News from The Barnet Society

Virgin Media is to offer homes and businesses in High Barnet a rival broadband service after long-standing complaints that British Telecom has failed to satisfy the demand of around 3,000 households for a superfast connection.

Virgin Media hopes to be able to offer its ultrafast broadband network to 40,000 homes and businesses across the Borough of Barnet by the end of 2018.

High Barnet’s dire broadband service was highlighted by Sky News when it featured a campaign by a cross-party group of MPs to try to secure the break-up of British Telecom as the only way to achieve faster internet connections.

One by one, High Barnet is being provided with the additional telephone cabinets that are needed to supply fast broadband connections to around 3,000 homes in and around the town centre.

A possible scheme to deliver superfast broadband to High Barnet via a wireless network was greeted enthusiastically at a meeting of local residents, many of whom offered immediate pledges towards raising the £16,000 needed to fund the installation.

Fibre4Barnet, the pressure group set up by Ken Rowland to try to force British Telecom to complete the rollout of high-speed broadband to the whole of High Barnet, says a possible wait of up to two years for further improvements is “totally unacceptable”.

After months of campaigning by the Barnet Society, British Telecom have finally given an assurance that it will improve the broadband service in High Barnet by upgrading at least half the cabinets that need to be fibre enabled.

After endless delays and broken promises by British Telecom, High Barnet residents without high-speed broadband are being encouraged by Theresa Villiers MP to think of signing up for a rival service being that might be offered by Virgin Media.

Barnet residents who cannot get high speed broadband from British Telecom have been offered an alternative solution that can offer speeds of between 16-30mps. The system uses radio waves instead of the fixed line technology deployed by BT and is being offered by Sentia, a small telecoms provider based in Peterborough.

A street-by-street survey conducted by local residents has demonstrated overwhelming support for a campaign to persuade British Telecom to provide up to 3,000 High Barnet residents with the fast broadband connection they so desperately need.

High Barnet residents without access to a fast broadband connection are canvassing their neighbours in the hope of demonstrating to British Telecom that there is strong local demand that would more than justify investment in the nine additional fibre-enabled cabinets that are needed.

British Telecom has promised to send an executive to High Barnet in mid- March to meet the Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers, and local residents to discuss the lack of high-speed broadband in many of the roads in and around the town centre.

Broadband speeds in some areas of High Barnet are unacceptably low Andrew Dismore, London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden, has stepped in to try to badger British Telecom to complete the High Barnet roll-out of high-speed broadband.

High Barnet needs another nine additional cabinets to complete the roll-out of high-speed broadband The Barnet Society’s campaign to force British Telecom to complete High Barnet’s roll-out of high-speed broadband will get the continued support of Theresa Villiers, the Chipping Barnet MP, but she has warned that many local householders will fail to get an improved

British Telecom reworks its ever-lasting litany of excuses and is finally being forced to admit to internet customers in High Barnet that it has no intention of honouring a much-repeated undertaking to deliver a high-speed broadband service.

British Telecom has been forced to admit that there will be another lengthy delay in providing a fast broadband service to up to 3,000 High Barnet households.

The Barnet Society pinpoints the sites of missing telecoms cabinets needed to deliver a fast broadband service.  The Barnet Society has identified eight sites where it believes British Telecom needs to install additional kerbside telecoms cabinets if several thousand High Barnet households are ever going to have the chance to obtain a fast broadband connection.

A long-awaited meeting between Theresa Villiers MP and senior executives of British Telecom has still left unanswered many of the questions about when – or if ever – many High Barnet residents will be offered a superfast broadband connection.

Several thousand properties in and around High Barnet’s conservation area have been left without any clear explanation from British Telecom as to when – if ever – their premises will get a superfast broadband connection.