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Village where BT chairman has the only broadband to get itself connected
08 Dec 2009 | 00.24 Europe/London
After BT admitted the only person it's connected to broadband in a village on the Oxfordshire-Buckinghamshire border is the firm's own chairman, it's emerged neighbouring homes could be online as early as next year. However, that won't be down to the telecoms giant but instead thanks to a local initiative.
For thirteen years Sir Michael Rake has lived in Hambleden, a village which has been told broadband is quite literally out of their reach due to the distance between them and the nearest exchange. One resident, Mr Gary Ashworth, says BT let him know it would cost him £168,000 to have a broadband connection installed into his home. While he's been having to make do with a satellite connection that sets him back £1,000 a year, it turns out Sir Michael's home has been hooked up to broadband as part of BT's BET (Broadband Enabling Technology) trials.
"Trials of new technologies are often conducted among a company's own staff so there is nothing unusual in this situation," reads a statement issued by the telecoms firm. "BT has learnt a lot through the trial the chairman participated in and hopefully those lessons will benefit the residents of Hambleden in due course. We have sympathy for the residents of Hambleden. Several companies actually supply broadband from the exchange serving their village but the lines between the village and the exchange are simply too long to support a broadband service."
It appears the rest of the Hambleden population may not be as sympathetic, though, with Gary calling the decision for BT to only connect its chairman "a disgrace." "It's this preferential treatment that Sir Michael Rake has had that's upset most of the villagers," he says. "There is no access for the whole area and yet the one person who has it is the company’s chairman. It’s very frustrating, especially because I work in IT. I actually can’t even get a dial-up connection because I’m too far from the exchange. Sending files is a nightmare. My children get frustrated as well."
While the likes of Gary are feeling let down by BT, a local action group has raised £25,000 to bring broadband to the rest of the area - and it could be installed as soon as January next year, if work stays on schedule. “It hasn’t been commercially viable for any companies to get broadband to us, so we have had to raise the money ourselves through pledges and grants," Steve Proffitt from Hambleden Valley Broadband told the Henley Standard. “The technological side of it is simple — it was just a case of funding it.” And he claims that the net result will be faster broadband than the service that can be sustained via BET - between 6Mbit/s and 10Mbit/s instead of around 2Mbit/s.
While some have been demanding that heads should role - "I really think he should resign as chairman over this," Gary says - for Mr Proffitt the whole idea of bringing BET to Hambleton was "pure PR." “BET was never a viable option for BT - they are just looking for government funding," he argues. Of course, that's not something the telecoms giant itself agrees with - although he may not be too far off the mark. “The Government has indicated that funds will be made available to help the small number of locations such as Hambleden that cannot access broadband and so BT hopes to be able to find a solution for the village with such support," a spokesman for the company said. One thing is beyond debate, however: if this was all about PR, the BET's not paid off.
For thirteen years Sir Michael Rake has lived in Hambleden, a village which has been told broadband is quite literally out of their reach due to the distance between them and the nearest exchange. One resident, Mr Gary Ashworth, says BT let him know it would cost him £168,000 to have a broadband connection installed into his home. While he's been having to make do with a satellite connection that sets him back £1,000 a year, it turns out Sir Michael's home has been hooked up to broadband as part of BT's BET (Broadband Enabling Technology) trials.
"Trials of new technologies are often conducted among a company's own staff so there is nothing unusual in this situation," reads a statement issued by the telecoms firm. "BT has learnt a lot through the trial the chairman participated in and hopefully those lessons will benefit the residents of Hambleden in due course. We have sympathy for the residents of Hambleden. Several companies actually supply broadband from the exchange serving their village but the lines between the village and the exchange are simply too long to support a broadband service."
It appears the rest of the Hambleden population may not be as sympathetic, though, with Gary calling the decision for BT to only connect its chairman "a disgrace." "It's this preferential treatment that Sir Michael Rake has had that's upset most of the villagers," he says. "There is no access for the whole area and yet the one person who has it is the company’s chairman. It’s very frustrating, especially because I work in IT. I actually can’t even get a dial-up connection because I’m too far from the exchange. Sending files is a nightmare. My children get frustrated as well."
While the likes of Gary are feeling let down by BT, a local action group has raised £25,000 to bring broadband to the rest of the area - and it could be installed as soon as January next year, if work stays on schedule. “It hasn’t been commercially viable for any companies to get broadband to us, so we have had to raise the money ourselves through pledges and grants," Steve Proffitt from Hambleden Valley Broadband told the Henley Standard. “The technological side of it is simple — it was just a case of funding it.” And he claims that the net result will be faster broadband than the service that can be sustained via BET - between 6Mbit/s and 10Mbit/s instead of around 2Mbit/s.
While some have been demanding that heads should role - "I really think he should resign as chairman over this," Gary says - for Mr Proffitt the whole idea of bringing BET to Hambleton was "pure PR." “BET was never a viable option for BT - they are just looking for government funding," he argues. Of course, that's not something the telecoms giant itself agrees with - although he may not be too far off the mark. “The Government has indicated that funds will be made available to help the small number of locations such as Hambleden that cannot access broadband and so BT hopes to be able to find a solution for the village with such support," a spokesman for the company said. One thing is beyond debate, however: if this was all about PR, the BET's not paid off.
"I actually can’t even get a dial-up connection because I’m too far from the exchange."
Not sure if this can be true as BT are obligated to provide a basic (dial up) connection of around 28Kbps unless the satellite connection provides this obligation.
08 Dec 2009 | 09.16 Europe/London