'Not spot' irony of fibre-optics boss (From Basingstoke Gazette)

'Not spot' irony of fibre-optics boss

5:00pm Sunday 21st March 2010 in

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HE’S the managing director of an IT company which provides fibre-optic cables for customers – but Jonathan Dorrington is unable to benefit from the same cables being installed by BT to deliver super-fast broadband because he lives in a ‘not spot’ area of Basingstoke.

Mr Dorrington, of Purple Communications lives in The Crofts, Hatch Warren, with his wife and two-year-old daughter, and often works from home during the week.

His company relocated to Basingstoke recently after setting up two years ago, but the 34-year-old is forced to drive to work regularly because the poor Internet access where he lives restricts what he can do from home.

BT is installing fibre-optic cables across parts of Basingstoke to provide super-fast broadband for customers, but Hatch Warren is one of the areas that has been missed off their roll-out plan.

Mr Dorrington (pictured) said: “Where we are, our broadband is beyond a joke – it’s very slow. It has a detrimental effect on how we run the business.

"We are based in Chineham on the business park but we also work from home a lot of the time, and trying to send large attachments via this sort of broadband is impossible.”

The company has a network of engineers located around the UK to work remotely, and Mr Dorrington provides them with job allocations in the form of attachments via email.

This reduces the need for engineers to commute to the head office in Basingstoke, keeps costs down and reduces the impact on the environment.

Mr Dorrington said: “I find it a little ironic that we design and install high-speed fibre optic networks for our customers but we cannot receive the same service where I live and work.”