These slides contain some practical tips for alternatives to struggling with a dire rural broadband connection in the UK. They are an extract from a longer talk I gave yesterday to a Tinder Foundation audience of people who work on digital inclusion in rural areas. Points that emerged in the discussion included:
the lack of rural broadband was an important issue for peoples economic and social inclusion
many were hacked off with BT – people who had management engagement with them about broadband issues simply felt fobbed off, politely.
very few had a grasp of the government BDUK broadband plans in their area
there was little awareness of the practical steps that can be taken if you are in a marginal coverage zone right now such as a cheap simple 3G antenna and modem router.
Here are the slides – I knocked them together to be illustrative and need to stress that the nature of radio waves inparticular means that you can’t be certain if say an outdoor antenna will get you 3G without experimenting on the site where you need it. I was asked afterwards for some mobile (car or van based) solutions Nick Appleby of 3G Router store has suggested this modem/router and this antenna which look like they should work well if you keep in the car a bag of PAYG sims from each network.
The collapse of the BDUK deal in Devon and Somerset a few days ago shows how difficult it will be to get superfast broadband to the last 10% of homes in rural areas in a way that the government can afford.
William Perrin
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