Can wireless tackle Dorset's broadband issues?

By Zoe Kleinman
BBC News, Dorset

Carrier pigeons travel faster than broadband in some areas

A group set up by the Dorset Chamber of Commerce is looking at ways to improve broadband speeds for small businesses.

The Digital Dorset Taskforce is a voluntary group led by social network consultant Dr Monica Seeley.

BT told the BBC that slower broadband is "a fact of life" in rural areas because of older copper wiring and distances from telephone exchanges.

One third of the UK population is said to live in a rural area with slower or non-existent broadband.

Connecting Dorset

Fibre-optic cable is considered to be the most robust way of delivering a high speed internet connection.

It is also the most expensive in terms of the investment required from the service provider, which means that it tends to be implemented in areas of dense population.

However a company called C4L has been speaking to the Digital Dorset Taskforce about its plans for a wireless network in the county.

"One of the most attractive propositions for large parts of Dorset is wireless," said Dr Seeley.

"If one is honest, most providers are not going to put down cable."

She admitted that she was disappointed with the service currently available in Dorset, and had heard complaints of slow upload and download speeds from members of the Chamber of Commerce.

"I do feel let down - but I'm a business woman. I can see it from the service provider's point of view," said Dr Seeley.

Olympics promise

BT has committed to laying a fibre optic cable connection in Weymouth and Portland in time for the Olympic sailing events in 2012, bringing super-fast broadband to the area but there have been rumours that it will be disconnected after the games.

"Once the Olympics is over we are clearly not going to remove that fibre from the ground," said Jon Reynolds, head of BT in the south west.

BT plans to invest £2.5bn in broadband infrastructure across the UK by 2015

"But it's important that customers in that locality register their interest."

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is currently BT's customer for that service, he added.

A super-fast broadband exchange is also being built by BT in Boscombe, said Mr Reynolds, and should be available to up to 30,000 people in the vicinity when it launches in the autumn of 2011.

Joint initiatives are being explored in smaller areas, he added.

"We are talking to local authorities, development agencies and commerce about what their needs are and whether there's some way of co-investing and working together."

He also urged people to vote in the company's Race to Infinity initiative. BT says that the most popular areas as voted for by the public will be put forward to get faster broadband first.

Wireless alternative

Meanwhile C4L plans to roll out a wireless broadband offering in Bournemouth and Blandford at the end of October 2010, and then across Christchurch, Wimborne, Ferndown and Swanage in the coming months.

Rather than connect via a phone line, C4L is building a network of masts which can transmit the signal wirelessly, and provides wireless hubs to homes and businesses to receive it.

It claims to be able to provide download and upload speeds of up to 150 Megabits per Second (MBPS) - the faster the service, the more the customer pays.

What we are doing as the Digital Dorset Taskforce is coming up with a variety of offerings Monica Seeley

"It is only in the last year that I started going to network events and had the conversation so often where people say they can't do anything because of their connection," said CEO Matt Hawkins.

"I thought, it's what I've been doing for the last ten years, it's easy to fix."

However both wiring and wireless services slow down as more people use the connection at the same time, and C4L has yet to experience this level of demand with its new service.

"What we are doing as the Digital Dorset Taskforce is coming up with a variety of offerings," said Monica Seeley.

"We are trying to establish ourselves as the voice for business."