WITH the deadline for Broadband advance orders looming today (Friday), Alton had still not reached its advance order quota when The Herald went to press on Wednesday.

With a quota of 263 advance orders for Broadband internet services required by BT before it will enable the local telephone exchange, BTÕs figures indicated on Wednesday that Alton was still Ôone or two per centÕ away, despite a call in last weekÕs Alton Herald for a final push in orders.

With success so close however, BT indicated that failure is still unlikely, even if the figure has not reached 263 by today.

Speaking on Wednesday, spokesman for BT Wholesale Anna Brain said: ÒAs the situation stands today, Alton is still one or two per cent away from the amount of advance orders needed to enable the exchange.

Looking at the current trends that have been observed in other areas, Alton should have made the target by FridayÕs deadline.

ÒIf for any reason Alton does not make it, then all is not lost. The Merthr Tydfil exchange was recently in a situation where it was very close to its target, but did not make it by the specified date. In this instance, we extended their time period by another week, and conducted promotions locally to help with take up.

ÒWe want Alton to succeed, and when an exchange is this close, we will do everything we can to help out.Ó

Despite this encouraging news, there have been questions raised locally about the pre-registration and advance order processes that BT has been using in its rollout programme for Broadband services.

Many local people feel that if the processes used had been more efficient, then the various thresholds met along the way could have been reached far quicker, preventing the shadow of doubt that still hangs over the Alton exchange.

Duncan McGregor, one of the founders of the BroadbandAlton campaign that has been working for months to promote Broadband locally, said: ÒThere have been some problems for some people when trying to place their advance orders, and these have been seen with most ISPs.

ÒIt seems that BT has been making up its policy as it goes along, and while I am not against this, I think it would have been better to publish the processes at the beginning to minimise confusion.

ÒIf people are still having problems with placing their advance orders, then send me an email at [email protected]">[email protected], and IÕll do my best to help sort it out.

ÒThe system has taken some time to settle down, but it was not well conceived in the first place. It hasnÕt worked well, but the important thing is that it has worked, or at least, very nearly.

ÒBT Wholesale seems to have an appreciation of people doing things locally to get broadband into their community, and where locals have supported them, BT seem to be giving support back.

ÒI am not thrilled about putting somewhere in the region of 400 man-hours into promoting BT, but we always said that if thatÕs what it takes to get broadband services into Alton, then weÕd do it.Ó