The future of broadband

Fibre is quick and reliable but has poor availability, and mobile broadband is cheap and available but less reliable. ADSL is the ideal middle ground, so it's unsurprising that it is currently the most popular type of broadband connection in the UK. Most of its dominance comes from the existing infrastructure, owned by BT, without which there would be no ADSL at all.

Potential threats to ADSL broadband:

• Mobile broadband
• Cable broadband
• WiMAX broadband

Mobile broadband

4G is possibly the biggest threat to ADSL. 3G speeds reach up to 21Mbps, whereas 4G will hit 100Mbps or more. Given that this is the maximum speed of cable, 4G is likely to surpass that too as there are no wires, installation or equipment.

Currently there are five mobile phone operators offering mobile broadband (Vodafone, Three, Orange, T-Mobile and O2).

Cable broadband

The edge that cable broadband has over ADSL broadband is obvious in terms of the superior speeds that it can offer. At present Virgin Media, BT and companies such as Plusnet and Eclipse which use BT's fibre infrastructure are the only companies to offer fibre-optic connections. Max speed with Virgin is 100Mb and is 40Mb with BT and the providers which sell their own versions of BT's Infinity fibre optic broadband product.

WiMAX broadband

WiMAX, a technology that offers high-speed broadband via radio waves, is another contender to replace ADSL broadband. The ubiquity of radio coverage in both urban and regional areas of the UK are definitely points in its favour.

Unfortunately for WiMAX it has arrived a little too late, as mobile broadband has already established a stronghold on the roaming/wireless market. This head start may well prove impossible to overcome.