Rural Scotland included in broadband trials

Two rural districts of Scotland, Fort William and Dingwall are set to join Milton Keynes in trials to provide broadband to areas previously unable to receive the service. PlusNet is pleased to be taking part in this project that aims to ultimately allow a million more homes and businesses throughout the UK to get broadband ADSL.

Up to one hundred volunteers in each of the Scottish areas are now being sought, to see if they too can successfully receive ADSL service during the testing, set to begin on July 1st.

The trials, being carried out by BT throughout this summer, will help establish ways in which the area of viable ADSL service might be extended, to cover up to 99% of all those connected to broadband enabled exchanges. By extending the reach, BT hopes to address the frustrating situation in which many find themselves, of not being able to get ADSL when their neighbours can.

Marco Potesta, Marketing Director of PlusNet said, "We are pleased to be taking part in these additional trials that will help to further extend the reach of broadband. We have already seen a good response from people in the Milton Keynes area, with many positive comments from customers now enjoying high-speed broadband Internet."

The extended reach trials aim to provide 'up to 10 times faster than standard dial' 512k ADSL service on lines up to 10km distance from the enabled exchange. Currently the maximum distance over which ADSL service may be reliably provided is 6km. Not all connections are expected to work during the trials; however BT will carry out extensive line testing at each location. BT Wholesale plans to use the information provided to launch longer-distance broadband products later this year.

People in the Milton Keynes (dial code 01908), Fort William (dial code 01397) and Dingwall (dial code 01349) areas who are interested in taking part in the extended reach trials can register their interest in 'extended reach' broadband through PlusNet by emailing extendedreach@plus.net with full name, daytime contact details and the telephone number of the line onto which the broadband service would be activated. The number of participants is limited; however there are still spaces available. Those registering their interest will be notified as to whether they have been successful.

"A substantial number of our customers desperately want to subscribe to broadband ADSL, but find themselves in the unhappy position of having failed their preliminary compatibility test, due to line quality or distance. We hope that these trials will lead to a more inclusive coverage of service throughout the UK," said Potesta.

PlusNet's Broadband Home package starts from just £14.99 per month.

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Notes for Editors:

The trial will assess the possibility of providing suitable quality ADSL (512k) to customers who are served by a broadband enabled exchange but who are beyond the 6km (60db) reach of ADSL. The purpose will be to assess the viability of extending the reach of the standard 512kbits ADSL products and establish the parameters within which they will work effectively. Long reach technical evaluations carried out by BT last winter have established that a BT engineer's visit may be required to fit a service specific front plate and/or correct the End User's internal wiring before the broadband service would work reliably and the installation could be completed. BT Wholesale are looking for up to 100 single PSTN lines each on Fort William (01397 71x xxx & 01397 70x xxx numbers) and Dingwall (01349 86x xxx numbers) exchanges to participate in the trial. ISDN and Home Highway lines will not be included in the trial. The trial will run until 30th September 2004.

The email address for those in the Milton Keynes, Fort William and Dingwall areas, who have previously tried to get broadband ADSL and failed, and who would like to take part in the extended reach trial through PlusNet is: extendedreach@plus.net

Please note that the number of participants is limited and not all applicants will be able to take part in the trial. Applicants will be notified about their suitability and kept informed during the trial application process.