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Temple Guiting - a form of wireless rural broadband. Like Sheepy Magna ...

With BT still insisting on a couple of hundred households in a rural exchange before it will consider even installing broadband, wireless mesh technology is being effectively sponsored: and the magical rural names of the Cotswolds are now joining the areas covered by high speed Internet.

There are only 20 householders in the area, but even so, a startup company, Node Broadband, has managed to get the three evocatively-named villages of Temple Guiting, Ford and Cutsdean linked together with technology provided by eHotSpot a Wireless ISP in East Yorkshire.

The wireless Internet company, which has appointed Node Broadband as its local representative, will be supplying the backhaul over satellite broadband, since no high-speed data links are available in this sleepy and picturesque area just west of Morton in Marsh and Stow on the Wold.

The network will go live second week February. "Node Broadband has two administrative offices. The Gloucestershire office handles clients in the South and South West. The Warwickshire office handles clients in the Central and Northern regions. Other larger areas currently being enabled are Twycross and Sheepy Magna," reports Node Broadband founder, Terry Anderson.

Having started this venture as a way of getting his own village connected to the Web, Anderson is now looking to spread the broadband infestation - he's looking for business in other rural areas. Telling people that they only have to find 15 households will get his foot in several muddy doors.

"It is our aim to ensure that Broadband Internet access becomes a reality for all regardless of their location in the UK," says Node's web site. "We consider customer satisfaction to be our ultimate goal. There are a number of companies offering broadband services within smaller communities, but our research has found that many are asking for up to 80 registrations and this is delaying the installation for many months."

Anderson says: "We have yet to come across one which has a trigger as low as 15. We don't believe that you will get Broadband as quickly from anywhere else."

Contact: if you don't have broadband you'll probably want to phone or write:

52 Barnsley Close, Atherstone, Warwickshire, CV9 2DG

Telephone:(44) 01827 718 624 Fax: (44) 01827 713 375