DISGRUNTLED telephone users in Northlew have held a meeting to investigate ways of bringing broadband internet access to the village. More than 50 people attended the meeting held in the village hall on Monday, January 6, many of them small business people sharing their frustrations at not being able to get faster internet access. Bob Page, managing director of Tarpaflex, was among those who attended the meeting, which he said brought home the scale of the problem facing other businesses in the village He said: ?We import tarpaulin from the Far East and supply people up and down the country so the internet is obviously very important to our business.? Mr Page said 95 percent of those at the meeting shared horror stories of being told by a service provider they could get broadband only for the system not to work when it was installed. Another meeting is now being arranged to discuss the possibility of business and home users in the village banding together to get a satellite based broadband system. A representative from the organisation Broadband4Devon did attend the meeting, but BT were unable to send anyone. Broadband4Devon helps companies connect to broadband by providing at no cost, their specialist knowledge of the latest technologies. Northlew has had problems with its telephone service for many years, because of the long distance from the nearest telephone exchange at Beaworthy. A BT spokesperson said broadband was now available in 99.8 percent of Devon, but the company was happy to continue talking to customers in those parts of the county where broadband was not currently available.
