ADSL registration cheats don't prosper

Broadband cheats have been warned not to fiddle BT Wholesale's broadband pre-registration system.

The scheme - launched earlier this summer - allows people to register their interest in broadband even if they live or work in an area currently not wired up for ADSL.

The theory is that if enough people register their interest (around a third of the UK is unable to access ADSL) BT will upgrade their exchange for broadband enabling them to hook up to high-speed Net access.

However, it seems some people have artificially inflated the figures by adding names and addresses from the phone book in a bid to get their exchanges upgraded in double-quick time.

ADSLGuide reports that exchanges at Todmorden, West Yorkshire and Westhoughton, near Bolton, have had their numbers reduced following an investigation by BT Wholesale.

It seems those monitoring the pre-registration scheme became suspicious when they noticed large jumps in the numbers of people registering their interest in ADSL.

However, even if these bogus entries had gone through and the exchanges had met the trigger point for upgrade, three quarters of those who registered would still have to make a firm order within six weeks before BT would splash the cash and DSL-enable the exchange.

A spokesman for BT said: "The scheme only works if registrations are turned into firm orders." ®