The notions of internet connections and broadband are now often inextricably linked - to the point that many people cannot easily recall a time before broadband was commonplace in homes and offices. Others will typically recall slow page loading times and expensive phone bills using dial-up internet in the 1990s. With new developments such as fibre optic broadband delivering faster speeds and greater connectivity than ever before, and the increasing sophistication of websites and other online resources making faster internet connections a necessity, it can be easy to forget that broadband internet as we know it has only been widely available for a little over 10 years.
The internet itself has a long and multifaceted history that stretches back further than many people realise - arguably to the 1950s, when the United States Military began work on an improved communications network that would eventually become Arpanet. This was primarily used to facilitate communication between research centres and make information sharing easier. Steve Crocker and co's development of TCP/IP protocols in the 1970s pushed this emerging technology forward and enabled the internet as it is recognised today, with a multitude of different servers communicating with each other.
Internet connections for commercial and public use emerged in the 1980s, but uptake was initially very restricted, partly due to the technical expertise that was often needed to access and utilise the systems. Dial-up modems brought the internet to homes in the 1990s, though many customers, corporate users in particular, found the speeds to be unsuitable for the ever-advancing online world. It was the release of broadband in the early 2000s that truly launched internet access into the mainstream, with the initially impressive speeds of these systems being incrementally boosted to keep up with the evolution of online content and services.
One major factor in the increasing popularity of broadband for home use was the affordable prices of service packages, as major suppliers battled it out to offer the lowest rates by under-cutting the competition. It's now usually possible to find broadband packages that are ideal for everyone, whether you're a heavy user and frequent downloader and require a fast and uninterrupted connection, or you only use the service occasionally to check emails, websites and other low-bandwidth content. If you belong to the latter group, you may benefit from pay-as-you-go tariffs rather than fixed price plans.
As fibre broadband is rolled out to more areas of the UK and throughout the world, broadband internet is sure to become an ever more permanent fixture in people's professional and social lives.
Dave MacKinder writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
