PEOPLE without fast broadband while those across the road can access high-speed internet have been given little cheer by officials.
Digital Durham, led by Durham County Council and BT, aims to bring superfast broadband to homes and businesses.
Across Teesdale about 10,000 premises have been upgraded by Openreach, the business responsible for Britain’s largest phone and broadband network. However, blackspots remain.
People in lower Startforth have been protesting since last autumn after discovering householders in nearby High Startforth would get fast internet but their cabinet was not due to be upgraded.
MP Helen Goodman has been in discussions with Openreach on behalf of residents who were told they would get an update this month. In a letter, the infrastructure company has said it has not been able to find a solution.
A spokeswoman said Openreach cannot upgrade the cabinet in lower Startforth “due to problems finding a suitable position for the fibre cabinet” .
“All fibre broadband upgrades are subject to survey and despite numerous attempts to find a suitable location that is commercially viable, it has not been possible due to the extensive relocation of the existing infrastructure that is required,” she added.
Openreach also rejected a proposal to link all residents in Startforth to the upgraded cabinet so all houses could benefit.
The company said: “Unfortunately it’s not possible to transfer residents from one cabinet to another as suggested. This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds and would involve considerable infrastructure work, significant cost and would also cause capacity problems. It’s also not our policy to re-arrange the network in this way to increase broadband speeds.”
One resident said the cabinet in question is near public land. He said: “I have often seen BT Openreach engineers working there with no problem. If it were that dangerous, that side of the road has been blocked off for weeks by Northumbrian Water [which is carrying out work there] with traffic lights, so presumably the same could be done to install a cabinet.”
Residents are asked to keep an eye on a website which will be updated “if a solution is found” .
Visit www.openreach.co.uk.
