Internet in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has been involved with the Internet since it was created.

The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom is .uk and is sponsored by Nominet.

Currently Internet access is available to businesses and home users in various forms, including dial-up, cable, DSL, and wireless.

Dial-up Internet access was first introduced in the UK by Pipex in March 1992, having been established during 1991 as the UK's first commercial Internet provider, and by November 1993 provided Internet service to some 150 customer sites.

This narrowband service has been almost entirely replaced by the new broadband technologies, and is generally only used as a backup.

Broadband Internet access in the UK was, initially, provided by a large 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.

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.

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