On the map
Victor Keegan, in common with other metropolitan commentators, discusses broadband without mentioning its widespread unavailability (Second sight, February 28).
BT's own advertising admits that it has only enabled about 60% of exchanges for ADSL. I live within a radius of 20 miles from Gloucester, Bristol and Newport but the exchange has not been upgraded. And the absence of ADSL is not confined to rural areas - parts of central London have not been upgraded.
Discussions about the cost of broadband are irrelevant to the very large number of people who don't have a choice as ADSL is simply not available. Online should publish a map of the exact availability of broadband in the UK - and get BT to say when it will upgrade the "disenfranchised" areas.
D Watkins Lydney
Gloucestershire
BT Sometimes
I welcome BT's new ADSL pricing, but alas I live in "broadband dry" South Wales (not Central Cardiff, which gets cable and ADSL). It is not financially viable for BT to upgrade its already "bursting at the seams" telephone exchanges, so all I get is very poor "narrowband", which proves to be more BT Sometimes than BT Anytime. Andrew Wilcox
andrewwilcox@btinternet.com
More e-tony?
The government is still not managing the new technology well enough to encourage people to use broadband at affordable prices. The regulator has no power to address the quality of provision. We will be offered the last mile at 10 times the speed of analogue modems, but in front of that is an extremely slow web. It will take some time for broadband to mature and be capable of providing speeds suitable for video streaming. Mario Chomicz
Mario.Chomicz@uk.ngrid.com
Socket to 'em
Victor Keegan expresses concern that increased charges could hold back adoption of broadband. Connection charges have fallen dramatically through the introduction of self install broadband. This simple "plug and play" technology reduces the wholesale connection fee to £50, as opposed to £210 for an engineer's visit. Rebecca Webster Head of broadband marketing, BT Wholesale Another word I'm happy to correct sceptical former user James Haley's reading of Another.com's switch to charging for email. The first day's 1,000 subscriptions has swelled to tens of thousands. The reaction of paying subscribers so far has been almost universally positive. And James, do come back - we miss you! Steve Bowbrick
steve@uk.another.com
In Cahoots
I would love to join Paul Jacklin (Feedback, February 28) as a Smile customer. As a member of the Co-operative Party with an account at the Co-op Bank, what would be more natural? Alas, Smile refuses to recognise the existence of Apple Mac users. Now I bank with Cahoot and Nationwide. Judy Dickinson judic@leven.karoo.co.uk
Grin and bear it
In my experience of internet banks, Smile so far outstrips the rest that the omission was perverse, unfair, and (at best) sloppy journalism.
Nick Steinitz
steinitz.fam@which.net
Science fiction
In Online (Dedicated to the cause, February 28), Maxine Packer of Logica says: "We'd be highly unlikely to look at someone who had, say, an English degree and who'd done a C++ course." Being from an arts background, and now an IT specialist, I find the implications as offensive as they are foolish. Programming draws as much on an artistic sense as it does on skills acquired in the study of science.
Charles Johnson
mail@charlesjohnson.co.uk
Cheap trick
However stunning the new iMacs, I see Apple is adhering to the "rip-off Britain" tradition that UK prices in pounds approximately equal US prices in dollars. Another argument for the euro? David Lewin
D.Lewin@rl.ac.uk
Mozilla a Mac
If you want a good OS X internet experience, ditch IE and try Omni's fantastic Omniweb, or Mozilla. Jonathan Gitlin
jonboyG@mac.com
