Rural Community Gateway

Here's a link to a newsletter that provides some basic information on wireless broadband:
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Maureen,

Have you spoken to anyone from The Lomond & Rural Stirling LEADER+ Programme? They might be able to help you. Their website says:

"Successful projects for funding must contribute to one or more of the Lomond & Rural Stirling LEADER+ objectives (including): Connecting through new technology – communities and businesses."

See application form and contact details: Programme Manager, Anne-Michelle Ketteridge, Lomond and Rural Stirling LEADER+
c/o Economic Development
Stirling Council
Viewforth
Stirling
FK8 2ET, Tel: 01786 443123, Fax: 01786 443199.

Our local village of Kinlochard was recently connected up for broadband, after a few teething problems they seem to be fine, So thought as the local Community Councillor and Chair of the Local Trust I should also be techologically moved, only to find a) No telephone when they get my line ready for broadband (they add something to the line in the exchange???) and b) Im too far from the exchange in any rate. We have been told we will never recieve broadband due to the cost of running further cable and equipment nessessary, so we will have to do without as the other options are too expensive.

A Rural Gateway user asks:

"If I try to connect to the internet, I get "page expired" and I then have to disable the firewall, run a broadband desk help check, re-engage my firewall and then launch internet explorer which is then successful."

Has anyone experienced similar problems and how have you overcome them?

Rural businesses were shocked on Friday when they were told their broadband connection was about to be ended after their supplier went out of business.

Rural Gateway Correspondent Simone Nelson operates a software business on the North West coast and was directly affected by the situation. She told us:

"It has been a busy old weekend with quite a lot of the alternative satellite suppliers working over the weekend to make offerings to those of us let down by Aramiska.

"Unfortunately they mostly require one to buy new equipment maintaining that the Aramiska set-up is not compatible with any of their services!

"I find this abhorrent since my equipment looks absolutely brand spanking new! But I understand the technical argument. It seems one supplier is using the same satellite in the sky as Aramiska - so the dish might be OK but the rest would have to be replaced. So I and my fellow sufferers - many of them are community projects - have got to find in the region of £1000 - £2500 for a new installation which might take place inside the next 10 days.

"I am sure that like me the community groups will find this a very hard pill to swallow. Most of us would be set up with grants of one kind or another and to have to find this sort of money now will be nigh impossible - so how to solve the problem?

"I spoke to Bridge Broadband who have now put together a rescue package for Aramiska customers - they are located in Perth and are pretty miffed that HIE seemed to promote Aramiska over a Scottish company! So perhaps we should put out a message to other Aramiska customers who are in the same pickle as me - http://www.bridgebroadbandservices.com/AramiskaRescuePlan.pdf. The price is similar but we have to sign up for a 12 month deal which is not unreasonable as they are offering free hardware and the set up cost is just £350. It could be worst as others are offering £999 set up costs!"

Full story

bob.r.downes@bt.com

Fine but how do I get hold of Bob Downes!!

Six months after the exchange was activated for Broadband, I have at last been connected and it is worth the wait. However we need to continue to keep pressure on BT. Bob Downes, who heads up BT in Scotland, is approachable and wants to have feedback from people having problems getting connected. If everyone directs their frustration in his direction BT will get a true impression of the situation. It has taken me years to make this happen and six months intensive pursuit. I can now look forward to on-line learning, faster downloads, successful downloads etc etc. Wish you luck.

Neil

We are pleased to tell you that Brendan Dick, BT's General Manager in Scotland, has today accepted our invitation to participate in a special broadband Ask an Expert forum next month.

Registered Rural Gateway members will receive an email prompting them for questions next week...

To Bridget and others

It might be worth feeding back to the people behind the Community Broadband Network or Access to Broadband Campaign.

I have been waiting for a connection to Broadband since it, supposedly came to my area, in August 2005. Having been given two connection dates by BT which have gone by I am now told that there is not sufficient space in the exchange and there is no known date for when sufficient space might be added. I was also informed that there is no-one to whom I can complain. Does anyone know to where I can complain?

I read with interest BT's proclaimation in last weeks Oban Times that we at Ulva Ferry on Mull now had Broadband. Great but where is it?!?

Needless to say that we do not have broadband at Ulva Ferry on the Island of Mull. But we did pay for the gear to get connected. They then asked for this back saying that we were not getting connected after all and so far we haven't had our money back yet either.

