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Of course I also have to do a great deal of uploading, in order to get all the stories, articles and reviews onto the TrustedReviews server. With this in mind, the 512Kbit upload speed that goes with UK Online’s 8Mbit service has also been a great benefit.

But increased download and upload speeds haven’t been the only benefits I’ve seen, I’ve also noticed a significant drop in latency when playing games. With my old 512Kbit service, my latency used to hang around the 25 - 30ms level, but since I’ve switched over my latency is generally below 10ms and sometimes as low as 4ms! The usual upshot of this incredibly low ping is multiple exclamations from the other players on the server, usually along the lines of “Bloody hell, you’ve got a low ping!”

Of course there are some downsides to an 8Mbit service. For a start, you have to be pretty close to the exchange (within about 2km) to be able to get a connection at this speed in the first place. I’ve spoken to a lot of friends who have been waiting for this kind of fast connection, but have been told that they’re too far away from their local exchange to allow for it. Also, with the ever tumbling prices for broadband, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth the extra cash over a slower service that’s less than half the price.

Looking at UK Online’s own pricing structure, you can get standard 512Kbit broadband with no download limit for as little as £9.99 per month, while a 2Mbit package with no data cap will set you back £19.99. The 8Mbit service on the other hand costs £29.99 per month, which to be fair, I think is an absolute bargain, especially since it came with a free wireless router – just remember that it’s only a bargain if you’re really going to make use of it.

UK Online was the first ISP in the UK to offer 8Mbit broadband, but since I’ve been using it for the past couple of months there have been other entrants into the market. Most notable is Bulldog, a company that attracted many customers with its previous high-speed/low-cost packages. However, if you want 8Mbit from Bulldog, you have to relinquish your BT phone line and let Bulldog be your telephone provider as well as your Internet provider. Freedom2Surf has also just announced an 8Mbit service, so the choice is getting greater all the time.

But although 8Mbit broadband seems to be excessively fast by most people’s standards, it’s still nowhere near where we need to be. While I was attending the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco last March, Craig Barrett – CEO Intel - made a statement that really struck a cord with me – he said “2Mbit isn’t broadband, 50Mbit is broadband”. I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Craig and we need to see our Internet connection speeds tripling and quadrupling very quickly if the “online world” is going to live up to its potential.

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