Cambridge News reported^[1] that a deal with BT has been agreed today which will provide ninety-percent of Cambridgeshire homes with superfast broadband by 2015. The deal is due to be signed by Cambridgeshire County Council and British Telecom in March this year. This should be good news for Little Thetford until you read the small print. Cambridgeshire County Council’s press-release says “More than 90% of homes and businesses in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will be able to receive superfast broadband (at least 24 Mbps) with basic broadband (2 Mbps minimum) available to very nearly 100% of premises by 2015”.^[2]

According to the council, last years Connecting Cambridgeshire campaign, which we reported on during June last year, received 24,000 responses from residents and businesses in the area. This made it “the largest response rate in the country and showing the huge demand for better broadband in our area”.

In this context, superfast broadband means internet speeds of at least 24 megabits per second. To find out your current broadband speed, use this link then click Begin Test when it appears. But note that speeds vary by time of day and by day of week.

See also Connecting Cambridgeshire press release: Connecting Cambridgeshire lands super broadband deal.

John McCullough

¹Havergal, Chris (4 February 2013). “Deal done to deliver quick internet connections“. Cambs News (Online)
²Pasfield, Eleanor (4 February 2013) “Connecting Cambridgeshire lands super broadband deal” Cambridgeshire County Council: Press release