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BT urges do-it-yourself approach to rural broadband

by Rob Clymo on Thursday 08 July 2010 1 Comment

If you live in a rural area or other geographical location poorly served by the broadband infrastructure then there could be a way forward. It seems that those of us who yearn for a decent broadband supply in our local area should pitch-in and help make it happen if BT Openreach has anything to do with it.

BT is working with local authorities in less populated areas in a bid to convince them that subsidising the installation of speedier broadband services could be the answer to current slow progress in network improvements. Iwade, a small village near Sittingbourne in Kent, has recently taken the plunge with the Parish Council deciding to throw some money at getting a faster broadband supply into local homes.

To get the ball rolling BT provided £62,000, which was the bulk of the money needed for the infrastructure upgrade. This included four cabinets on the street that subsequently connect to the Sittingbourne exchange via fire-optic cabling. Meanwhile, the Parish Council managed to contribute £13,000 to the pot. Unfortunately, the connection from the boxes to homes themselves will still be via traditional copper cables until the last step of the upgrade project is completed.

BT is naturally keen to hear from any other rural communities on their ideas and suggestions on how to take this concept into additional areas poorly served by broadband internet.

 

Comments

  • neutral

    by Michael Benn at 19:00 on 1 Sep 2010 | registered | 1 postReport abuse

    We are a Northamptonshire village of about 400 households. Distance from the telephone exchange serving out two cabinets is 6KIm
    Resulant speeds appalling, averaging 8Kbps.
    BTOpenreach indicate little chance of the Exchange being enabled with superfast until 2015, and even smaller possibility of Fibre to Cabinet being put in by then, could be much later.
    How do we set about "doing an Iwade"?
    Please keep me up to date with any develpments.
    Thanks

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