BRITISH Telecom (BT) has denied it is snubbing internet users in Worcester keen to get quicker broadband.

As previously reported in your Worcester News, residents in Warndon Villages say they suffer from poor internet connection speeds.

The issue was raised at last month’s parish council meeting. It was decided a BT representative should be called to explain the problem.

“BT said there was a national programme of improvement and they cannot see that Worcester is on it so I asked them about the speed and the gentleman said we should be getting 3MB, not 1.2MB,” said Mr Bishop at Monday’s meeting.

“I have also asked them if they would send someone to talk to us and they refused point blank and said they do not send people to talk to residents.”

After your Worcester News contacted BT, Emma Tennant, senior media relations manager for the North West and West Midlands, said the company was willing to send somebody to talk to residents in Warndon.

She also said it was wrong to suggest BT was not looking to make improvements in Worcester because different parts of the company are working on a number of different projects all the time.

She said: “Warndon Villages may not be part of the super-speedy broadband project at the moment but there are different projects going on and different improvements in different areas all of the time.”

She urged customers to call their service provider to discuss their problems.

Internet speed is dictated by the distance from the BT telephone exchange – the further from the exchange, the slower the speed.

Houses in Warndon Villages are serviced by the exchange in Fernhill Heath.

Warndon parish councillor John Buckley suggested putting an advisory note in the parish newsletter about the issue.

“There are lots of people paying for the maximum speed and they could save a lot of money because it is not possible to get it,” he said.