Internet in the United Kingdom#Northern Ireland

{{further|History of the Internet}}

The UK has been involved in the research and development of packet switching, communication protocols, and internetworking since their origins.{{Cite journal |last=Campbell-Kelly |first=Martin |date=1987 |title=Data Communications at the National Physical Laboratory (1965-1975) |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4640566 |journal=Annals of the History of Computing |volume=9 |issue=3/4 |pages=221–247 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.1987.10023 |s2cid=8172150 |issn=0164-1239|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Ed |last2=Miller |first2=Chris |last3=Norton |first3=Jim |date=2017 |title=Packet Switching: The first steps on the road to the information society |url=https://www.npl.co.uk/getattachment/about-us/History/Famous-faces/Donald-Davies/UK-role-in-Packet-Switching-(1).pdf.aspx?lang=en-GB |access-date= |website=National Physical Laboratory}} The development of these technologies was international from the beginning.{{cite web |author1=by Vinton Cerf, as told to Bernard Aboba |date=1993 |title=How the Internet Came to Be |url=http://elk.informatik.hs-augsburg.de/tmp/cdrom-oss/CerfHowInternetCame2B.html |access-date=25 September 2017 |quote=We began doing concurrent implementations at Stanford, BBN, and University College London. So effort at developing the Internet protocols was international from the beginning. |archive-date=26 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926042220/http://elk.informatik.hs-augsburg.de/tmp/cdrom-oss/CerfHowInternetCame2B.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last1=Hauben |first1=Ronda |date=1 May 2004 |title=The Internet: On its International Origins and Collaborative Vision A Work In-Progress |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/misc/haubenpap.rtf |access-date=25 September 2017}} While the research and development that led to the Internet protocol suite (and the early infrastructure and governance of the Internet) was driven and funded by the United States,{{Cite IETF|rfc=1087|title=Ethics and the Internet|date=January 1989|quote=At great human and economic cost, resources drawn from the U.S. Government, industry and the academic community have been assembled into a collection of interconnected networks called the Internet.}}{{cite news |date=15 February 2016 |title=BT ad gets into a muddle about the internet's origins |work=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35579225 |access-date=25 September 2017}} it also involved and applied the work of British (and French) researchers. In particular, Donald Davies independently invented and pioneered packet switching and associated computer network design at the National Physical Laboratory starting in 1965;{{Cite book |last=Yates |first=David M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToMfAQAAIAAJ&q=packet+switch |title=Turing's Legacy: A History of Computing at the National Physical Laboratory 1945-1995 |date=1997 |publisher=National Museum of Science and Industry |isbn=978-0-901805-94-2 |pages=132–4 |language=en |quote=Davies's invention of packet switching and design of computer communication networks ... were a cornerstone of the development which led to the Internet}} internetworking was pioneered by Peter Kirstein at University College London beginning in 1973 (with new concepts for internetworking developed by Louis Pouzin in France around the same time);{{cite web|url=https://www.sri.com/newsroom/press-releases/computer-history-museum-sri-international-and-bbn-celebrate-40th-anniversary|title=The Computer History Museum, SRI International, and BBN Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of First ARPANET Transmission, Precursor to Today's Internet|date=27 October 2009|publisher=SRI International|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329134941/https://www.sri.com/newsroom/press-releases/computer-history-museum-sri-international-and-bbn-celebrate-40th-anniversary|archive-date=29 March 2019|access-date=25 September 2017|quote=But the ARPANET itself had now become an island, with no links to the other networks that had sprung up. By the early1970s, researchers in France, the UK, and the U.S. began developing ways of connecting networks to each other, a process known as internetworking.}}{{Cite journal |last=Kirstein |first=P. T. |date=December 1984 |title=The University College London International Computer Communications Interconnection Service |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10076375/1/pub-102-D.pdf |journal=Internal Working Paper}} and Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while working at CERN in Switzerland.

Britain pioneered research and development of computers in the 1940s.{{Cite book |last=Copeland |first=B. Jack |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YhQZnczOS7kC&dq=Davies&pg=PA1 |title=Alan Turing's Electronic Brain: The Struggle to Build the ACE, the World's Fastest Computer |date=2012-05-24 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-960915-4 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Roger |date=29 January 2004 |title=Origins and Nature of the Internet in Australia |url=http://www.rogerclarke.com/II/OzI04.html#Comp |access-date=2020-02-23 |website=www.rogerclarke.com |quote=Much of the history of computing has been written by Americans. ... More balanced histories reflect the fact that, for all of the U.S.A.'s dominance from about 1950, the early developments occurred on both sides of the Atlantic}} This led to partnerships between the public and private sectors, which brought about sharing of concepts and the transfer of personnel between industry and academia or national research bodies.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sigcis.org/britain|title=History of Computing in the UK: A Resource Guide|website=SIGCIS|access-date=2020-02-16}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bcs.org/content-hub/a-brief-history-of-british-computers-the-first-25-years-1948-1973/|title=A brief history of British computers: the first 25 years (1948–1973)|website=BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT|language=en|access-date=2020-02-16}} The trackball was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin, while working for the Royal Navy Scientific Service.{{cite web|author-last=Copping|author-first=Jasper|date=2013-07-11|title=Briton: 'I invented the computer mouse 20 years before the Americans'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10174366/Briton-I-invented-the-computer-mouse-20-years-before-the-Americans.html|access-date=2013-07-18|publisher=The Telegraph}}{{cite web|date=2005-09-16|editor-last=Hill|editor-first=Peter C. J.|title=RALPH BENJAMIN: An Interview Conducted by Peter C. J. Hill|url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Ralph_Benjamin|access-date=2013-07-18|series=Interview #465|publisher=IEEE History Center, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.|type=Interview}} At the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Alan Turing worked on computer design, assisted by Donald Davies in 1947.{{Cite journal|last1=Needham|first1=R. M.|author-link=Roger Needham|year=2002|title=Donald Watts Davies, C.B.E. 7 June 1924 – 28 May 2000|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=48|pages=87–96|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2002.0006|s2cid=72835589}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.npl.co.uk/famous-faces/donald-davies|title=Donald Davies|website=NPLWebsite|language=en|access-date=2020-02-16}}

Christopher Strachey, who became Oxford University's first professor of computation, filed a patent application for time-sharing in 1959.{{Cite web|url=https://history.computer.org/pioneers/strachey.html|title=Computer Pioneers – Christopher Strachey|website=IEEE Computer Society|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515062531/https://history.computer.org/pioneers/strachey.html|archive-date=2019-05-15|access-date=2020-01-23}}{{Cite web |title=Computer - Time-sharing, Minicomputers, Multitasking {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/computer/Time-sharing-and-minicomputers |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} In June that year, he gave a paper "Time Sharing in Large Fast Computers" at the UNESCO Information Processing Conference in Paris where he passed the concept on to J. C. R. Licklider who worked on Project MAC at MIT in the United States.{{cite book |last=Corbató |first=F. J. |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/mit/ctss/CTSS_ProgrammersGuide.pdf |title=The Compatible Time-Sharing System: A Programmer's Guide |publisher=MIT Press |year=1963 |isbn=978-0-262-03008-3 |display-authors=etal}}. "the first paper on time-shared computers by C. Strachey at the June 1959 UNESCO Information Processing conference".{{harvnb|Gillies|Cailliau|2000|page=13}}

After meeting with Licklider in 1965, Donald Davies conceived the idea of packet switching for data communications.{{cite web|url=http://www.packet.cc/files/ev-packet-sw.html|title=The Evolution of Packet Switching|last1=Roberts|first1=Dr. Lawrence G.|date=November 1978|access-date=5 September 2017|quote=Almost immediately after the 1965 meeting, Donald Davies conceived of the details of a store-and-forward packet switching system|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324033133/http://www.packet.cc/files/ev-packet-sw.html|archive-date=24 March 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.packet.cc/files/arpanet-computernet.html|title=The ARPANET & Computer Networks|last1=Roberts|first1=Dr. Lawrence G.|date=May 1995|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324032800/http://www.packet.cc/files/arpanet-computernet.html|archive-date=24 March 2016|access-date=13 April 2016}} He proposed a commercial national data network and developed plans to implement the concept in a local area network, the NPL network, which operated from 1969 to 1986.{{Cite conference |last1=Scantlebury |first1=Roger |last2=Wilkinson |first2=Peter |last3=Barber |first3=Derek |date=2001 |title=NPL, Packet Switching and the Internet |url=http://www.topquark.co.uk/conf/IAP2001.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030807200346/http://www.topquark.co.uk/conf/IAP2001.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2003-08-07 |conference=Symposium of the Institution of Analysts & Programmers 2001 |access-date=2024-06-13 |quote=The system first went 'live' early in 1969 |website=}}{{cite journal |last1=Barber |first1=Derek |date=Spring 1993 |title=The Origins of Packet Switching |url=http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res05.htm#f |journal=The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society |issue=5 |issn=0958-7403 |access-date=6 September 2017}} He and his team, including Derek Barber and Roger Scantlebury, carried out work to analyse and simulate the performance of packet switching networks, including datagram networks.{{cite book |author1=C. Hempstead |url=https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOf20thCenturyTechnologyAZMalestrom/page/n621/mode/2up?q=packet+switching |title=Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Technology |author2=W. Worthington |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45551-4 |pages=573–5}}{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/Book/6/6.3-CYCLADESNetworkLouisPouzin1-72.html|title=Entrepreneurial Capitalism and Innovation: A History of Computer Communications 1968–1988|last=Pelkey|first=James|chapter=6.3 CYCLADES Network and Louis Pouzin 1971–1972|access-date=3 February 2020|archive-date=17 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617093154/https://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/Book/6/6.3-CYCLADESNetworkLouisPouzin1-72.html|url-status=dead}} Their research and practice was adopted by the ARPANET in the United States, the forerunner of the Internet, and influenced researchers in Europe, including Louis Pouzin, and in Japan.{{cite book|last1=Gillies|first1=James|last2=Cailliau|first2=Robert|title=How the Web was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-286207-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill/page/25 25]|url=https://archive.org/details/howwebwasbornsto00gill|url-access=registration}}{{cite book|last1=Isaacson|first1=Walter|title=The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|date=2014|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4767-0869-0|page=237|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4V9koAEACAAJ&pg=PA237}}{{Cite journal |last1=Needham |first1=R. M. |author-link=Roger Needham |year=2002 |title=Donald Watts Davies, C.B.E. 7 June 1924 – 28 May 2000 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=48 |pages=87–96 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2002.0006 |s2cid=72835589 |quote=The 1967 Gatlinburg paper was influential on the development of ARPAnet, which might otherwise have been built with less extensible technology. ... In 1969 Davies was invited to Japan to lecture on packet switching. He gave what must have been a quite gruelling series of nine three-hour lectures, concluding with an intense discussion with around 80 people.}}

