An elderly couple, who looked to retire to their dream cottage in West Lothian, were left with a broadband blackout after major firms refused to connect them to a fast and reliable connection.
John Black, 67, and wife Sara, 72, rely on a strong internet connection in order to keep in touch with their children and grandchildren. They had worked hard earning a living running an antique shop in Wigtown before deciding to relocate to an idyllic farm cottage just outside of Linlithgow.
Their retirement plans however were placed in jeopardy when the pair realised they were unable to connect to a reliable broadband. This meant John and Sara were cut off from their family and unable to watch their favourite TV shows on streaming services.
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Wife Sara relies heavily on the internet as she suffers from mobility issues and spends her time speaking with her daughters and grandchildren over video calls. As well as this, John, who is a keen photographer, was also faced with the prospect of being unable to upload his snaps.
Thankfully working from home was not an issue for the couple but they were unable to pay for things like energy bills due to the dilemma they were facing. What was most frustrating for the couple was the fact that their neighbours, who were situated less than 20 feet away, had super fast broadband provided by one of the industry giants.
John said: “Video calls provide us with a great and really important connection with our family and we couldn’t live without it. It wasn’t exactly how I envisioned spending my retirement.
“We were suffering from landline broadband speeds of just one to two Mbps whilst our neighbours just 20 feet away were benefiting from high speeds through their fibre broadband. We tried to see if we could be hooked up with the same service but the broadband company we spoke to simply refused to hear us out.
“We were forced to hotspot from our phones which was costing us a fortune and put a real downer on the first few weeks in our retirement home. Fortunately we found National Broadband which allowed us to there 4G-based service which allows us to experience 40Mbps which is fine.
“Living in rural parts of the UK has its ups and downs, with one down being the risk of having no access to reliable broadband. After having no luck with major providers, fortunately we found National Broadband and got reconnected with our family and friends.”
John also added that the Scottish Government has a programme where homes can get up to £5,000 to get linked into existing high speed broadbands. He says that this was never mentioned to him and that he found this disappointing.
Ofcom states that there are over 70,000 households in Scotland without access to national minimum standard broadband speeds of 10 Mbps via a fixed line, with 90 per cent of those homes being located in rural areas like John’s.
David Hennell, director at National Broadband commented on John’s situation by saying: “John’s story is sadly all too typical. Rural areas continue to be neglected when it comes to digital connectivity especially in comparison to urban and more densely populated areas.
“The impact this discrepancy has on individuals, households and whole communities is huge and puts rural homes and businesses at a significant and ever-increasing disadvantage. At National Broadband we believe that every connection matters and are proud to help people like the Blacks get access to high quality broadband which is such a necessity to daily life in a modern society.”
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