5 April 2007
BT's Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN) internet service is to be scrapped because the faster speeds of broadband are pushing the decidedly slower service out of the market.
Many consumers chose to use the ISDN service as a mid-way point between the slow dial-up internet speeds and the high speed service broadband provided, particularly those who worked from home and required a reliable data connection service.
It appears however that the steady drop in the cost of broadband has tempted too many consumers away from the service to make maintaining it worthwhile.
A spokesman from BT told the BBC: "We are withdrawing consumer ISDN [because] the demand for it has dived with the availability of cheap, fast broadband."
Introduced at the advent of domestic internet use, ISDN lines were capable of providing the user with 64kps' worth of upload and download speed - an impressive amount back when the majority of consumers were just starting to use dial-up services and the high speed cables now used for broadband were only used by businesses.
Now however, with broadband being made available to the masses, the 64kps speed pales in comparison for the 8Mbs speed being routinely offered by many broadband suppliers.
Only the broadcast industry, which relies on ISDN lines for live feeds, is likely to be strongly affected by BT's announcement.
The one advantage the old-fashioned lines have over the broadband cables is the fact that no matter how many people were using them, the internet speed remained constant and several broadcasters have expressed concern that by changing to broadband lines, the quality of live video feeds could be lost.
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