I AM constantly irritated by the excuse that 'it is too expensive to connect villages to fibre optic cable'.

Buckland Monachorum has a fibre optic (FO) cable running right down the main street that goes to the school!

It was put in several years ago when there was a huge 'push' to connect up schools to fast Broadband (BB). The 'cost' of supplying the school with BB then rocketed (well publicised in Devon at the time) and it was subsequently turned off.

BT then arrived and put a brand new copper cable to the school and connected up eight, yes, eight, phone lines to give the school a replacement BB service. I pointed out to the installers that a new cable was madness when there was an FO cable (which I showed them) which could be used. None of them could say why it wasn't being used instead.

A gang turned up and installed new equipment on this copper cable and shortly after, another gang then turned up and removed the FO equipment – leaving the FO cable dangling and redundant!

So: Buckland Monachorum has a FO cable to the exchange which could easily be used for the village. However, BT, so I was told unofficially, refused to connect the village to it because 'all the other providers could use it too'.

I have tried to get the parish council on the case but I don't think they're having much luck. I have no idea who to contact in BT to nag about using the cable. But then nagging BT is like whipping an elephant with a feather!

Oh and to cap it all, the other nearby villages with a school all have an FO cable running to them! This is because our school was a hub for the others!

Absolute madness!

So how do we get BT to acknowledge the existence of the cable and get them to put in the cabinets to use it?

Stephen Fryer

Buckland Computers

and IT Administrator for St Andrew's C of E Primary School