I AM writing this letter on a computer fully equipped with the necessary hard and software to take advantage of a high speed internet connection, and yet I am preparing to print it out, stuff it into an envelope and post it to you. Why not email the letter? Because snail mail is faster!

I have used email and the internet for several years for both business and personal use, and used to get speeds of 2.5 t 4 Mbps. This is not high, but enough for normal purposes not involving masses of HD video.

Recently, the speed of the connection has dropped, down to around 1Mbps a few months ago, then to 0.1Mbps in March, and now to zero. I have also lost the telephone connection, and the handset emits a howl when lifted.

I have reported this to my service provider (Orange), whose customer service agent could only suggest that I turn the system off and on again. A further call has provided me with a fault number, and an estimate of two to three days to attend to it (up on Tuesday the 24th). Of course, I am still paying for the 'service'.

To report the fault I used my mobile phone which can just pick up a signal close to one upstairs window on good days.

I now find that my ability to communicate is comparable with that of a resident of these parts in the early Victorian age, but now I only have one postal delivery a day.

I was therefore interested in an article in the Mail on Sunday about a group of similarly disgruntled residents of Lancashire's Forest of Bowland area who have raised the money and organised a 40-mile connection to a 1Gbps fibre optic service (ten times faster than the fastes BT line and 1,000 times better than I have had recently). They did this on the basis that BT will never get around to small rural communities like them and us, no matter what petitions are signed.

Is it time for a little community action?

John Branch

Lane End

Crapstone