Wealden residents have until next Monday, April 18 to tell the council about their daily experiences of mobile phone reception and access to the internet.—Wealden District Council, 12 April 2016
As one of the most rural districts in the South East, Wealden has been asking residents and businesses to complete a survey about their day-to-day experiences of mobile phone connections and internet access.
The Council hopes to use the information provided by residents, schools and businesses to campaign for better connectivity across Wealden.
“My thanks to all those individuals and businesses that have completed the survey already – we’ve had nearly 500 – but there’s still time for anyone else to let us know their experiences,” said Councillor Nick Collinson, Cabinet member with responsibility for Community Leadership and Communications. “If you live, work, own a business or attend school / college in the area, the Council would like to hear your views. The more responses we have, the better a picture of where there are issues, and the more we can do to help.”
To take part in the brief survey visit www.wealden.gov.uk/mobileandinternetsurvey or contact Wealden District Council by phone on 01323 443322 or 01892 653311 to request a printed copy. The survey includes questions about your mobile phone reception and internet access at fixed locations in the Wealden area including your home, your place of work/business or your school/college where appropriate.
The ‘not spot’ – a location where there is still no mobile phone connection – is common in parts of Wealden. Data published in a digital inclusion report by the Council has also revealed a wide range of different broadband speeds across the District: some parts averaging broadband speeds of less than 5 Megabytes per second while others are enjoying connection speeds of more than 15Mb per second. Low average connection speeds make it very difficult to create live video links with customers, work on large online files and enjoy film and music streaming.
Details collected in the consultation will not be passed to any third parties or used for direct marketing purposes.
Wealden MP, Nus Ghani and her views on Broadband connectivity can be found in full here: http://www.nusghani.org.uk/news/tackling-broadbad.
Her view is clear, “access to the internet is no longer a luxury – it is a vital necessity which we need every day at home, school and work. And it is also no longer good enough that people have to put up with slow speeds, unreliable connectivity and poor customer service from their broadband providers.
“In many places, particularly in rural areas, these problems are incredibly common. In fact, Wealden falls into the bottom 20% of parliamentary constituencies for average download speed and access to superfast connections. I am determined that this will change, because my constituents should not be having to put up with this in 2016.
IMAGE CREDIT SOURCE: Web platform: Wealden MP, Nus Ghani
