In many countries telecoms operators have been converting some of their last-mile connections to high-speed fibre-optic links, though cable networks and telephone wires still account for most last-mile connections.

ECONOMIST: Internet overload

And soon the greying gamers will start tut-tutting about some new evil threatening to destroy the younger generation's moral fibre.

ECONOMIST: Defending video games

While some 350 homes in Ruyton-XI-Towns have already been connected using a fibre-to-cabinet approach (making use of existing copper cables), a further 1, 100 homes are expected to be able to access the faster fibre-to-premises line from April.

BBC: Baschurch broadband scheme delayed by weather, says BT

Long thought of as isolated and poorly connected, some parts of the county now enjoy some of the highest broadband speeds in the country because of an EU-backed project to expand the fibre network.

BBC: Business