Nevermind the Government's broadband revolution, the village of Horsted Keynes has been staging a revolt of its own.
The Government has set itself the target of making the UK the most competitive and extensive broadband market in the G8 by 2005 but 80 per cent of the country is not covered.
Horsted Keynes is using its web site to run a campaign to force BT to include its telephone exchange in the list of those to be offered broadband internet access. According to the site, an unofficial poll showed more than 100 residents had tried to register their interest in broadband.
The site has had more than 4,000 visitors since it was featured on The Register, an IT news web site.
Site editor Robert Philpot said: "Our servers just went mad. At our busiest, we were recording more than one hit per second. "
Mr Philpot said villagers needed broadband to replace existing links, adding: "I have an ISDN link but it's a rubbish service and broadband doesn't cost much more and it would help home and business users immensely.
"We are a village but we're only 35 miles from London, 15 miles from Brighton and just nine miles from Gatwick, where a number of people in this area work. These are people who could really use broadband."
Registering an interest on BT's site had been difficult because of missing and broken links.
In the current issue of New Media Age magazine Stephen Timms, the new e-minister, said broadband was "starting to go like the clappers after a slow start".
He said: "It's something we've wanted to see for a long time because of its importance for the infrastructure and competitiveness of the UK."
Mr Philpot said he was worried the village's residents would miss out on the broadband revolution.
He said: "There are lots of cheap broadband offers at the moment but we can't take advantage of them, which seems unfair. It's not our fault we can't get broadband."
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has launched a national campaign to "broadband rural Britain".
It said access must improve rapidly to stop South-East rural businesses losing out to their urban counterparts. It is urging businesses and residents to register their interest in receiving ADSL broadband.
The association believes the demand already exists but the mechanism for recording it is at fault.
John Biron, regional director for the South-East, said: "Although BT is going through an extensive multi-million pound promotional campaign, many of our members cannot gain access because of their location.
"This is yet another hindrance to rural development. Enterprises across the South-East already have to overcome barriers such as poor public transport, restrictive planning systems and infrequent delivery services.
"Access is important because it offers connection speeds up to 50 times faster than a dial-up connection. Speed of communication and the ability to do business online is of great importance to businesses situated in rural locations."
The CLA is asking people to sign a petition in support of its calls for the Government to provide incentives to suppliers to provide affordable broadband in rural communities and for BT to be more open and transparent about the availability in rural areas.
People can sign the petition via the CLA's web site or at its regional office in Broad Oak, East Sussex.
BT spokesman Jason Mann said people could register interest with their ISPs, adding: "If there is sufficient demand, and it is commercially viable, people will receive it.
"Enabling an exchange costs between £250,000 and £500,000 and we need to cover the costs."
www.horstedkeynes.com/broadband.html.
www.bt.com
www.newmediazero.com.
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