Last Scottish Island Exchange

Scotsman carried a story on the 28th of August that the last remote Scottish
Island is now on (512kb) broadband, the island being Foula in Shetland.

Does anyone know if Foula has it's own exchange or is it just on a microwave
link? If it's just a microwave link then BT are giving out totally false
information than just misleading information.

We on the island of Graemsay in Orkney have been promised various dates with
July gone as the absolute latest followed by 'to becompleted by the Autumn',
this information from BT's regional manager Richard Scoular who also says it
now may not be even this year due to the backhaul in Stromness which
currently has 8mb.

Good job that at a senior BT managers advice I kept my 24/7 NTL dialup
service. It's very annoying that due to BT's inadequate service it is
costing some islanders more for dialup than some folk pay for broadband.

g r a e m s a y @ n t l w o r l d . c o m

Mick

On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 09:06:46 GMT, "Mick" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Does anyone know if Foula has it's own exchange or is it just on a microwave
>link?

Apparently it has it's own exchange.

> If it's just a microwave link then BT are giving out totally false
>information than just misleading information.

According to the news item on ADSLGuide the press statement did
include that information..

"BT makes the comment that there are still 10,000 BT customers across
Scotland who have telephone lines too long to receive ADSL, which when
you consider Scotland is home to some 5 million people is not too
bad."

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ is a good source for keeping in touch
with this sort of thing.
--
Ian

The From address is valid - for the moment

Mick wrote:

> Scotsman carried a story on the 28th of August that the last remote Scottish
> Island is now on (512kb) broadband, the island being Foula in Shetland.
>
> Does anyone know if Foula has it's own exchange or is it just on a microwave
> link? If it's just a microwave link then BT are giving out totally false
> information than just misleading information.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/ex...hp?ecode=NSFOU

"Ian B" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 09:06:46 GMT, "Mick" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>Does anyone know if Foula has it's own exchange or is it just on a
>>microwave
>>link?
>
> Apparently it has it's own exchange.
>
>> If it's just a microwave link then BT are giving out totally false
>>information than just misleading information.
>
> According to the news item on ADSLGuide the press statement did
> include that information..
>
> "BT makes the comment that there are still 10,000 BT customers across
> Scotland who have telephone lines too long to receive ADSL, which when
> you consider Scotland is home to some 5 million people is not too
> bad."
>
> http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ is a good source for keeping in touch
> with this sort of thing.
> --
> Ian
>
> The From address is valid - for the moment

Graemsay microwave link is about 1 mile from Stromness exchange and BT are
supposed to have the equipment now in their possesion to upgrade the link
but are blaming the backhaul in Stromness for the delay. If I hadn't read
that some wireless network links over tidal water was having trouble then I
could have shared with a relative in Stromness but we are both down at shore
level.

Ian B <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>According to the news item on ADSLGuide the press statement did
>include that information..
>
>"BT makes the comment that there are still 10,000 BT customers across
>Scotland who have telephone lines too long to receive ADSL, which when
>you consider Scotland is home to some 5 million people is not too
>bad."


It makes you wonder whether OFCOM should impose a requirement on BT to
offer a universal and affordable broadband service to the whole of the
population of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a similar way that
the Royal Mail is obliged to offer a universal postal service at a
uniform rate.

Tony Polson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>It makes you wonder whether OFCOM should impose a requirement on BT to
>offer a universal and affordable broadband service to the whole of the
>population of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a similar way that
>the Royal Mail is obliged to offer a universal postal service at a
>uniform rate.

Will you be pushing for universal access to mains sewerage and gas then ?
Unfortunately some services are very costly to provide to "all and sundry".

It wasn't that long ago that some small valley in Wales finally had mains
power provided to a string of farms. If there are some 10,000 properties
without high speed access to the internet, then the options they have
include (a) using a combination of 56k for tx and satellite for rx and
(b) move home. Some may say that option (b) is a non-starter and
option (a) is too costly. There have been various grants to assist
small businesses out in rural areas, but there are surely limits over
what 'level playing field' can be expected on a national level, and if
higher speed internet is deemed 'essential' then moving might be a
necessity. It's the same for about 50% of the population if they're
to ever get 'cable' access, isn't it.

