So what's wrong and why should I care?

I think it's fair to say that if you're happy with your current internet connection and don't need/want more, then don't worry! Even I, the author of this site can get a super fast connection from Virgin Media. But some people can't get that either anmd are stuck with speeds of 50Mbps or less.

The site was born out of a curiousity as to why 90% of the village has access to these new exciting offerings from Brsk/YouFibre as well as many other ISPs who use Openreach's infrastructure. It seems very arbitary and somewhat clumsy to just miss out a chunk of the village. For those in the 'dead zone' on the map who don't have access to any superfast services, managing the demands of a busy household whilst maybe working from home can be a real challenge. It may even affect house prices going forward. When approached, none of the providers were able to give a reason or any indication as to when their services might be available. That's the crux of it really. If they could say "Sorry, there's a problem in your street, we'll aim to resolve it by the end of the year" perhaps that would be OK. Instead any enquiries are met with generic replies that ignore the actual question and just reiterate what is available on their online checkers.

Choice

Even those of us 'in the zone' that can get Virgin Media would like at least the option of another provier. Anyone who has found themselves at the end of a contract with VM and having to do the dance of calling and threatening to cancel just to get a sensible deal will know what I mean.

...But what's actually wrong?

Well, we don't know for sure. But the common factor that determines whether full fibre in available to you in Baildon seems to be whether your phone/internet services are cabled to your property underground or overhead via telegraph poles. Via a pole seems to guarantee you can get it, underground almost guarantees you can't. But there are some exceptions. By doing some research and posting some photos online for telecoms experts to look at, it seems likely that the streets missed have 'direct in ground' cable. Basically when the houses were built, BT just laid the cables directly in the ground and the pavements were built directly over them. The crucial thing that's missing is ducts to pull new cables through. So any upgrade to fibre will mean costly digging or retrofitting poles which people may not appreciate.

What can we do about it? Read on.