Posted: 12th Oct, 2010 By: MarkJ

The local council for
Bradley Stoke, a bustling
South Gloucestershire town that is home to a population of approximately 22,000 people, is supporting efforts to improve the areas woeful broadband access. Despite its population the town sits between two distant telephone exchanges in
Almondsbury and
Filton, which results in many people receiving internet speeds of just 512Kbps (0.5Mbps) and almost always less than 2Mbps.
Now the town, like many others, hopes it can use BT's new
Race to Infinity campaign (
here) to have the local exchanges' upgraded with faster 40Mbps FTTC broadband technology. The campaign promises to help enable five exchanges with the highest demand by early 2012, although it requires that 75% of local premises express an interest (minimum of 1,000 premises in any given area).
Cllr Robert Jones explains:
"BT have promised to upgrade the 5 exchanges nationwide that receive the highest percentage of votes from residents. Bradley Stoke is served by two exchanges at Filton and Almondsbury and we need residents help both here in Bradley Stoke and in neighbouring Parishes to nominate their exchange.
There are over 9,000 homes or businesses connected to the Almondsbury exchange alone. We need every one of them to vote, tell their friends and neighbours to vote and send the clearest possible message to BT that we want faster broadband now!
As a council we will do all we can to encourage residents to vote, I have already arranged for posters to be displayed at our activity centres and will be writing to our neighbouring councils seeking their help."
It's crucial to note that the town itself was only properly
built in 1987 and at the time BT felt that its existing exchange coverage would be enough; the internet didn't really take off until the late-90's. A small section of the town is also covered by Virgin Media UK's cable service, although the operator has no known plans to expand.
However the distance between BT's two local exchanges and Bradley Stoke (estimated to be 4 miles, according to the BBC News) could make an FTTC rollout quite expensive, which might give the operator pause for thought when considering any future improvement.
Bradley Stoke is effectively a modern town, sitting just north of Bristol, that lacks modern telecommunications infrastructure, having been built just a few years before the
Digital Revolution really kicked off. It's an oddity but also one of the areas that probably doesn't deserve to be in the "
Final Third", yet like most places it has little choice.
The local campaign can be found here.