Posted: 07th Nov, 2008 By: MarkJ
The MP for Hastings and Rye, Michael Foster, has given his support to the
Filsham broadband campaign. Sadly 1000's of young people that live in homes around the St.Leonards-on-Sea area can only get broadband speeds of 1Mbps or less, which it's feared could be hampering their education.
Back in May, when we first reported on this issue (
here), there was still a glimmer of hope thanks to an 18th November 2008 enablement date on the local exchange for faster 'up to' 24Mbps WBC services. Sadly that date has now vanished, leaving many concerned for the future:
Mr Michael Foster DL MP told the campaign: "
I did take up this issue with BT earlier in the year who confirmed that the cable distance and quality of a line can affect the broadband speed you can attain.
I understand that Ofcom is currently instigating a comprehensive broadband speed survey to identify actual broadband performance across the country and its variations from advertised headline speeds and maximum line speed.
I have therefore raised your concerns further with Ofcom and asked them whether they believe there is any scope for them to take action against BT with regards to cabling. I will write to you when I get a response."
Sadly
Ofcom's ability to put pressure on
BT in such a way is sorely limited and we will also be asking the operator for further information concerning their local plans.