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Cheap £149 PC and broadband bundle gives the UK something to smile about
Charitable entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox has teamed up with Microsoft, TalkTalk, and Simplify Digital to bring a cheaper option for cash-strapped folks in the UK. Starting today, you can buy a refurbished computer with broadband service for a year (with a 40GB monthly cap) for as little as £149 ($240) -- and that price drops even lower for people on state benefits. The "Go On UK" initiative also throws in a WiFi router and Windows 7 to further spread that non-profit love around the nation -- just like we have going on in the US.
FCC will consider 'free or very low cost wireless broadband' service
Did you know there was a Digital Inclusion Summit going on? We already know the FCC isn't best pleased about the fact 93 million Americans are making do without access to home broadband, and this latest event was an opportunity for it to dish some more info on its forthcoming National Broadband Plan. The major obstacles to broadband adoption identified by the FCC were noted as cost, computer illiteracy, and a sheer lack of awareness about the benefits the web offers (outside of cute kitties). The big Plan will be delivered to Congress a week from today, and its suggestions will include the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps, who'll be performing missionary duties among the unenlightened, and the big whopper: a proposal to "consider use of spectrum for a free or very low cost wireless broadband service." Yeah, if you can't jump over the cost hurdle you might as well eviscerate it from existence. Quite naturally, such radical plans have been met with much grumbling opposition, and Business Week reports that it may be years before the full reforms are implemented ... if at all.
Free laptops and broadband promised for 270,000 poor UK families
This isn't quite on par with Finland's contention that 1Mb broadband is a "right," but UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged £300 million ($484 million) for the provision of laptops and broadband connections to low income families. The idea is for parents to be connected to their children's school, so that they may access reports and track progress online. We don't know if broadband is going to be quite the panacea that it's being promoted as, but at least an effort is being made to make internet access truly universal. The new initiative is part of an education bill being debated in the House of Commons right now, but given the PM's low popular and parliamentary approval, there's no certainty that this pledge will come to pass. Let's just hope it does.
