INTERNET users have been urged to join a local campaign to bring faster and better computer services to villages around Petersfield.

At present only a handful of the villages which surround Petersfield are able to receive Broadband - a high-speed digital internet line that is capable of carrying data ten times the speed of a conventional modem - while the majority miss out.

Headley Down resident Peter Moxham is hoping that residents in local villages will be able to force BT into providing the service by registering for it.

Broadband services allow for faster downloading, smoother video and audio streaming and quicker MP3 loading.

Another major benefit of Broadband is that it is always switched on, eliminating the wait to connect to the web, and that it does not affect the service of householdersÕphone lines, allowing users to make and receive calls while online.

However, to receive Broadband services premises have to be located within approximately five kilometres of the nearest telephone exchange, which must be fitted with the appropriate ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) technology.

And BT is not equipping all of its exchanges with the essential equipment, costing £250,000 per upgrade, arguing that there is a lack of demand in some areas of the country.

This means that rural villages with smaller populations, and even some areas of large towns and cities, are missing out.

The telephone company has promised that it is reviewing the demand for each exchange and, should there be an increase in interest, it will set a Ôtrigger levelÕ.

This means that it will set a figure, and if that number of people register an interest it will provide the service.

Liphook and Bramshott residents need 350 people to register an interest, and so far 106 have done so.

Grayshott, which is connected to the telephone exchange at Hindhead, has 141 people registered but a threshold of 400 to pass.

But many of the other villages around the area still do not know the size of the task they face, as BT has not yet set a trigger figure and will not do so until sufficient initial interest has been shown.

People who register an interest in receiving Broadband do not have to take it up or be a BT customer and, once the service is provided by BT, can purchase it from a different provider.

But the road to the information super-highway is not even running smoothly for some of those residents whose nearest exchange has been converted.

HordeanÕs exchange has been re-equipped to provide the Broadband service, but some residents in Clanfield who are connected to it live too far away from it to receive the service.

Instead they have to wait until BT develops new satellite technologies before they can hook up to Broadband.

For more information or to register your interest log on to BTÕs special broadband website at http://www.broadband1.bt.com">www.broadband1.bt.com