Bed and breakfast owner wants better broadband

The owner of a guest house in rural Perthshire claims poor broadband speed has affected his business.

The corridor alongside the A9 from Perth into Highland Perthshire has long been notorious for its poor broadband connections.

With the region heavily reliant on tourism cash, superfast broadband is deemed an essential element in allowing businesses to keep pace with their competitors in other locations.

Adrian Blundell, who runs the Shian Cottage in Trochry, near Dunkeld, described the present broadband he receives as “inadequate” and claims properties like his tend to be ignored by providers as they don’t give “economic cream”.

“The service has been poor locally here for some time, with us getting around 0.514Mb/s sometimes,” he said.

“I contacted our provider and was told this was ‘better than nothing’, which is not what I wanted to hear.

“So it’s been difficult for us running the bed and breakfast business.”

However, he said he feels he is better off than some of his neighbours who have recently been without broadband and their phone.

“My wife, Sheila, and I bought this as a retirement plan, but it’s not been easy,” he added.

“However, I understand there is additional money to be spent on rollingout broadband, so we hope things will improve.”

Keith Brockie, who runs the Fearnan Gallery in a small hamlet near Aberfeldy, was equally scathing.

“I’ve just signed up to a new broadband provider as my wife and I couldn’t use our laptop and computer at the same time,” he said.

“The broadband connection around here is quite slow, but we have copper cables nearby that are broken.

“However, the service is meant to improve in the Loch Tay area and we’ve been told this new broadband provider will result in a speed of 4Mb/s.”