--
Change to DSL Max the way I did: switch ISP <http://www.dslmax.info/>

Mick wrote:
> Graemsay microwave link is about 1 mile from Stromness exchange and BT are
> supposed to have the equipment now in their possesion to upgrade the link
> but are blaming the backhaul in Stromness for the delay. If I hadn't read
> that some wireless network links over tidal water was having trouble then I
> could have shared with a relative in Stromness but we are both down at shore
> level.

We've had broadband, albeit at 512K only, since August 2005. The
microwave links between Stronsay, Sanday, Eday and mainland Orkney seem
unaffected by tidal waters.
--
Bruce Fletcher
btinternetDOTcomATricardian
Stronsay, Orkney
<www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont>
"Don't think of it as getting hot flushes, think of it as your inner
child playing with matches"

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Mick wrote:
>> Graemsay microwave link is about 1 mile from Stromness exchange and BT
>> are supposed to have the equipment now in their possesion to upgrade the
>> link but are blaming the backhaul in Stromness for the delay. If I hadn't
>> read that some wireless network links over tidal water was having trouble
>> then I could have shared with a relative in Stromness but we are both
>> down at shore level.
>
> We've had broadband, albeit at 512K only, since August 2005. The microwave
> links between Stronsay, Sanday, Eday and mainland Orkney seem unaffected
> by tidal waters.
> --
> Bruce Fletcher
> btinternetDOTcomATricardian
> Stronsay, Orkney
> <www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont>
> "Don't think of it as getting hot flushes, think of it as your inner child
> playing with matches"


It wasn't the microwave link being affected by the tides but wireless
networking at 2.4ghz I was talking about . One area using a wireless mesh
network with access over a tidal flow are having problems at extreme low
tides. Same as we get with the TV. I used to have to have two seperate
aerials for terrestial tv set at different heights. It was alright unless
wanting to record a program whilst out and having to consult both tv times
and a tide table. - Mick

Mick wrote:

> It wasn't the microwave link being affected by the tides but wireless
> networking at 2.4ghz I was talking about . One area using a wireless mesh
> network with access over a tidal flow are having problems at extreme low
> tides. Same as we get with the TV. I used to have to have two seperate
> aerials for terrestial tv set at different heights. It was alright unless
> wanting to record a program whilst out and having to consult both tv times
> and a tide table. - Mick


I gave up trying to get a decent terrestrial TV signal and signed up for
Sky. Having said that, I don't think we've watched more than a couple
of hours of TV since moving up here 2 years ago.
--
Bruce Fletcher
btinternetDOTcomATricardian
Stronsay, Orkney
<www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont>
"Don't think of it as getting hot flushes, think of it as your inner
child playing with matches"

"NoNeedToKnow" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Tony Polson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>It makes you wonder whether OFCOM should impose a requirement on BT to
>>offer a universal and affordable broadband service to the whole of the
>>population of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a similar way that
>>the Royal Mail is obliged to offer a universal postal service at a
>>uniform rate.
>
> Will you be pushing for universal access to mains sewerage and gas then ?
> Unfortunately some services are very costly to provide to "all and
> sundry".
>
> It wasn't that long ago that some small valley in Wales finally had mains
> power provided to a string of farms. If there are some 10,000 properties
> without high speed access to the internet, then the options they have
> include (a) using a combination of 56k for tx and satellite for rx and
> (b) move home. Some may say that option (b) is a non-starter and
> option (a) is too costly. There have been various grants to assist
> small businesses out in rural areas, but there are surely limits over
> what 'level playing field' can be expected on a national level, and if
> higher speed internet is deemed 'essential' then moving might be a
> necessity. It's the same for about 50% of the population if they're
> to ever get 'cable' access, isn't it.

My village in rural south Wales apparently had electricity supplied in the
mid-sixties.
Today, there's still no mains gas - and never will be - and only a few
houses near the centre of the village are on mains sewerage. The rest of us
make do with septic tanks.
It never ceases to amaze me that we actually got broadband.

George