Broadband speeds appear to have changed little since 1998
WE may be heading into 2018, but here in Fermanagh our broadband speeds appear to have changed little since 1998, with almost a quarter of all local homes and businesses currently without a basic service.
In fact, Herald readers have revealed their speeds are so slow many are actually turning off their wifi and instead using their expensive 4G mobile service in order to meet their typical household needs online.
A total of 10,800 homes and offices in the district currently have no access to broadband downloading speeds of 10Mbit/s, the speed considered a basic right by the government.
Accounting for a massive 23.4 percent of all premises in the area, that number is significantly higher than any other district in the North. The figures, released this week by Ofcom, show the second worst speeds can be found in the Mid Ulster region, where 7,900, or 14.9 percent, of properties have a poor connection. Unsurprisingly, the fastest speeds are found in Belfast, where only 800, or 0.5 percent, of homes and business have to endure speeds of less than 10Mbit/s.
The figures are simply confirmation of what families and businesses here in Fermanagh have known for years. When we asked Herald readers how you coped with such a poor connection, many of you told us you simply turned off your home broadband connection and used your 3G or 4G phone service instead. Those of you lucky enough to have phone coverage, that is.
“I can’t even get a dial tone on a BT line where I live, let alone broadband,” said Kellie Lou. “I live in between Derrygonnelly and Cashel and I don’t think the BT lines have been updated here since they were first put in. We have to used mobile signal from over the border!”
Many of you revealed just how slow your service is. Sean Moss in Killymitten said his house enjoy speeds of “1.8mb if we’re lucky,” while Gary K Curry in Tory said their speeds were between 1-2mb, which he said was “a joke.” Anthony Kerrigan said it took him half-an-hour to watch a three minute video, and had actually timed it.
The problem is even having an impact on our children’s education.
“Broadband here is terrible, three miles outside Irvinestown,” said Nuala Elder. “Kids find it difficult to download anything for homework and even watching a small video clip online, it buffers like dial up used to.”
Nor is it a new problem, as Matt Cooke on the Newtownbutler/Clones border pointed out.
“We currently use a three.ie mobile Internet box, it’s the only option for reliable broadband where we live. We moved here over 14 years ago and even then BT promised it was coming to our area ‘any month now.’”
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