Broadband News

New Broadband Technology For Scotland

(10-11-06) - BT is to connect 650 homes and businesses in Kingswell using new delivery technology to bring high speed internet access to remote areas.

Check Broadband availability for your household.

Rather than get their connection direct from the exchange, where it can lose speed and quality the further it gets, the technology will be delivered through equipment in street cabinets.

It is the first time that internet access has been delivered in this way in the UK.

Following successful trials in Scotland and Dorset, Bob Downes, director of BT Scotland Openreach said: “Further improvements are being tested to allow access to as many internet service providers as possible. All going well, service providers should be able to begin processing customer orders before Christmas”

Despite this development, and the news that the final Scottish BT exchange has been upgraded for broadband, on the island of Foula – home to only 35 people – there are still around 10,00 Scottish residents unable to access the internet.

According to BT, the remaining areas – in the most inaccessible parts of the country – have telephone lines too long for ADSL connections. It is hoped that the new technology in Kingswell, or a satellite connection could be the answer.

Twenty-one other remote areas, including parts of Lewis, Harris and Uist have now been connected by the Connected Communities project, providing a wireless radio broadband connection to the Western Isles.