ANGRY Torfaen villagers are calling for urgent improvements to their internet connections saying download speeds were up to 80 times lower than in other parts of the UK.

The residents of Llanfrechfa are effectively stuck in the dark age of the internet with copper lines giving web users speeds of between 0.5 to 2 megabit per second.

A few miles away households are able to use a fibre optics broadband package called BT Infinity, which boasts speeds of around 40 megabit per second.

The download speeds are a constant topic of conversation at the Gate pub in the village.

Landlord James Dawson, a former IT data communications engineer, has had to install a second phone line in the pub.

Mr Dawson, 60, said: “Everybody here has had appalling broadband for as long as they can remember.

“You are lucky if you get 1.8 megabit per second.

“I’ve had to install a second line for my customers to access the internet. It’s been awful.

“It’s not just the pub. People come in and every once in a while someone will have a moan."

Llanfrechfa resident Tony Pead told how a neighbour completely lost their internet connection when someone called them on their phone.

Mr Pead is the chief officer of an IT communications company, called Celerity Information Services Ltd, based in Kent.

Mr Pead has not been able to establish whether BT plans to install the optics based broadband infrastructure needed to increase download speeds.

Mr Pead, 58, said: “At the moment it’s like being down a tunnel and you can’t see any light at the end of it.”

Mr Dawson added: “It kind of riles me. I have contacts in the industry but I don’t get anywhere with it. It is very frustrating.”

The issue has also been raised by Torfaen Cllr Huw Bevan and the Monmouth MP David Davies.

A spokesperson for Superfast Cymru said: “We would like to confirm that the exchange area of Llanfrechfa does come under the Superfast Cymru programme and we expect access to superfast broadband speeds to be available before June 2016.”

“Until further detailed works of the area are carried out we’re unable to give a more exact time as to when superfast broadband will become available in the area. Issues that can have an influence on when each individual broadband structure within an exchange area will be ready to accept orders can include the local geography, availability of suitable technologies, planning applications, the provision of electricity to the new roadside cabinets and even the weather.”