Access to broadband in rural Scotland

What it asks

What the petitioner did first

1. 27 Sep 2018
   Public Petitions Committee

   New Petitions
   1 mention
2. 27 Jun 2019
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
3. 4 Sep 2019
   Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

   Petition
   1 mention
4. 17 Feb 2021
   Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

   Petitions
   2 mentions

1. Scotland179 71.3%
2. United Kingdom55 21.9%
3. England9 3.6%
4. Sweden2 0.8%
5. Poland2 0.8%
6. Netherlands1 0.4%
7. Norway1 0.4%
8. United States1 0.4%
9. Isle of Man1 0.4%

1. Hugh MacLellan 1 Aug 2018
   750 signatures were collected in 2017 by concerned members of the community and tourists in the rural community of Laid who were not able to access broadband. Tourists had the same experience in other rural areas which they found to be unacceptable. The very people who this petition represents are unable to sign this petition online as they do not have access to broadband and are therefore disadvantaged.
2. Ken MacLean 1 Aug 2018
   Rural communities separately need REALISTIC broadband speeds. We need to keep people in our rural communities for work and this would go a huge way to assist in this.
3. Norman Morrison 1 Aug 2018
   I holiday in Durness which has minimal internet speed and a lot of people who require faster broadband.
4. Angus MacLellan 1 Aug 2018
   Rural areas should not be at the back of the queue.
5. Stuart Whitby 3 Aug 2018
   A direct fibre connection may not be realistic to deliver to every household in Scotland in the proposed timeframe. I would suggest a minimum acceptable download speed (at a shared exchange) be agreed and implemented by that time to prioritise the worst affected areas.
6. John Cameron 5 Aug 2018
   USA has fiber optic armoured cable done all over there vast country as standard 20 years ago why is the ukso far behind ? This is fact as I was on ship that installed it all up the west cost
7. Christine Fraser 6 Aug 2018
   I was born and brought up in Laid. My father and forefathers all belonged to Laid. I hope to return soon, however the ineadquate broadband service is making it more difficult for this to happen as its vital for me to have a good broadband service. Laid needs people like me to return to the hamlet for its survival
8. Valerie Beveridge 6 Aug 2018
   Anything to assist the folk of Laid.
   Broadband is a necessity to life and where this is for needs every essential aid to make folk stay, survive and communicate from that isolated area.
9. Valerie Woodcock 12 Aug 2018
   The poor coverage in many rural areas makes working from home impossible The elderly in these communities don't have access to friends and family as those living cities.This is discrimination and provider's should be prosecuted
10. Yvonne Alexis 12 Aug 2018
    This has been a long-standing issue which requires a speedy resolution
11. Colin Mackenzie 12 Aug 2018
    We live under 2 miles from a high speed internet enabled town yet our broadband speed is borderline usable. In the past 6 years the speed has dropped significantly and BT advisors say this is because the existing copper lines are possibly degrading and there are no future plans to repair them, and no timetable can be given for when they will be replaced by fibre. There are just a handful of properties up our glen and, although many like us are modern day businesses, I suspect we will be amongst the last to be upgraded.
12. Tanya Anderson 12 Aug 2018
    It's about time these forgotten people in rural areas have the same type of facilities as the city folk do
13. Jacqueline White 12 Aug 2018
    please get it sorted, locals and working visitors are badly in need
14. Lesley Murray 13 Aug 2018
    This is very important for keeping up tourism
15. Paul Byrne 15 Aug 2018
    It needs to be sorted out with clear penalties for failure to deliver within agreed time frame
16. Mark Leighton 15 Aug 2018
    My driveway was dug up to lay fibre but not for me! I am running a business on 0.3mbps.
17. Gail Tunnah 16 Aug 2018
    Manish exchange has not been upgraded and therefor ANY BT broadband is not available (and subsequently any competition). We are therefore stuck with expensive satellite systems.
18. Linda Kinniburgh 17 Aug 2018
    I pay a fortune for satellite broadband because I am too far away from the exchange. My neighbours a mile away are getting fibre broadband installed and will be paying a third of what I currently pay for a much faster service. Rural communities should be in the same position as cities and towns.
19. Colin Thompson 19 Aug 2018
    My village only received superfast broadband last year after being promised it for a half a decade at least, so I know how frustrating this is. even now the service is sporadic at best.
20. Debbie Donald 20 Aug 2018
    Good broadband is an essential part of modern infrastructure. Without fast, fit for purpose broadband rural communities cannot function in terms of business, communication, kids doing homework, video-conferencing, and everyday essentials for modern living. One issue which is regularly forgotten is that we need internet for TV and radio as we get no terrestrial, satellite, DAB, FM, AM signals because of the hills. We are discriminated against by all providers, and forgotten about in most debates.
21. Steve Webb 20 Aug 2018
