite to be 'job done' :-/

If it was a pure tickbox then they'd have worked on gaining political capital by announcing ditching 2 Mbps USC totally and seeing 10 Mbps for the end of 2015.

10 Mbps USO would more than saturate current satellite broadband capacity in the Sky.

As a short term fix for a more robust solution it is reasonable though, or we could do as many seem to want and announce a 15 year FTTH 100% coverage plan, something now, or wait even longer?

In reply to a post by godsell4:

And it seems that UK.gov has chosen the 10Mb number because it [1] sounds like a good number to most people and [2] the target value is already achieved *today* by using satellite broadband. So job done.

Or [3] Ofcom recommended it, based on evidence that there was little improvement in the "quality of experience" at higher line speeds.

Given that the focus there is on "quality of experience", perhaps satellite might not manage to make much of an impact - especially if it has to cope with the current 5%+ that would need it today.

Given the government want to run a consultation, I'd hope that some of the other factors that contribute to the experience are considered, beyond just line speed.

[2] doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Any number up to 22Mbps could have been chosen, and still fit with "satellite" as the answer.

In reply to a post by sam_nospam:

Thinking about the announcement today from David Cameron with regards the new 10 Mbps USO by 2020 (sounds a great idea to me), I'm wondering what sort of new �gear� might be needed by the end user to take full advantage of such a service when it arrives?

Will the existing, pretty standard 1 gig LAN networking stuff in our computers� our present batch of Modem/routers� and present Wi-Fi standards be enough to take full advantage of the sort of speeds we can all expect, or will all of this stuff need a major revamp to get us fully up and running by 2020 and the new USO proposals?

We'll only get new fibre networks in the UK once the country is embarrassed enough to roll it out.

It's already pathetic that brand new houses in this country are provided with the same communication technology hardware as they were 60 years ago - copper and aluminium cables.