Donald Davies, Derek Barber and Roger Scantlebury joined the International Network Working Group (INWG) in 1972 along with researchers from the United States and France.{{Cite journal |last=McKenzie |first=Alexander |date=2011 |title=INWG and the Conception of the Internet: An Eyewitness Account |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=66–71 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.2011.9 |issn=1934-1547 |s2cid=206443072}}{{Cite web|title=Vinton Cerf : How the Internet Came to Be|url=http://www.netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/cerf-how-inet.html|access-date=2021-12-21|website=www.netvalley.com}}{{cite web |date=24 April 1990 |title=Smithsonian Oral and Video Histories: Vinton Cerf |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/vc1.html |access-date=23 September 2019 |website=National Museum of American History |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |quote=Roger Scantlebury was one of the major players. And Donald Davies who ran, at least he was superintendent of the information systems division or something like that. I absolutely had a lot of interaction with NPL at the time. They in fact came to the ICCC 72 and they had been coming to previous meetings of what is now called Datacomm. Its first incarnation was a long title having to do with the analysis and optimization of computer communication networks, or something like that. This started in late 1969, I think, was when the first meeting happened in Pine Hill, Georgia. I didn't go to that one, but I went to the next one that was at Stanford, I think. That's where I met Scantlebury, I believe, for the first time. Then I had a lot more interaction with him. I would come to the UK fairly regularly, partly for IFIP or INWG reasons}}{{cite web |last=Scantlebury |first=Roger |date=25 June 2013 |title=Internet pioneers airbrushed from history |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jun/25/internet-pioneers-airbrushed-from-history |access-date=1 August 2015 |work=The Guardian |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |title=How we nearly invented the internet in the UK {{!}} New Scientist |url=https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg24532640-100-how-we-nearly-invented-the-internet-in-the-uk/ |access-date=2020-02-07 |website=www.newscientist.com}} Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn acknowledged Davies and Scantlebury in their seminal 1974 paper "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication".{{Cite journal|last1=Cerf|first1=V.|last2=Kahn|first2=R.|date=1974|title=A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication|url=https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos561/papers/cerf74.pdf|journal=IEEE Transactions on Communications|volume=22|issue=5|pages=637–648|doi=10.1109/TCOM.1974.1092259|issn=1558-0857|quote=The authors wish to thank a number of colleagues for helpful comments during early discussions of international network protocols, especially R. Metcalfe, R. Scantlebury, D. Walden, and H. Zimmerman; D. Davies and L. Pouzin who constructively commented on the fragmentation and accounting issues; and S. Crocker who commented on the creation and destruction of associations.}}

Peter Kirstein's research group at University College London (UCL) was one of only two international connections on the ARPANET, alongside Norway (NORSAR and NDRE).{{cite book|editor1-last=Brown|editor1-first=Ian|title=Research handbook on governance of the Internet|date=2013|publisher=Edward Elgar|isbn=978-1-84980-504-9|page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgI1_r61JFQC&pg=PA7}} Beginning in 1973, UCL provided a gateway between the ARPANET and British academic networks, the first international internetwork for computer resource sharing. In 1975, 40 British academic research groups were using the link;{{Cite journal |last=Kirstein |first=P.T. |date=1999 |title=Early experiences with the Arpanet and Internet in the United Kingdom |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4773/f19792f9fce8eacba72e5f8c2a021414e52d.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=38–44 |doi=10.1109/85.759368 |issn=1934-1547 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207092443/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4773/f19792f9fce8eacba72e5f8c2a021414e52d.pdf |archive-date=2020-02-07 |s2cid=1558618}} by 1984, there was a user population of about 150 people on both sides of the Atlantic.

The specification of the Transmission Control Program was developed in the U.S. in 1974 through research funded and led by DARPA and Stanford University.{{Cite web |date=1974 |title=Specification of Internet Transmission Control Program |url=https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc675/}} The following year, testing began with concurrent implementations at University College London, Stanford University, and BBN.{{cite web|author1=by Vinton Cerf, as told to Bernard Aboba|date=1993|title=How the Internet Came to Be|url=http://elk.informatik.hs-augsburg.de/tmp/cdrom-oss/CerfHowInternetCame2B.html|access-date=25 September 2017|quote=We began doing concurrent implementations at Stanford, BBN, and University College London. So effort at developing the Internet protocols was international from the beginning. ... Mar '82 - Norway leaves the ARPANET and become an Internet connection via TCP/IP over SATNET. Nov '82 - UCL leaves the ARPANET and becomes an Internet connection.|archive-date=26 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926042220/http://elk.informatik.hs-augsburg.de/tmp/cdrom-oss/CerfHowInternetCame2B.html|url-status=dead}} UCL played a significant role in the very earliest experimental Internet work. Adrian Stokes and Sylvia Wilbur, among others at UCL, programmed the computer used as the local node for the network at UCL and were "probably one of the first people in this country ever to send an email, back in 1974".{{citation|url=https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Silvia_Wilbur|title=Silvia Wilbur|work=IEEE History Center Interview #634|first=Janet|last=Abbate|authorlink=Janet Abbate|publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|date=April 2001}} Kirstein co-authored with Vint Cerf one of the most significant early technical papers on the internetworking concept in 1978.{{Cite journal | last1 = Cerf | first1 = V. G. | last2 = Kirstein | first2 = P. T. | doi = 10.1109/PROC.1978.11147 | title = Issues in packet-network interconnection | journal = Proceedings of the IEEE | volume = 66 | issue = 11 | pages = 1386 | year = 1978 | s2cid = 27658511 }} Further work was done by researchers at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI), at the University of Southern California.[http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/plaque.html "Stanford University 'Birth of the Internet' Plaque"], web page, J. Noel Chiappa, Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT{{efn|See also the Final Report of the Stanford University TCP project, {{Cite IETF|ien=151}}, written by Cerf in 1980. This was originally, in TCP version 2 in 1977 (IEN5), to be entitled "Final Report of the Internetwork TCP Project" and to be written by Cerf [Stanford], Stephen Edge [UCL], Andrew Hinchley [UCL], Richard Karp [Stanford], Peter T. Kirstein [UCL], and Paal Spilling [NDRE]. This title was carried over into version 3 (IEN21) and into the list of references in version 4 but the present title was adopted in the preface (IEN55).|name=note1}} Kirstein's research group at UCL adopted TCP/IP in November 1982, ahead of ARPANET.{{Cite IETF|title=Routing and Access Control in UK to US Services|ien=190}}{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Olivier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eTRYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 |title=The "Hidden" Prehistory of European Research Networking |date=2012 |publisher=Trafford Publishing |isbn=978-1-4669-3872-4}}

The Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) became involved in implementation and testing of TCP/IP in 1976.{{Cite web |last=Postel |first=J. |date=7 November 1980 |title=Internet Meeting Notes -- 7-8-9 October 1980 |url=https://www.rfc-editor.org/ien/ien160.txt |access-date=9 February 2022 |quote=RSRE has been very active in measuring TCP performance and will report some ... RSRE particularly noticed the lost traffic due to the problems with line 41.}}{{Cite web |title=Google Search |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=RSRE+site:https://www.rfc-editor.org/ien&safe=active |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=www.google.com}} The first email sent by a head of state was sent from the RSRE by Queen Elizabeth II to inaugurate the link to the ARPANET in March that year.{{cite magazine |author=Cade Metz |date=25 December 2012 |title=How the Queen of England Beat Everyone to the Internet |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719055501/http://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/ |archive-date=19 July 2014 |access-date=27 June 2014 |magazine=Wired Magazine |issn=1059-1028}}{{cite web |last1=Feinler |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Vittal |first2=John |date=2022-07-01 |title=Email Innovation Timeline |url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2022/08/102806104-05-01-acc.pdf |access-date=2023-08-18 |publisher=Computer History Museum |page=49 |authorlink1=Elizabeth J. Feinler}}{{Cite news|last=Left|first=Sarah|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2002/mar/13/internetnews|title=Email timeline|date=2002-03-13|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-09|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} RSRE was allocated class A Internet address range 25 in 1979,{{cite web|url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc755|title=Assigned Numbers|last=Postel|first=J.|date=3 May 1979|publisher=USC - Information Sciences Institute|id=RFC755|access-date=6 April 2020}} which later became the Ministry of Defence address space, providing 16.7 million IPv4 addresses.{{cite report|url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0031/37795/rtfm.pdf|title=Study into UK IPv4 and IPv6 allocations|publisher=Ofcom|id=Ofcom/140701-00|access-date=6 April 2020|work=Reid Technical Facilities Management|year=2014|archive-date=6 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306013246/https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0031/37795/rtfm.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Roger Camrass, with his supervisor, Robert Gallager, at MIT, showed packet switching to be optimal in the Huffman coding sense in 1978.{{Cite journal |last1=Camrass |first1=R. |last2=Gallager |first2=R. |date=1978 |title=Encoding message lengths for data transmission (Corresp.) |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1055910 |journal=IEEE Transactions on Information Theory |language=en |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=495–496 |doi=10.1109/TIT.1978.1055910 |issn=0018-9448|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |title=Reflections on an Internet pioneer: Roger Camrass |url=http://stories.clare.cam.ac.uk/reflections-of-an-internet-pioneer/ |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=stories.clare.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}

