I have lived in SD with my family for 22 years and am passionate about being a strong voice for local people and where we live. Please use the Contact page to contact me if you need my support and to give me your views on matters that affect you.
UPDATE ON BROADBAND BLUES THINGS ARE LOOKING UP
New news on the upgrading of the Broadband connections in South Derbyshire.
I am re-producing an article from the Burton Mail commenting on the latest hard won concession from BT.
“BT has announced the next part of its pledge to deliver “super-fast” broadband by upgrading exchanges across the UK between autumn this year and summer next year.
Despite the well-documented woes of those serviced by Etwall’s exchange, which can only offer ‘eight-meg’ speeds, BT has not included it on its list of services to be fitted with fibre-optic wiring.
However, those using the exchange in Swadlincote will benefit from an upgrade.
Amy Plenderleith, who represents Hilton on South Derbyshire District Council, says she hopes BT will address the village’s residents’ slow speeds soon.
She said: “It’s great news that BT has recognised the potential of South Derbyshire and included Swadlincote in this latest round of its broadband roll-out.
“I hope now that it will start to target the exchanges in more rural areas of the district — Etwall, Repton and Overseal — so that more of the district can benefit from this level of service.
“Some of our questions concerning the performance of the Etwall exchange still remain unanswered by BT, and I look forward to working with it further to resolve these issues.” The Mail had previously reported how door-to-door salesmen from Talk Talk were offering Hilton residents “too good to be true” highspeed broadband, despite the sluggishness of Etwall exchange.
Councillor Plenderleith urged homeowners to refrain from signing agreements on their doorsteps.
Swadlincote exchange’s upgrade is part of BT’s pledge to provide “super-fast” connection speeds, reaching as high as 60 per cent, to at least 40 per cent of the UK by summer, 2012.
Andrew Bacon, BT’s East Midlands regional director, said: “Faster broadband continues to change the way we live and work, offering tremendous business, educational and entertainment opportunities for firms and households.
“BT would also like to roll-out the fibre networks to parts of the region where the economics are more challenging and where some public funding will be required.”
“We continue to work with proactive local authorities on how this could be achieved.”
This all shows we are getting there. My colleagues and I will not let up on the pressure until we al have a decent Broadband service. More updates to follow.
I invited Tom Hamilton, Regional Manager BT, to a meeting and the latest news is that the engineers have been successfully working on issues raised in the Case Studies given to us by you. Particularly those getting their service from the Chellaston Exchange the engineers have been able to rectify most matters and local people should be getting a better service now.Other news regarding lifting South Derbyshire up the priority list for replacement/renewal work on the Broadband service by BT is also encouraging, but of course this is a more longer term matter as we are talking many millions of pounds.Next year, it is hoped to be confirmed shortly, there will be 75 exchanges put through in an early tranche to be completely upgraded with the newest fastest state of the art equipment. Tom is hopeful that the Swadlincote exchange will be in that list, so at least 20,000 homes could benefit by next summer.I will keep lobbying to make sure this happens and should there be any slippage in the programme that other exchanges, that service South Derbyshire, be added to the list.As you know the Government are imposing an extra 15,000 homes on South Derbyshire having talked this through with Tom and what this means for BT coverage and service I have had an undertaking from Tom that where new developments are built for 1000 properties and more from day one BT will put in a decent Broadband service, which will help the existing parts of South Derbyshire still creaking along with what we have now.We are not there yet but with all this intensive lobbying of BT they know we exist and they know we deserve decent coverage.I continue to work hard to make this a reality.
