INTERNET users believe some people in Oxfordshire will still struggle to get superfast broadband despite £5.6m of new funding to roll it out to 4,600 homes and businesses.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire scheme, which started just over 18 months ago, would use the money to immediately begin phase two and connect 95 per cent of properties in the county by the end of 2017.

The roll-out will extend to 77 postcode areas that have not yet been linked up to fibre broadband, including parts of Wheatley, Marston and Northway, North Hinksey, Wallingford, Kidlington, Bicester and Hook Norton.

The funding has been welcomed by many, but some residents in areas that are so far unconnected are not convinced by the plans.

Viki Heil, who has been fighting to have broadband installed in her home on the Kingsmere estate near Bicester for more than three years, said she found it hard to believe promises that another 4,600 homes would get connected.

She said: “We are meant to have it by January. We have got some broadband but it is not superfast so it is only 3.5mbps to 4mbps. The new funding is good news but lots of things are promised and nothing comes.”

Better Broadband for Oxfordshire, led by the county council and BT, is on track to connect 64,500 homes and businesses by next month, meaning 290,000 – or 90 per cent of the county – will have access to superfast broadband.

But Paul Phillipson, of Fernham, near Faringdon, said he was not confident everyone would get it.

The 52-year-old technology consultant has access to broadband delivered through radio because fibre cables could not be installed in the village.

He said: “We want fibre and we are not in the middle of nowhere – we are 15 miles from Oxford and 10 miles from Swindon. Even now they have this money, they will not revisit the fibre solution for us.”

County council cabinet member for business Nick Carter said people in rural areas would benefit from the second phase even though some areas would still be hard to connect.

He said: “It was always going to be problematic to reach those farther-flung, more isolated commun- ities. I really do appreciate the situation of people in more rural areas.”

Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey, who is also MP for Wantage, said the extension of the scheme was particularly beneficial for businesses in the county.

The Vine Inn in Cumnor suffered from problems in February when its internet connection cut out for two weeks but has since had a fast internet connection. Manager Ricardo Silva said it was important all businesses in the county benefitted from superfast broadband and he was delighted with the county council’s work so far.

But Graham Shelton – who was part of a group of Northmoor residents forced to raise funds to install broadband because the village was not covered by the scheme – said rural areas might prove tricky to connect.

He said: “It is good to set ambitious targets – we would never have got to the moon if we did not – but we should not underestimate how hard this can be.”