(For the context of this post, see Connection restored and antecedents.)

Since restoration of our Internet connection last Friday evening, the system has been running smoothly and reliably, without any of the stoppages and slow-downs that we had been experiencing and that had prompted me to complain to our ISP, Zen. We are satisfied that Zen has done what was required to put things right and are happy with the service as it is running at present.

We are on a DSL “copper wire” link which is not as speedy as fibre but we find it generally satisfactory for our purposes and have decided to continue with it for now, though keeping an eye on developments with a view to possibly upgrading at a later date.

When we first subscribed to Zen, DSL over the phone lines was the normal type of broadband available to domestic users. It was the standard technology of the day. Since then, however, technology has moved on. Copper wire is being replaced with fibre, giving speed increases that in the days of dial-up connections – which gave many of us our first taste of the Internet – would have been dismissed as science fiction.

In the meantime, a parallet revolution has been in progress in the field of telecommunications. What we then knew simply as the “mobile phone” has metamorphosed into an entity called the “smartphone”, a device that – as the pundits keep reminding us – is virtually “a computer in your pocket”.

Smartphones of course come ready enabled to connect to the Internet, not by wires, but by wireless. Wherever you are – in the coffee shop, on the bus or just walking in the street – you are “on” the Internet. At the same time, we have experienced a succession of connection standards – 3G, 4G and now 5G – each increasing the speed of connection.

Like many people, I have my phone connected to the Internet much of the time, whether at home or out and about. In the circumstances, it’s not long before the following question forms in your mind: If I can connect to the Internet wirelessly on my phone, why does my home broadband need wires and a monthly rental payment to the landline telephone company?

The answer, of course, is that it no longer needs either wires or a landline. You can already buy or rent a wireless router from one of the mobile phone companies, dispensing with the need for a landline and any wires. Such systems are already competing with fibre in terms of speed and bandwidth and will become even better as time passes.

It is wireless broadband that I have my eye on as a possible eventual replacement for our increasingly old fashioned copper wire system. At the moment, there are three UK mobile phone companies supplying wireless broadband – Three, EE and Vodafone – but I expect this soon to change as more companies join in and competition increases.

If and when we move to our next broadband service, of whatever kind, I will let you know how we fare.