A peasant couple said they were too close to the exchange to access broadband

A British broadband provider explained to a Scottish rural couple that they could not get a fast broadband connection because they were too close to the exchange.

As many locals in rural Ireland will attest, near fast high-speed nearby access is for now only a dream, as a result of new controversies and failures of the national plan for broadband. In a rural Scottish village, however, it seems that the problem is quite different.

according to The Guardian, a man named Scott McFarlane and his wife, based in Oldmeldrum, demand access to broadband two years after his arrival in the village.

The request has been made to the Openreach broadband provider, but the company has so far rejected the applications, despite McFarlane's claims that the lack of connectivity is undermining his activity as an independent oil worker with international customers. He claimed that his house was reaching an average speed of just 1 Mbps, forcing the couple to turn off all other appliances in the house to get a usable speed.

In fact, Openreach said they could not connect to broadband fiber optics because they were too close to the exchange, instead of being too far away.

Openreach responds

"It seems that Openreach has decided to endow Oldmeldrum with fast broadband, the most economical way to do it would not be to replace the old central, but to offer the majority of fast broadband Oldmeldrum via the green boxes around the village, "said McFarlane. "People close to the exchange will not be offered broadband, but will stay connected to the old exchange."

The company's only solution was to suggest to her and her partner to pressure her neighbors to ask for a community fiber partnership to improve their home.

"I'm not sure it's my job to do the prospecting and pay them the privilege of buying broadband at a higher price. It seems to me that they want me to participate in the funding of the plan to secure their future profits, "McFarlane said.

In a statement to The GuardianOpenreach said: "Exchange only lines are more complex and costly to move to faster and more reliable fiber technology because they serve individual customers rather than large clusters that connect to cabinets or nodes. in the street.