Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group

Interested in lobbying BT for Broadband access? Contact us!

Dispossessed

Currently Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group focuses only within the 01908 telephone code area.

If you're outside of the 01908 area we may not be able to help - but your email will be added to this page.

Resources

Two extremely useful websites:

ADSLGuide
The Broadband Resource (SamKnows)

Interlopers Write

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I live in a small village approximately 10 miles from Edinburgh.
After a failed attempt at receiving Broadband, ( three months, lots of BT visits, Bills, etc), a BT engineer finally ran a line length test and found I was 8.5K from the Exchange. There are numerous residents in the village interested in B/Band.
Are you in a position to answer any of the questions below.
How were the tests in Milton Keynes initiated ?
How are the tests going ?
Do you have a point of contact in BT that we could approach ?

We managed to have the lines to the village upgraded due to the poor service we were receiving, but they went onto the back foot whenever Broadband was mentioned.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Len Chapman 2/8/04
 
My name's Rob Johnson and I live in a small village called Bishop's Tachbrook located just outside Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. I'm contacting you on behalf of a group of local residents who, like yourself, are attempting to obtain broadband access for our community - we were hoping that you would be able to provide us with some help on this.

Currently we are too far from our local exchange (6.7km for me) and NTL has not yet cabled us up. There are about 40 people in our group and at least a couple of hundred houses in the village. At the moment we are investigating the use of satellite with wireless lans to enable broadband but obviously this is not ideal (latency) however I spotted a news article on BT's Long Reach trial and after a bit of googling I found your bb4mk site. Looking through the bb4mk site was very encouraging as there appears to be quite a large number of positive mails from people who now have broadband connections despite being well outside the standard ADSL range.

So, firstly, congratulations on achieving success in Milton Keynes.
Secondly, in terms of future direction here in Bishop's Tachbrook I was looking to pursue the four items below and was hoping you would be able to offer advise on some or all of them based on your experiences so far.

1. More members. I noticed from your web-site that the MK group has been leafleting other residents - this seems like a good idea, was it successful? We use the local parish magazine but obviously not everybody in the village sees this.... Have you been using any other forms of communication to recruit members?

2. Contact BT directly. Obviously you are in close contact with the part of BT which is running the Long Reach trial which I am sure is very beneficial - do you have any useful contacts within BT that we can employ, and would you be able to recommend any people or departments at BT who would listen to our requests? My main worry about going through the official channels suggested by www.bt.com/broadband is that any letters/emails/phonecalls will be instantly dropped into the "corporate void" as soon as it is established that we are outside the standard ADSL range.

3. Contact NTL directly - same as (2) really.

4. Investigate other methods of obtaining broadband. As I've already mentioned, one of our members is looking at offerings from companies involving a satellite/wireless solution, however, have any members of the MK group experienced success with other methods of obtaining broadband (aside from the BT and NTL trials of course).

Obviously, I appreciate you must be busy with your role as the MK group coordinator but any help you can offer us would be very welcome.

Your sincerely
Rob Johnson 2/8/04
 
I have been made aware of your excellent work in getting broadband to people in Milton Keynes who would otherwise not have had it. I live on the outskirts of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire and am too far away from the exchange to get broadband, so wondered if you were aware of a similar action group in my area or maybe point me in the right direction to try and sort something out for this area.

Your advise would be greatly appreciated and keep up the good work as my colleague speak very highly of the work you have done.

Many thanks

Gordon Willis 30/7/04
 

I am in Glasgow on an enabled exchange, but cannot get broadband. I am just on the limit of distance for current technology.

I read about the trial in MK and wondered if you could tell me if it is working 100% for members? [Not 100%. There are a couple of roads that are too far. We'll know more ...soon!]

I do hope so, because if it is a success then BT will surely extend the technology to other areas of the country.

Brian 13/7/04
 
Will other areas have such helpful BT Engineers?

I'm reading and watching this trial with great interest, as after moving house I can't now get Broadband at what is essentially our dream home (for the time being). Stuck at 70.5db in Derry Hill, sandwiched between Calne and Chippenham in Wiltshire, which is really annoying as I know of a house almost straight opposite me has Broadband installed quite successfully and working!!!!

Still, it's good to hear things are going well, but I am amazed at the level of trouble these BT Engineers, (I keep hearing a certain Nick Hubbard's name mentioned on many occasions), bending over backwards to change face plates, move master sockets, etc, etc. Will this level be extended to other areas once the trial ends and declared a success? I can only hope!

