The evolution of broadband

Broadband has come a long way since the 2000s, at the turn of the millennium. Now more homes than ever can access superfast broadband speeds, thanks to full fibre providers. At Vodafone, we’re proud to be the UK’s largest full fibre provider and offer speeds of up to 910 Mbps*.

Before broadband, most people within the consumer market used dial-up internet. Dial-up used a pre-existing phone line to access the internet and was limited to much slower speeds. One of the main downfalls of dial-up was that you couldn’t take or make calls whilst connected to the internet.

When and how was broadband invented?

Broadband launched in 2000 and offered speeds of up to 512 kbps, which was very fast at the time. The first broadband was called ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) and unlike dial-up, it allowed customers to be connected to both broadband and their phone line at the same time. People were able to spend longer online and benefit from faster speeds.

However, it was expensive in comparison to dial-up internet, which is what the majority of households were using. Broadband uptake eventually peaked by the late 2000s, with over 50% of homes having access to broadband by the end of 2007. FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), which is now used in many homes, uses the same infrastructure as ADSL but offers faster speeds through a fibre cable.

The evolution of broadband speeds

Cable broadband launched shortly after ADSL and offered faster speeds through coaxial cables instead of traditional copper cables. Virgin Media is one of the main providers of cable in the UK.

In 2008, fibre optic cables began to be used to provide broadband, replacing the older copper wires used for ADSL. Virgin Media was the first to offer fibre speeds, with an offering of 50 Mbps. Whilst this may be considered low now, it was a step forward in offering customers more bandwidth, as well as an alternative to ADSL.

The introduction of full fibre broadband

Full fibre broadband, sometimes called FTTP, is the fastest and most reliable fibre optic broadband that is currently available to the UK market. With full fibre, fibre optic cables are installed from the street cabinet, right into your home. This is different to standard fibre connections (FTTC) which use copper wires and needs to connect to a cabinet.

In 2011, Hyperoptic launched as a solely full fibre provider and was the first to offer speeds of 1 Gbps in London. However, broadband prices were still relatively high in cost, which led to the UK government in 2015 pledging that broadband was a basic necessity and that it would become easier than ever to access across the country.

The introduction of wireless broadband

Wireless broadband (also known as mobile broadband) was invented earlier than you may think. 2G mobile speeds launched in 1991 and although it’s now an older technology, we still use it today for calls and text messages.

3G launched in the UK in 2003, led by Three, the first telecom to offer a solely 3G network. By 9 December 2004, it had met a regulatory requirement of providing 80% of the UK population with 3G coverage. With speeds over 200Kbps, 3G changed how we used our mobile phones and coincided with the release of many smartphones – including the iPhone on 29 June 2007. As 3G is now an older, less efficient technology, it’s now being phased out throughout the UK due to the strength of 4G and 5G signals.

There’s a range of 4G and 5G wireless broadband options, from data sims to dongles that plug into your laptop, to stand alone wireless devices. At Vodafone, we offer a range of options including our 5G GigaCube, which is a wireless portable router which is ideal for areas that are out of reach of our full fibre network.

What is the future of broadband?

The future of broadband remains to be seen but we can make some predictions. We can expect faster broadband speeds and increased reliability, especially in remote areas. The development of a 10G network is currently in progress, which would provide multi-gigabit speeds, that would be 10x faster than the current consumer market speeds. 10G helps support the advances of VR and AR gaming, as well as the expansion of WiFi-enabled devices which has led many to set up a Smart Home. It will also help support Cloud storage, as we increasingly begin to save and back up all of our important files online.

The recent development of Starlink has demonstrated significant advances in broadband. Launched in 2019, Starlink is providing broadband to the most remote places, including ships in the ocean. Starlink works by beaming internet data via radio signals through space. Essentially, Starlink is satellite internet, using satellites in space to relay data to customers on the ground. It is easy to install, just needing to be plugged in and pointed at the sky – with roaming options for those who move around regularly.

Future plans for Starlink include providing coverage to every corner of the earth, as well as earth observation. The Starlink satellites in space could be equipped with sensors to monitor weather and climate conditions for scientists.

At Vodafone, we've been working in collaboration with AST SpaceMobile, the world's first space-based mobile network that's being built. The aim is to increase connectivity for mobiles across the globe through satellite coverage - wherever you are. Learn more about AST SpaceMobile