Some 226 residents, 10% of those not hooked up to Virgin Media, have e-mailed to plead with the company to cable Bradley Stoke.
Around 2,000 homes are not connected to the firm’s high-speed network in the town which suffers the worst broadband speeds in Bristol.
Virgin says it wants 1,500 to e-mail before it would consider completing the network in Bradley Stoke.
Meanwhile, thinkbroadband.com’s broadband “not-spot” map has reinforced how bad internet speeds are here.
We reported in May how the website was showing poor speeds here but now more people have contributed to the site it clearly shows Bradley Stoke to be the single worst area in Bristol.
BT, for its part, is slowly rolling out a new technology called Fibre to the Cabinet but has twice overlooked Bradley Stoke.
Ironically, bosses there have decided to upgrade several other locations in Bristol such as Downend which do not currently have any issues with broadband speeds.
The telecoms giant told The Bradley Stoke Examiner that our campaign had, at least, been noted.
“BT is… aware of the level of interest/demand in Bristol and will be working closely with government and communications providers to identify the most suitable locations.”
When we told the firm of the constant problems residents have in the town they told us BT sympathised.
“I’m sure the frustration they feel is shared by countless other communities around the UK and this is fully appreciated by BT.”
The spokesman added the issue of Bradley Stoke would be raised.
With coverage of this campaign reaching as far as the Guardian, BBC Radio 5 live and the Politics Show – it remains to be seen how much more needs to be done to convince internet firms of the level of problems here.
Many are denied access to even what many would consider basic services such as the BBC iPlayer – and legally downloading films seems like a distant dream.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Simon // Aug 4, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Hi,
BT are proving that they are only interested in areas where they face real competition, and unfortunately, Almondsbury exchange has very few homes in Bradley Stoke with cable.
If Virgin where to provide a 50M service, I’d certainly dump BT/Sky and choose cables for phone, TV and broadband!
Finally, Virgin should write to all homes in Bradley Stoke and offer cable for a fixed commitment, and then they can see if the numbers stack up!
2 K // Aug 5, 2009 at 10:13 am
We have Virgin cable (Great Meadow Road) but my son’s find it quite slow on occasion and want to change to BT or Tiscali!!!
I’ve told them we have the better deal at the moment but they are still wanting to change.
3 Mike // Aug 5, 2009 at 12:04 pm
K give Virgin Media a call, my dad rings up these company’s and haggles, saying he is thinking of going elsewhere, namely to Sky and Virgin Media. They may up your connection speed for the next 6 months or so
4 Becky // Aug 5, 2009 at 4:40 pm
This is all so frustrating, my partner and I live in Fennel Drive, Bradley Stoke and have recently had to complain and cancel our AOL broadband, due to the lack of connnection to the exchange. In the last 6 months, 5 BT engineers have visited our house to fixed the problem, but as soon as they leave we drop off the exchange again. I contacted Virgin and they gave me the sales pitch and offered us 2oMB, which is very fast however when the sales guy connected to our area it actually pulled through 0.5 MB. We have now bought a temporary vodaphone stick, its not the fasted but it will have to do until virgin provide these fibre cables!
5 J // Aug 6, 2009 at 1:23 am
Having recently moved to Bradley Stoke from Filton I am shocked at the speeds here. I have joined the others in this petition to bring us cable.
In Filton the internet exchange was very close to me and I received a 10meg connection, which was a bonus seeing as I was paying for 8meg. Here though I receive only 3.6meg on a good day since the internet exchange is miles away and nowhere near the thousands of residents connected to it.
This is way overdue, if one company doesnt stick their foot in and DO something to improve this then I’ll go on internet strike and cut off my services.
It’s pathetic that I can get the same download speed from my mobile phone as I can from my house phone!
6 charles Q // Aug 7, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Slow? Try Stoke Park. I never achieved over 1.4 Mbps, even with a following wind.
7 I love the Internet // Aug 7, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I use Sky Broadband (The Everyday Package) I have no problems accessing the BBC iPlayer and playing games online. You may think that is because I only have one computer and don’t use it that much, but I do! I have multiple computers all accessing the internet at the same time. With Sky the faster package is not always better (This must apply to more than one ISP) I was on the Unlimited Package and should of given me faster download speeds and upload speeds this was not the case. After reading on the internet and talking to Sky it was clear that the speeds would speed up if I downgraded, at busy times of day I got 115Kbps Download and 56kbps Upload (With Sky Broadband Unlimited). Now after downgrading to slower speeds the speeds got faster 950Kbps Download and 205Kpps Upload. Although this is still very slow in comparison to the rest of the UK I am saving money and getting faster speeds (Not paying for faster speeds and then getting slower speeds). Another thing I find helpful is to reboot my router/modem when speeds start getting slow. The only thing I can do to get truly fast speeds is to pickup my house and move next door to the Internet Exchange.
8 Graham // Aug 7, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Connected at 152kbps at the moment – I live in Palmers Leaze not in the middle of nowwhere! My mobile phone gives me faster speeds when i use it as a modem (3mbps) but its more costly to use – sort your act out BT. Whenever i ring sky broadband they blame it on the distance from exchange thing and say there is nothing they can do. I’m luck to even get a connection some nights!
9 Jon // Aug 7, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I live in Stanshaws close, I have just done a speed test on BT’s site and it says I can get up to 4.5mb (I am paying for 8mb?) also that by the end of November 09 they are upgrading to 20mb and I will be able to get up to 6mb! dooh!
10 W // Aug 8, 2009 at 5:30 pm
They all need to sort they acts out!!!!!!!!!!
11 Simon // Aug 9, 2009 at 12:01 am
Jon, what do you mean by BT upgrading to 20MB.
For over a year, BT and TalkTalk have offered ADSL 2+ that in theory offers 20MB if you are close enough to the exchange, but no one in Bradley Stoke will get that?
What have you heard for November 09? Have BT said something about FTTC?
12 Chris (editor) // Aug 9, 2009 at 12:04 am
Simon: BT have made no decisions on FTTC yet but we are pushing them hard behind the scenes. I still think it’s absurd Downend got in before us.
13 The Bradley Stoke Journal » Virgin Media laying new broadband cable in Bradley Stoke // Aug 9, 2009 at 3:03 pm
[...] by the Bradley Stoke Examiner urging Virgin Media to complete its network in the town has so far attracted 226 email votes but the company says it wants 1,500 people to email before it will even “consider” [...]
14 flurfy chicken // Aug 10, 2009 at 9:14 am
Just back from Turkey (where else would a chicken go?) to find Virgin Media installing cable into to Champs sur Marne. No warning about this they have just turned up, with a little sign on the barriers basically saying how good they are for bringing cable to our area.
15 Simon // Aug 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Everyone using ADSL Broadband pays BT two fixed sums of money, one for telephone and one for broadband.
Regardless of the quality of signal, or service we get, everyone pays the same, WHY? Surely If the Broadband component (guess -> £5pm) should be changed to reflect the service available, then BT would role out FTTC much more quickly to areas like Bradley Stoke!
16 The Bradley Stoke Journal | MP joins the fight for faster broadband in Bradley Stoke // Aug 13, 2010 at 6:51 am
[...] Stoke Examiner ran a campaign in 2009 to urge Virgin Media to complete its network in the town, 226 people responded – but hopes were dashed when the company said it wanted 1,500 requests before it would even [...]
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