Homebuyers warned: beware broadband blackspots – Telegraph Blogs

Homebuyers warned: beware broadband blackspots – Telegraph Blogs

Prospective buyers of property today need to consider a risk that would not have troubled homeowners 20 years ago: are you buying into a broadband blackspot?

Rising numbers of people who work from home – and many others who do not do so – regard decent online access as a necessity of modern life. While it may be charming to know that your country cottage or converted farmhouse was built hundreds of years ago, it may become an expensive nuisance to learn you are virtually excluded from the worldwide web.

With most rural areas depending on copper wire – rather than fibre optic – telecommunications to and from exchanges which are often more distant than is the case in urban areas, internet connections can be achingly slow.