Almost a quarter of Europeans can't be bothered with the net

Can it be any cheaper?

I'm not usually one to suggest that things ought to cost more, but aren't we constantly being told (in the UK at least) that there isn't enough money to give people the broadband they have already been sold? If this is the case then how in the hell can they make it any cheaper?

If the inability to upgrade infrastructure isn't just a symptom of high shareholder payouts and management bonuses then, surely, (again I speak of the UK) broadband prices should increase a little until the infrastructure can accommodate more customers, then the prices should drop?

Statistics please

Like, what percentage of the European population is over the age of 70? Most people of that age are not interested. There are some who are, but most not. Pretty sure my 90 year old next door neighbour wouldn't know how to turn a computer on, never mind how to log in to Faceshite.

Not much worthwhile stuff for a lot of people

Unless your english is good, there really isn't a whole lot of (legal, non-errr, "visual") stuff out there for a significant proportion of the european population. Sure, there's content in french, spanish, german and italian - but how about if your only language is greek - say, or czech or norwegian? Would you really want to pay the high price of internet access that is common in other european countries (€30-40/month - give or take, on top of a landline rental) just to access the content put out by the 10 or 20 million people who speak your native tongue - most of whom won't be on the internet for exactly the reasons you aren't?

Until you've had to deal with the likes of Telefonica OTE to get a basic phone line installed outside of a large town (hint: it's easier to move house to one with a phone) you don't really understand the barriers to getting access, compared to the small benefits and high costs of having it.

Eventually...

I know lods of old folks who love the net, but also plenty who don't care TV penetration stalled for a while because folk who were happy with Radio could not be bothered to invest There will be a hiatus, then the net will match TV, but the last few percent will be sloooow to come.

encouragement needed

I know quite a few older folk who have been gently encouraged to go online. Examples include my parents and father in law, and some neighbours. One of the things most likely to put them off is that computing shops are not interested in selling them inherently secure and easy to use systems. Over the last few years I've seen a few of these older folk get on much better using Linux than systems that constantly need antivirus subscription updates and which need reinstallation every year or 2. But this does require some support from a close relative or friend, given that the PC shops seem more interested in collecting taxes on behalf of Microsoft than supporting older folk properly. It really is very difficult for someone over 85 to have to spend hours on a telephone line to a call centre half way across the planet employing someone who talks too fast to instruct them in having to reinstall an OS.

Yes there are some who will never go online, but most of these seem likely to die in the next 20 years or so. Having better communications will encourage them to take more interest in life beyond their 4 walls and live longer, so I would like to see close relatives and friends taking more of an interest, and computer shops getting out of Microsoft's pockets.

Surely cost matters

As a retired programmer here in Spain I pay the exorbitant cost because I am so used to Internet access that I miss it if I do not have it. But 44 Euro pm for standard 6 Mb/s or 44 for 10Mb/s plus VAT is rather costly compared with the UK. At the higher speed you do get national calls included. Of course there is a 23 Euro line rental pm plus tax as well. :-)

Compared to my Sister in the UK who gets all calls under 1 hour included for about £9 pm including line rental and a 10 MB/s service, cost must influence a lot of people at least here in Spain.

My parents - got rid of their internet

Rarely used it, only did emails, too much spam so just cancelled their dial up account.

my folks

live in a spanish town with a population over 1000 people including a school yet Telefonica can't be arsed with providing a service they are still stuck in the 70s, so dial up is all that is on offer unless you get a satellite which can be several thousands for the up link.

At 3.4kps the internet is suddenly really pointless.

Other factors?

My in-laws live in the Czech Republic, as do several friends. All are intelligent, reasonably well-informed people in good jobs. None have internet at home. When asked why, the answer is "We have it at work - why should I pay for it? I'd only end up getting work to do at home". Thus, two elements come to the fore - one is (presumably) relaxed internet access policies at work (for instance, several are on Facebook), and the other is the *very* serious attitude some non-Anglo-Saxon countries take towards the work/life balance.

Performance is not always that good

Even in France, where I live, performance is rather frequently lacking. I have a good line, rated at up to 20 mbps. At any time of day, I get 8 mbps minimum. I have a full contract, TV, phone and Internet access, no capping (as was remarked earlier).

Internet access is by far the most reliable. I frequently have the same IP for weeks at a time (it only changes when the line goes down or I turn off the box).

The phone is a bit more dodgy. Sometimes I hear of people who phoned me but I never got the call. Other times I want to phone someone and I get an incomprehensible "this number does not exist" error. Try again and it works. The number is recorded in the phone, so it's not a typing error.

Of the lot, TV is actually the worst performer. It regularly stutters, there is frame drop, sometimes the connection is entirely lost for a few seconds. When it works, it works fine, but it fails so often that when we can watch a whole show without any issue it's more of a surprise than anything else.

In such conditions, Internet TV has been relegated to the backup solution when satellite reception quality is too dodgy. And if it starts acting up at that point, well it's either pop in a DVD or go read a book.

Frankly, I feel that the Internet is not the best medium for this kind of usage. Either that, or there's serious need of improving backbone bandwidth capacity, even in France.

I shudder to think of the situation in the UK. I really don't see how they can offer Internet TV with any hope of reliability from all the capping and bandwidth issues I read here and there.

But Internet access itself ? Fine and dandy.

Then again, I'm fluent in both French and English, so the Web is vast for me.