It would take us 12 hours just to download a film
MONEY MAIL reader Roger Searle might have one of the worst broadband connections in the country.
As a tour and production manager, his job involves managing the logistics of sell-out gigs, working for stars such as Sir Cliff Richard.
But with broadband download speeds as slow as 0.3 Mbps — the minimum standard is considered to be 10 Mbps — his internet rarely keeps up.
Roger, 70, is just one of many readers who got in touch with us to tell their internet connection horror stories after reading our report on how some developers are failing to provide new-builds with the latest fibre optic technology.
Roger lives with his wife, Sheila, 69, in picturesque Huish Champflower, Somerset, at the ‘very edge’ of the Brompton Regis telephone exchange.
But despite ‘many conversations with BT engineers’, the couple say the 15 or so houses there are not deemed ‘economically viable’ when it comes to installing broadband technology.
‘For work I have to download PDF packs full of information about venues, and if there are photos I have to do it at my daughter’s house,’ says Roger.
Daughter Arlene-Marie lives just 15 minutes away but enjoys an average speed of 18 Mbps. Roger says it once took 14 hours to run an update on his Mac. He adds: ‘I think it would take around 12 hours to download a film.’
Roger pays BT around £28 per month for broadband, but on some occasions has been left with no connection at all. When a phone pole came down in a storm, Roger had to seek a mobile signal at a local pub and use his phone as a hotspot while he worked on his laptop in the car park.
‘Everyone should have reasonable broadband,’ he says. ‘I’m not expecting someone to turn up at the house with yards of fibre optic cable, but I do think BT should make sure all of its equipment works as efficiently as it can.’ The impact his poor broadband could have on the value of his property is something which has crossed his mind. ‘At some point, the house will change hands and 20 pc is quite a large chunk of a property’s value to lose,’ he says.
A spokesman for Openreach, the network arm of BT, says: ‘While more than 96 pc of UK homeowners can order a superfast broadband service, Mr Searle is one of the last few who can’t. We’ve been working on 800 Community Fibre Partnership schemes and so far we’ve upgraded more than 66,000 homes and businesses.
‘We’d be keen to talk to Mr Searle about this as a potential option.’