Internet in the United Kingdom facts for kids

The United Kingdom has played a big part in the story of the Internet from the very beginning! Today, almost everyone in the UK can get online. This includes homes and businesses, using different ways like super-fast fibre optic cables, cable, DSL (which uses phone lines), wireless, and mobile internet.

Back in 1998, only 9 out of 100 homes had internet. But by 2019, that number jumped to 93 out of 100! Almost all young adults (16-44) use the internet, and even many older adults do too. People in the UK spend more money shopping online than in any other country. The UK also has some of the fastest internet speeds in the world. In 2020, internet use in the UK actually doubled!

The special internet address for the UK is .uk, and a company called Nominet looks after it.

How the Internet Started in the UK

The UK was involved in creating many key parts of the internet, like packet switching (sending data in small chunks) and communication protocols (rules for computers to talk to each other). This work was a team effort with researchers from many countries.

Early Ideas

British scientists were working on computers way back in the 1940s. For example, the trackball (like an upside-down mouse) was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin for the Royal Navy.

Later, in 1959, Christopher Strachey came up with the idea of "time-sharing". This meant many people could use the same powerful computer at the same time, which was a big step towards how we share computer resources today.

Packet Switching and Early Networks

In 1965, a British scientist named Donald Davies thought of "packet switching" for sending data. He imagined a national network where information would travel in small "packets." His team at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) built a network called the NPL network that worked from 1969 to 1986. Their ideas were even used by the ARPANET in the United States, which was a very early version of the internet.

Connecting to the First Internet

In 1973, Peter Kirstein's research group at University College London (UCL) made one of the first international connections to the ARPANET. This meant UCL became a bridge between the ARPANET and British university networks, allowing computers to share information across different networks. By 1975, many British research groups were using this link.

The rules for how computers talk on the internet, called TCP/IP, were developed in the US. But UCL was one of the first places to test these rules in 1975. A programmer named Sylvia Wilbur at UCL was probably one of the first people in the UK to send an email back in 1974!

A fun fact: The first email sent by a head of state was by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976. She sent it from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) over the ARPANET.

When the Domain Name System (DNS) was being created in 1984 (this is how websites get names like google.com), British researchers wanted a special country ending. So, the .uk internet address was registered in July 1985. It was one of the very first country-specific internet addresses!

The UK's main network for universities and research, called JANET, connected to the US internet in 1989. This helped spread internet use across the UK's academic world.

Dial-up Internet: How We Connected Before Broadband

Pipex was the UK's first company to offer internet to people in 1992. Then, Demon Internet made dial-up internet very popular.

Dial-up internet used your regular phone line and a modem. It was slow, and you couldn't use your phone at the same time you were online! This kind of internet has mostly been replaced by faster broadband.

Broadband Internet: Faster Connections

Broadband changed everything! It allowed your internet signal to share the same line as your phone, so you could be online and make calls at the same time. It also made connections much faster, making it easier to browse websites and download files.

At first, broadband came from cable TV companies. Then, DSL technology allowed broadband to be sent over regular copper phone lines. Now, wireless broadband is also available in some places. These different technologies compete to offer the best service.

By 2007, more than half of UK homes had broadband. Many homes also started getting "bundled deals" that included broadband, digital TV, mobile phone service, and a landline phone. This made online shopping and advertising grow a lot.

The government watchdog Ofcom keeps an eye on the UK broadband market. In 2007, the average UK person spent 36 minutes online every day. By 2018, many more people were using Smart TVs, which need a lot of internet speed!

Cable Broadband

Cable Internet access uses special coaxial cables or optical fibre cables. In the UK, Virgin Media is the main cable provider, and they offer very fast speeds.

DSL Broadband

ADSL broadband started trials in the UK in 1998 and became available to buy in 2000. Most of the phone lines and equipment are owned by BT Wholesale. They then sell internet access to other Internet service providers (ISPs), who provide the service to you.

Many companies now offer their own services using something called "local loop unbundling" (LLU). This means they can use BT's phone lines but put their own equipment in the local telephone exchanges. This has helped make internet services faster and cheaper.

Internet Speeds Over Time

Over the years, internet speeds have increased a lot. In the early 2000s, speeds like 512 kbit/s were common. Now, "superfast broadband" is defined as 30 Mbit/s or more, and many homes can get "gigabit speeds" (1000 Mbit/s!).

However, in 2020, the UK dropped in worldwide broadband speed rankings. This was partly because the UK relied on older technologies like FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) for a long time, instead of going straight to FTTP (fibre to the home).

In 2022, the UK was still ranked second-worst among the G7 industrial nations for broadband speed, though it is improving. On average, a fast broadband contract (50Mbps or more) costs about £30.84 a month in the UK.

Many phone and TV companies now offer broadband too. For example, TalkTalk offered "free" broadband if you had a phone package.

Satellite Broadband

Starlink is a company that offers internet using satellites. This can be helpful in rural areas where regular broadband might not reach. It has been available in the UK since 2021.

Fibre Broadband: The Future is Fast

FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) means super-fast fibre optic cables come right into your home. In 2011, BT started offering 100 Mbit/s FTTP broadband, and speeds have increased since then.

Virgin Media also has a large fibre optic network covering many UK homes. Other companies like Hyperoptic and Gigler UK have launched even faster 1 Gbit/s (1000 Mbit/s) services in some cities.

The UK government has aimed for "gigabit-capable" broadband for everyone. This means using a mix of technologies like fibre and upgraded cable networks.

In 2020, Openreach (which manages a lot of the UK's internet network) saw a record amount of data being used – 10 petabytes in one hour! This was partly because of the lockdown in the UK when more people were at home using the internet.

The old copper landline phone network in the UK is planned to be switched off by 2025. Instead, phone calls will be made using "Digital Voice," which uses your broadband router.

Mobile Broadband: Internet on the Go

Mobile broadband lets you get high-speed internet using your mobile phone or a special device with a SIM card.

4G internet replaced older 3G technology and offered much faster download speeds. Then, 5G was launched in the UK in 2019 by companies like EE, Three, Vodafone, and O2.

Kids and the Internet

Special computer networks for schools and education are looked after by groups like JANET.

A report in 2017 showed that more and more younger children are going online, especially using tablets. A survey in 2011 found that about half of UK parents were worried because they didn't have parental controls set up on their children's internet devices.

How the Internet is Used

• Internet usage
• 

  How many people use the internet, by age group

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  How many people use the internet, by gender

Internet Rules and Safety

The UK government has discussed rules about internet safety and privacy. For example, there have been talks about how companies like Facebook and WhatsApp use encryption (which keeps your messages private). Some people in government believe that law enforcement should be able to access encrypted messages if they have a warrant.

The proposed Online Safety Bill aims to make the internet safer, especially for children. However, some big tech companies like Apple and Signal have raised concerns about parts of this bill.

See also

• Digital Britain
• Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
• Media in the United Kingdom
• Open Rights Group