FOR husband-and-wife architect team Rhian Woods and Andrew Francis, slow broadband speeds in rural Watlington hamper their business and personal lives.

They run Purple Architects from an office in their garden, and their 6mbps connection is not enough. Ms Woods, 43, said: “Even during the day when we’re using the internet for research and using things like Google Earth, it is slow.

“Then, when our children come home in the evening and want to stream something from iPlayer, it’s constantly buffering.

“We sometimes work late, and it’s very slow in the evenings. We also have to email fairly large drawing files. A typical drawing can be about 10 megabytes, and that can take a long time.”

Ms Woods and Mr Francis, 55, say they “get by” with their connection, and it doesn’t stop them doing what they need to do, but their business and home life could be more efficient if they had access to faster broadband.

Ms Woods added: “We’re in the centre of Watlington, which is likely to benefit from the county council’s scheme, but it’s not likely to do anything for the most rural areas.

“The possibility that these areas could be covered by some kind of community broadband scheme is being explored, so hopefully between the two of them the whole area will improve.”