Hopes are high that a survey launched by Wokingham Chamber of Commerce (WCC) will help to identify current broadband blackspots and notspots in the borough.

The poll will feature 18 questions, ranging from the type of services used by residents and businesses while they are online, to the current speed of their broadband connection and whether it supports Skype and other technologies.

Finchampstead resident Michael Noak, a member of the executive board at WCC, compiled the survey after becoming increasingly frustrated with the quality of broadband services currently available in the area.

Speaking to Get Wokingham, Mr Noak revealed his anger at the lack of fast connectivity began in 2000, when he was living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while his wife remained in Wokingham.

"I had faster wireless broadband in Kinshasa in the middle of a low-intensity civil war than my wife could have here," he claimed.

Mr Noak said he is confident the questionnaire will flag up any parts of the borough that are struggling with particularly poor broadband. This in turn will highlight communities that will benefit most from government funding to subsidise the rollout of next-generation broadband networks.

Explaining the scheme, Mr Noak stated: "The whole point of this campaign is not to say we are fed up but why are we fed up and what are we going to do to fix it?

"We want to understand what the coverage is in the borough."

The campaign against slow internet access in Wokingham has been championed by local MPs Dr Phillip Lee and John Redwood, both of whom have pledged to raise the subject in the House of Commons.

Earlier this month, Get Wokingham revealed BT is due to complete the rollout of fibre optic broadband in Finchampstead by this June, having twice delayed the deployment.

Last November, the telecoms giant pushed the work back to December 2012, but now looks set to move the project forward.

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