The Bradley Stoke Journal

The Journal’s campaign for better broadband speeds in Bradley Stoke and the surrounding area has got off to a flying start with more than 270 residents registering votes to have the Almondsbury telephone exchange fast-tracked for upgrading to fibre optic broadband.

The Better Broadband for Filton, Almondsbury & Bradley Stoke (BB4FABS) campaign was launched a fortnight ago and began by urging residents to vote in BT’s Race to Infinity competition.

In its first week, the campaign received coverage on the BBC website and also on BBC Radio Bristol’s Breakfast Show, where local businessman Rob Wilson of Fortyfour Creative described the difficulties of trying to run a high-tech business on the 0.63Mbps connection that he gets at his Diana Gardens home.

Bradley Stoke Town Council is helping the campaign by promoting the Race to Infinity competition on its website and Mayor Ben Walker says he has written to neighbouring Councils asking them for support.

The Race to Infinity competition is open to both business and residential telephone users and it is important to note that you don’t need to be a BT customer in order to vote. So, even if you are a Virgin Media customer and already have fast broadband, please help your less fortunate townsfolk by registering a vote now!

The Journal’s Editor has urged all Town Councillors to register a vote for their private lines and (where applicable) for their business numbers. The Town Council itself has also promised to register votes for all its premises.

Read on for news of a possible change of heart by Virgin Media »

Bradley Stoke’s newly-elected Conservative MP Jack Lopresti has vowed to make the fight to secure faster, more reliable, broadband coverage across his constituency one of his top priorities.

The pledge came after Mr Lopresti organised a meeting with the new Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey MP, to highlight the long-standing issues with broadband connections in the Bradley Stoke area.

As a result of the meeting, Mr Vaizey has promised to write to both BT and Virgin Media to ask why the service has not been upgraded, and the reasons behind the delay in providing fast broadband across the town.

The MPs were joined at the meeting by a delegation of local Councillors, including Bradley Stoke Mayor Ben Walker and Cllrs John Ashe, Robert Jones, Brian Hopkinson and Sarah Pomfret.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Lopresti said:

“I was delighted to be able to not only secure this meeting with Ed Vaizey MP, the new Communications Minister, but also that he agreed to write to both BT and Virgin Media to see exactly why the service isn’t better than it is.”

“Yet that is what we must aim for, and as soon as possible. This meeting allowed us to present our case to Ed Vaizey MP directly, we asked him to look into the issue on our behalf, and he has agreed to do just that.”

“This is such an important issue for so many people in and around Bradley Stoke, that it deserves to be treated as one of our priorities.”

“This issue has proved to be a real challenge already, and it will take dedication and hard work to ensure that our broadband connections are improved to the proper and deserved standard.”

Because Bradley Stoke doesn’t have its own telephone exchange, being served instead from Almondsbury or Filton, ADSL broadband reception is poor or non-existent in many areas of the town. Although some users are able to choose cable broadband as an alternative, many do not have this option due to the incomplete coverage of Virgin Media’s network.

Read on to find out how Bradley Stoke has missed out in recent BT upgrade announcements and let us know what broadband speeds you’re getting in your street »

Bradley Stoke Town Council’s efforts to get utility companies to provide faster broadband connections in the town have come to nothing according to Town Clerk David Chandler.

Back in February, the Council’s Planning Committee instructed the Clerk to write to telecommunications giants BT and Virgin Media demanding a “21st Century service for a 21st Century town”.

The move was followed by a huge leaflet drop in the town by local Conservative activists, in which Mayor Mayor Forsyth was quoted as saying:

“Access speeds endured by some residents are very poor due to the distance to the BT exchanges. Without cable connections or the new Fibre to Cabinet technology there is little chance of improvement.”

The issue even featured on the West edition of the BBC’s Politics Show in June, where Cllr Robert Jones was interviewed in one of the town’s broadband ‘slow spots’.

When asked at a recent Council meeting if anything had come of the Council’s demands, the Clerk reported that no reply had been received from either of the companies.

Frustrated Councillors now say they have run out of ideas on how to achieve an improvement in broadband speeds in Bradley Stoke.

Similar efforts made by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) have also ended in frustration according to Cllr Jones. A motion agreed in March by the Conservative-led Unitary Council called on the Council Leader to write to BT “requesting that South Gloucestershire is made a top priority when super-fast broadband is rolled out”.

In contrast to the Town Council, SGC did apparently receive a reply to its letter, but Cllr Jones says its content was “disappointing”.

The Bradley Stoke Examiner’s campaign to urge Virgin Media to complete its cable network in the town has so far attracted 226 supporters, but the firm says it will only “consider” doing the work if 1500 people sign up.

Further Information:

• Broadband in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Bradley Stoke Cable My Street Campaign (The Examiner)

Cable company Virgin Media is laying new fibre optic broadband cable in Bradley Stoke but it seems that homeowners are unlikely to benefit from the work.

Contractors have been digging trenches to take a spur off the Virgin Media network from a point on Bradley Stoke Way close to the pedestrian crossing south of the Savages Wood Roundabout.

The new cable branch, which The Journal understands will bring high speed internet access to Bradley Stoke Community School, has been taken across Bradley Stoke Way and along a footpath into Champs Sur Marne.

Spray markings on the pavements in Champs Sur Marne suggest that the cable will soon follow a route around to the school entrance in Fiddlers Wood Lane.

Signs on barriers around the workings state that “Virgin Media is really sorry if we cause any inconvenience while we bring our exciting new services to this area”.

The route of the cable passes a number of homes in Champs Sur Marne but an unofficial Virgin Media source suggested that these properties are in fact unlikely to be offered the high speed broadband and television services that it will provide.

Residents in Bradley Stoke’s broadband ‘notspots’ and ‘slowspots’ have been urging Virgin Media to install  fibre optic cable in their streets, which are too far from BT exchanges to receive a decent speed over copper cable.

A campaign led by the Bradley Stoke Examiner urging Virgin Media to complete its network in the town has so far attracted 226 email votes but the company says it wants 1,500 people to email before it will even “consider” doing the work.

If Virgin Media does not extend its network, residents will have to hope that BT installs Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology in the town, which should provide at least the 2Mb/sec Universal Service Commitment promised by the Digital Britain report.

Further Information:

• Broadband in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Bradley Stoke Cable My Street Campaign (The Examiner)