Derek Barber was involved in Internet design discussions in 1980.{{Cite IETF|ien=160|title=Internet Meeting Notes}} British researchers expressed a desire to use a country designation when American researchers Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris were designing the Domain Name System in 1984. Postel adopted this idea for the DNS, which used the ISO standard country abbreviations except for following the "UK" convention already in use in the UK's Name Registration Scheme, rather than the ISO-standard "GB". The .uk Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) was registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us. At the time, ccTLDs were delegated by Postel to a "responsible person" and Andrew McDowell at UCL managed .uk, the first country code delegation.{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMKmdJq7iE0C&pg=PA79|

title=Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace|author=Milton Mueller|page=79|publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=2002|isbn=978-0-262-63298-0}}{{Cite book |last1=Mansell |first1=Robin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOciwO7I50AC&pg=PA208 |title=Inside the Communication Revolution: Evolving Patterns of Social and Technical Interaction |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-829656-0 |pages=208 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Earnshaw |first1=Rae |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xy7LadoXUVYC&pg=PA46 |title=Digital Convergence - Libraries of the Future |last2=Vince |first2=John |date=2007-09-20 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-84628-903-3 |pages=46 |language=en}} He later passed it to Dr Willie Black at the UK Education and Research Networking Association (UK ERNA). Black managed the "Naming Committee" until he and John Carey formed Nominet UK in 1996.{{Cite book|last1=Mansell|first1=Robin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOciwO7I50AC&pg=PA206|title=Inside the Communication Revolution: Evolving Patterns of Social and Technical Interaction|last2=Mansell|first2=Dixons Chair in New Media and the Internet Interdepartmental Programme in Media and Communications Robin|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-829656-0|language=en}} As one of the first professional ccTLD operators, it became the model for many other operators worldwide.

The UK's national research and education network (NREN), JANET connected with the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) in the United States in 1989.{{cite IETF|title=Hobbes' Internet Timeline|rfc=2235|page=9|last=Zakon|first=Robert|author-link=|date=November 1997|publisher=IETF|access-date=2 Dec 2020}} JANET adopted Internet Protocol on its existing network in 1991.{{cite conference|last=Reid|first=Jim|date=3 April 2007|title=The Good Old Days: Networking in UK Academia ~25 Years Ago|url=http://www.uknof.com/uknof7/Reid-History.pdf|location=Manchester|access-date=16 April 2008|book-title=UKNOF7|archive-date=28 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528040321/http://www.uknof.com/uknof7/Reid-History.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|title=The Adoption of TCP/IP|url=http://clivemabey.me.uk/SciTech/datacomm/adoption.php|access-date=2019-02-12|website=clivemabey.me.uk|archive-date=9 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809164534/http://clivemabey.me.uk/SciTech/datacomm/adoption.php|url-status=dead}} In the same year, Dai Davies introduced Internet technology into the pan-European NREN, EuropaNet.{{Cite web|title=Dai Davies|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org//inductees/dai-davies|access-date=2020-01-23|website=Internet Hall of Fame}}

British Telecom (BT) operated research labs which began, unofficially, relaying its internal email to the Internet at the end of the 1980s.{{Cite news |last=Jeffery |first=Simon |date=2009-10-23 |title=How we used the internet to tell the story of the internet |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2009/oct/23/arpanet-internet |access-date=2024-06-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |title=Nigel – Titley Family |url=https://www.titley.com/index.php/about-us/nigel/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |language=en-GB |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |title=Biographies |url=https://www.ripe.net/membership/meetings/gm/meetings/may-2007/biographies/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=RIPE Network Coordination Center |language=en |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |title=Candidate Biographies |url=https://www.ripe.net/membership/meetings/gm/meetings/may-2016/candidate-biographies/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=RIPE Network Coordination Center |language=en}}

NetNames, Ivan Pope's company, developed the concept of a standalone commercial domain name registrar, which would sell domain registration and other associated services to the public. Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), the domain name registry for the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains (TLDs), assimilated this model, which ultimately led to the separation of registry and registrar functions.

Jon Crowcroft and Mark Handley received multiple awards for their work on Internet technology in the 1990s and 2000s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/internet-recipients.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122134635/https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/internet-recipients.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 November 2018|title=IEEE Internet Award Recipients|website=IEEE|access-date=2020-01-28}} Karen Banks promoted the use of the Internet to empower women around the world.{{Cite web|url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/karen-banks|title=Karen Banks|website=Internet Hall of Fame|access-date=2020-01-23}}

Over the period 1980 to 2000, BT and other providers adopted TCP/IP and Internet product strategies when it became commercially advantageous.{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Edward |last2=Miller |first2=Chris |last3=Norton |first3=Jim |date=2023 |title=Evolving and Exploiting Packet Switched Networks |url=https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=4595785 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4595785 |issn=1556-5068|url-access=subscription }}

The South West Universities Computer Network (SWUCN) was an early British academic computer network developed with the objective of resource sharing. After planning began in 1967, work was initiated in 1969 on an experimental network, becoming operational for users in 1974.{{Cite journal |last=Powell |first=Kit |date=1980-07-01 |title=Evolution of networks using standard protocols |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0140-3664%2880%2990069-9 |journal=Computer Communications |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=117–122 |doi=10.1016/0140-3664(80)90069-9 |issn=0140-3664|url-access=subscription }} In the early 1970s, the Science Research Council community established SRCnet, later called SERCnet. Other regional academic networks were built in the mid-late 1970s, as well as experimental networks such as the Cambridge Ring.{{Cite thesis |last=Rutter |first=Dorian |title=From Diversity to Convergence: British Computer Networks and the Internet, 1970-1995 |date=2005 |degree=Computer Science |publisher=The University of Warwick |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1197/1/WRAP_THESIS_Rutter_2005.pdf}}

During the 1970s, the NPL team researched internetworking on the European Informatics Network (EIN). Based on datagrams, the network linked Euratom, the French research centre INRIA and the UK’s National Physical Laboratory in 1976.{{Cite book|last=Abbate|first=Janet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2BdY6WQo4AC&pg=PA125|title=Inventing the Internet|date=2000|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-51115-5|pages=125|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Hardy|first1=Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dRhHPINWo2AC&pg=PT526|title=Networks: Internet, Telephony, Multimedia: Convergences and Complementarities|last2=Malleus|first2=Guy|date=2002|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-540-00559-9|pages=505|language=en}} The transport protocol of the EIN helped to launch the INWG and X.25 protocols.{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Donald Watts |url=https://archive.org/details/computernetworks00davi |title=Computer networks and their protocols |date=1979 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780471997504 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/computernetworks00davi/page/464 464] |url-access=registration}}{{Cite book |last1=Hardy |first1=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dRhHPINWo2AC&pg=PT526 |title=Networks: Internet, Telephony, Multimedia: Convergences and Complementarities |last2=Malleus |first2=Guy |date=2002 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-00559-9 |pages=505 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Derek Barber |title=The Origins of Packet Switching |url=http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res05.htm#f |access-date=2024-06-05 |website=Computer Resurrection Issue 5 |quote=I actually set up the first meeting between John Wedlake of the British Post Office and [Rémi Després] of the French PTT which led to X25. There was a problem about virtual calls in EIN, so I called this meeting and that actually did in the end lead to X25.}}

Building on the work of James H. Ellis in the late 1960s, Clifford Cocks and Malcolm Williamson invented a public-key cryptography algorithm in 1973.{{cite web |last=Espiner |first=Tom |date=26 October 2010 |title=GCHQ pioneers on birth of public key crypto |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/gchq-pioneers-on-birth-of-public-key-crypto/ |website=ZDNet}} An equivalent algorithm was later independently invented in 1977 in the United States by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman. The RSA algorithm became central to security on the Internet.{{Cite web|title=British Document Outlines Early Encryption Discovery|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/122497encrypt.html|access-date=2021-05-12|website=archive.nytimes.com|quote=The set of algorithms, equations and arcane mathematics that make up public key cryptography are a crucial technology for preserving computer privacy in and making commerce possible on the Internet. Some hail its discovery as one of the most important accomplishments of 20th-century mathematics because it allows two people to set up a secure phone call without meeting beforehand. Without it, there would be no privacy in cyberspace.}}

Post Office Telecommunications developed an experimental public packet switching network, EPSS, in the 1970s.{{Cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Ed |last2=Miller |first2=Chris |last3=Norton |first3=Jim |title=Packet Switching: The first steps on the road to the information society |url=https://www.npl.co.uk/getattachment/about-us/History/Famous-faces/Donald-Davies/UK-role-in-Packet-Switching-(1).pdf.aspx }} This was one of the first public data networks in the world when it began operating in 1976.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN-t8MpZ0-wC&pg=PA2|title=A history of international research networking: the people who made it happen|date=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-3-527-32710-2|editor1-last=Davies|editor1-first=Howard|pages=2–3|editor2-last=Bressan|editor2-first=Beatrice}} EPSS was replaced with the Packet Switch Stream (PSS) in 1980.{{cite book|editor1-last=Davies|editor1-first=Howard|editor2-last=Bressan|editor2-first=Beatrice|title=A history of international research networking: the people who made it happen|date=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-3-527-32710-2|page=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN-t8MpZ0-wC&pg=PA2}} PSS connected to the International Packet Switched Service (IPSS), which was created in 1978 through a collaboration between Post Office Telecommunications and two US telecoms companies. IPSS provided worldwide networking infrastructure.