Pete 28/7/04
 
I was wondering if you could update me on the Long reach test? Is it working do you have a contact in BT that will answer questions such as “will it be rolled out across the UK”

Thanks

James 28/7/04
 
Hi, I am much like you from Milton Keynes but I live in the Leeds area. I'm About 6.1km from the exchange maybe less but still can't get it.

Anyway I was wondering how the trial was going and when will we get any firm results?
Please help as I've been on that Midband for 2 years now and can't bear another 2 years! ITS A DISGRACE!

thanks for any info!

Sam 26/7/04
 
I read with interest details of the BT trail to attempt to extend the reach of broadband on the MK Broadband Action Group site, as well as on various other news sites.

I am interested in BB problems in rural areas, in particular Cornwall, but do not seem to be able to find any indication as to how well the trial is progressing. I know it is expected to run until September, but is it possible to let me know if the trial looks at all promising and whether trialists are receiving BB at ranges over 6km? BT seem to be optimistic on the limited info they give on their site and to the press.

Thanks for any time reading this etc.. & good luck with it all!

Regards,

Julian Cowans 27/7/04
 
Just a quickie. I've been given your website address by Broadband4Devon when I enquired whether they knew how your trial was going. I live in the village of Harberton in Devon, 3 miles from Totnes, without our own exchange - where one person in the village has managed to get broadband, so I'm very interested in your trial. It seems to be going well.
Presumably now you have broadband, they're not going to take it away again?
Let's hope folks like us out in the sticks a bit can get it too as a result of your trials and tribulations.

Cheers

John Culf 23/7/04
 
I live in a rural part of the Suffolk/Cambs border and the exchange has been upgraded but I am further than 6Km from the exchange.

Does the technology that BT are using for this trial involve new exchange equipment? That is are they putting in new DSLAMs or are they just tweaking some software either at the exchange or at the customer premises end?

The reason I ask, is that if they have to put in new exchange equipment, then it is unlikely that I will ever get Broadband!! If it is a simple upgrade then I can live in hope!

Thanks in anticipation.
Best regards
Faisal 23/7/04

[BT aren't tweaking anything other than their rule book. ADSL has a distance limit beyond 6km. The purpose of the trial is see what the limit is in reality.]
 
I do not live in MK but have been following your progress as i have the same problem. Having read that some areas can get broadband even when the checker says they can't due to the quality of the cable, I was wondering how this was found out. Did you get BT to test 1 of the lines if so how as all I get is "you have to use the checker" or is there another way to find out the loss on a line?

I would appreciate any help you could give me with this.

Andrew 20/7/04
 
I live in West Sussex over 6.5 miles from exchange and so can't get broadband via 'plus net'. Do you have any contacts at BT who I could contact to chase up ways to solve this issue.

Any help would be appreciated

Rodney, West Wittering 14/7/04
 
I'm the campaigner for several rural exchanges in Essex and we have problems with the 6km limit. Do you know when BT will announce the success or otherwise of the test in MK? I've posted questions on the campaigners board but haven't had a response from BT hence my question to you.
thanks

My campaign site : www.tidesign.co.uk

Andrew 29/6/04
 
I live in an area of Blackburn that has exactly the same problem as you.

I was just wondering if you could offer me any advice on where to start lobbying BT.

Many thanks in advance

James 29/6/04
 
I am not in the 01908 area (in fact I am south of Warrington), but am watching with eagerness as I am on ISDN and work from home. I have not been able to get me line readings, but I have two neighbours, one who has got BB and the other who just failed with a reading of 67.9db.

Wold it be possible to publish a league table with:
# successes
# failures
in a grid with the line loss and snr for each?

I have asked on the plusNet NG and have had a couple of responses. It is just me being impatient.

Also are BT using bog standard kit in the exchange? The implication is, if there is no difference, then when the trial finishes we should know who can and can't get broadband. If there is new kit required, then maybe there will be another round of trigger levels.

Is there any more really detailed / techy information about the trial? [I hear that some "tweaked " master socket face plate filters are being tried out.]

TIA

Jason 23/6/04
 
I've been watching the email responses from the BT extended reach trial.
All good news.

Generally, I've taken an interest in your groups work with BT in getting a response to the "Milton Keynes problem" of line distance.

My company, based in London and Glasgow use ADSL for 6 home users and cannot extend this to another few because of the line distance.

I wonder if you have any information regarding line lengths of your successful connections. i.e. how far beyond the 6k are people getting service?

Good luck

Steven 8/6/04

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