Thursday 2 January 2014

A Likely Story...Again!

A family from North Yorkshire has appealed to their MP to help improve internet access in the area, saying slow connections are hindering their children’s education.
Whew! Thank goodness we've had the Internet since 1700 or so, and haven't hindered our children's education...
The Englefield family, of Ulleskelf, have to make a two-hour round trip to get decent access to the internet, despite faster broadband already being offered in nearby Tadcaster.
Bridget Englefield, of Church Fenton Lane, said she hoped the focus for broadband rollout would be on smaller villages rather than larger towns, as the lack of internet access meant youths were left with nothing to do.
C'mon love, keep the story straight, eh? Is it so little Hugh, Dale and Miles can study trigonometry in 3D on YouTube copy articles from Wikipedia, or is it so they can play 'Call Of Duty 16: Tower Hamlets High Street'..?

14 comments:

The Blocked Dwarf said...

Dear Bridget Englefield, the reason your internet is so slow is due to those poor hardworking British Bits and Bytes having to pass, first, through the Great Firewall Of Cameroid that you Mumsnetzis DEMANDED be erected to protect your CHEEELDREN.


Demetrius said...

If my memory is right Church Fenton has a railway junction and Ulleskelf a station on the main line to York. However, Tadcaster has breweries, notably Sam Smith's. Who needs the internet? Apart from that when moving somewhere rural always check the communications.

microdave said...

They could always try sending the kids (on foot) to the nearest library with decent internet access and equip them with a memory stick to download their material. This would have remarkable health benefits, and "Give them something to do"

This was exactly what I did for many months when we first got a computer, and hadn't yet lashed out on broadband...

Ian B said...

So, what speed are they getting then? It's hard to draw any conclusion until you know that.

"Okay, everyone together, now do the 'local newspaper glum face' for me... ta..."

*click*

Robert said...

Am I being naive, or is slow broadband something you should just expect when you move out to the country?
Like not being able to phone out for pizza and expect it to arrive in ten minutes?

MTG said...

Ulleskelf is one of our ancient Plague Villages and so regularly under flood that access is limited to a daily ferry.

I am most happy for its 93 residents who until recently were denied mains electricity on safety grounds, Julia.

microdave said...

@ Robert - I was saying more or less the same thing the other day. How many people in a position to buy a "pad in the country" give ANY thought to things like how the electricity, water, and phone/broadband is supplied, and what would happen in the event of a bad storm? Also getting regular deliveries of heating oil or bottled gas, and would the access roads be cleared of snow? Put simply, if you are seduced by an idyllic setting in summer what is it going to be like in the middle of a two week freeze? You need a proper back up strategy, covering ALL the essentials....

Ian Hills said...

A satellite dish will connect them to the Internet.

John M said...

Hilariously Wikipedia does not actually require a lot of bandwidth. It works pretty well on dialup as it has no video content and limited/compressed images!

Anonymous said...

3G ? cheap as chips.

I suspect a hidden agenda.

Furor Teutonicus said...

WHAT?

Not ONE of them is disabled?

THAT's a turn up for the books!

James Higham said...

Slow connections made me illiterate.

JuliaM said...

"...due to those poor hardworking British Bits and Bytes having to pass, first, through the Great Firewall Of Cameroid ..."

Heh!

"Apart from that when moving somewhere rural always check the communications."

It would, I have to admit, be my first thought. Next would be availability of a Waitrose.

"They could always try sending the kids (on foot) to the nearest library... "

*faints*

"So, what speed are they getting then? It's hard to draw any conclusion until you know that."

What do you want in your local newspaper stories, facts? ;)

JuliaM said...

"...who until recently were denied mains electricity on safety grounds..."

Errr....and??

"WHAT?

Not ONE of them is disabled?"


Astonishing, eh?