British research contributed to the development of the X.25 standard agreed by the CCITT in 1976 which was deployed on PSS and IPSS.{{Cite journal|last=Schwartz|first=Mischa|date=2010|title=X.25 Virtual Circuits – TRANSPAC IN France – Pre-Internet Data Networking [History of communications]|journal=IEEE Communications Magazine|volume=48|issue=11|pages=40–46|doi=10.1109/MCOM.2010.5621965|issn=1558-1896|s2cid=23639680}}{{Cite journal|last=Rybczynski|first=Tony|date=2009|title=Commercialization of packet switching (1975–1985): A Canadian perspective [History of Communications]|journal=IEEE Communications Magazine|volume=47|issue=12|pages=26–31|doi=10.1109/MCOM.2009.5350364|issn=1558-1896|s2cid=23243636}} The UK academic community defined the Coloured Book protocols, which came into use as "interim" X.25 standards. These protocols gained some acceptance internationally as the first complete X.25 standard,{{Cite book|last1=Davies|first1=Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN-t8MpZ0-wC&pg=PA2|title=A History of International Research Networking: The People who Made it Happen|last2=Bressan|first2=Beatrice|date=2010-04-26|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-3-527-32710-2|pages=2–3|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Earnshaw|first1=Rae|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xy7LadoXUVYC&pg=PA42|title=Digital Convergence – Libraries of the Future|last2=Vince|first2=John|date=2007-09-20|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-84628-903-3|pages=42|language=en}} and gave the UK "several years lead over other countries".{{Cite journal|date=January 1991|title=FLAGSHIP|url=http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/ccd/literature/ccd_newsletters/flagship/p012.htm|journal=Central Computing Department Newsletter|issue=12}}

Logica, together with the French company SESA, set up a joint venture in 1975 to undertake the Euronet development, using X.25 protocols to form virtual circuits. It established a network linking a number of European countries in 1979 before being handed over to national PTTs In 1984.{{cite journal|last1=Dunning|first1=A.J.|date=1977-12-31|title=Origins, development and future of the Euronet|journal=Program|publisher=Emeraldinsight.com|volume=11|issue=4|pages=145–155|doi=10.1108/eb046759}}{{Cite journal|last=Kerssens|first=Niels|date=2019-12-13|title=Rethinking legacies in internet history: Euronet, lost (inter)networks, EU politics|journal=Internet Histories|volume=4|pages=32–48|doi=10.1080/24701475.2019.1701919|issn=2470-1475|doi-access=free}}

Peter Collinson brought Unix to the University of Kent (UKC/UKnet) in 1976 and set up a UUCP test service to Bell Labs in the U.S. in 1979. The first UUCP emails from the U.S. arrived in the UK later that year and email to Europe (the Netherlands and Denmark) started in 1980, becoming a regular service via EUnet in 1982.{{Cite web |last=Houlder |first=Peter |date=19 January 2007 |title=Starting the Commercial Internet in the UK |url=https://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof6/Houlder-History.pdf |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=6th UK Network Operators' Forum |archive-date=13 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213100236/https://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof6/Houlder-History.pdf |url-status=dead }} UKC provided the first connections to non-academic users in the early 1980s.{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Jim |date=3 April 2007 |title=Networking in UK Academia ~25 Years Ago |url=https://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof7/Reid-History.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170507114646/https://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof7/Reid-History.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 May 2017 |access-date=2020-02-12 |website=7th UK Network Operators' Forum }} Several companies established electronic mail services in Britain during the 1970s and early 1980s, enabling subscribers to send email either internally within a company network or over telephone connections or data networks such as Packet Switch Stream.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMLisXAYl5kC&pg=RA1-PA61|title=New Scientist|date=1985-10-17|publisher=Reed Business Information|pages=61–4|language=en|access-date=23 October 2020|archive-date=11 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411195148/https://books.google.com/books?id=JMLisXAYl5kC&pg=RA1-PA61|url-status=dead}}

In the early 1980s, British academic networks started a standardisation and interconnection effort based on X.25 and the Coloured Book protocols. Known as the United Kingdom Education and Research Networking Association (UK ERNA), and later JNT Association, this became JANET, the UK's national research and education network (NREN). JANET linked all universities, higher education establishments, and publicly funded research laboratories. It began operation in 1984, two years ahead of the NSFNET in the United States and was the fastest X.25 network in the world.{{Cite journal |last=Wells |first=Mike |date=1988-11-01 |title=JANET-the United Kingdom Joint Academic Network |journal=Serials |language=en |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=28–36 |doi=10.1629/010328 |issn=1475-3308 |doi-access=free}}{{cite web|title=1984-2014: 30 years of the Janet network|url=https://www.jisc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/janet-news-24-pull-out-april-2014.pdf|publisher=Disc|access-date=23 September 2017|archive-date=24 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924045457/https://www.jisc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/janet-news-24-pull-out-april-2014.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|author1=National Research Council (U.S.). National Research Network Review Committee, Leonard Kleinrock|display-authors=etal|title=Toward a National Research Network|date=1988|publisher=National Academies|page=40|isbn=9780309581257|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGYrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40}}

The National Computing Centre 1976 publication 'Why Distributed Computing' which came from considerable research into future configurations for computer systems,{{Cite book|last1=Down|first1=Peter John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbm7AAAAIAAJ|title=Why distributed computing?: An NCC review of potential and experience in the UK|last2=Taylor|first2=Frank Edward|date=1976|publisher=NCC Publications|isbn=9780850121704|language=en}} resulted in the UK presenting the case for an international standards committee to cover this area at the ISO meeting in Sydney in March 1977.Radu, Roxana, 'Revisiting the Origins: The Internet and its Early Governance', Negotiating Internet Governance (Oxford, 2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 17 Apr. 2019). This international effort ultimately led to the OSI model as an international reference model, published in 1984.{{cite magazine|author=Andrew L. Russell|date=30 July 2013|title=OSI: The Internet That Wasn't|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/osi-the-internet-that-wasnt|magazine=IEEE Spectrum|volume=50|issue=8}} For a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, engineers, organizations and nations became polarized over the issue of which standard, the OSI model or the Internet protocol suite would result in the best and most robust computer networks.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.cs.duke.edu/courses/common/compsci092/papers/govern/consensus.pdf|title=Rough Consensus and Running Code' and the Internet-OSI Standards War|last=Russell|first=Andrew L.|publisher=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117080112/https://www2.cs.duke.edu/courses/common/compsci092/papers/govern/consensus.pdf|archive-date=2019-11-17}}{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=Standards Wars |url=https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/csep590a/06au/projects/standards-wars.pdf}}

Public dialup information, messaging and e-commerce services, were pioneered through the Prestel services developed by Post Office Telecommunications in 1979.{{Cite web |title=Prestel: The British Internet That Never Was History Today |url=https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/prestel-british-internet-never-was |access-date=2022-04-15 |website=www.historytoday.com |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |title=Prestel: Introduction: Celebrating the Viewdata Revolution |url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/index.php?cat=15_Prestel&page=10_Introduction |access-date=2022-04-15 |website=www.viewdata.org.uk}}{{Cite web |title=BBC - A History of the World - Object : Prestel badge |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/mWvJg15mRuOLEwrqZKVjBw |access-date=2022-02-26 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}

Commercial networking services between the UK and the US were being developed in late 1990.{{cite journal|date=17 Sep 1990|title=Briefs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA2|journal=Network World|volume=7|issue=38|page=2|quote=MCI Vnet goes global}}

{{further|History of the World Wide Web}}

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN in Switzerland, wrote a proposal for "a large hypertext database with typed links".{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html|title=Information Management: A Proposal|last=Berners-Lee|first=Tim|author-link=Tim Berners-Lee|date=March 1989|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|access-date=24 August 2010}} The following year, he specified HTML, the hypertext language, and HTTP, the protocol.{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html|title=Frequently asked questions|publisher=Tim Berners-Lee|access-date=3 May 2015}}{{cite news|title=Internaut day: The world's first public website went online 25 years ago today|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/08/06/the-worlds-first-website-went-online-25-years-ago-today/|access-date=25 September 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=23 August 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Chris|title=20 things you probably didn't know about the World Wide Web|url=http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/world-wide-web-facts-11363883795975#disqus_thread|publisher=BT|access-date=25 September 2017|date=22 September 2017|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412171851/http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/world-wide-web-facts-11363883795975#disqus_thread|url-status=dead}} These concepts became a world-wide information system known as the World Wide Web (WWW). Operating on the Internet, it allows documents to be created for reading or accessing services with connections to other documents or services, accessed by clicking on hypertext links, enabling the user to navigate from one document or service to another. Nicola Pellow worked with Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau on the WWW project at CERN.

British Telecom began using the WWW in 1991 during a collaborative project called the Oracle Alliance Program. It was founded in 1990 by Oracle Corporation, based in California, to provide information for its corporate partners and about those partners. BT became involved in May 1991. File sharing was required as part of the program and, initially, floppy disks were sent through the post. Then in July 1991 access to the Internet was implemented by BT network engineers using the BT packet switching network. A link was established from Ipswich to London for access to the Internet backbone. The first file transfers made via a NeXT-based WWW interface were completed in October 1991.{{cite book|last1=Lloyd|first1=Peter|last2=Boyle|first2=Paula|title=Web-weaving: Intranets, Extranets and Strategic Alliances|date=1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-7506-3866-4|pages=201–8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=viECfpx1A4gC&q=oracle%20alliance%20program%201990&pg=PA202}}BT network engineer Clive Salmon established access to the Internet for the project leader, Richard Moulding of BT, in July 1991.

