Dundee, Northampton, or Bournemouth? Which will become the technological capital of the UK?

On those occassions that I get the 2Mb connection I pay for (which seem to be increasingly rare), I find that it fulfils all my broadbanding needs...nonetheless I do find myself coveting the potential 100Mbps that may soon be on offer in the UK.

So, what are the added advantages of the super-fast speeds? According to the Beeb:

...super-fast net connections could create a range of new applications including on-demand high-definition TV, DVD quality film downloads in minutes, online video messaging, CCTV home surveillance and high definition gaming services.

OK, they are the immediate applications: better (and faster) versions of applications which are already available. But they are not really tapping the true potential of such speeds.

There will undoubtably be big applications: virtual worlds with details and involvement that haven't been imagined since the early nineties; distributed-computing tackling problems in new and more powerful ways. However, I think the biggest change will actually be through the use of increasing numbers of low-bandwidth applications throughout the home/workplace. People will start looking at everyday items and asking: what if it could connect with the world? what would be possible? Such applications won't take off, or even be given serious thought, until bandwidth stops being seen as a scarce commodity.

How will they cut costs on laying the new fibre, by using the sewer system. Seems appropriate for most of the stuff on the internet.