BT's broadband plans spark countryside revolt

NEWS A Best of Reader comments special This week we have been inundated with responses to a story we ran on BT's refusal to roll out ADSL exchanges in large parts of rural Britain (http://www.silicon.com/a52754 ). Understandably, people in these areas, left without affordable high-speed internet access, aren't best pleased. But first up, to try to show both sides of the argument, let us hear from somebody who has no sympathy with those in 'rural' areas bemoaning a lack of ADSL: Move to the city and stop whingeing
By Anon "I'm fed up of all you people who live in the countryside moaning because you don't get the same service levels as those of us who live in the cities. Poor bus services, banks and post offices closing and now no ADSL. Want all those things? Then move to the city!" And now let's hear from some of the hundreds who have contacted us to complain about what they see as BT ignoring vast areas of the UK in its broadband plans. It's a shame...
By Anon "I live in rural Somerset, near Castle Cary. I have ISDN, but it's slow and quite unreliable. Imagine my joy when a flyer came through my letterbox saying on the envelope 'Broadband is now LIVE in Shepton Mallet!' "Imagine my disappointment when I found out it was only (and will only ever be) by satellite, at vast initial and ongoing cost, and only 500 kilobits/second! The BT operator I spoke to sympathised and said it WAS very expensive... but from where I sit this is just an excuse not to give us, who need it most, a proper broadband connection. To call it 'live in Shepton Mallet' is just a sham, and BT's approach should be investigated under the Trades Description Act." This is isn't just a rural problem
By Adrian Asher "You can't even get ADSL in the middle of Cambridge, one of the leading technology regions of Europe! I work for one of the University colleges in the centre of Cambridge and we can't get ADSL and BT has no plans to upgrade our exchange in the near term." It's a numbers game
By Anon "Reading one of the comments here I saw that BT have on average 150 users per exchange. I was only last week informed that they wouldn't even consider enabling my exchange until 200 people had registered an interest. "I have been informed that ADSL is at least 14 months away, even though it's less than 10 miles from our office which has a 2mb link. It's about time they dropped the price of ISDN to match that of ADSL." What counts as rural
By A Wheatley "I have yet to understand what BT's definition of rural is. Look at the list of exchanges recently released by BT. Some parts of rural Wales have got ADSL enabled exchanges. The city of Hereford does not and most of the market towns around Hereford don't. Ross-on-Wye, where I live, has a population of about 10,000. Not very rural and still no ADSL. "Let's face it - Broadband Britain just doesn't exist and won't until the government pulls its finger out and makes it happen." Fire the MP responsible
By Kevin Passey "The government should shut up about Broadband Britain - and the IT minister should be fired for setting expectations too high and not having the teeth to see it through." Just what does 'rural' mean?
By Hugh McLaren "Look at the list of the much trumpeted '100 new exchanges to be enabled in June'... rural backwaters like, say, Doncaster. Yes, that's 'Doncaster' - well known for its acres of rolling farmland and herds of contentedly grazing cows. "Since seeing this, I've more or less given up hope of our local exchange (Markfield, near Leicester) ever being ADSL-ised. So I'm commuting to Central London from Leicester three days a week for the foreseeable future." Still, at least the railways are safe, efficient and punctual... errmm... Peeves and Worcester
By Brian Gladman "It is hard to see how the BT DSL rollout will ever be fair without the imposition of a universal service obligation. I cannot obtain DSL even though I live in Worcester, a city with a population of just under 100,000 people. So what hope is there for the many small towns and villages in this locality without government intervention?" Surrounded by ADSL
By Anon "I live in Sussex. To the west there is ADSL-enabled Chichester, to the south ADSL-enabled Bognor and to the east ADSL-enabled Littlehampton. My phone is connected to an anonymous little unmanned box called the Eastergate exchange. As far as I can see, BT has no intention of ever ADSL-enabling us. This is not exactly a rural idyll, it is just part of the built-up south coast. "The satellite option is absurd. I can understand it in the Outer Hebrides or somewhere that is pretty unpopulated, but not West Sussex."