Broadband history

The internet has been around since the 1980s. It gained popularity in the 1990s and has skyrocketed since then. Back then, people used to connect to the internet using their home telephone wires using a system called dial-up.

This was painfully slow and hugely restricted people's ability to downloaded songs, video clips and movies. In addition to slow speeds, dial-up internet was also extremely inconvenient, as it took up full use of the telephone wire. Hence, people either used the internet sporadically or had to install a separate phone line to use the internet from.

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... And then there was broadband

Broadband breathed new life into the internet in the early noughties. And since then broadband technology has gone from strength to strength by giving internet users faster connection speeds without disrupting their telephone usage.

The advent of broadband networks meant that people were able download files, songs, TV shows and movies at greater speeds and, thus, with more convenience. But the problem was that broadband was extremely expensive when it was first launched, so take up was slow to begin with.

Once prices became more competitive, however, ISPs began to compete with each other on things like offering the fast broadband, the best "heavy use" broadband and best broadband bundles.

Now the days of dial-up are long gone. And gone too is the time when two or three big-players dominated the market. The UK broadband sector is currently a buyer’s market with plenty of great offers to choose from.

For more detailed information on broadband, and an explanation of commonly used terms, check out our broadband jargon guide.

To find out more about downloading music via broadband. Or compare for the best broadband deals and offers.