Highland News 10th November 2005 Broadband holds key for teleworkers RECENT surveys have shown that almost 5.5 million Britons spend part of their week working remotely from home. In the Highlands however, only six percent of all workers are teleworkers compared with ten or more percent in London and the South East. "However this trend is likely to change now that BT is rolling out broadband to more and more rural exchanges," said Kirsty Pryer, managing director of local internet service provider Calico UK. Broadband technology offers several advantages to the home worker over a modem connection to the internet. "The most obvious is the speed," Kirsty explained. "Broadband generally comes in three download speeds or bandwidth -512kb/s, 1024kb/s or 2048kb/s. The higher the number, the more data you can download in the same amount of time, which speeds up the transfer of large files such as emails, or surfing the net." Compare this to the relatively pedestrian speed of around 50kb/s for a standard modem and you can see why broadband is attractive. Broadband also has the advantage of costing a fixed amount each month, regardless of usage. Plus it is an 'always on' technology, so you don't have to hang around waiting to dial up to the internet. "When you get such a high quality internet connection in your home," Kirsty concluded, "working five days a week in the office is fast becoming a thing of the past."