Broadband have-nots given new campaign tool

Eclipse Internet has launched an online broadband campaign site that allows people to flag up their interest in getting a wide range of high-speed internet technologies.

The site, http://www.wewantbroadband.co.uk, lets users register their demand for ADSL, SDSL, and satellite and wireless broadband, and see how many other people have also registered.

It also aims to help people become "broadband sponsors", and drive interest and awareness of the benefits of high-speed Internet services in their area if they are currently trapped on the wrong side of the broadband divide. Case studies on the benefits of broadband are also available on the site.

According to ISP Eclipse, which offers broadband services, it has launched the site in an attempt to boost the rollout of broadband across the UK, as firms increasingly look to connect local offices and employees working remotely using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Jomie Carmichael, Eclipse Internet co-founder and director, said: "Virtual private networks are most effective when all branch offices and/or remote workers are running 'always on' connections to their main office with technologies such as ADSL and SDSL."

Carmichael added: "To support this transition, we have launched a campaign website - We Want Broadband - that will help encourage interest in and demand for broadband technologies that will, in turn, lead to increased provision in the areas where it is needed."

Like several other campaigning websites, wewantbroadband.co.uk is partly based on BT's broadband registration scheme. It includes details of the various trigger levels that BT has set for hundreds of local exchanges, and shows how close each exchange is to reaching this target and being added to BT's ADSL build programme.

But Eclipse Internet is going further by also allowing consumers and businesses to register their interest in other broadband technologies, especially SDSL - which BT is still only trialling.

Even though the site only officially launched on Thursday, a number of individuals and organisations have already signed up as sponsors, including Scottish Enterprise.