In a recent report on the BBC, industry experts from the Federation of Small Businesses have warned that the UK broadband network is 'not fit for purpose'. They are asking the government to make a commitment to provide a minimum of 10mbps connections for all homes and businesses by 2019.

"If small businesses are to thrive and prosper and contribute to a growing economy, they need universal access to what is now considered the fourth utility," concludes an FSB report on the current state of broadband.

Their report claims that there are still 45,000 small firms in the UK on dial up internet

What the report does not include is the many businesses that rely on shared connections such as those operating out of hospital locations or business hubs which also suffer from slow internet connections.

The impact of having a slow connection means that it is very difficult to do things online that most people take for granted. Some social media services swallow up huge amounts of bandwidth, and increasingly this is becoming a channel for online business.