Coverage
January 6, 2008
Apparently a reliable broadband connection is still scarce in some parts of Scotland. I’ve already seen letters to the editor of The West Highland Free Press complaining about the lack of a suitable connection here on Skye. Without a doubt, the internet is a very important medium, especially for rural communities like Skye. Having a broadband connection allows you to do things more easily: buy things you can generally only buy at large shopping outlets or communicate with friends and relatives, to name just a few.
The Scottish Government appears to take things serious, as they’ve now opened a website where you can register your interest in a broadband connection if you’re unable to get one (you should do so before the 18th of January!). Generally there’s a myriad of reasons why someone cannot get a connection. To name a few: the house is too far from the exchange, the are physically no more ports available on the equipment to connect another subscriber to the internet or the local exchange is not equipped for broadband connections.
Internet is major backbone of our modern society and not having a suitable, modern connection is like not having a telephone or a television. So, when the government sets out a strategy to keep rural communities alive and offer them as a viable alternative for people to live in, the availability of broadband internet connections is an essential component.
We were lucky to have one, albeit a very slow one (512 Kb, more than 10 times slower to one we had in Holland, read here for the reasons of the slow connection). When the connection was made in December 2006, the BT engineer told us we were lucky. Had the house been situated just 100 meters more southward, we would not have had a broadband connection! I must admit, I was so used to the availability of broadband in Holland, I had not given its availability here one single thought when we bought the plot and set out our plans to build the house. To be honest, I think live here would be rather different if we not had an internet connection…
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