Rural Broadband in extra time and photo of the day...

The University at Lampeter, in for yet another merger...

Recently there have been a number of reports, graphics in the press and so forth relating to the dire coverage of "fast broadband" (or rather lack of) across the UK, and in particular most of Wales and the Scottish Highlands.

So just to give you townies reading a little hint of what this can mean for us hicks in the sticks, here's a little story...

Yesterday it was nice and sunny, and I decided it was the right time to wander off and take some stock photographs of a few important Welsh sites, now rather ignored or forgotten (no, not self portraits ;-). It was to be a round trip of around 60 miles (absolutely totally impossible by public transport, but that's yet another gripe for another day).

The trip, getting from place to place, getting slightly lost, in and out of the car, walking around, taking shots, checking facts, getting home, loading the photos, sorting the wheat from the chaff, minor retouching, exporting to the QC requirements of the picture agency, took seven hours, including a gobbled lunch.

Now I live in a large village only 4 miles from Aberystwyth, the biggest town around here, which has a university, National Library, government offices etc etc etc. Hardly the back of beyond. Uploading the files via our BT Broadband ("up to" 8MB, but more like 0.6MB in reality) took, (drum roll) - another six hours. Had I been on JANET, or at my daughter's home in Cardiff, or even in a tiny village five miles from here, or perhaps even in Aberystwyth town itself, this horribly boring task might have taken half an hour, but it took almost another "working day" to achieve. So my "day" was thirteen hours, rather than the more reasonable eight it could/should have been. And you dare not leave the upload too long, in case of a dreaded "upload encountered a problem"! When I've covered sites nearer home, the uploads actually take longer than the shoots themselves.

There is very fast broadband infrastructure nearby - almost within a stone's throw (JANET and the government network), so it's a shame that the infrastructure has grown in such an uncoordinated, non-strategic fashion. Whilst those that have the resources (taxpayers money) such as academia and government, have ensured that they get a super fast service, the small businesses that really need fast broadband so as to establish a diverse sustainable rural economy are left to the whim of BT and others. And as the main employers in the area are academia and government - already served by their own infrastructures - there isn't much scope for BT and others to make big bucks just from the likes of me.

If I was young and starting out on my own, rather than the settled old semi-retiree that I suppose I am, I'd have to factor the rural "broadband lag" into my business equation, and quite honestly, I'd have to set up somewhere else.