A survey done for Ofcom, the Communications regulator, has found that 30% of homes in the UK don’t have broadband and of those there was 42% said they had no interest in getting it.
Their research resulted in finding that there were 3 different groups that those without the Internet fell into, these were:
- Those intending to get the Internet in the next 6 months
- The self-excluded
- The financially excluded
There were 2 out of 10 who currently don’t have the Internet who were planning on getting it within the next 6 months, these on the whole were younger users who regularly use the Internet already away from the home who are working and also have children.
A huge 42% of those without Internet said that they don’t need or have no interest in getting on the Internet, with the majority being older people with 61% of these having never used a computer before. This group tend not to see any reasons why they would need the Internet.
The financially excluded group was made up of 30% of those without the Internet and of this group 3 out of 10 said the reason was because the cost of a computer was the main reason while 37% said the cost of the Internet was too much.
42% of those without the Internet said that they would be willing to pay something to have it, with 13% saying they would get it if they could get free Internet connection and a computer. There was 43% however who said that even if they were given free broadband they would still not be interested with these mainly being those who were 65 or over or those who were retired or those on low household incomes with no children living at home.
As the government wants to have everyone using the Internet it will be interesting to see what ways they will have to do to get all these without Internet and who have no desire to have the Internet to actually start using it. With more and more public services being put online the government will have to think ways and means through for these people.
The full “Accessing the Internet at home” report can be read at www.ofcom.org.uk
All the students need to do is when signing up they need to quote the promotion code “StudentOffer” during the sign up.
3 believe that this is the most flexible and affordable 
For anyone who signs up to their