Welsh town endures broadband droughts
27th August 2008
Residents of a Welsh village are campaigning for the local telephone exchange to be upgraded after being hit by a broadband outage for the third time in recent months.
Business broadband customers in Penrhyndeudraeth have suffered from the lack of an internet connection since Monday, August 25th, reports the BBC.
While assuring residents that their engineers were investigating the problem, BT referred customers to their broadband providers.
The residents have made the point that the same telephone exchange is used by many of the different providers.
County councillor Dewi Lewis told the BBC: "There is a great demand for broadband by now, but the exchange is clearly not fit for purpose.
"BT [is] slow to respond. In the short term, they need to repair the kit there, but in the long term they need to upgrade the exchange."
Penrhyndeudraeth became the UK’s first Networked Village in 1998, offering internet access to residents via radio technology.
Member of the Internet Services Providers' Association
Member of the Broadband Stakeholder Group