A community that feels 'disconnected'

Desperate dwellers in the small village of Glack are driving over three miles to sit in their cars with dongle-enabled laptops to gain basic internet access. Those living in the area are at present claim they are even unable to receive a dial-up internet service. Now a number of dissatisfied locals have launched a petition demanding BT bring broadband to the area. It is believed that around 100 people have signed the petition so far. Resident Lynn Brolly from the Loughermore Road area says she has been forced to take her laptop in her car with a pay-as-you-go mobile dongle to access the internet.

"Last night at 6.30pm I sat in a carpark in Ballykelly to do things on the internet that most people can do in their homes. I have been living here for ten years and have never had an acceptable internet service.

"If anything it has gotten worse. I used to be able to get a dial-up connection, but it was very, very slow. Now we can't get anything."

Lynn continued: "In this day and age it is ridiculous that any where is unable to not have internet access. We only live three miles outside Ballykelly so we are hardly that far away from it all."

"School children need the internet for projects and to do homework, the day of looking up an encyclopedia are ling gone. BT need to do something about this."

New mum Joanne Brolly, who set up the petition says the internet is a necessity which the Glack people are being declined.

"I have lived here for five years and we can't get anything, not even dial-up. Out of the 23 houses beside me one can get broadband, but it's on and off. Our local primary school don't even have access to the internet."

"I'm currently on maternity leave at present and not having the internet has really disadvantaged me in a huge way. Simple things like shopping, contacting people, it's so much harder. It just feels like we are living in the old ages. It's a disgrace."

The young mum, who lives in the Glack Mor area of the village with husband Shane and baby son Issac, says she hopes to present signatures to a BT representative in the future.

Joanne continued: "The European Union describes the internet as a necessity - not a luxury. BT are responsible for providing all the homes in Northern Ireland with broadband so it is up to them to work on it to provide it for Glack."

Last week the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment announced a further 250,000 investment into the provision of broadband in rural areas. Minister Arlene Foster said the government were committed to providing emote areas with broadband internet. The Minister also announced a fifth call for project applications under the 1.9m Northern Ireland Broadband Fund, which is co-financed under the European Regional Development Fund Sustainable Competitiveness Programme 2007-2013.

A BT spokesperson said that it would be working with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in improving broadband in rural areas throughout Northern Ireland, including "parts" of Glack. It did admit that some householders in Glack were unable to receive broadband because they lived more than 8 km from a telephone exchange. The spokesperson added there were other means of obtaining the internet available to those people.

The spokesperson said: "In respect to the service that BT can offer this particular resident, our ADSL broadband service is distant-dependent and because the resident is more than 8 KMs from their local telephone exchange, the broadband signal will not support a fixed line broadband connection.

"However, the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment has a scheme in place which will allow this resident to deploy an alternative technology and by contacting them at either 028 90529352 or by e -mail to [email protected] this resident can register an interest in this scheme.

BT continued: "Separately, BT is currently working with the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment on a Next Generation Broadband Project (NGBP) that will bring faster broadband speeds to specific locations in Northern Ireland, both urban and rural, that will gain the greatest economic benefit by receiving high speed broadband. We are pleased to announce that parts of Glack are included in this 48 million project and readers are advised to visit www.fasterbroadbandni.com for more information on this pioneering initiative by the public and private sectors.