The First Release from National Statistics Online shows that the majority of the new internet connections (88.4 %) were broadband based during the last quarter (between June 2007 and September 2007). This is 2.2 % increase when compared to the same statistics taken in the previous quarter. The data provided by the leading UK broadband providers enabled NSO to produce this report which looks into current trends of UK broadband industry.

However, the survey shows that dial-up uptake is continuously decreasing and the dial-up connections now comprise just 11.6 per cent of total connections during this quarter. It should be noted that broadband has started replacing the traditional dial-up connection since 2005.

As far as broadband speeds are concerned, the number of people who opt for fast broadband has increased in September. There are two factors that work behind the increasing tendency towards fast broadband deals.  First, a number of  UK broadband suppliers are either revamping their packages with higher speeds or rolling out new packages with high connection speeds. For instance, AOL broadband supplier not only added wireless compatibility to its packages but also upgraded its entry level package to 8 Mbps. Nowadays, 8Mb broadband is gaining immense popularity with heavy users and regular gamers. Secondly, the bandwidth needs of the customers have undergone significant change during this year, as IPTV services and popular games sites made a great impact in the society.

According to the survey, half of the UK broadband customers have connections that have speeds of 2 Mbps or more in September. This shows 10 percent increase from 37.5 percent of this section of broadband customers in December 2006. In comparison, the number of people who went for broadband with connection speed less than 2 Mbps declined two percent during the last quarter. This section of customers consisted of 62 percent of total customers by the end of last year. However, there are only 50.8 percent of UK broadband customers have preferred to go for speeds less than 2 Mbps.

It should be noted that the actual speed that one gets always differ from what is advertised by the ISP. Although there are reasons like line quality and the distance of exchange that contribute to degrading of speed, the service providers are also partly to blame as most of them do not provide clear information on the actual speeds that the connections are capable of. This has been a debatable issue for awhile.