Posted: 25th Feb, 2011 By: MarkJ


New businesses arriving in the
Staffordshire (UK Midlands) town of
Burton (
Burton-on-Trent) have been told by BT that they cannot have a broadband ISP connection because
the local telephone exchange has run out of capacity. Some firms have
waited almost two months just to get a new phone line, only to then be told that broadband is unavailable.
The town is by no means small and is home to an
estimated population of around 65,000 (
2001 Census), yet it has so far not figured into any of BT's planned superfast FTTC broadband upgrades. However that would probably be beside the point as at present the primary problem is with existing service capacity.
The MD of UK Shop Fittings Supplies, Philip Reed, said (Burton Mail):"It took BT seven weeks to give us a working phone line, but we are now being told we cannot have broadband. It is frustrating and it feels as though we are banging our heads against a brick wall. If this is not resolved soon, it could cost us a lot of money."
Political responsibility for the area can also be a bit of a tangle, with part of the town residing in
Staffordshire and the other being inside
Derbyshire. It's also not the first time that problems have been raised and we can recall a 2008 survey of local broadband quality causing all sorts of upset among residents.
In the meantime BT has indicated that they "
are currently investigating the situation and will liaise with customers," although it's not clear when this will happen.
UPDATE 1st March 2011The situation in Burton has gotten worse, with BT now effectively preventing even existing customers from switching ISPs because if they do then a new connection is refused due to the capacity problem.
One resident of Horninglow has been told by BT that no new broadband capacity will be available in the area until January 2012!