Superhighway far from town

Fed up residents’ complaints about poor broadband reception, constant ‘drop-outs’ and patchy mobile signals has been a constant theme of letters to Boston and Skegness MP Matt Warman.

The complaints led to a meeting of a group of MPs, including Mr Warman, with former Digital and Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in May.

During the meeting, Mr Vaizey confirmed that the Government’s Broadband Universal Service Obligation, where people have the right to request an affordable broadband connection at a minimum speed, will set an ambition for speeds of 10mbps (megabits per second).

But a resident, who asked not to be named, said: “I live to the north of Boston and I can only get regular 11 to 18mbps broadband.

“It’s a right struggle sometimes if it drops out when more than three or four things are attached to it, sometimes even when there’s just one.

“However, it turns out that much of Boston and areas of Kirton are on the fibre-optic network but none of the major broadband providers have a timeline of when this area will be covered.”

A Boston Borough Council spokesman said: “Work will continue to improve connectivity speeds to properties in the borough through investment of the £18 million under-spend from the initial Broadband Delivery UK roll-out in Lincolnshire.

“Boston Borough Council is concerned that as many properties as feasibly and economically possible have the benefit of faster broadband speeds.”

Meanwhile, Lincolnshire broadband programme manager Steve Brookes said: “Boston borough is generally well-served with superfast broadband and we have fibre-enabled well over 10,000 premises up until March 2016.

“However, 100 per cent fibre-enabled broadband coverage is just not possible, which is why we are also looking at alternative solutions in the form of fixed wireless broadband and satellite.”