Liz Perrott says:

"I have been unable to find any information on the following, and even our Community council were unaware of it until I encountered the following problem.

"I moved to Isle of Whithorn in October, having already ordered a BT line, Broadband etc, been given number and account. When the engineer came to connect me via BT box terminal in village, he found there was no capacity at all to give me a line, and that there were already 13 DACS fitted in this tiny village.

"This meant that initially I wasn't even able to have a normal phone line. I was then told that they would fits another DACS as a temporary measure to give me a basic line but it now means that about 1/4 of the houses here are affected by DACS and with 20 new houses going up and the policy not to give a line out for 6 months when someone moves, it means that more DACS, not less, are likely to be fitted.

"All this from an exchange ADSL enabled some months ago. BT told me they would have to get the Underground cablers to put additional cable in to allow more lines, but that they couldn't afford to put in an optic line which would give us higher Broadband speeds.

"The date they gave for this work has come and gone and for those of us who do online banking, it can take up to an hour to do something that used to take ten minutes, and it has got to the stage where even normal speed dialup seems desirable.

"Since dial up uses up the 'phone line and DACS affected dial up means the time needed online for even simple tasks is at least 4 times longer.

"This is not acceptable. We can't even opt for a second line to free up the phone because there is no capacity."

Hugh Donaldson replies:

"Contact your local LEC and state that "In A Smart Successful Scotland"
nobody can work from a rural location such as yours unless communications are possible.

"It is possible that satellite providers may be able to obtain grant assistance for satellite infrastructure for you. Much more likely if you have a village network to connect.

"So talk to your neighbours and badger the LEC to find out where you can obtain the finance.You will be responsible for maintenance but at least you will have comms - normally a 2Meg line if you can get a minimum of 20 subscribers.

"You might then see a better service focus from BT as they lose the revenue from your copper lines."

This information has reached us this week from the Community Broadband Network (CBN) and might be of interest to some of you:

Whilst the official stats show that coverage will soon reach over 99% of
the population CBN is still receiving enquiries from people in rural areas unable to get a decent service. Like many, we think it is about time that these 'notspots' are catalogued and alternative services provided. Working with Avanti Satellite Broadband we have set up a website and online survey enabling people in notspots to register. This is launching on 1st December as a joint initiative between Avanti, CBN and the Access to Broadband Campaign. For more info, visit the CBN website at www.broadband-uk.coop

Just in this afternoon:

The Access to Broadband Campaign (ABC) believes that until everyone in the UK can access and use true broadband - the job is not done. At the end of 2005 there are still businesses and citizens unable to get even a basic service over ADSL -1 (512kbps) service let alone ADSL2+ or symmetrical services. But there's a much bigger future than ADSL can provide. We need to keep the pressure on and continue to lobby for ubiquitous, affordable and real broadband access across the UK.

The risks of complacency and the 'job done - don't worry attitude' are
. A widening of the digital divide in the UK
. The loss of UK and EU market share in the global knowledge economy
. Jobs and businesses 'migrating' to economies with better, faster and cheaper infrastructures
. Innovation and creativity stymied

ABC invites everyone to The End Game for Broadband Britain on November 22nd, CityPoint, London. This exciting conference, organised by Digital Dales, will bring you the real picture and show what must be done to win.

Come and hear more about the strategies we need; Fibre To The Home and FTTx, the business case for true broadband, the technologies to deliver, case studies, best practice, dig where you live, applications and services, plus have the chance to contribute to shaping EU Policy - see http://www.BroadbandEndGame.com

"We want everyone to have the opportunity to become digital citizens and to contribute to the economic growth that true broadband has been shown to stimulate elsewhere," says Lindsey Annison, co-founder of ABC. "The public sector can work with both industry and consumers to ensure that the UK is a strong contender in the race. That is just not possible over the copper network, even with newer technologies such as ADSL2+. Fibre and fiwi (fibre-wireless mix) are the end game, and this nation needs to remove the barriers and light the fibre".

The conference will once again encourage podcasting, blogging, and webcasting, to show what broadband can be used for, so bring your wireless device (or borrow one from your kids).
Join in and hear the reality and interact with experts, suppliers, and innovators. This is not a 'talking heads' conference, this is your chance to get involved in The End Game for Broadband Britain and the EU.

