Availability of broadband in rural areas is inconsistent to say the least. When it comes to internet connection speeds, anyone living in the countryside is likely to be at a disadvantage when compared to people living in urban areas.
Despite a strong demand for high speed internet, many rural areas are effectively broadband black holes. The reason for the unavailability of broadband in rural areas is fairly straightforward and has to do with the telecommunications infrastructure.
ADSL is the most common form of broadband connection and is claimed to cover the majority of the UK population. ADSL is delivered down the subscriber's telephone line however, which is where the problem lies. The copper wiring used to connect a home with the national network resists and distorts the digital broadband signal as it travels down the line.
The further a user lives from an exchange, the worse the problem becomes. The result is that over long distances, the initial 8Mbps connection goes down to 4Mbps, then 2Mbps and even lower to 512Kbps, before eventually becoming indistinguishable from a dial-up connection.
As a result, homes in many isolated rural areas are unable to get any kind of connection via ADSL. The line connecting them to the local telephone exchange is too long and the signal too weak.
Possible solutions
Cable broadband is one solution to the problem of signal degradation. The fibre optic technology used by cable broadband does not suffer from the same gradual seepage of speed because it uses laser light reflected down glass-faceted cables rather than old copper wiring.
Cable broadband might therefore seem like the perfect solution for connecting rural broadband customers, but installing cable broadband is not an economically viable option for many telecommunications providers.
Installing cable networks is a costly business and only a viable investment in densely populated areas. In sparsely populated rural communities, the number of customers signing-up for broadband would not be high enough for the internet provider to recoup the costs of installation.
Mobile broadband can be a better option for rural areas as it uses the cellular broadcasting networks that are already in place for mobile phone customers. Mobile broadband coverage is fairly good across the UK, but again there is a higher concentration of service in built-up areas.
Broadband tax
Determined to ensure equal access to high speed internet, the government has pledged to get broadband into every home in the UK by the year 2012. The obvious barrier to rural broadband availability is investment, so the government is set to introduce a broadband tax which will be applied to every landline telephone connection in the UK.
This will be a 50p monthly levy that the government hopes will raise up to £200 million annually and will be used to improve broadband availability in rural areas.
Though the central government is using its weight and financial clout to improve broadband access for rural areas, many local councils and pressure groups are also taking action. In one village the residents actually installed their own cable broadband network because they felt it would help the local economy.
Whether progress comes from central government or local communities themselves, rural residents can at least look forward to improved broadband availability in coming years.