In a surprising twist of digital disparity, an English village, despite the nationwide rollout 26 years ago, remains without broadband. The saga of delays and cancellations has left it disconnected from the modern world.
Residents of Godshill, nestled in Hampshire, have been embroiled in a 14-year struggle to secure broadband access. Their lengthy wait has fostered a sense of neglect, as promises continually fall short.
This small community of 500, located within the picturesque New Forest National Park, was assured broadband services by both the UK government and Wessex Internet. Yet, repeated failures have left many villagers still without Wi-Fi connectivity.
In a disheartening development, Godshill was excluded from the £16 million Project Gigabit in March. This initiative, funded by the government, intended to bring advanced internet to remote areas, yet many residents remain tethered to outdated Victorian-era copper wiring.
Project Gigabit’s mission is to deliver swift and dependable broadband to even the most isolated locales, aspiring to cover 99% of UK households by 2032. However, Godshill’s future in this digital network remains uncertain.
In the absence of a broadband upgrade, villagers have resorted to costly alternatives. Some pay up to £100 a month for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, while others are reliant on the local holiday park’s Wi-Fi to stay connected to the digital realm.
If villagers do not pay for expensive Wi-Fi or resort to workarounds, locals face internet speeds of just 1Mpbs, which is not fast enough to send emails with attachments.
In a final attempt to get broadband installed in Godshill, villagers have said their last ‘recourse is to kick up a fuss’.
Kevin Moore, 68, a retired accountant who moved to Godshill with his wife eight years ago, said sorting broadband ‘has been my obsession’ after mooted upgrades repeatedly fell through.
Godshill, Hampshire, has been without broadband since it was rolled out in Britain back in 2000
Many frustrated villagers have been forced to pay for expensive broadband such as Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Wi-Fi
Pictured: Kevin Moore, 68, a retired accountant who moved to Godshill eight years ago with his wife, said their Wi-Fi would cut off after 4pm
He said: ‘I’ve been trying to sort it out and we kept being told it would be sorted by different people.
‘When we first moved in we got a letter saying broadband would be upgraded in three years, then we got a letter saying it would be a couple more years, and that carried on.’
Mr Moore said his Wi-Fi cut out at 4pm and that he and his wife never saw connection stronger than 25Mbps, so the couple paid for a pricey upgrade.
‘If you have a higgledy piggledy house like us that can block the signal. I have a sort of mancave that only gets 4 or 5Mbps. I would stream things, but it just doesn’t load and all just takes forever’, he added.
‘We’ve now taken the jump into Elon Musk’s world with Starlink. It was a huge hassle to set up, it took me days. But it’s stellar compared to what we were getting.’
Broadband was first rolled out in Britain in 2000 and more than 96 per cent of households now have it, figures show – but Godshill has remained in the four per cent missing out on Wi-Fi.
Some homes in the remote village were upgraded by Openreach to fibre broadband in 2012 and the rest of the properties were promised an upgrade – but it never came.
Wessex Internet informed villagers and the council in December 2023 that Godshill was in its publicly-funded Project Gigabit rollout that would cover all 159 homes not to have been previously upgraded.
Peter Woodward, 62, vice-chair of Godshill Parish Council, said many elderly residents need a stable internet connection for their fall alarm systems
But Godshill was let down by the scheme, after it was amended and no longer included the village, leaving residents feeling ‘simply dropped’.
Wessex Internet said that a private company – which is unconfirmed – would introduce broadband to the area in the future.
Yet many elderly villagers could not wait for an upgrade and purchased Musk’s Wi-Fi as their fall alarm systems went digital.
Without a stable internet connection, many of the older residents lived in fear of not receiving help if they suffered a fall or were hurt in their own homes.
Peter Woodward, 62, vice-chair of Godshill Parish Council, said this ‘worrying’ issue has been ongoing since 2012.
He said: ‘Our only recourse is to kick up a fuss. The village has about 500 residents and the original plan had 159 homes covered.
‘People are struggling to reach speeds of one, two, three, four Mbps so they are resorting to using 5G or paying for Starlink.
‘The age profile of the village is quite old and one of the issues is that they’re moving everything onto digital.
‘A big concern with people who are elderly is that with the copper wires being taken out or made defunct their fall alarms aren’t working.’
The parish council’s chairman Richard Fell described the situation as ‘deeply concerning’.
He said: ‘We were part of the Government’s original rollout plans, and now we’ve been removed on the basis that someone else will deliver – yet no-one can tell us who that is.
‘We are not an isolated or unviable location. Fibre is already being deployed in surrounding areas. We have simply been dropped. This is exactly what rural communities were told would not happen.
‘Instead, we are seeing promises made, plans announced and then communities quietly being dropped.’
Godshill is a rural village in Hampshire with a 12th century Iron Age hill fort and a church.
The 500-person village has a 100-year-old pub called The Fighting Cocks as there used to be a cock pit in the area.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: ‘We are actively reviewing the situation, and we will explore all possible ways to ensure properties in this area receive the connectivity they deserve.
Our commitment to achieving 99% gigabit coverage by 2032 remains strong. Over 1.3 million hard-to-reach premises have been upgraded to faster broadband thanks to government funding.
‘We continue to collaborate with all suppliers to deliver fast and reliable broadband to hard-to-reach communities throughout the UK.’
Wessex Internet was also approached for comment.