10 tickets up for grabs on Ebay right now - http://shorterlink.co.uk/4455 Peter Cochrane also 'for sale' on Ebay - http://shorterlink.co.uk/4444

ABC remains self-funded, and run by volunteers. Although we have many, many supporters, all donations, however small, are increasingly welcome as we realise that the campaign for ubiquitous, affordable broadband is by no means over yet.

Still no sign of my broadband although it turns out neighbours have been successful at getting BT Broadband. Looks like the "lottery" of the infrastructure not being able to cope with the new technology is down to individual houses. Both neighbours seem happy with the service and have been promised faster access (2Mb/s) in the future. BT admitted that they had a "monopoly" over the lines for the first year, something we suspected but could not find any evidence to support.

It's disappointing to read the last comments from the two Davids.

Although we have to applaud the Scottish Executive for undertaking the initiative to have (almost) all Scottish telephone exchanges enabled for broadband by the end of this year, it's obvious that the marketing of the 'product' has not been successful.

We see this on two fronts:
One, the expectation from punters like me who thought they would have the type of access my city-dwelling children have had for some time.
Two, the apparent lack of consultation carried out with ISPs before the launch of the work. These companies still seem to be unaware of the potential that awaits them.

This is where I become cynical. Is there a catch in a service provider signing up to gain access to one of these exchanges? Despite repeated requests the one I use has still to respond.

The question we need to consider is what can we do about it?

I suggest that we who contribute to this discussion forum are too few in number to make much impact although it appears that individually we have spoken or written to the people at the centre. Is there a wider group or organisation that we could join with to increase our lobbying power?

We have had endless promises from BT that we will be getting connected and been supplied with gear to do this, at a cost to ourselves of course. Today I recieved a call from BT to say that we are not getting broadband and they have no idea at all when we will.

Further to my comments below, I sent my "complaint" to a few Scottish Ministers, here is their reply.Not that it is much help.

"Dear Mr de Gernier

Thank you for your correspondence of 28 September 2005 to Scottish Ministers about the broadband service in Tiroran. Your email has been passed to me for reply as I work in the Telecoms Policy Team.

I understand your frustration with Exchange Activate, but this was the best option available for Tiroran, along with 146 other small exchanges, under the commercial solution offered by BT, within the allocated budget.

We are aware that there seems to be reluctance by alternative ISPs to provide a service on Exchange Activate exchanges. I can assure you that BT does not wish to restrict competition, and BT and the Executive are working to raise awareness of the Exchange Activate product amongst ISPs. Furthermore, under the Executive’s contract award with BT, it does not cost ISPs any more to supply from BT Wholesale’s Exchange Activate exchanges than from any other BT broadband-enabled exchange.

We are also aware that there may be a demand for a higher specification broadband service in Exchange Activate areas. We would stress that any future improvements to these exchanges have to be based on commercial viability and sustainability. Demand is clearly one factor, along with deployment and operational costs for BT or any other supplier.

I would like to clarify that individuals and organisations continue to be at liberty to establish their own community-based broadband schemes, observing of course wireless spectrum licensing requirements for licensed and unlicensed spectrum wireless usage and any local authority planning requirements. You may find the following Ofcom website on wireless spectrum usage useful: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/isu/ukfat/?a=87101.

I hope this information is helpful.

Yours sincerely

Harry Emambocus

Telecoms Policy Unit"

At last gave in to BT's higher charges and ordered BT Yahoo Broadband 512k service. No other ISP seems to have been allowed access to the "Exchange Activate" process other than Scotnet who offer less. The order process was easy enough with the "box" arriving before the activation day. Day One went as follows: activation at 0835, software failed to install at 1730, first phone call to helpline "don't need to install the software just plug the router in and start the browser, tried but had to install software direct fro the CD without the installation programme which continued to fail at the first stage, phone helpline again and told I mushave the IE Ver6 install and gave me mMicrosofts telephone number, tried again to install router, phoned helpline again and at last got someone who knew how to diagnose the system(thanks John), tested line as suggested then phoned helpline again to agree that the line was faulty. Time 0935. Cost of BTBroadband increasing by the hour. More news when I hear from them next (within the next five days!). Happy surfing. Regards Neil

BT promised me a business phone line connection for 20th September, today 8th October it is still not in place. I dread to think how long my broadband service will take to implement. The Chairman of BT continues to get a bonus of a trillion pounds a year for his performance. Please try to contact me on 01471 820011 and complain to BT when you can't get through.

