Press & PR

A new report suggests that it could cost up to $100 billion (£50 billion) to upgrade broadband networks across America to ultra-fast 100MB connections.

The study comes from Educause and warns of an accelerated demand for high-speed broadband that is far exceeding levels of supply.

As more people become dependent on high-bandwidth services such as video streaming and home-business VoIP services, the survey suggests that consumers will need 100MB connections within three to five years.

"While other nations are preparing for the future, the United States is not," the report asserts.

Japan has already converted many of its domestic broadband services to high-speed fibre networks capable of delivering 100MB and Britain has announced a number of prominent schemes to deliver ultra-fast speeds in the near future.

America's looming crisis is the result of a failure to adopt a national broadband policy, something iterated yesterday in reference to Britain by Japan's vice-minister of communications.

Vonage offers a number of cheap calls throughout the UK and abroad.

The V-Plan 2 package offers free inclusive calls to the UK, as well as 14 other countries, including US landlines and mobiles.