Hi all,

I have been asked to comment on this subject so hope you don't mind.

With regards student having access to broadband services at home, this
is a complex issue for several reasons:

Firstly, considering the BT Openworld dial up modem offering, it may
interest you to know that the maximum hourly usage for this service is
now 5 hours a day, which is ok for some students, but for students who
need to do most of their work at home is sometimes unacceptable.  

Secondly: If you were to provide access via certain companies, they
will charge you an amount for the service per month plus the local
0845 phone rate - Demon's tenner a month is a prime example for this.
In most cases for heavy Internet use, this would end up more costly
than allowing a broadband connection to be installed.

Thirdly: Depending on where you live, you are eligible for different
packages/prices.  The widest available package is BT ADSL service
which can be used with a range of providers and a range of prices (my
provider allows, for example, an unlimited connection for £20 per
month which is more than adequate for standard Internet surfing).

There are also cable services, which can be a lot cheaper depending on
the deal you go with at the time, but these are less widely available
and can be very restrictive (i.e, if the student did not have an
initial cable check, they may not be eligible).  Providers supplying
such services are Telewest Blueyonder and NTL's NTLWorld.

Furthermore, BT are pushing broadband ADSL to the extent that some
people have found/reported that they have been unable to sign up to
the BT Openworld Anytime product if ADSL has been in their area.  I
have no idea how accurate this is, especially since I don't have ADSL
in my area, but is something that would need to be taken into account
in some situations.  I have also found that BT are very varied on
their responses: If you don't get the response you want first time,
you can ring up again and get the response you want!

As for the speed of the connection, I don't agree with the argument
regarding university machines being available to the Internet 24/7.
This is because many people are using the university machines to view
web sites, and so in many cases the connection is slower than some
dial up modem connections!  Furthermore, if using a university
connection, you would only likely be using this for downloading web
content, whereas, if one had broadband at home, they would probably be
tempted to use the service for other activities as well, such as video
over broadband.

Furthermore, I am a visually impaired student using a screen reader,
and although I have had to use the Internet for longer when reading
the information, I have found that a timeout benefits me on an ISDN
connection, since I can set the machine to disconnect after 60 seconds
of inactivity, then it can dial up as soon as I go to another page.

Finally, I think that a set amount of Internet allowance is the best
option, because then it gives the student in most cases a budget which
they can spend over if they wish to have a better service.  For
example, I would feel guilty if I let the LEA pay for the full
Internet costs in my situation, since it is not just me using the
Internet, and so the LEA shouldn't have to pick up the full cost of
funding this.

Hope this helps.
Andrew.
-- 
Andrew Hodgson, Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
Email: [log in to unmask]