Broadband reaches Fair Isle

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2005 18:43:33 +0100
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Broadband reaches Fair Isle

Hi Dave:

In view of recent breast-beating about US broadband provisions
lagging behind those of a number of other counties, I could not
resist drawing your attention to an article in yesterday's (UK)
Guardian newspaper about broadband reaching the tiny remote Fair
Isle, way to the North of Scotland.

Cheers

Brian

> Remote access: high speed internet link brings Fair Isle into the 21st century
>
> Isolated island embraces broadband alongside the crofts, sheep and sweaters
>
> Gerard Seenan
> Saturday April 16, 2005
> The Guardian
>
> Beside the knitwear and the late night, honey-tone mention on the
> shipping forecast, there is little to draw attention to Fair Isle.
> Revelling in the title of the remotest inhabited island in Britain,
> it is a difficult place to get to, and, in the long, blustering
> winter months, even more difficult to get off.
>
> A tiny fleck of cliff and moor jutting from the sea between Orkney
> and Shetland, Fair Isle looks, on paper, about as far removed from
> modern Britain as it is possible to get. But the islanders do not
> think of themselves as isolated.
> ...
> As BT announces that 5 million people in the UK now have a broadband
> connection, it is not just cities and towns that are being changed
> for ever by high speed connections. Late last summer, a broadband
> connection by satellite link was established on Fair Isle. There is
> no telecommunication cable to Fair Isle and the link sounded the
> death knell for the microwave connection, which can support only a
> few calls at a time, between the island and the mainland. In the
> months that have followed, almost half of the 20 homes on the island
> have signed up.
>
> Fair Isle, miles from anywhere, cut off for weeks in the winter
> months, is the very edge of Broadband Britain.
> ...
> Mr Wheeler - weather forecaster, coastguard, airport manager,
> website designer, photographer, electricity company director -
> arrived on Fair Isle more than 30 years ago. Then he used to make
> around 80% of his living from crofting, 20% from outside work. Now
> that ratio has inverted. On the mainland, that would seem a change
> hardly worthy of note. On an island as isolated as Fair Isle, it is
> remarkable.
>
> To get to the island you must first fly to Shetland, stay overnight
> and rise early for the tiny Islander plane or, for those with strong
> stomachs, the ferry. The plane leaves Tingwall airport, a couple of
> small buildings a few miles from the main Shetland town of Lerwick,
> with its seven passengers on board. One sits up front with the
> pilot, seat belt on, like a passenger in a private-hire taxi.
>
> For 10 airborne minutes, there is nothing to see but deep blue
> punctuated by the spittle fleck of waves. Then Fair Isle appears on
> the horizon. An island of about 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, it
> stands alone in the sea; lighthouses at each end mark its danger to
> unwary seamen. The plane lands on the small, unsealed airstrip.
...

Full story at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1461186,00.html
-- 
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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