THERE are ?crossed wires rather than good connections in Tavistock, as residents continue to wait to access superfast broadband, more than three years after the plans were first announced.

Frustration is mounting between residents and business owners as answers about the town‘s fibre connection remain unclear.

Back in September 2012, Tavistock was named one of 163 locations planned to be fibre enabled before the end of 2013, as part of a £2.5bn scheme run by BT.

During the early stages of the scheme, residents and business owners were told that they could expect to access a minimum of 2mbps by the end of 2014.

Despite many of the superfast broadband cabinets having been delivered and installed, some remain unconnected.

Local company, Broadly Speaking, works to provide business development to brands across the globe, meaning high speed broadband is a vital tool.

David is becoming increasingly frustrated at the amount of time it is taking for the superfast broadband to arrive.

He said: ‘Almost all of our customers aren’t locals, we deal with global brands and we travel a lot with clients based in LA, Oslo and Italy. We say to them come and see us in Tavistock where there are more sheep than people!

‘Our challenge is to convince people that we can service the work from here so we need to communicate with customers on a daily basis. The other day we were trying to do a demo of a product and talk to the client but we didn’t have enough bandwidth to make it work. They are there on the other side thinking what’s going on. If that had happened in a sales pitch we might have lost the client.

‘We were promised superfast broadband almost two Christmases ago, then they said it would be last Christmas, then it was March.’

He added: ‘I’m old enough to remember when the internet first arrived. In one decade nearly one trillion devices will be on the internet and that will affect every facet of business and what that means is bandwith.’

David spoke about technology entrepreneur David Rose and his belief that there were four stages to technological development; the first being ‘glass slabs’ like iPhones and iPads, which would continue to grow but were already very popular.

The second was wearable technology, the third was robotics and the fourth was enchanted objects, household items that would soon be connected by wireless internet, such as light bulbs or heating.

He added: ‘A company we are working with are doing it now and it makes us look silly that we don’t have the bandwidth to run the technology. In the digital revolution six months is a lifetime. When those products are released, like wireless light bulbs, no-one in Tavistock will buy them because we don’t have the bandwidth to run it.’

David described another product that one of his clients had developed – a wireless heart-rate monitor which could be attached to a baby’s chest, the data could then be wirelessly transferred to a doctor’s device in a different location.

He added: ‘You can get superfast broadband in Calstock! We are working in a digital economy and bandwidth is the currency.

‘Our customers love it here, it’s a fantastic town and a fantastic community. Our clients often come down on a Friday and stay the weekend. We employ Tavistock people and put millions into the local economy because our clients visit us and stay in hotels in the town. But if the superfast doesn’t happen soon we will have to move.

‘I go to rural places all over the country and they have superfast. This does strangulate businesses in the town and is very frustrating.’

Tavistock town and West Devon Councillor John Sheldon has been heavily involved in the broadband exchange since the beginning.

He said: ‘I know and live the broadband issues from our BT telephone exchange. But between BT Investment and funding via Connecting Devon and Somerset, there are now only four telephone cabinets left to upgrade with fibre. Unfortunately, cabinet number one located in Church Lane that serves the majority of businesses in the town has been subject to delay.

‘During this delay I have tried various avenues to get matters moving on behalf of businesses who are seriously disadvantaged by not having access to superfast broadband.

‘BT cabinet number one has had planning approval for its fibre cabinet since February 2013 and I am pleased to state that work installing a fibre cabinet is due to start this month. I will push for this cabinet to be made live and offer superfast as soon as possible.’