Poor Little Rich Broadband
At first I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but The Guardian reported yesterday, on April 6, that the wealthy are stranded in digital dark age as expensive properties lack fast internet in London’s most exclusive housing developments:
Only the most wealthy can afford a pied-à-terre at the One Hyde Park development opposite Harrods, in Knightsbridge, but it seems even the average £22m price tag is not enough to buy a superfast internet connection. The flats went on sale just three years ago, but their broadband speed is well below the national average.
While it might be tempting to shed a crocodile tear for these poor little rich people, it turns out their broadband speeds aren’t all that slow, at least compared to the United States.
One Hyde Park has a top speed of around 10 megabits per second – well below the 18Mbps national average.
By comparison, the average broadband speed in the United States is 10 megabits per second, the same as the relatively “slow” speeds of One Hyde Park and well below the average data rate of the United Kingdom.
But, of course, in the early twenty-first century, being rich has its perks. The developer is looking to accelerate those broadband speeds.
The building’s developer, Candy & Candy, says it is now negotiating with BT to install a 100Mbps service.
In the United States, one hundred megabits per second for residential broadband is almost science-fiction fast.
