VILLAGERS have slammed BT for offering a super speed internet connection they say the company knows it can’t provide.

Residents of Oakenshaw, near Willington, were told Fibre Optic broadband was available to them with a minimum speed of 24.1mb per second.

However, after switching to a BT supported service, one resident found he was only getting speeds of 6.7mb per second.

Chris Tapp, who writes computer software and works with companies like NASA, relies on a speedy internet connection to work from home.

He returned to an independent internet provider after a stint with BT.

“The line was in a fault state from day one. It went up to about 14mb per second but soon dropped back down to 6mb.” He said.

“Before I switched I was getting 11mb per second and it was £150 a year cheaper. With the broadband from BT the work I was sending from home was taking 15-20 minutes to go through."

John Spencer, chair of the Oakenshaw Community Assosiation (OCA) said: “They have brought BT Fibre Optic cable to a BT box in Willington, 1.6km away. From there onwards it is simply the old cable.

“The village has been offered Fibre Optic broadband, but in reality we can’t have it.”

Mr Tapp added: “We had several engineers from BT come out and try to fix it and one of them even said that we won’t get it here because of how far away we are from the box.”

The OCA contacted BT direct to address the issues, as well as the local MP and the county council.

A letter from BT said the Government’s commitment is for UK customers to have a minimum speed of 2mb per second.

Jon Houston, also a resident of Oakenshaw added: “I nearly switched to BT but didn’t because I heard how slow the speed was.

“It’s like the old days when you had to set it away and then go and make a cup of tea waiting for it to start up.

“It seems like they are knowingly selling a service they cannot provide."

A spokesman for BT said: “We would like to apologise to the community of Oakenshaw about the lower than expected broadband speeds achieved following the upgrade to fibre broadband.

“We are looking at ways this can be improved and in the meantime have updated our checker systems to accurately reflect the current speeds available.”