Alan Duffield, Broadford Environmental Group, Isle of Skye

Because I knew I was 11km beyond the exchange I decided to go for satellite BB and took up the £1000 grant available to business at that time. Our local exchange - Dundonnell was not on the list to be enabled - and so I offered to wireless network my 1 MB connection to those in the neghbourhood. Within a month Dundonnell was not only on the list to be enabled, but by July it was!

My potential 'clients' hung back to see whether they might be lucky via the exchange - I believe those just under 10 km have on the most part been fortunate to get perhaps a reduced service - although 'service' varies from one ISP to another. One business half way between has been unable to get BB at all - despite trying 4 different ISPs!

So I am back offering my wireless network to those who cannot get the service via BT/Exchange - however I am told by my LEC that I have to persuade anyone who might to wish to wireless network with me that they must first go down the route of applying to BT for BB!

What an exercise in frustration for all concerned - obviously the engineers know that we are all too far away but they have to turn up and go back and forth from exchange to pole to house etc. Meantime whilst they attempt to install whatever in the exchange you cannot actually use your dial up connection! So you end up with no internet connection. Of course it is a different engineer/visit in the exchange to the one on the line/your house.

When all this todo is finished then the LEC may help my neighbours with setting up this wireless network. Meantime I am paying £169 per month whilst waiting to share.

I only took on this BB connection on the understanding that it would be networked - as clearly this is far too expensive for any small business to afford!

Whilst we endure this frustrating experience it would be useful to find someone who would eventually set up the wireless network, but so far I have failed to locate a local supplier - any help or advice out there?

It strikes me that the word frustration and Broadband seem to be synonymous!

The comments regarding community set ups was particularly relevant for us here in Ardnamurchan. We set ours up and started the service . All was well until BT "promised" ADSL by a certain date.
This promise effectively rules out any kind of support for community networks which are difficult to maintain for whatever reason ( geography, weather, electrical supply etc etc ). The upshot of this was the suspension of our telecoms licence to operate the network from the date of roll out. That was 27th July. We did not get connected .We were "promised" 21st sept by BT-- again no dice and recently a further "promise" ( they will say anything to get you off the line) of 16th Nov is being viewed with no great hope. Complaints to OFCOM elict the response that small numbers make no difference to them. They are the body responsible for the issuing of a licence which was revoked because of a "promise" from a Teleco. The teleco cannot have it both ways - if they remove the reason for a community net they must deliver the goods AND OFCOM need to be aware that small numbers do matter- as a matter of policy within Scot Exec in the funding they have provided to ensure the roll out. Where is the joined up control of this project. In addition a final point is that BT will be fined from end Dec if promised rollout does not happen. Does anyone know how much and who will issue the demand and collect the loot.

Sorry to gateway staff for nothing more positive regarding the use of BB but we do not have it yet.Keep up the good work on getting the rural voice heard .

It is interesting to see how the true story of "nationwide broadband provision" is creeping out. I do so agree with the Rural / Urban split noted before!

Neil refers to exactly the situation that exists in Whitsome where only three suppliers are presently listed.

The original document from BT giving information to prospective SPs quoted a cost of £25,000 for each 'box' with the 30/32 lines. This could be subdivided into units of eight. It appears that the Scottish Executive paid for each of these 'boxes' to be installed in the Exchange Activate exchanges so providing a nil cost to ISPs.

An ISP Briefing Note, released by the Scottish Executive on the 19th September, further advertised this to their trade association.

However, my ISP has refused to use this facility and I'm not sure where the catch for them is in the arrangement (because their reply to me clearly indicated, without specifying, a committment they were not prepared to make). I may be the only customer they have here but are they expected to take a block of eight lines that are 'free' just now but could incur a cost in later years?

Does anyone have an answer?

Must I abandon my long standing arrangements with my ISP and use one of the three who have so far taken advantage of the 'free access' to the exchange?

What David explains below is the limited "Exchange Activate" system being offered by BT in 147 of the 378 exchanges they are upgrading. At our local exchange this means only 32 lines for about 200 households. Worse still is that these are only available to wholesale clients in groups of eight lines. As far as I can ascertain BT Home has one group, BT Business has another and Scotnet has the third, leaving only one group of 8 lines left for an independent company to buy into the system. It is not surprising that other companies I have contacted are not interested in providing a service as the maximum they can gain is 8 customers and this in competition for the one group of lines with al other ISPs in the country. I must praise Virgin Net and BT's Scotland Director for their efforts but neither has completely solved the problem.

