Going to town over connection woes

WGP 15Oct14 - 151014spSTPfarm FRUSTRATED: Arlo Beckett (9) struggles to get homework completed without a reliable internet connection. WGP 15Oct14 - FLASHBACK: A snapshot from last yea

The struggle to access reliable internet has pushed a local family to abandon the country and move to town.

Lisa Beckett and husband Jason live 15 minutes east of Stratford and both run home-based businesses. "Jason uses the internet to send out emails, quotes, invoices and to order supplies, while I use Facebook for my business," Lisa says.

The family uses Farmside satellite for their internet needs, although Lisa says "it is very expensive and not particularly reliable".

And it is this lack of reliability that will see the family move to town later this year. "It has become too difficult to run our businesses without a reliable connection," Lisa says.

Her nine-year-old son Arlo also uses the internet for school projects, but has to time his use so the family won't go over its limit for the month.

Andrea Thompson and her husband face the same struggles. "There are days where our internet has periods of simply not working." The couple are dry stock farmers east of Stratford and also have a Farmside satellite. "Winter is especially difficult as rain interferes with the satellite."

However, help is on the way.

Late last year the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment introduced the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) which aims to deliver broadband to 252,000 households over the next five years. While no one can give an exact time for when, there are many internet providers who are part of the initiative and have plans for rural Taranaki.

A spokesperson for Farmside says upgrades to their satellite and wireless systems that have begun around the country and will soon be in place in Taranaki, although couldn't give an exact date.

Chorus and Vodafone are also working together to deliver the RBI programme. Brad Pogson, communications advisor for Vodafone, says that over the last 12 months Vodafone has been working to give Taranaki residents better access to reliable internet.

"In September last year Vodafone built a new cell tower at Midhirst which made wireless rural broadband and Vodafone mobile coverage available to over 570 addresses for the first time." He adds that Vodafone has also upgraded two cell towers at Stratford and East Egmont "making wireless rural broadband available to an additional 1650 addresses".

Brad says that while the upgrades have yet to reach the rural communities east of Stratford it is part of Vodafone's plan, although, again, a date couldn't be given.