However I suggest that the digital divide isn’t only in the sparser regions of the north west. We too in Surrey are part of that same network as are others in Northumberland, Norfolk and Chester. Whilst some in the larger conurbations are given a tolerable but still asymmetric service, most networks stretch into far less populated areas on twisted pair lines far too far from their cabinets and consequently have unacceptably low speeds..

Anyone who has access to a true point-to-point symmetric fibre reaps an enormous benefit in reliability and constant speeds in both directions. All of our services in the Surrey Hills run at speeds of over 920 mbps when measured with a modern computer connected by Ethernet.