In regards the current proposals for broadband access for remote communities, what is being offered is still a second class service, with slow downloads and even slower uploads, narrow bandwith and expensive options.

I live on Mull, and initially I had to instal an expensive satelite system ( Both in installation and purchase cost, and in monthly fees from BT)to enable broadband access.

I lookked forward to the day when my community ( Tiroran on Isle of Mull ) would have local exchange activated for broadband use.

In reality, what we are being offered is 512kb/s download and 256kb/s or slower upload speed with restricitve bandwith and download limits.

This will mean that many uses for broadband are still beyond our grasp. ( Video conferencing, certain distance learning study options ssuch as online based post graduate degree courses,and many other business uses, static IP's for servers etc.)

Also, for my exchange, I am being offered the "choice" of three providers. (BT home, BT business or Scotnet) So it seems BT will still maintain near monopoly stranglehold.

If we are to maintain population levels, encourage diverse business development in rural communities we must provide the infrastructure, so that we can compete on a level playing field.

David de Gernier

Hi there,
Although our exchange (Garvald) is now BT enabled, we realised that this on its own was never likely to be able to provide 2Mbps broadband to farms and homes some distance from the exchange.
With financial help from East Lothian Council and Leader + money, the Comunity Council developed a wireless broadband scheme which is well supported locally. 2Mbps has brought the world of the web to life and enabled home-working for more people, cutting commuting, stress and pollution. Free internet access to the two village halls in the area was included in the costings.
My advice would be not to just take what's advertised, but to investigate better ways of developing a system which meets community needs and keeps the income from broadband within the community too.

Ross Paton of Auchencairn Youth Club asks: "We have two PC's in our village hall which are used mostly by the Youth Club. Now that we have broadband, we would like to take advantage of it in our Youth Club and the rest of the community. However, the costs are too high. Even at £15 a Month, this would eat into our funds too quickly. I wondered if there was any help available for monthly broadband costs in communities like ours?"

The Rural Gateway's Sandra Hogg replies: "There are plenty of suggestions of where to go for funding on the Guide to Funding Sources for Community Based ICT Initiatives . However, I think you'll find it difficult to get more than one year's funding. You could also look at BT Broadband Connections for Charities, as a means of getting ongoing funding. Perhaps you get a local company to sponsor it, or your Community Council or even your Local Councillor's discretionary fund. If you made a charge for other users perhaps this could cover the costs."

I finally had my line activated a week ago! Everything was going fine until yesterday. I now have consistent problems of dropped connections - about half a dozen an hour. This makes "always on" broadband a joke and extremely frustrating.

Broadband at 2.2Mps is great but only if it works as it should! I've been reading through other forums on the net and have learnt that intermittent connections in regards to "always on" broadband are becoming much more common. What is going on here? Does anyone know?

Neil, did you get a reply from the Director of BT Scotland? Would you like to post his reply here?

Ken (the frustrated)

Just in today:

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (local authority) and Western Isles Enterprise are carrying out a broadband survey of businesses in the Western Isles over the next few weeks. This survey is being carried out as part of the transnational “Broadband In Rural and Remote Areas” (BIRRA) project. The survey is a mail questionnaire on the attitudes of businesses to broadband and information and communication technology (ICT) and the barriers to the greater use of such technology by businesses.

Four hundred small and medium sized local businesses have been selected to participate in the survey which is due to take place over the coming weeks.

The survey, which is being conducted in each of the partner countries, will seek to discover how businesses are currently using broadband and technology, how they would like to use broadband and technology in the future and what the barriers are to them achieving this.

In the Scottish e-business survey of 2004 the Western Isles had the highest internet connection rate (93%) of any local enterprise area in Scotland. The Scotland average for internet connection rates was only 72%.

However, in the same report it showed that the Western Isles has one of the lowest broadband connection rates, with only 6% of connecting organisation having a broadband connection. The Scotland average for business broadband connections was 39%.

Donnie Macaulay, WIE chief executive said: “The provision of Broadband to the business community throughout the Western Isles is an important objective for us. This project looks to bring the experience of other regions to our attention so that we can learn from the best examples. Local companies can then experience the business benefits that are being enjoyed in these other peripheral areas, and help develop their own business as a result”.

The main issues affecting the current level of adoption for the vast majority of non-broadband users in the Western Isles has been the lack of broadband connection outside the Stornoway area.

