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11 February 05
BT Up The Broadband To 2mb
Major upgrades to 1mb and 2mb for
broadband are about to come on stream. Depending on the package
you pay for you will be upgraded without extra cost. Other
ISP's will no doubt be following but it might be as well to
check all the deals as you contract comes to an end - often 12
months. If you are not bound by a contract then check out
who is offering what closely to save money. But as ever
check the quality of the service as cheapest may not always be
best.
July 2004
The Caithness.org Team Are Now All On Broadband
Broadband For
Scotland
Web site for advice on how to get Broadband in
Scotland
All Of Scotland To Get Broadband
Triggers abolished
No more sign-ups - just waiting for it all to happen
as the Scottish Government has decided to ensue everyone in
Scotland can have Broadband.
23 February 04
Gillock Graph
Gillock graph now added to list
8 February 04
Date Extended For Broadband E Petition
A quick look at the Broadband for rural
areas e-petition at the Scottish Parliament web site shows they
have extended the date to 28 February instead of the originally
31 January. Perhaps the flurry of activity since we
discovered the petition buried there has made them think again.
So if you have not yet seen it or signed it hop over and help
rural areas get heard on the Broadband issue at the parliament.
6 February 04
Barrock Closing In On Trigger Figure
73 sign ups as Barrock heads for magic
100
5 February 04
BT backs wireless BB for ADSL have-nots
2 February 04
Caithness Business Club Pulls Castletown Up To The Trigger For Broadband
Following Wick reaching its trigger figure the Caithness Business Club
who were to have campaigned in Wick on Saturday changed moved their effort
to Castletown and obtained over 120 sign-ups to take the town past the
trigger figure. Next weekend members will arrive in Halkirk to try
to achieve similar success.
27 January
04
Written Question At Scottish Parliament
On Monday
BROADBAND: Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask
the Scottish Executive what percentage of households currently has access
to a broadband internet connection. Mr Jim Wallace: Around 70% of Scottish
households can now access a broadband internet connection.
24 January
04
TIREE AND PORT CHARLOTTE
HIT BROADBAND TRIGGER LEVELS
People living on the Island of Tiree and in Port Charlotte on Islay are
celebrating reaching their BT set trigger levels for Broadband.
Locals in both communities have
carried out a rigorous campaign to ensure the magic number of 100
registrations was reached. In less than three weeks, both exchanges went
from having amongst the lowest level of registrations across Argyll to
leading the field.
16 January 04
E-petition At Scottish Parliament For Broadband
Alan Kennedy has raised an e-petition on the
Scottish Parliament web site. If you agree that the whole of
Scotland should get Broadband then get on over and sign it.
It reads as follows -
It is generally acknowledged that the introduction of Broadband technology
is both desirable and essential to the development of business and the
empowerment of individuals wherever they may live in Scotland. Yet the
present situation is neither satisfactory, fair nor defensible in terms of
both business and community development.
Despite recent announcements by British Telecom the fact remains that many
communities, particularly in the rural areas, will still find it
impossible to meet the targets levels, arbitrarily and often insensitively
set by BT, or are too small to be ever given a target figure for Broadband
installation. Alternative options, such as satellite broadband and
wireless based networks, whilst technically feasible, tend to be expensive
to operate and erratic in performance standards over varying geographical
areas.
The present support of Scottish Enterprise in encouraging communities to
take up Broadband is praiseworthy but in itself is not sufficient to
overcome the problem. . Unless The Scottish Parliament grasps this issue
and resolves it now we will simply further the division of the ‘haves’ and
‘have nots’ and perhaps fatally weaken the prospects of rural communities
surviving and competing in society and business in the years ahead.
This petitioner seeks to request that the Scottish Parliament takes action
to enable it to declare that it will, by whatever means are necessary,
ensure the provision of Broadband facilities to all communities throughout
Scotland by mid 2005.
5 January 04
Numbers Still Going Up
Will more areas in Caithness reach the trigger
figures for Broadband in 2004. By 23 December Wick stood at 368
showing that there are still folk deciding to register their interest.
Perhaps new computer owners will also add their names shortly to the
growing list.
15 December 03
UK Broadband Users Reach 3 million
The Ofcom web site now shows that the UK has passed the 3 million
users mark for Broadband. New subscribers are being hooked up at the
rate of 40,000 a week in areas that have access. At 10
December Wick had reached 357 people signed up as interested in Broadband
still some way short of the trigger of 500 but moving in the right
direction. Maybe a few more will arrive if more folk get on the
Internet after Christmas.
6 December 03
Form On
Caithness.org Gains 123 Sign Ups For Broadband - Keep Them Coming
Colin's form has certainly given the numbers a great boost. If
everyone who has signed up could get just one more person to sign up we
would sweep past the 500 trigger to enable the Wick exchange. But other
small rural areas should keep asking folk as you might just reach the 100
target set. Come On Wickers lets hit the target before the end of the
year.......................
