Rural broadband isn’t just for the better off
It’s all very well Patricia Groome saying that “stressed city folk” shouldn’t have to pay for her rural broadband (Star Letter, Issue 509), but it sounds like she’s in a very privileged position. She describes herself as a “baby-booming pensioner” who can afford high broadband bills. Good for her. With long periods of unemployment, and tax raids on pensions, I’ve not been so lucky. I need to count every penny.
She also makes the classic mistake of assuming that everyone who moves to the countryside does so through choice, and therefore has no right to complain about things like rubbish broadband. But I had to move to the country – to look after my ill parents. I wasn’t seeking rural tranquility. I don’t want sympathy for this selfless act. But I would like proper services, such as fast(ish), affordable broadband, that people in cities take for granted. Andrew Osman I’d like to assure Patricia Groome that nothing I experienced living in hectic Birmingham was as stressful as trying to run a rural business on slow broadband. We need fast speeds now!
David Rankine