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23rd February 2008

Broadband

After a recent weekend where the service of broadband was unavailable several people have been complaining that the options of service providers are very limited due to the poor exchange that Durness residents have to contend with. The community Council have carried out a little research and advise individuals of their findings.
When Bt service is unreliable customers are not able to switch to an alternative provider BT are selling a broadband service which is capped at 512K and which in performance terms is a substantially different product to the 8Megabyte service which residents as close as Kinlochbervie enjoy at the same price In real terms, Durness residents are paying 16 times more than others. Whilst the Scottish Executive's own website 'broadbandforscotland' suggests that multiple service providers will be able to offer products via 'Exchange Activate' service areas, the information as to which service provider's products are available does not seem to be readily available. Two service providers contacted who were said to be offering service in Durness (information from a 'consumer switching' website) informed that this was not the case. BT have achieved a virtual monopoly in this area
The restrictive nature of the service means that services such as BBCi and other on-demand and streaming services are not available to Durness residents. This is a double whammy for residents in an area with poor quality analogue terrestrial TV reception, and no digital terrestrial service at all for either radio or TV. The lack of availability of a reliable broadband service at reasonable bandwidth is affecting businesses in the area now and will hinder further inward investment. Basically the issue of rurality is not being addressed. Durness deserves better.

Youth outing

Picture attached

Durness Youth club were in Inverness last Saturday and attended the football match with Calley Thistle and Dundee United. Even in the cold conditions the youngsters enjoyed the game.


Bingo Night

£394 was raised at the bingo evening at the village hall last Friday. The social event was orgaised to reise funds towards the new dishwasher for the hall. Teas and sanwitches and cakes were ser4ved nad the vening was completed with a raffle. A thank you is expressed to all those involved in making the vening a success.