Oldham and Suffolk get free internet

Unlimited access for kids at school and at play

22 October 2008 19:09 GMT / By Katie Scott

In September, PM Gordon Brown declared that all households in the UK should have access to the Internet.

And now the first two areas which will benefit from the government scheme to get all of us connected have been announced.

School children in Suffolk and Oldham are going to get free access to computers and the Internet at home.

Schools minister Jim Knight has announced that kids in these areas will benefit from "home access" pilots, which will start in February next year.

They will provide up to 20,000 7- to 18-year-olds from low-income families with financial support to get online.

This money can be used for a computer, software and internet access for 1 year, plus technical support for 3 years.

This is part of a nation-wide scheme, announced by PM Brown who vowed that low income families will get vouchers up to £700 in value to get their household connected up to the Internet.

Around 1.4 million homes could benefit from the new deal - with means tested vouchers worth between £100-700 sent out to pay for broadband connections, technical support or even computers.

Minister Knight said: "The bottom line is that having home access to the internet or a computer is no longer an optional extra for school work - it is fast becoming essential".

"Schools are revolutionising how they educate, faster than many families realise. There is no substitute for good classroom teaching, but day-to-day school work is increasingly web- and computer-based - and it is clear that students get better results where technology is used effectively at home to study, research and communicate", he added.

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Comments

In this new digital world Email is becoming as important as the standard postal service. so instead of messing about on the edge of the problem the government should set up open access Wi-Max all over the UK. I don't have to pay a monthly subscription to the post office and they bring my mail to the door by hand, so why should we have to pay every month to get at our email. This idea will not be popular with the Internet providers that currently over charge us for our connection. Posted by Allan Weaver, Shropshire
Allan, the post office deliver your mail for free because someone's paid for it to be delivered. Are you saying that we should start paying for every email we send?

Ultimately, services have to be paid for by someone at some point - free this and free that from the government is ultimately paid for by me, you and indeed any other tax payer.

Lastly, if you think you're being over-charged for your internet connection, you're either extremely tight or haven't bothered shopping around. I'm paying just £7.50 a month for my 8mb uncapped connection - personally I find this extremely reasonable.
Posted by Gazza B, UK