Last Wednesday I wrote about our new campaign to end KCOM's monopoly in Hull. Last Saturday a group of us were out on the streets of Hull collecting signatures for our petition (you can sign the online petition here).
We got a great response. There is no doubt that almost everyone in the city wants a choice in who supplies their telephone and broadband services. This was the message coming back to us over again. We also know people feel they are paying too much, and suffer from poor download speeds.
One member of the public also told us how the company she works for recently lost business as they were unable to accept chip and pin payments because of a fault on the line. She said it took two weeks to repair the fault.
Dominique Lazanski and I met with KCOM on Monday and presented our case to them. It was a productive meeting, although as you will no doubt appreciate, there were some differences of opinion. To give you an example, they were unaware of the problems of broadband speeds during a recent electrical storm, although they did say they would investigate this issue.
When you add up the costs of broadband, and the problems many of us experience, this can easily add as a disincentive for those who are thinking of relocating their businesses in the city, or for those who want to start a new business. When broadband goes down in this way, it causes serious disruption for not only members of the public, but also for businesses.
Taxpayers in Hull not only want, but need to benefit from competition. It is vital for any local economy. We will be doing everything we can to achieve this goal.
UPDATE:
I have been contacted by KCOM, and have been informed that according to their records the business I wrote about was suffering from a fault in their hardware, and it was not a fault with the line. They have also informed me that unless there was a lightning strike on an exchange or on the underground or overhead copper cabling to your home, an electrical storm shouldn’t affect your broadband, however I have still not received an explanation as to why there was a problem with the broadband service on Tuesday 25 October which did occur during an electrical storm.
Photographs courtesy of Carl Minns
Last Wednesday I wrote about our new campaign to end KCOM's monopoly in Hull. Last Saturday a group of us were out on the streets of Hull collecting signatures for our petition (you can sign the online petition here).
We got a great response. There is no doubt that almost everyone in the city wants a choice in who supplies their telephone and broadband services. This was the message coming back to us over again. We also know people feel they are paying too much, and suffer from poor download speeds.
One member of the public also told us how the company she works for recently lost business as they were unable to accept chip and pin payments because of a fault on the line. She said it took two weeks to repair the fault.
Dominique Lazanski and I met with KCOM on Monday and presented our case to them. It was a productive meeting, although as you will no doubt appreciate, there were some differences of opinion. To give you an example, they were unaware of the problems of broadband speeds during a recent electrical storm, although they did say they would investigate this issue.
When you add up the costs of broadband, and the problems many of us experience, this can easily add as a disincentive for those who are thinking of relocating their businesses in the city, or for those who want to start a new business. When broadband goes down in this way, it causes serious disruption for not only members of the public, but also for businesses.
Taxpayers in Hull not only want, but need to benefit from competition. It is vital for any local economy. We will be doing everything we can to achieve this goal.
UPDATE:
I have been contacted by KCOM, and have been informed that according to their records the business I wrote about was suffering from a fault in their hardware, and it was not a fault with the line. They have also informed me that unless there was a lightning strike on an exchange or on the underground or overhead copper cabling to your home, an electrical storm shouldn’t affect your broadband, however I have still not received an explanation as to why there was a problem with the broadband service on Tuesday 25 October which did occur during an electrical storm.
Photographs courtesy of Carl Minns
We got a great response. There is no doubt that almost everyone in the city wants a choice in who supplies their telephone and broadband services. This was the message coming back to us over again. We also know people feel they are paying too much, and suffer from poor download speeds.One member of the public also told us how the company she works for recently lost business as they were unable to accept chip and pin payments because of a fault on the line. She said it took two weeks to repair the fault.Dominique Lazanski and I met with KCOM on Monday and presented our case to them. It was a productive meeting, although as you will no doubt appreciate, there were some differences of opinion. To give you an example, they were unaware of the problems of broadband speeds during a recent electrical storm, although they did say they would investigate this issue.
When you add up the costs of broadband, and the problems many of us experience, this can easily add as a disincentive for those who are thinking of relocating their businesses in the city, or for those who want to start a new business. When broadband goes down in this way, it causes serious disruption for not only members of the public, but also for businesses.Taxpayers in Hull not only want, but need to benefit from competition. It is vital for any local economy. We will be doing everything we can to achieve this goal.
UPDATE:
I have been contacted by KCOM, and have been informed that according to their records the business I wrote about was suffering from a fault in their hardware, and it was not a fault with the line. They have also informed me that unless there was a lightning strike on an exchange or on the underground or overhead copper cabling to your home, an electrical storm shouldn’t affect your broadband, however I have still not received an explanation as to why there was a problem with the broadband service on Tuesday 25 October which did occur during an electrical storm.
Photographs courtesy of Carl Minns
Last Wednesday I wrote about our new campaign to end KCOM's monopoly in Hull. Last Saturday a group of us were out on the streets of Hull collecting signatures for our petition (you can sign the online petition here).
We got a great response. There is no doubt that almost everyone in the city wants a choice in who supplies their telephone and broadband services. This was the message coming back to us over again. We also know people feel they are paying too much, and suffer from poor download speeds.One member of the public also told us how the company she works for recently lost business as they were unable to accept chip and pin payments because of a fault on the line. She said it took two weeks to repair the fault.Dominique Lazanski and I met with KCOM on Monday and presented our case to them. It was a productive meeting, although as you will no doubt appreciate, there were some differences of opinion. To give you an example, they were unaware of the problems of broadband speeds during a recent electrical storm, although they did say they would investigate this issue.
When you add up the costs of broadband, and the problems many of us experience, this can easily add as a disincentive for those who are thinking of relocating their businesses in the city, or for those who want to start a new business. When broadband goes down in this way, it causes serious disruption for not only members of the public, but also for businesses.Taxpayers in Hull not only want, but need to benefit from competition. It is vital for any local economy. We will be doing everything we can to achieve this goal.
UPDATE:
I have been contacted by KCOM, and have been informed that according to their records the business I wrote about was suffering from a fault in their hardware, and it was not a fault with the line. They have also informed me that unless there was a lightning strike on an exchange or on the underground or overhead copper cabling to your home, an electrical storm shouldn’t affect your broadband, however I have still not received an explanation as to why there was a problem with the broadband service on Tuesday 25 October which did occur during an electrical storm.
Photographs courtesy of Carl Minns