The BBC registered with the DDN-NIC in 1989, establishing Internet access via Brunel University where bbc.co.uk was registered through JANET NRS and the BBC's first website went online in 1994.{{Cite web|title=BBC Internet Services – History|url=https://support.bbc.co.uk/support/history.html|website=support.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2019-09-19}} Other early websites which went online in 1993 hosted in the UK included JumpStation, which was the first WWW search engine hosted at the University of Stirling in Scotland;{{Cite news|date=2013-09-03|title=Jonathon Fletcher: forgotten father of the search engine|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-23945326|access-date=2021-05-01}} The Internet Movie Database, hosted by the computer science department of Cardiff University in Wales; and Kent Anthropology, one of the first social science sites (one of the first 200 web servers). The Web brought many social and commercial uses to the Internet which was previously a network for academic institutions.{{Cite book|last=In|first=Lee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKyeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7|title=Electronic Commerce Management for Business Activities and Global Enterprises: Competitive Advantages: Competitive Advantages|date=2012-06-30|publisher=IGI Global|isbn=978-1-4666-1801-5|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Misiroglu|first=Gina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4KsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA398|title=American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in US History: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in US History|date=2015-03-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47729-7|language=en}} It began to enter everyday use in 1993-4.{{cite book|last1=Couldry|first1=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcHvP9trbkAC&pg=PA2|title=Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice|date=2012|publisher=Polity Press|isbn=9780745639208|location=London|page=2}}

An early attempt to provide access to the Web on television was being developed in 1995.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PDgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50|title=Couch potatoes armed with Viewcall can surf the Web through the tube|date=18 December 1995|access-date=28 November 2016|magazine=InfoWorld}}

{{Further|List of United Kingdom ISPs by age}}

Pipex was established in 1990 and began providing dial-up Internet access in March 1992, the UK's first commercial Internet service provider (ISP).{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/connecting-britain/timeline-how-uk-got-connected/|title=How the UK got connected|date=2016-10-27|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2019-09-17|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cite web |url=http://www.gtnet.gov.uk/corporate/about/ |title=About PIPEX |publisher=GTNet |access-date=2012-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101022035/http://www.gtnet.gov.uk/corporate/about/ |archive-date=2012-11-01 |url-status=dead }} One of its first customers that year was Demon Internet, which popularised dial up modem-based internet access in the UK.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/11/vodafone_to_shutter_demon_internet/|title=Begone, Demon Internet: Vodafone to shutter old-school pioneer ISP|first=Andrew|last=Orlowski|date=11 January 2019|website=theregister.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-02-11}} By November 1993, Pipex provided Internet service to 150 customer sites.{{Cite web |title=UUNET PIPEX from FOLDOC |url=http://foldoc.org/UUNET+PIPEX |access-date=2019-02-11 |website=foldoc.org}} EUnet GB was founded as a commercial ISP in 1993 by a group of academics. Other ISPs and web-hosting companies, aimed at businesses and individuals, developed in the 1990s.{{Cite news|last=Bonsignore|first=Tony|date=2019-02-11|title=I stole £30,000 from my mum to make millions|language=en-GB|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47156317|access-date=2019-02-11|quote=web-hosting companies in the UK at the time were pitched at much bigger companies, ... small businesses and individuals wanted something self-service and easy to use ... Fasthosts was a classic example of the bedroom computer innovation that the UK was so good at in the 80s and 90s.... it also simplified the process of registering domain names and accessing web hosting}} In May 1998, Demon Internet had 180,000 subscribers.

This narrowband service has been almost entirely replaced by the new broadband technologies, and is now generally only used as a backup.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10278732/Dial-up-internet-services-shut-down.html|title=Dial-up internet services shut down|last=Carter|first=Claire|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=2013-09-01|access-date=2019-02-11|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}} BT trialled its first ISDN 'broadband' connection in 1992.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/providers-race-for-prize-as-uk-users-get-demanding-2146963.html|title=Providers race for prize as UK users get demanding|date=30 November 2010|work=The Independent|access-date=17 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/broadband/who-invented-broadband-11364284589900|title=Who invented broadband? How copper telephone lines became high-speed internet connections|date=25 July 2018|website=BT|access-date=19 September 2019|archive-date=24 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124100319/http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/broadband/who-invented-broadband-11364284589900|url-status=dead}} The first commercial service was available from Telewest in 2000.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/broadband-the-first-decade-1929515.html|title=Broadband: The First Decade|date=28 March 2010|work=The Independent|access-date=19 September 2019}}

{{See also|List of broadband providers in the United Kingdom|Broadband in Northern Ireland}}

Broadband allowed the signal in one line to be split between telephone and Internet data, meaning users could be online and make phone calls at the same time. It also enabled faster connections, making it easier to browse the Internet and download files.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/broadband-history/|title=The history of broadband from the '80s to today|website=uSwitch|language=en|access-date=2019-09-19}} Broadband Internet access in the UK was, initially, provided by a number of regional cable television and telephone companies which gradually merged into larger groups. The development of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology has allowed broadband to be delivered via traditional copper telephone cables. Also, Wireless Broadband is now available in some areas. These three technologies (cable, DSL and wireless) now compete with each other.{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/considerthis/supplements/broadbandsupp.pdf |title= |website=www.newstatesman.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108030007/http://www.newstatesman.com/considerthis/supplements/broadbandsupp.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2006}}

More than half of UK homes had broadband in 2007, with an average connection speed of 4.6 Mbit/s. Bundled communications deals mixing broadband, digital TV, mobile phone and landline phone access were adopted by forty per cent of UK households in the same year, up by a third over the previous year. This high level of service is considered the main driver for the recent growth in online advertising and retail.{{cite web|url=http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/1859144/more-half-uk-homes-broadband |title=More than half of UK homes have broadband – 22 Aug 2007 – Computing News |date=22 August 2007 |publisher=Computing.co.uk |access-date=2012-09-20}}

In 2006 the UK market was dominated by six companies, with the top two taking 51%, these being Virgin Media with a 28% share, and BT at 23%.{{cite web|author=Kitz |url=http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/ISP_marketshare.htm |title=UK ISP Market Share .:: |publisher=. Kitz |date=2005-12-07 |access-date=2012-06-30}}

By July 2011 BT's share had grown by six percent and the company became the broadband market leader.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/jul/28/uk-broadband-market-share|title= UK broadband market share|work=guardian.co.uk |date=2011-07-28 |access-date=2011-07-28}}

The UK broadband market is overseen by the government watchdog Ofcom. According to Ofcom's 2007 report the average UK citizen used the Internet for 36 minutes every day.{{cite web|last=Williams |first=Christopher |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/ofcom_annual_report_2007/ |title=Ofcom: the Internet is for coffin dodgers and girls |publisher=Theregister.co.uk |date=2007-08-23 |access-date=2012-09-20}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cmr07/ |title=the complete report |publisher=Ofcom.org.uk |date=2007-08-23 |access-date=2012-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091231072335/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cmr07/ |archive-date=2009-12-31 |url-status=dead }}

The Ofcom Communications Market 2018{{Cite web|url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/cmr/cmr-2018/interactive|title=The Communications Market 2018: Interactive report|website=Ofcom|date=2 August 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-11-13}} report showed 42% of adults had access and use of a Smart TV by 2018, compared to just 5% in 2012{{Cite news|url=https://www.broadbandswitch.co.uk/data/2018/smart-tv-user-patterns-what-are-smart-tvs-used-for-in-2018/|title=Smart TV User Patterns – What are Smart TVs Used for in 2018? - BroadbandSwitch|date=2018-08-08|work=BroadbandSwitch|access-date=2018-11-13|language=en-GB|archive-date=13 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113173048/https://www.broadbandswitch.co.uk/data/2018/smart-tv-user-patterns-what-are-smart-tvs-used-for-in-2018/|url-status=dead}} exemplifying the extra bandwidth required by broadband providers on their networks.

Cable Internet access uses coaxial cables or optical fibre cables. The main cable service provider in the UK is Virgin Media and the current{{When|date=April 2024}} maximum speed available to their customers is 1.1 Gbit/s.{{cite web|url=https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/broadband/gig1-gigabit-broadband |title=Virgin Media Broadband Only Deals |publisher=Virgin Media |access-date=2017-06-09}}

{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2017}}

Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) was introduced to the UK in trial stages in 1998 and a commercial product was launched in 2000. In the United Kingdom, most exchanges, local loops and backhauls are owned and managed by BT Wholesale, who then wholesale connectivity via Internet service providers, who generally provide the connectivity to the Internet, support, billing and value added services (such as web hosting and email). A customer typically expects a British telephone socket to connect their broadband modem to.

As of October 2021, BT operate 5630 exchanges{{cite web | url=http://www.samknows.com/broadband/statistics/regional | title=SamKnows – Regional Broadband Statistics | publisher=SamKnows | date=2012-10-16 | access-date=2012-10-16 | author=SamKnows}}{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/jun/15/guardianweeklytechnologysection.insideit | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Broadband for all – not! | date=2006-06-15 | access-date=2010-05-05 | first=Andrew | last=Ferguson}} across the UK, with the vast majority enabled for ADSL. Only a relative handful—under 100 of the smallest and most rural exchanges—had not been upgraded to support ADSL products. Some exchanges, fewer than 1000, had been upgraded to support SDSL products. However, these exchanges are often the larger exchanges based in major towns and cities, so they still cover a large proportion of the population. SDSL products are aimed more at business customers and are priced higher than ADSL services.

{{Refimprove|section|date=March 2024|reason=much unreferenced text suggests that it is describing the current situation, although it may be out of date; dated references woulod help, though the text also needs rewording to remove the "present" viewpoint}}

{{Main|Local loop unbundling#United Kingdom}}

Many companies are now operating their own services using local loop unbundling. Initially Bulldog Communications in the London area and Easynet (through their sister consumer provider UK Online) enabled exchanges across the country from London to Central Scotland.

In November 2010, having purchased Easynet in the preceding months, Sky closed the business-centric UK Online with little more than a month's notice. Although Easynet continued to offer business-grade broadband connectivity products, UKO customers could not migrate to an equivalent Easynet service, only being offered either a MAC to migrate provider or the option of becoming a customer of the residential-only Sky Broadband ISP with an introductory discounted period. Also, some previously available service features like fastpath (useful for time-critical protocols like SIP) were not made available on Sky Broadband, leaving business users with a difficult choice particularly where UK Online were the only LLU provider. Since then, Sky Broadband has become a significant player in the quad play telecoms market, offering ADSL line rental and call packages to customers (who have to pay a supplement if they are not also Sky television subscribers).

Whilst Virgin Media is the nearest direct competitor, their quad play product is available to fewer homes given the fixed nature of their cable infrastructure. TalkTalk is the next DSL-based ISP with a mature quad play product portfolio (EE's being the merger of the Orange and T-Mobile service providers, and focusing their promotion on forthcoming fibre broadband and 4G LTE products).

