Right Online?

The Covid-19 pandemic has emphasised just how important connectivity to the internet can be especially for socially isolated people. The internet has been a means of providing edicational input when schools and universities that have been unable to open for face-to-face teaching. Some medical consultations have even been possible, by using this medium (although this is clearly not as effective as a personal meeting between the medic and the patient). It has also been a means of maintaining links with family members and friends when isolation can be a killer. Some people, have found that the internet is their only means of continuing their business activities. At a more basic level it has enabled socially isolated people to receive neccessary entertainment and shopping. It is consequently rather shocking to read that a third of UK households (many of which are in rural areas) do not have adequate connectivity ( https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/sep/14/bt-broadband-bills-could-reach-100000-for-rural-users). This is in spite of their having a legal right to it. It is even more shocking that some people have reportedly been quoted figures of up to £100,000 to get connected by British Telecom (BT). There has also been some argument about whether the entire bill for connecting a particular area should fall on one household (BT claim that the rules do not allow individuals to share the cost with other people who also benefit). I think that, given that the pandemic is not going away quickly and that other disasters of this type are not impossible, everyone in the country should be entitled to connectivity. This should not be down to whether you live in a particular area and/or have the means to pay for it. Virtually all UK housing is connected to water and electricity supplies, the same should apply to the internet (and then people can then choose to use it or not, as they please).