A broadband ‘not-spot’ map has shown the extent of the slow internet speeds suffered by Bradley Stoke stoke residents.

The community project, set up by thinkbroadband.com, shows clearly the south-eastern corner of the town marked as a slow speed area.

A swathe of roads clustered around Webbs Wood Road and Bailey’s Court cannot connect at a speed faster than 2Mb.

A second area, around Ormonds Close and Ellicks Close are also blighted by problems.

The national map bears out the recent straw poll conducted by The Bradley Stoke Examiner which showed the average resident was connecting at less than the national average speed.

Bradley Stoke’s problems are caused by our two exchanges, Almondsbury and Filton, being too distant from homes.

The long copper lines mean poor signal and slow speeds – something we have been campaigning to resolve.

Some of the comments left of the website include: “Rubbish. Very unfair – and BT don’t want to know.”

Another said: “‘Europe’s biggist housing estate’… using exchanges as far as 6km away. What an excellent idea. I choose not to use Virgin.”

And one user tells a sorry tale of slow broadband: “Newer houses on other side of road have to put up with 8km connection to nearest exchange.”

Virgin Media say they will cable the remaining few thousand homes in the town that are not hooked up to its high-speed fibre optic network if enough people express an interest in the service.

All you need to do to help us ensure Virgin Media completes its broadband roll-out in Bradley Stoke is e-mail cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk

• Bradley Stoke broadband guide
→ On the web: Bradley Stoke broadband ‘not-spot’ map
→ On the web: Thinkbroadband.com

More than 80 residents of Bradley Stoke have signed up for our campaign to convince Virgin Media to complete cabling the town.

But, the firm says it needs many more people to register their interest in high-speed broadband.

More than 2,000 of Bradley Stoke’s 9,000 homes are not hooked up to the fibre-optic network so suffer slow speeds via BT.

Some homes receive speeds of less than half-a-meg; a straw poll on this website suggest the average is around 2Mb.

Virgin’s network offers speeds of up to 50Mb along with cable TV and phone options.

Should more than 1,500 e-mail then the cable network will be rolled out here – so if you are interested, now is the time!

All you need to do to help us ensure Virgin Media completes its broadband roll-out in Bradley Stoke is e-mail cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk

Bradley Stoke’s new mayor Mark Forsyth has backed the Examiner’s campaign for faster broadband in the town.

Residents have suffered from slow internet connections via the phone line because our BT exchanges – Almondsbury and Filton – are too far away.

Now, Virgin Media have told us if enough residents e-mail them they will complete rolling out its high-speed cable network here.

With Virgin Media’s network you can expect speeds of up to 50Mb with no slowdown depending on where you live – unlike broadband via your phone line.

Councillor Forsyth e-mailed the firm on Thursday, his first full day as mayor, to plead for faster broadband.

In his message to the company he said completing the network, which is around half finished in Bradley Stoke, would “certainly give you a march on your competitors”.

All you need to do to help us ensure Virgin Media completes its broadband roll-out in Bradley Stoke is e-mail cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk

Note: When you e-mail Virgin Media can you please remember to include your full postal address.

The more people that e-mail Virgin Media now will mean the more likely the company is to finish cabling Bradley Stoke.

• Full details on how you can help convince Virgin to give Bradley Stoke faster broadband.

Virgin Media say they could cable Bradley Stoke – but need your help to find out if there is demand for the service.

The firm partially cabled the town with its high-speed fibre-optic network as it was being built over the last 20 years.

But parts of the town were not cabled and have now been left with very slow ADSL services from either the Almondsbury and Filton exchanges.

Virgin Media’s network, though, can supply broadband with download speeds ranging from 10Mb to 50Mb.

Now, we have the chance to bring Bradley Stoke’s broadband into the 21st Century if we can convince Virgin Media enough of us would take up their service.

Our broadband campaign has already seen a motion from the town’s Conservative councillors passed by South Gloucestershire Council calling for faster internet.

Town mayor Robert Jones is backing our final push for faster broadband.

“This is fantastic news,” councillor Jones said. “It is important that high speed broadband is available to everyone that wants it and I’m pleased that Virgin Media is addressing the issue here in Bradley Stoke”

“I’d like to congratulate the Bradley Stoke Examiner for the success of their campaign and I’m proud to have been associated with it from the start.

“I encourage every resident to sign up now and send a clear message that the demand is sufficient for this to go ahead.”

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: “The Examiner’s done a great job championing the cause for faster broadband in Bradley Stoke.

“We’re now keen to establish exactly how much interest there is in the area so we can determine the viability of extending our network.

“More and more communities want access to faster broadband speeds so their families can enjoy the many benefits the internet has to offer.”

All you need to do to help us ensure Virgin Media completes its broadband roll-out in Bradley Stoke is e-mail cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk

Note: When you e-mail Virgin Media can you please remember to include your full postal address.

The more people that e-mail Virgin Media now will mean the more likely the company is to finish cabling Bradley Stoke.

As well as supplying ultra-fast broadband, Virgin Media also provides TV through its network with the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer.

It is the second largest provider of pay TV, was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.

• Broadband in Bradley Stoke
• Examiner campaign for faster broadband
→ On the web: Virgin Media homepage