Market consolidation and expansion has permitted service providers to offer faster and less expensives services with typical speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s downstream (subject to ISP and line length). They can offer products at sometimes considerably lower prices, due to not necessarily having to conform to the same regulatory requirements as BT Wholesale: for example, 8 unbundled LLU pairs can deliver 10 Mbit/s over 3775 m for half the price of a similar fibre connection.[http://www.mlltelecom.com/news-views/blog/19/Local-Loop-Unbundling LLU VS Fibre.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317074957/http://www.mlltelecom.com/news-views/blog/19/Local-Loop-Unbundling |date=2012-03-17 }} Infographic, MLL Telecom 2011

In 2005, another company, Be, started offering speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s downstream and 2.5 Mbit/sec upstream using ADSL2+ with Annex M, eventually from over 1,250 UK exchanges. Be were taken over by O2's parent company Telefónica in 2007. On 1 March 2013 O2 Telefónica sold Be to Sky, which migrated O2 and Be customers onto the somewhat slower Sky network.

TalkTalk offered customers 'free' broadband if they had a telephone package. Orange responded by offering 'free' broadband for some mobile customers. Many smaller ISPs now offer similar packages. O2 also entered the broadband market by taking over LLU provider Be, while Sky (BSkyB) had already taken over LLU broadband provider Easynet. In July 2006, Sky announced 2 Mbit/s broadband to be available free to Sky TV customers and a higher speed connection at a lower price than most rivals.{{cite news |date=2006-04-09 |title=Phone firm 'plans free broadband' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4893194.stm |access-date=2010-05-05 |publisher=BBC}}

Exchanges continue to be upgraded, subject to demand, across the country, although at a somewhat slower pace since BT's commencement of FTTC rollout plans and near-saturation in key geographical areas.

Up until the launch of "Max" services, the only ADSL packages available via BT Wholesale were known as IPstream Home 250, Home 500, Home 1000 and Home 2000 (contention ratio of 50:1); and Office 500, Office 1000, and Office 2000 (contention ratio of 20:1). The number in the product name indicates the downstream data rate in kilobits per second. The upstream data rate is up to 250 kbit/s for all products.{{efn|reference=1 kbit = 1000 bit}}

For BT Wholesale ADSL products, users initially had to live within 3.5 kilometres of the local telephone exchange to receive ADSL, but this limit was increased thanks to rate-adaptive digital subscriber line (RADSL), although users with RADSL possibly had a reduced upstream rate, depending on the quality of their line. There are still areas that cannot receive ADSL because of technical limitations, not least of which networks in housing areas built with aluminium cable rather than copper in the 1980s and 1990s, and areas served by optical fibre (TPON), though these are slowly being serviced with copper.

In September 2004, BT Wholesale removed the line-length/loss limits for 500 kbit/s ADSL, instead employing a tactic of "suck it and see" — enabling the line, then seeing if ADSL would work on it. This sometimes includes the installation of a filtered faceplate on the customer's master socket, so as to eliminate poor quality telephone extension cables inside the customer's premises which can be a source of high frequency noise.

In the past, the majority of home users used packages with 500 kbit/s (downstream) and 250 kbit/s (upstream) with a 50:1 contention ratio. However, BT Wholesale introduced the option of a new charging structure to ISPs which means that the wholesale service cost was the same regardless of the ADSL data rate, with charges instead being based on the amount of data transferred. Nowadays, most home users use a package whose data rate is only limited by the technical limitations of their telephone line. Initially this was 2 Mbit/s downstream. Until the advent of widespread FTTC, most home products were first ADSL Max-based (up to 7.15 Mbit/s), using ADSL G.992.1 and then later ADSL2+ (up to 21 Mbit/s).

{{No sources|section|date=April 2024}}

Following successful trials, BT announced the availability of higher speed services known as BT ADSL Max and BT ADSL Max Premium in March 2006. BT made the "Max" product available to more than 5,300 exchanges, serving around 99% of UK households and businesses.

The maximum download bandwidth for both tiers was 7.15 Mbit/s, with the regular tier having an upload bandwidth of 400 kbit/s and the premium tier having an upload bandwidth of 750 kbit/s. As internet bandwidth depended on the capabilities of local lines, BT's '20CN' system negotiated stable ADSL synchronisation rate limits ranging from 160 kbit/s to 7.15 Mbit/s.

In 2015, BT unveiled universal 5 to 10 Mbit/s broadband and the rollout of 500 Mbit/s G.Fast. The aim was to push "ultra-fast speeds" of 300 to 500 Mbit/s to 10 million homes using the existing landline cables.{{Cite web |date=22 September 2015 |title=UPDATE3 BT Unveil Universal 5-10Mb Broadband and 500Mb G.fast Rollout - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/09/bt-sets-plan-for-universal-5-10mbps-uk-broadband-and-500mbps-g-fast-rollout.html |access-date=2020-05-03 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}} Openreach made the decision to pause the rollout of G.Fast in 2019, as a result of their decision to focus on FTTP.{{Cite web |date=11 September 2019 |title=Openreach Put the Brakes on Future UK G.fast Broadband Plans - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/09/openreach-put-the-brakes-on-future-uk-g-fast-broadband-plans.html |access-date=2020-05-03 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}}

In 2015, BT began the roll out of G.INP on their FTTC network,{{Cite web |date=20 January 2015 |title=UPDATE BT Enable Physical Retransmission G.INP on FTTC Broadband Lines - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/bt-enables-physical-retransmission-g-inp-fttc-broadband-lines.html |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}} the use of G.INP is to help improve line stability and reduce overheads and latency.{{Cite web |title=::. Kitz - G.INP Retransmission .:: |url=https://kitz.co.uk/adsl/retransmission.htm |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=kitz.co.uk}} The roll-out was paused on ECI broadband cabinet equipment due to the lack of support for upstream re-transmission which caused network slowdowns and higher latency.{{Cite web |date=19 April 2016 |title=BT Partly Suspends G.INP Roll-out to ECI Fibre Broadband Cabinets - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2016/04/bt-briefly-start-stop-g-inp-roll-eci-fibre-broadband-cabinets.html |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}}{{Cite web |date=24 April 2015 |title=UPDATE BT Openreach Brief UK FTTC Fibre Broadband ISPs on G.INP Issues - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/04/bt-openreach-briefs-uk-fttc-fibre-broadband-isps-on-g-inp-issues.html |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}} The rollout of G.INP on Huawei broadband cabinets was completed in 2015 while G.INP on ECI equipment has reentered the trial stage as of May 2020.{{Cite web |date=13 February 2020 |title=Openreach UK Trial Finally Brings G.INP to ECI FTTC Broadband - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/02/openreach-uk-trial-finally-brings-g-inp-to-eci-fttc-broadband.html |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}}

In September 2016, Sky "completed" their roll-out of IPv6 with 95% of their customers getting IPv6 access.{{Cite web |date=6 September 2016 |title=UK ISP Sky Broadband Officially "Completes" the Roll-Out of IPv6 - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2016/09/uk-isp-sky-broadband-officially-finish-roll-ipv6.html |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}} BT rolled out IPv6 support for "all BT Broadband lines" two months later in November 2016.{{Cite web |date=4 November 2016 |title=UPDATE All BT Broadband Lines Now Support IPv6 Internet Addresses - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2016/11/bt-broadband-lines-now-support-ipv6-internet-addresses.html |access-date=2020-05-02 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}}

In March 2011, Openreach began the development of an FTTP network in Milton Keynes.{{Cite web |last=Fiveash |first=Kelly |title=BT fibre-to-the-premises trial takes 7 hours per install |url=https://www.theregister.com/2011/03/03/bt_milton_keynes_fibre_to_the_premises_trial/ |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}} As a result, BT began offering eligible customers packages with download speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s.{{cite web |date=2012-06-18 |title=BT rolls out 100 Mbit/s broadband in Milton Keynes |url=http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3263334 |access-date=2012-06-30 |publisher=PC Advisor}}

In October 2011, British operator Hyperoptic launched a 1 Gbit/s FTTH service in London.{{cite web |title=1Gbit/sec broadband lands in London |url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/broadband/370603/1gbit-sec-broadband-lands-in-london |access-date=2012-06-30 |publisher=PC Pro}}

In October 2012, British operator Gigler UK launched a 1 Gbit/s down and 500 Mbit/s up FTTH service in Bournemouth using the CityFibre network.{{cite web |title=Gigler launches Gigabit fibre service in Bournemouth |url=http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5480-gigler-launches-gigabit-fibre-service-in-bournemouth.html}}

Virgin Media stated that 13 million UK homes are covered by their optical fibre broadband network, and that by the end of 2012 would be able to offer 100 Mbit/s broadband. There are currently over 100 towns in the UK that have access to this service.{{cite news

| title =Virgin Media offers 100Mb broadband to over 4 million homes

| publisher =BroadbandIN.co.uk

| date =10 June 2011

| url =http://www.broadbandin.co.uk/news/virgin-media-offers-100mb-broadband-to-over-4-million-homes-3626/

| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110807175759/http://www.broadbandin.co.uk/news/virgin-media-offers-100mb-broadband-to-over-4-million-homes-3626/

| archive-date =7 August 2011

| url-status =dead

}}

During the 2019 General Election, Boris Johnson pledged full fibre for all of the UK by 2025.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/06/boris-johnson-pledges-full-fibre-for-all-uk-by-2025-doesnt-say-how.html|title=Boris Johnson Pledges Full Fibre for All UK by 2025 - Doesn't Say How UPDATE - ISPreview UK|website=www.ispreview.co.uk|date=17 June 2019 |access-date=2020-04-07}} This was later rolled back to "gigabit-capable" broadband.{{Cite news|last=Kelion|first=Leo|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50042720|title=Ministers dodge 'full fibre for all by 2025' pledge|date=2019-10-14|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-04-07|language=en-GB}} This means that mixed technologies are allowed, for example Virgin Media can continue to use their cable infrastructure since the DOCSIS 3.1 is "gigabit-capable" and other ISPs can also sell 5G broadband. Vorboss initiated the construction of a full-fibre network in London's business district in 2019.{{Cite web |last=Padoan |first=Harry |date=2023-11-21 |title=London's Vorboss breaks B2B fibre price-performance barrier for retailers |url=https://www.telcotitans.com/infrawatch/londons-vorboss-breaks-b2b-fibre-price-performance-barrier-for-retailers/7460.article |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=TelcoTitans.com |language=en}} The company deployed 500 km of 800 fiber optic cables{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Mark |date=2023-09-12 |title=UK ISP Vorboss Discount 10Gbps Price for Small London Businesses |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/09/uk-isp-vorboss-discount-10gbps-price-for-small-london-businesses.html |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=ISPreview UK |language=en}} in London with 10 to 100 Gbit/s speeds connected directly to premises (FTTP) without a copper-and-cabinet middleman.{{Cite web |last=Maistre |first=Ray Le |date=2022-09-08 |title=FTTP altnet targets London's business broadband market with £250m plan |url=https://www.telecomtv.com/content/access-evolution/fttp-altnet-targets-london-s-business-broadband-market-with-250m-plan-45361/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=TelecomTV |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Sawers |first=Paul |date=2022-09-09 |title=Vorboss brings minimum 10 Gbps enterprise fibre network to London businesses |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/09/vorboss-brings-minimum-10-gbps-enterprise-fibre-network-to-london-businesses/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}