29 November 03
From Colin Manson
Thought I'd offer to help out, if you don't know where to look or how to
signup, I have created a simple form here on Caithness.org.
http://www.caithness.org/messageboard/broadband.htm
All you need to enter is :-
Title
First Name
Last Name
Email
Post Code
Phone Number
Then I'll register them for you. As mentioned above by pre-registering,
you are not committed to purchase but just to make your vote count.
Cheers
Colin Manson
23 November 03
Caithness Trigger Figures
Barrock - 100
Castletown - 150
Halkirk - 200
Lybster - 100
Watten - 100
Wick - 500
Thurso already has the numbers and dates.
Other exchanges may not have a trigger set as yet.
21 November 03
Wick Has A Trigger figure For Broadband - 500
Yes a figure has finally been set for Wick at 500 and many other
smaller places around the country also have figures set by BT. You
can check back here to see how things are going. But what we really
need is for everyone who wants Broadband to happen to get signed up and
get everyone they know to make sure they sign up. Broadband is
essential if the area is to keep up with communications in the 21st
century. It is faster than you think and a must have for many new
businesses locating to new areas.
check back here or the
Message
Board Broadband section
As at 21 November Wick has 309 sign
ups
What Can You Do To Help
Sign Up Yourself
Help anyone Who is unsure of how to sign up.
Ask folk if they have signed up
Send a memo round your work place.
20 October 03
Broadband
Line Tester - Message Board
Some good links here if you want to find oout if your area
might be able to get ADSL connections.
6 October 03
Broadband Heads For The Islands
Stornoway, Kirkwall and Lerwick are all to get ADSL
connections with backing from highlands and Islands Enterprise next
year....
16 September 03
Broadband Boost For Scottish Business
£1.5 million Business Broadband Incentive Fund To
Encourage Up To 5000 Companies
Scottish businesses are being encouraged to get
connected to broadband with a new incentive scheme. Minister for
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Jim Wallace announced the new £1.5
million Business Broadband Incentive fund to encourage up to 5000 new
companies to take advantage of the business benefits broadband offers.
Mr Wallace also announced that new independent research to be published
later this week will back the Executive’s strategy of increasing broadband
take–up through measures to stimulate demand. Companies can check if
they are eligible by clicking on to the Scottish enterprise web
site...............
16 September 03
HIE Launches Wireless Broadband Company
Today sees the launch of HI-WIDE Ltd, a
not-for-profit company that will bring broadband to the most rural and
remote parts of the Highlands and Islands. The company has been
created by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in response to an
increasing need for broadband in areas where ADSL broadband cannot be
supplied. Areas in Caithness on the list are -
Reay, Barrock, John o Groats, Berriedale, Dunbeath,
Latheronwheel, Lybster, Thrumster, Watten
16 September 03
Broadband Coming To Thurso
Exchange Upgrade Around 7 January 2004
Yes its another step closer for Thurso as the announcements have been
made regarding the exchange upgrade work. Remember you do not have
to sign up with the first company that contacts you regarding Broadband.
Take your time and consider all the packages on offer or that may come
along before January. Get all the information together and chat to
others thinking about it before you sign on the dotted
line............................
15 September 03
Fast web access for over 2.3m
Broadband access in the UK is growing by 30,000 subscribers a week,
according to new figures. At the end of July, over 2.3m people in the UK
had signed up for broadband. Over 75 per cent of the population now
have the option of connecting to the services. Communications
Minister Stephen Timms said the UK is aiming to be the most extensive and
competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005. "Our role in
helping to achieving that is to create an economic environment that
stimulates a dynamic broadband market delivering strong competition and
high quality choice," he said. Mt Timms said that access to
broadband needs to be improved for people living in more rural locations.
"That's why we established the Rural Broadband Unit to focus on increasing
access in those areas."
The Rural Broadband Unit promotes best practice at national, regional and
local level to increase access to broadband in rural locations. The Unit
is a joint team from Department of Trade and Industry and Department of
Food and Rural Affairs.
The Government is investing £1 billion on public sector broadband
connectivity over the next three years. This will include pooling
broadband services for schools and connecting up GP surgeries, hospitals
and health authorities.
Earlier
Broadband News
Links
The Broadband Resource
- Sam Knows
Broadband Map UK
Maps showing coverage of ADSL and cable across the UK
Broadbandmag.co.uk
News broadband web site
Better Broadband
for Britain
Information about improving rural access to broadband
Bandwidth
Place Test your bandwidth speed here - FREE
Ofcom Broadband Brief
Broadband Where You Live
Broadband Trigger Levels
ADSL Guide
Broadband On Message Board
Broadband On Message Board 2
HIE Broadband
BT
Broadband
Broadband Scotland.net
The Register
Scottish Enterprise Broadband Pages
Scotnet
Dantech
Broadband
FAQ From Technology Scotland
BBC Technology Index
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