Although many rural communities have benefitted from broadband, overall they have fallen well short of advantages for most urban areas and the situation in rural areas is noticeably inequitable. High speed broadband improves access to services, quality of life, and business viability – one third of Britons working from home now live in rural areas. Most urban communities take for granted Internet banking, downloading music, eBay and BBC iPlayer; benefits that we would like to see everywhere.