In January 2020, Openreach announced that they will deploy FTTP technology in 200 rural locations by March 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.openreach.com/news-and-opinion/articles/rural-communities-joining-the-race-for-better-broadband|title=Rural communities joining the race for better broadband|website=www.openreach.com|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-07|archive-date=7 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307030006/https://www.openreach.com/news-and-opinion/articles/rural-communities-joining-the-race-for-better-broadband|url-status=dead}} Two months later, in March, the UK government set the universal service obligation to 10 Mbit/s Download and 1 Mbit/s Upload.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/03/10mbps-uk-broadband-universal-service-obligation-to-go-live.html|title=10Mbps UK Broadband Universal Service Obligation to Go Live UPDATE3 - ISPreview UK|website=www.ispreview.co.uk|date=19 March 2020 |access-date=2020-04-07}} The following month, Rural ISP B4RN launched their 10 Gbit/s symmetrical home broadband.{{Cite web|title=Rural UK FTTH ISP B4RN Launches 10Gbps Home Broadband - ISPreview UK|url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/04/rural-ftth-isp-b4rn-start-offering-10gbps-home-broadband.html|website=www.ispreview.co.uk|date=29 April 2020 |access-date=2020-05-02}}

Openreach reported that on 29 April they saw a record peak of 10 petabytes of data going through their network in one hour. This increase of internet traffic is the result of the lock-down in the UK caused by COVID-19.{{Cite web|title=Openreach Records 10 PetaByte Peak in UK Internet Traffic - ISPreview UK|url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/05/openreach-records-10-petabyte-peak-in-uk-internet-traffic.html|website=www.ispreview.co.uk|date=May 2020 |access-date=2020-05-02}} The following month, Openreach reported that they had passed 2.5 million premises with its FTTP network.{{Cite web|title=Openreach's FTTP Broadband Covers 2.5 Million UK Premises - ISPreview UK|url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/05/openreachs-fttp-broadband-covers-2-5-million-uk-premises.html|website=www.ispreview.co.uk|date=2 May 2020 |access-date=2020-05-03}}

On 1 September 2023 alternative network ISP YouFibre released an 8 Gbit/s residential service delivered over XGSPON.{{Cite web |title=Broadband ISP YouFibre Launch 8Gbps UK Home Fibre Package |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/09/broadband-isp-youfibre-launch-8gbps-uk-home-fibre-package.html|date=2020-09-01|access-date=2023-09-11|website=www.ispreview.co.uk}}

The UK landline network is due to be terminated in 2025. The voice over IP replacement is branded as "Digital Voice" in the UK. "Digital Voice" handsets must be connected to a broadband router, rather than the old telephone sockets.{{cite web |last1=Fletcher |first1=Yvette |title=Digital Voice and the landline phone switch-off: what it means for you |url=https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/digital-voice-and-the-landline-phone-switch-off-what-it-means-for-you-aPSOH8k1i6Vv |website=Which? |access-date=19 July 2023 |language=en |date=20 January 2023}}

{{Main|Mobile broadband}}

Mobile broadband is high-speed Internet access provided by mobile phone operators using a device that requires a SIM card to access the service.

4G internet replaced the old 3G technology and allowed download speeds up to 300 Mbit/s.

5G was first deployed in the UK in May 2019 by EE,{{cite web |title=EE launching UK's first 5G service in six cities, bringing a new era in faster, more reliable connectivity |url=https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/ee-launching-uks-first-5g-service-in-six-cities-bringing-a-new-era-in-faster-more-reliable-connectivity/ |publisher=EE |access-date=19 July 2023 |language=en}} followed by Three and Vodafone in August 2019,{{cite web |last1=Tomás |first1=Juan Pedro |title=Three 5G network reaches 60% of UK population |url=https://www.rcrwireless.com/20230317/5g/three-5g-network-reaches-60-uk-population |website=RCR Wireless News |access-date=19 July 2023 |date=17 March 2023}}{{cite web |title=One year on from 5G launch, Vodafone first to showcase next phase of 5G technology |url=https://www.vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/press-release/one-year-on-from-5g-launch-vodafone-first-to-showcase-next-phase-of-5g-technology/ |publisher=Vodafone |access-date=19 July 2023 |date=3 July 2020}} and finally O2 in October 2019.{{cite news |title=O2 launches 5G network in five UK cities and Slough |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50068422 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=BBC News |date=17 October 2019}}

{{Main article|Satellite Internet access}}

Starlink has been available in the UK since 2021.{{cite news |date=13 March 2023 |title=Starlink Internet UK: How Fast, How Much And Is It Worth It? |url=https://orbitaltoday.com/2023/03/13/broadband-in-space-is-starlink-available-in-the-uk/ |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=Orbital Today |language=en}}

Since 2003, BT has been introducing SDSL to exchanges in many of the major cities. Services are currently offered at upload/download speeds of 256 kbit/s, 512 kbit/s, 1 Mbit/s or 2 Mbit/s. Unlike ADSL, which is typically 256 kbit/s upload, SDSL upload speeds are the same as the download speed. BT usually provide a new copper pair for SDSL installs, which can be used only for the SDSL connection. At a few hundred pounds a quarter, SDSL is significantly more expensive than ADSL, but is significantly cheaper than a leased line. SDSL is marketed to businesses and offers low contention ratios, and in some cases, a service level agreement. At present, the BT Wholesale SDSL enablement programme has stalled, most probably due to a lack of uptake.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}

On 9 April 2003, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against ISP NTL, saying that NTL's 128 kbit/s cable modem service must not be marketed as "broadband". Ofcom reported in June 2005 that there were more broadband than dial-up connections for the first time in history.{{cite news |date=2005-07-13 |title=UK 'embraces digital technology' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4679023.stm |access-date=2010-05-05 |work=BBC News}} In a similar way, on 13 August 2004, Wanadoo (formerly Freeserve, and part of what is now EE), was told by ASA to change the way that they advertised their 512 kbit/s broadband service, requiring the company to remove the words "full speed". Rival companies claimed the phrase were misleading people into thinking it was the fastest service available.

With the merger of NTL and Telewest in March 2006, the resulting NTL:Telewest company created the largest market share of broadband users in the UK. It also brought increases in bandwidth allocations for cable customers, with minimum speeds increasing from the industry norm of 512 Kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s, whilst the company planned to have all domestic customers upgraded to at least 4 Mbit/s downstream and ranging up to 10 Mbit/s and beyond later in the year. In addition to this, it increased the supply of integrated services such as Digital TV and Phone packages.

Also in March, BT Wholesale launched its "up to 8 Mbit/s" ADSL services, known as ADSL Max.{{cite web |title=BT Wholesale confirms launch of the Max services |url=http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/2572-bt-wholesale-confirms-launch-of-the-max-services.html |access-date=2012-06-30 |publisher=thinkbroadband}} Max-based packages were made available to end users on any broadband-enabled BT exchange in the UK.

In September 2007, BT announced trials for an ADSL2+ service. BT's Wholesale and Retail divisions were chosen alongside Entanet to provide the first trials in the West Midlands.{{cite news |date=14 September 2007 |title=BT select three ISP's for System Trial |url=http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3195-.html |publisher=Thinkbroadband |access-date=10 October 2007 |archive-date=17 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017065131/http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3195-.html |url-status=dead }}

Still in the year 2015 it was common in highly developed areas like the London Aldgate region for consumers to be limited to speeds of up to 8 Mbit/s for ADSL services.{{cite web |last1=Bhanot |first1=Varun |date=17 March 2016 |title=Where is the best broadband for your London workspace? |url=https://hubblehq.com/blog/where-is-the-best-broadband-for-your-london-workspace |website=hubblehq.com |language=en}} This had a major effect in the London rental market as limited broadband service can affect the readiness of prospective tenants to sign a rental lease.{{cite web |date=August 2014 |title=Imperial study suggests that internet speed has an impact on property prices |url=http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/154966/imperial-study-suggests-that-internet-speed/ |access-date=17 October 2018 |website=Imperial News |publisher=Imperial College London}}

In March 2020, the UK government set the Universal Service Obligation (USO) to 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload.{{Cite web |date=19 March 2020 |title=10Mbps UK Broadband Universal Service Obligation to Go Live UPDATE3 - ISPreview UK |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/03/10mbps-uk-broadband-universal-service-obligation-to-go-live.html |access-date=2020-05-03 |website=www.ispreview.co.uk}} As of May that year, 96.9% of UK households could receive "superfast broadband" (defined as 30 Mbit/s) whilst 19.29% of households could receive "ultrafast broadband" (defined as 300 Mbit/s) via FTTP or DOCSIS 3.1. 1.07% of households had broadband slower than the USO.{{Cite web |title=Check UK Broadband Performance and Coverage Statistics |url=https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/uk |access-date=2020-04-07 |website=labs.thinkbroadband.com |language=en}}

