IT seems one of life?s certainties is that while the rest of the country plods on with progress they remain oblivious to the needs of the rural communities.
One example is the need for high quality communications in the South West. While British Telecom rolls out ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) through the rest of the UK, we are again being left behind.
If you use the internet for e-mail, shopping, world affairs, or even reading the Tavistock Today site, you will probably be using a 56 bits per minute modem, which will probably only ever run at 33bpm.
ADSL not only gives you a speed on average ten times faster than your modem but allows you to also use the telephone line at the same time.
Now for the science bit; ADSL broadcasts a higher frequency down the telephone line, which can also be used for normal calls as your telephone uses a lower frequency. Therefore, you receive ADSL internet, and telephone facilities on one line.
And for business, ADSL is one flat fee per month for 24 hours per day seven days a week on-line compared to ISDN which is charged per minute.
The problem we have in Tavistock, is that our local exchange has not been converted and does not look like being converted for some considerable time. BT has put in place a system to measure the requirements before considering upgrading our exchange.
The Tavistock area has to show an interest on the BT website of 350 interested users. We currently have 202, 57% of target.
If you?re interested in helping keep the South West in the new millennium visit http://www.bt.com/broadband">www.bt.com/broadband and express your interest. It only takes a minute, or six seconds using ADSL.
Gavin Brett
26 Glanville Road
Tavistock