    It's about time the government focus on increasing the speed for rural users.towns and city dwellers have super fast speeds with money's being used toake it even faster. Whilst rural people suffer slow speeds,512kbs in my case.struggle to watch the iPlayer. I'm on box 3 Ardersier. Mobile, SIM card internet is not cost effective for a family who will consume the data limits in days. We are penalised for living in a beautiful part of the country.
22. Hazel Leith 20 Aug 2018
    Broadband not good on outskirts of Ardersier and it really should be.
23. Jim McMillan 21 Aug 2018
    This is essential for rural areas where much more work is done on p.c.'s from home or rural businesses.
24. Elona Lowe 21 Aug 2018
    Wi if is terrible in our area, can hardly download anything
25. Darren Fraser 21 Aug 2018
    In this day and age surely broadband should be available in all rural areas ,
26. May McNicol 21 Aug 2018
    Broadband is as important in fact more so in remote rural areas. Please help us.
27. Rosemary Peacock 22 Aug 2018
    1.5mb is not good enough for this day and age. BT dont care at all. We are a new build and the right cabling should be installed during the build
28. Ian Foster 23 Aug 2018
    Bring everyone into the 20th century!
    We are so very far behind so many other countries in Europe, never mind South Korea.
29. Allison Cowie 26 Aug 2018
    Our broadband is terrible, the connection is not strong and cuts off regularly
30. Ila McEwan 27 Aug 2018
    Talking point with locals how awful Broadband is!
31. Denise Young 7 Sep 2018
    It is vital that broadband coverage be available to all in Highlands and Islands .
32. charles coulson 8 Sep 2018
    I have two lines to my house. Both have a BB speed of 2.5 mbs(on a good day) for which BT charge me full fee of about £80 (for the two) per month. This is ridiculous. We have two lines enabled to allow more than one member of the household to stream video at the same time.
33. David McMillan 8 Sep 2018
    Download speeds listed not as vital as upload speeds for rural business
34. Ron Reid 9 Sep 2018
    fibre is 300 yds away, but totally inaccessible
    - how does that make sense ?
35. James Barrett 9 Sep 2018
    While our exchange is equipped for fibre broadband. It's is over 2.5 miles away. That phone line serves at least 30 properties. Today as I write this our download speed is 1.25mbps. Unless better infrastructure is put in place this will always be the case. But because the exchange has been upgraded this will be deemed good enough. IT IS NOT.
36. Lindsey Shirley 9 Sep 2018
    Our broadband speed is only 2.8 and often even less than this. It is very slow and cuts out completely on a regular basis.
37. bruce buchan 9 Sep 2018
    improved broadband speeds are essential for rural economic and social development.
38. Christopher Shirley 9 Sep 2018
    Although the companies advertise high broadband speeds, the reality is that old telephone wires degrade the signal so if you live a distance from a 'cabinet' or exchange you will not receive a satisfactory signal. Fibre to the premises is the only solution and this will require significant investment to provide satisfactory broadband to rural areas.
39. Fiona Clubb 10 Sep 2018
    We are on satellite broadband which gets us by. What is worse, is that Openreach are doing away with our landline service. Soon we will have no phone either. Mobile reception is poor and satellite phone is a difficult medium due to signal delays. This government likes to talk about equality but it sees no need to enforce the practicing of it. Our service is being withdrawn as the urban service is being enhanced. I understand this is an economic decision but surely there must be someone in government who knows someone in telecommunications who knows someone who specialises in solving the problems of minority citizens.
40. Jolene Kiddell 10 Sep 2018
    Everyone should have a decent connection in the day and age
41. Grant Duguid 10 Sep 2018
    The petition is laudable, but communications is a reserved matter for Westminster, this petition needs to be sent there. Westminster gives close to £1Bn to Openreach to fund "hard to reach & uneconomic places", instead it feathers its nest, and MPs are powerless (or useless) in getting them to stick to the spirit of that monumental grant
42. Joyce Gibson 10 Sep 2018
    We are on Marrburn Exchange and access a speed of only 0.4Mbps. We were advised that we would be in the R 100 programme by 2021, meanwhile we are restricted to BT being our only provider. Which provides a minimal service inefficient to download or use any of the other options which the majority of households enjoy. We are neither a remote rural area as the closest Fibre Optic is only 2.5 miles from us.
43. Jackie Buckham 11 Sep 2018
    I run a small medium term letting business based near Dunscore DG3. Most of my clients are in business and need a fast powerful broadband connection to be able to work. They complain about the abysmal speeds which make their work impossible and this in turn is affecting my business and also means less visitors bringing money into our area.
44. Kerrey-Lyn Mitchell 11 Sep 2018
    As a stay at home parent living in rural Scotland, I spend most of my day at home, and the internet in a life line to the wider community. It enables me to keep in touch with other parents, and access amenities that others in cities take for granted.
    Due to our location our access to fast internet is very patchy, and when it is not available, it leaves those of us living in rural areas vey isolated.
    Broadband should be considered a priority for all rural areas with in the UK