About the Digital Villager Website.

I moved into Harrietsham around 18 months ago and the one thing that I really needed improve my access to work was Broadband Internet.

Unfortunately, BT did not deem Rural areas viable for upgrade to ADSL during the early stages of the ADSL roll-out, and it was at this point I decided to start a campaign for Broadband. I joined forces with an existing Campaign in Lenham and we began a plan of action.

The first step was the creation of the website, detailing what Broadband was, and how it could be beneficial to the local area. We then moved onto word of mouth, adverts in the local press, telephoning the local councillors for their support as well as a reasonable amount of footwork to go and see people.

We contacted local businesses and operated a registration program whereby we could take registrations on behalf of people who did not already have an internet connection.

The key moment for us, was when BT announed that all Trigger levels on exchanges would be reduced by 50 to mark the passing of the 100,000 ADSL enabled homes. At this point we only required another 40 registrations. We managed to obtain these within 6 days of the reduced trigger.

3 weeks after we attained trigger, BT issued an RFS (Ready for Service) date of 29th October, and the campaign was hailed a success in the Kent Messenger.

So what now?

Well, my interests lie in computing so I have decided to keep the Harrietsham-Online site up and running for the time being, to offer assistance to those of you that would like to upgrade to Broadband, but are unsure of the technologies available. Or you would just like to know more about this exciting development in the Internet world.

Hopefully, you'll find the answers here, or on some of the pages that we link to.

Thank you for your support during the Campaign.

Paul.