Rightmove House Info To Include Broadband Speed

Property website Rightmove is joining hands with BT to list broadband speed of some 1 million houses on its site, as high-speed Internet becomes a vital consideration for home buyers.

Rightmove will soon list the broadband connection speed of its advertised properties, along with standard information such as the number of bedrooms, nearest stations and whether the house is furnished.

According to a report by the Telegraph, the company’s listing of Internet connection speed reflects how much fast broadband can influence buyers’ decision making.

“Broadband is becoming one of the most, if not the most, important considerations for prospective buyers,” said a source close to the property website. “By listing broadband speed with all the other property details buyers will be able to weed out homes that don’t have high-speed access.”

The company is also said to list whether the property will be covered by BT Infinity fibre-based broadband, with download speeds of up to 40Mbps and upload speeds of up to 10Mbps.

Location, location and connection

Meanwhile, the growing importance of high-speed Internet in people’s lives has been revealed in a recent poll by ISP Review.

Nearly two thirds – 68.8 percent – of 733 Internet users in the UK would be “put off” from buying a beautiful new house if it lacked a fast broadband connection.

Around 74 percent admitted that broadband was “critically important” to their home life, while 49.5 percent of respondents said they would pay more for a house with faster Internet connection.

The trend was also spotted as far back as October 2009, when a survey found that high-speed Internet was an increasingly important factor when choosing a place to live.

According to a poll by Top 10 Broadband – a broadband comparison website – four out of ten Brits would not move to a house with poor Internet connection. They also paid more attention to broadband speed than they did to the proximity of a local pub.

Government pushing fast broadband network

As the appetite for faster Internet connection grows, the UK government has announced its plan to maximise Britain’s superfast broadband network by 2015.

£830 million of public funds will be invested in the next-generation service rollout to bridge the digital gap and turn every community into ‘a digital hub’.

However, the plan has come under attack from ISPs, who criticised an unbalanced tax on fibre optic lines and the low minimum download speed commitment.

“ISPA would like to see any government investment used for places where it is not viable for the market to reach to ensure that no-one is excluded from superfast broadband and the opportunities it offers,” said an ISPA spokesperson.

Moreover, the roll-out is also expected to fall behind schedule, according to the Broadband Stakeholders Group (BSG), given that there is still much research required in finding the best technologies for the job.