Anger at long wait for broadband improvements near Midhurst

A year-long wait for improvements to ‘stone age’ broadband has left homeowners south of Midhurst ‘frustrated and angry’.
Retired GP Julian Neal and his neighbours have been trying to improve their homes' broadband speedsRetired GP Julian Neal and his neighbours have been trying to improve their homes' broadband speeds
Retired GP Julian Neal and his neighbours have been trying to improve their homes' broadband speeds

Faced with ‘incredibly slow’ internet speeds, residents living in a small hamlet between the town and Cocking banded together and successfully applied to the rural gigabit broadband voucher scheme.

This is jointly funded by central government and West Sussex County Council.

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Julian Neal, a retired GP, described how Openreach and the county council were very helpful during the application process, but half-way through they discovered about the year-long wait before anything is installed.

He questioned why, with other essential services going into ‘overdrive’ during the pandemic, extra resources could not be deployed by Openreach to speed things up. More waiting has left his neighbours increasingly ‘angry and frustrated’.

He said: “For all sorts of reasons the broadband here is really unsuitable and almost at stone age speeds.”

Due to the slow speeds Dr Neal was unable to use the online NHS platform to help out with the Covid efforts.

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His neighbours are running into the same problems home working as two people cannot be on Zoom calls at the same time in one household.

Some families have had problems when their children have been home schooled, with people also having difficulties contacting younger relatives when they are shielding.

He has contacted Chichester MP Gillian Keegan, who has forwarded their concerns on to the government’s minister for digital infrastructure at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

An Openreach spokesman said: “Community Fibre Partnerships (CFPs) are a great solution for communities that need better connectivity but haven’t been included in Government or commercial broadband upgrade plans.

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“Openreach is working with hundreds of communities across the UK to build customised solutions which will bring Full Fibre broadband – the best infrastructure available in the UK - to homes and businesses.

“But CFPs take time, usually around a year from agreement to completion. These communities usually require complex engineering solutions, and the Partnerships also require contracts with all the stakeholders, often including the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

“We understand how important it is for everyone to have great connectivity; we’ve already upgraded 3.5m homes and businesses to Full Fibre and we’ve got plans to upgrade millions more. The good news is that the pledge scheme for this community has now reached its target as a result of residents and businesses pledging their Government-funded Rural Gigabit Vouchers. This means the scheme can now proceed and we can crack on with the build.”

A West Sussex County Council spokesman added: “Councils in West Sussex have jointly identified improving digital connectivity as a key ambition and crucially are working with the telecoms market, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Building Digital UK to increase the availability of gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure, as per the Government’s aims.

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“We fully understand the frustrations of local communities faced with slow and unreliable broadband and their desire to see immediate action. The Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme enables communities to work proactively with suppliers to bring gigabit-capable broadband to rural areas. As a result of local authorities in West Sussex working together, rural eligible premises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can currently benefit from an enhanced voucher value of £4,000 towards the installation cost of gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure. The registered suppliers are responsible for the delivery of the infrastructure through the scheme.”

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