These issues are soon to be addressed for the majority of businesses in the Western Isles with the rollout of ADSL to 13 rural exchanges by BT and the Connected Communities Wireless Broadband Project, which will provide services in the remaining 21 areas. The Stornoway exchange has had broadband since May last year.

Chairman of the Comhairle’s Sustainable Development Committee, Councillor Archie Campbell said: “Broadband has been identified as a key economic driver for economic regeneration in the Islands. The increase in the availability of Broadband in the Western Isles is a welcome development towards a higher level of accessibility for our communities. The BIRRA project will be an important further step towards realising the full potential of Broadband".

Yes Ken I am still waiting too. BT have given me the usual run around and it seems that they are doing to same with their wholesale customers, the ISP's we rely on to provide the connection. No-one seems to know what is happening. I e-mailed the Director of BT Scotland Bob Downes bob.r.downes@bt.com who seemed quite interested. Maybe he can give us some answers?

Activation date - 20 July 2005!

Almost three weeks later and I still haven't had my line activated!!

I've contacted BT (had to wait in lengthy queues and passed from department to department) who said that the exchange (Skeabost Bridge) had reached its capacity!! This happened the very week the exchange was enabled! There are approx. 270 residental & non-residential lines on the exchange. I don't understand how BT can reach capacity in such a short period of time?

Are there any other people out there not yet connected to broadband having already had an activation date?

I think it's terrible that BT are leaving their customers in the dark. I have no idea when I will get broadband now.

I am very angry! Anyone else in the same situation?

Ken.

According to a report UK broadband connections exceeded dial-up connections for the first time in May.

"The latest monthly update to the survey of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) shows that in May 2005, broadband connections formed 50.7 per cent of all connections, up from 49.2 per cent in April 2005."
Are BT slowly getting there?
See: full report

Still waiting for BT to comment on their restrictions to rural exchanges (well described by Ian below). Named Exchange Activate it seems that I can get Broadband but only through BT and only at 512KB/s. Seemingly my exchange (Glenelg) has been "activated" since 29 June but as eyt BT will not give me a sensible reply to my request to be connected through my existing ISP. Sounds like a monopoly working here especially as BT costs are considerably higher than other providers. If BT would like to get in touch with me to discuss this I would be happy to have them visit.

Seems that the small rural exchanges are not getting "proper" broadband services. BT Wholesale are not providing the connections (i.e. any subscriber can be connected to any ISP) but are selling the facility to to those providers who are prepared to invest in exchange equipment.

As a result, folks from these exchanges are faced with changing to one of the service providers entirely (new e-mail address and so on), running two accounts (existing to keep, perhaps, a well known address - new to get ADSL) or not taking up this offer at all.

Seems the rural areas are still losing out, particularly as the maximum connection will be 512k.

Brilliant. I am studying an online course and do a lot of web searches with my work. Much less 'zombielike' waiting for pages to appear & downloads.

Now that we have broadband availability at my exchange (Whitsome) my ISP has been refused access by BT apparently because, "another provider has bought up the exchange".

Has anyone else had such problems?

Time to put the champagne on ice???

BT have got in touch with us to say:

"Every community in Scotland will have access to affordable broadband services by the end of 2005, thanks to a contract signed between the Scottish Executive and BT, following a public tender.

"The exchanges are being upgraded by BT as part of the Scottish Executive’s Broadband for Scotland’s Rural and Remote Areas initiative. BT is upgrading 378 exchanges in four phases (in 20 local authority areas*) between now and the end of the year, with the first phase due for completion by 7th July.

"The exchanges serve 51,000 households and 5,400 businesses across Scotland that would not have otherwise received the service because it was not commercially viable to upgrade their exchanges.

"We are currently finalising the timetable with the Executive and will publish individual ready-for-service dates for the first phase exchanges shortly.

"More information on what is happening in local areas, and when, will be published on the Broadband for Scotland website and on the BT Wholesale broadband availability checker "

*Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Fife, Highland, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Shetland, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

Well I have been conected via a dial-up connection for several years, and you could say I used the internet for many things. I put my name down on BT's site in support of getting Broadband in Thurso, and checked the site regularly as the numbers slowly climbed to the key figure.

Saying that, however, I did delay a few months after broadband was enabled in Thurso before I ordered it from my service provider. But the difference it made!

