jnorris235

But I was told that tho the Council had promised 95% coverage, BT had only estimated, and allowed for, 20%. Hence when I got my fibre in after 5 months of constant problems - and I was the only house off this manifold (post) - the house next door couldn't get it at all because they'd oversupplied!! What a nonsense.

I requested a meeting with the Cabinet member and the head of the Fastershire project which we had this week. I will be writing a full post shortly. Basically the project will be finished (phew) within a year of the promised date (due to surveys and planning how to reach such a scattered population) and is being delivered at least as well as promised. Hope to have a full report by the weekend on my blog. These last few weeks our broadband has come to a complete halt most evenings, but maybe I can get over a megabyte, two or even twenty four by Christmas!

Economic Development Officer Economic Development Herefordshire Council PO Box 4 Hereford HR4 0XH For every £10 spent with independent businesses in Herefordshire £8 stays in the county, for every £10 spent with the national chains only £2 stays in Herefordshire. Source: new economics foundation / LM3 This is their signature! After they built the ESG!

Email to Graham Powell: Nearly two months ago I asked BT where they were working, putting in the Fastershire broadband. I got this reply: "Each Future Exchange shows the year it will be delivered. This doesn’t mean that you will necessarily have to wait until the end of that year to benefit from faster broadband. At this stage the exchange area will go through a period of detailed survey work which enables us to plan the network for your area. Once this work has been completed your exchange area will be marked as coming soon and will provide you will a more detailed timescale for delivery of faster broadband for your area.†I also commented that my local exchange wasn’t on the map, but a new one had appeared with its name in a completely different location. No response. You’ll forgive my eagerness but if this work is indeed to be completed by 2014, somebody - BT, you, god forbid even the public should know the planned strategy by now? I wrote to you asking, as the Cabinet member in charge, if you knew where they were working. After all, it is due to be all delivered this year - surely someone knows where the crews are working, and where they will be next. You didn’t know either but offered to put me in touch with Natalya Silver (I hope I have her name right). I replied on January 29 that i would be obliged to you if you would do that. I am still waiting for this contact nearly two months later. My broadband speed tonight is 0.18Mb/sec which is a joke, but fairly normal. Unbelievably the upload speed is higher at 0.28Mb/sec! Questions I wonder how long each stage takes - detailed survey first - then whatever further stages of planning and delivery there are. They have in theory been planning upgrades for many many years, so they have told me, so I cannot believe that some more answers are not available! I also wonder that when the exchanges are updated how long it will be before customers get the actual broadband speed promised. Lastly, again - where are they working, on which exchanges - what is the rollout plan, please?

Incidentally, I was told "down the pub" that a 44 tonner would be arriving today having been GIVEN the entire contents of the BlackFriars building for free. Obviously good money could be made from the contents, and the guy doing it, though happy, was incensed that we were giving stuff away. Maybe no one else made an offer - though some of it will go to a good home (believe it or not, another school that WASN'T given a grant to start up!) - maybe no one else was even asked. Maybe it's who you know!

The Council have about 30 odd current domains. For each one they buy the .com, the .co,uk and the .org to avoid any spoofing. They also only use many of them for a few years but they keep the domain ownership for 5 yrs plus so that none else can take over the name and spoof the web site - or even, god forbid, use it to deride the council! I have the list somewhere with associated costs etc. This is one department where I get all the answers I want and indeed am now on the Digital Strategy Task & Finish Group group (part of a Scrutiny Committee) which is far wider ranging. I believe the City Council has a new web site coming at some enormous cost - again contract given to an outside firm? And before you ask, yes I know what each of those capitalised words mean individually .... but ..... Apparently - HereYouCant? PS I have owned herefordshire.com for twenty years - any ideas what to do with it? I pulled it apart last November and just used it as a campaign page.

Did wonder why the council was handing money to BT, but it was the deal to do matched funding. As a punter I was desperate to get BT to actually do something now they got the UK monopoly. As a Councillor, I agree it should be market funding because grants mess up the competition and stifle development in many cases. Will dig, great for your support, and more to learn about Natalya. You give me the bullets and I'll fire them!

Dish is the answer. Just been waiting year after year on promises from BT and now seems so close! Jonny - you got more info than BT knew! Cheers all.

Rude words are all that come to mind! How much do you pay for that. I bet you've even downloaded films and watched iplayer! Still, annoying that the cabinet member doesn't seem to know what's been done or being done, will dig more. Main A49 and no cable tv, 3G, or proper broadband. Think we're being stuffed? Garway are getting it before us!

I thought my language was bad! Me, wife, two kids, iPads and a computer ... One dongle ain't enough. But if I couldn't trust BT to deliver I might have to look at a dish for £25 a month, true. Anyway, out in Much Birch I have 2g, not 3G so a dongle won't work either. Have asked where the 6 new mobile masts are going in the county, but again, nobody knows.. One in Ewyas Harold so far though.

Infinity? As a mathematician what definition do they use for that service then? I live at Much Birch. Regularly off line for several hours, sometimes down to 46kbps. Never been able to watch a YouTube video without waiting for buffering, usually 4-5 minutes. But, why have they not got a detailed plan of where they are working and what is next? We've had ten years of surveys, online requests as to who gets it next and so on. Then they get the national monopoly and ..... Transparency? Huh! Bad day at the office for me, sorry, after reading the endless misery in the HT!

Has anybody any news on faster broadband in our county? Anyone seen any engineers working? Please advise because I can get no detailed answers from the Cabinet member or from BT. They even admit they have no plan yet, and still promise certain exchanges will be done in 2014. More including letters and replies on jonnorris.co.uk

Why do I bother? Sorry for a moment of depression. Page after page in the Hereford Times of cuts and misery yet they still are building a bypass? WE CANT AFFORD IT! My first full council meeting and no discussion on votes of anything important whatsoever except making sure our names aren't recorded when votes ARE made. ‪#‎makesyousick‬. But I repeat my real sympathies go out to CAB being kept on hold for months. More misery on jonnorris.co.uk as I hassle BT for wasting our broadband money!

Dreadful news about CAB. If you've ever run a business or a charity and been told for months you are losing your funding, so you waste time fighting, trying to keep morale up, and then the b***ers change their mind - you know they'll probably change it back again. Demoralising. Well done CAB for struggling on.

Nope, no minutes. Just, possibly, misinformation. But its an old political argument about money for here and money for there, then you find out it is money just being shifted - in this case from assets to revenue. Still. Next problem?