In September, the UK dropped 13 places in the 2020 Worldwide Broadband Speed League, making it amongst the slowest in Europe with an average download speed of 37.82 Mbit/s. Cable.co.uk blamed this on Openreach, with the network provider having focused on the development of an FTTC network,{{Cite web |title=Worldwide Broadband Speed League 2020 {{!}} Cable.co.uk |url=https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/speed/worldwide-speed-league/ |access-date=2020-09-21 |website=Cable |language=en}} and been slow to begin the deployment of FTTP technologies. The deployment of FTTC/VDSL technologies was largely driven by the lack of political appetite and funding for FTTP at the time.{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Mark |date=2019-09-23 |title=One of the Last - 5000th FTTC Broadband Cabinet Built in Scotland |url=https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/09/one-of-the-last-5000th-fttc-broadband-cabinet-built-in-scotland.html |access-date=2020-09-21 |website=ISPreview UK |language=en}}

In 2022, the UK's average download speed of 72 Mbit/s ranked it only faster than Italy in the G7 league of industrial nations for broadband speeds. According to a report by the Worldwide Broadband Speed League, a global leader in internet testing and analysis, the UK had risen to 35th place, having been ranked in 43rd position the year before.{{Cite news |last=Karabus |first=Jude |title=G7 countries beat UK in global broadband speed test again |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/broadband_speed_global_rankings/ |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}}

As of 2024, the median average internet speed in the UK reached 73.21Mbps, reflecting a growth of over 12% since September 2022, with an increase of nearly 8Mbps in under a year. Average upload speeds also rose significantly, climbing by 18% between September 2022 and March 2023 to 18.4Mbps. The data reveals that 99.7% of UK households now have access to reliable internet speeds of 10Mbps or higher.{{Cite web |title=Quick overview of UK broadband speed statistics 2024 |url=https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/studies/broadband-speed-statistics/#:~:text=changed%20over%20time.-,Quick%20overview%20of%20UK%20broadband%20speed%20statistics%202024,in%20less%20than%20a%20year. |access-date=27 January 2025}}

According to Nations report 2024 by Ofcom, over two-thirds of households in England now have access to full-fibre networks. 17.3 million residential premises (69%) have access to full fibre as of July 2024, an increase of 13 percentage points from September 2023. Gigabit-capable coverage now extends to 84% or 21.1 million premises in England.

5G coverage is steadily increasing across England. 92-96% of premises (across a range covering Very High and High Confidence levels) can now receive 5G outdoor coverage from at least one MNO.2 England remains the UK nation with the highest 5G coverage from at least one MNO. {{Cite web |title=Connected Nations England report 2024 |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/multi-sector/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2024/connected-nations-england-report-2024.pdf?v=386508 |access-date=27 Jan 2025}}

62% of residential properties have access to full-fibre networks in Scotland. This is an increase of nine percentage points (265,000 premises) from September 2023 to July 2024.Over three-quarters of Scottish households have gigabit-capable coverage. The increase of five percentage points (166,000) means that 77% of premises can access gigabit-capable services.

The availability of 5G services continues to grow steadily. In Scotland, 5G coverage outside of premises from at least one Mobile Network Operator (MNO) is now at 91% (up from 88% in 2023) for the High Confidence measure.{{Cite web |title=Connected Nations Scotland report 2024 |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/multi-sector/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2024/connected-nations-scotland-report-2024.pdf?v=386504 |access-date=27 January 2025}}

Access to full-fibre networks has reached 1 million homes in Wales or 68% of residential premises, up 13 percentage points from last year (55%). Gigabit-capable broadband has increased 10 percentage points from last year to 74%. This is the biggest increase across all UK nations.

5G is reaching a growing number of consumers, with Wales seeing a steady increase in coverage. Coverage from at least one MNO now reaches 86% (High Confidence) and 79% (Very High Confidence) in areas outside of premises.{{Cite web |title=Connected Nations Wales Report 2024 |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/multi-sector/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2024/connected-nations-wales-report-2024.pdf?v=386514 |access-date=27 January 2025}}{{Cite web |title=Average BT Speed South Wales |url=https://internetspeedtesttool.com/results/caerphilly-cf83-wales-united-kingdom-bt-public-internet-service-internet-speeds |access-date=27 January 2025}}

Around 760,000 homes in Northern Ireland can now access full-fibre broadband. Among the four UK nations, Northern Ireland (93%) has the highest availability of full-fibre networks. Northern Ireland’s full fibre position reflects significant early commercial rollout and publicly funded schemes designed to improve broadband in rural areas.

There has been a further increase in 5G availability. Mobile network operators (MNOs) continue to increase the footprint of these services, and outside premises coverage from at least one MNO now stands at 92% at the High Confidence level and 86% at Very High Confidence, up from 80% and 70% respectively in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Connected Nations Northern Ireland Report 2024 |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/multi-sector/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2024/connected-nations-northern-ireland-report-2024.pdf?v=386821 |access-date=27 January 2025}}

Educational computer networks are maintained by organisations such as JANET and East Midlands Public Services Network.{{cite web|url=http://commsbusiness.co.uk/news/east-midlands-public-services-network-is-now-live/|title=East Midlands Public Services Network is now live!|date=14 January 2013|work=CommsBusiness|publisher=Miles Publishing Limited|access-date=15 October 2015}}

According to a 2017 Ofcom report named 'Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report' more younger children are going online than in 2016 with much of the growth coming from increased use of tablets.{{cite web | url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/108182/children-parents-media-use-attitudes-2017.pdf | title=Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report | publisher=Ofcom | date=29 November 2017 | access-date=28 April 2018}}

A survey on UK school children's access to the Internet commissioned by security company Westcoastcloud in 2011 found half have no parental controls installed on their internet connected devices and half of parents said they have concerns about the lack of controls installed on their children's Internet devices.[http://opennet.net/blog/2011/09/uk-filtering-software-company-releases-survey-kids-internet-access "UK Filtering Software Company Releases Survey on Kids' Internet Access"], Quichen Zhang, OpenNet Initiative, 26 September 2011[http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/092311-children-iphone-251205.html "10% of UK elementary schoolkids own an iPhone; 5% own an iPad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701023706/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/092311-children-iphone-251205.html|date=2013-07-01}}, Brad Reed, Network World, 23 September 2011[http://www.westcoastcloud.com/_blog/?_article=69 "Westcoastcloud survey reveals 1 in 10 UK primary school children have iPhones"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923182615/http://www.westcoastcloud.com/_blog/?_article=69|date=2011-09-23}}, Westcoastcloud, accessed 3 October 2011

File:Accessed the internet in the last 3 months by percentage of age group.svg|Accessing the internet, by age group

File:Accessed the internet in the past 3 months by percentage of gender.svg|Accessing the internet, by gender

In 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron proposed a ban on end-to-end encryption in the United Kingdom.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

In June 2018 Tom Winsor, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, argued that technologies like encryption should be breakable if law enforcers have a warrant. Winsor said the public was running out of patience with organisations like Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp. Winsor opined, "There is a handful of very large companies with a highly dominant influence over how the internet is used. In too many respects, their record is poor and their reputation tarnished. The steps they take to make sure their services cannot be abused by terrorists, paedophiles and organised criminals are inadequate; the commitment they show and their willingness to be held to account are questionable."[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/12/police-watchdog-criticises-failings-in-england-and-wales "Growing case for forcing internet firms to cooperate, says police watchdog"], Vikram Dodd, 12 June 2018,The Guardian.

The UK government has "for years" continued to press for control of encryption, citing worries about child abuse.{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Lindsay |title=Proposed UK moves to break encryption draw anger of IT world |url=https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/wrong_time_to_weaken_encryption/ |work=www.theregister.com |language=en}} The proposed Online Safety Bill was criticised by Apple, Meta and Signal.{{cite news |title=Apple joins opposition to encrypted message app scanning |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66028773 |access-date=19 July 2023 |work=BBC News |date=27 June 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Hern |first1=Alex |title=WhatsApp and Signal unite against online safety bill amid privacy concerns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/18/whatsapp-signal-unite-against-online-safety-bill-privacy-messaging-apps-safety-security-uk |work=The Guardian |date=18 April 2023}}

• Alternative media in the United Kingdom
• Digital Britain
• Internet censorship in the United Kingdom
• Illegal file sharing in the United Kingdom
• Internet rush hour
• Media in the United Kingdom
• Open Rights Group

{{notelist}}

{{reflist |refs=

{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/12/sku_uk_online_bye/ | title=Sky confirms UK Online closure | website=The Register |date=12 November 2010 | access-date=14 October 2012 | author=Williams, Christopher}}

{{cite web | url=http://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/index.php/2010/11/ukonline-closing/ | title=Tim Wakeling's PC Inner Circle: UKonline closing | publisher=Tim Wakeling | date=16 November 2010 | access-date=16 October 2012 | author=Wakeling, Tim | archive-date=20 July 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720131920/http://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/index.php/2010/11/ukonline-closing/ | url-status=dead }}

{{cite web | url=http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4468-uk-online-to-close-january-14th-2011-official.html | title=UK Online to close January 14th 2011 – Official | publisher=ThinkBroadband | date= 11 November 2010 | access-date=16 October 2012 | author=Ferguson, Andrew}}

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• [https://books.google.com/books?id=QWVW80Lh6lwC&dq=npl+network&pg=PA20 Government loses way in computer networks] New Scientist, 1975
• [https://www.computerweekly.com/video/Video-How-the-Brits-invented-packet-switching-and-made-the-internet-possible How the Brits invented packet switching and made the internet possible] Computing Weekly, 2010
• [https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-british-invented-much-of-the-internet/ The British invented much of the Internet] ZD Net, 2010

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{{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom}}

{{Telecommunications}}

{{Media in the United Kingdom}}

{{Broadband Internet access in Europe}}

Category:History of computing in the United Kingdom