Before broadband, since I was on the internet much of the time, my phone was always engaged. With broadband, I could be connected for hours and never miss a phone call. Before broadband, my ISP would disconnect me every two hours or so - inconvenient if you were in the middle of a large download. Afterwards, not only did I not get disconnected, most of my "big" downloads take less than an hour anyway!

This is not to say that everything is wonderful about broadband. More and more I'm seeing websites that "assume" that people have broadband. They have massive pages, with huge graphics, movies, animations, and soundtracks that would freeze up a dial up connection for ages. This shows a distinct lack of appreciation that some people are without broadband, and may be for many years to come.

Hi Neil
Her I'm afraid is the problem of rural services in a nutshell. There are not sufficient customers for the extension of high speed and broadband to rural area to be poffitable. Web designers are committed to larger heavier sites for 2 reasons: firstly they gain more income and secondly the customers demand it in order to keep their web sites innovative, interactive and cool. I am afraid the days of text only sites is long over and high resolution graphics and animations will likely only die with the advent of live TV like broadband sites.
Waiting for BT to dilver better service to rural Scotland is like expecting the Scottish exec to control housing prices in rural Scotland....its never going to happen.
One opt out option is for communities to finance their own high speed delivery services.

Broadband would be nice but, as I see form other comments, BT seem reluctant to give us a schedule of their works. I hope it works better than the current system where at best we get 32k bits/s as we rely on older cabling and undersea cables and are miles from the nearest exchange. We need to encourage web designers to simplify information so that it is accessible to all as the end result of broadband will be complex sites that still take too long to download.

Broadband is urgently needed on our BT exchange at Elvanfoot !

Elizabeth Roberts

The answer is "not yet" but I'm growing a beard waiting.

The media tell us that BT has won a contract from the Scottish Executive to provide Broadband services to all Scottish telephone exchanges by the end of this year.

BT are unable (or unwilling) to provide any details of the programme for this work, just making reference to their wholly inadequate web site data.

It's time we had more information about the likely dates for all.

I suspect I am not alone in feeling like a second-class citizen when connection rates vary from nil to a barely usable 44Kbps as it is obvious web material is being designed by and for the Broadband enabled user.

How about some equality - NOW.

I have used everything from 2800 bytes /secback in 94 all the way through to broadband @ 7mbs. I have used ISP's all over europe and canda. There are a few pointers I would like to make. First off a lot of countries use terminology in different ways. Quite often the term Broadband is used for asdl service and satelite service when in fact these are more acuratley high speed solutions. Broadband is cable and gives a minimum of 4MBS both download and upload.
Given that most web sites are becoming inceasingly heavy with flash and other animations etc it is becoming almost impossible to browse and access information with dialup.
Accessing public information sites such as governmen and european union sites for the purpose of downloading information is almost impossible unless you have highspeed or broadband cable access.
In Scotland broadband cable is available only in Glasgow and Edinburgh and then only in certain areas of these cities.
This unequal delivery of sevice only increases the disadvantages suffered by rural Scotland.
In Nova Scotia this problem has been delt with by having a partnership between communities , government and private sector. The result is that cable broadband now extends to most of Nova Scotia.
Although this is provided by a single company the usual problems associated with a monopoly do not apply as clear regulations are set.
My last point is this, to accept poor service simply because its better than no service is not the answer to rural Scotlands problems. Demand the same service as provided to the urban centres and accept nothing less.

Can someone let me know whether we in the remoter parts of the empire will actually get broadband? We live on the west coast of the island of Mull for instance.

It is just about a month since my enormous satellite dish was installed. 1Mb down and 256k up - quite a big move from my 64k dial up! I am over 11 kilometres from our local exchange if and when it becomes broadband enabled - originally it was not on the list but I believe now is.

I am offering my immediate neighbours the opportunity to wireless network with my service. I believe this could cost them in the region of £200 each to buy the equipment which then they hope to set up amongst themselves.

I still have not got used to walking away from my computer with the little indicator showing that I am still connected - a bit like leaving the office door open. But I have been thrilled to be able to do big downloads almost in a flash! i.e.30Mb in 5 minutes! Up of course is slower with 6Mb taking about 15 minutes. Knowing that how long I am online is no longer an issue I now go and look at websites much more readily and of course there is hardly any waiting for different pages to come on screen. Booking trains and flights is very much faster than with dial-up of course!

The weather does not seem to interfere with the reception unlike our Sky dish for the TV - but it is a big dish!