The Hampshire parish that claims to have the slowest internet speeds in the county

The villages of Bighton and Gundleton, east of New Alresford, were passed up for superfast broadband in the 2010s.

With one green cabinet connecting hundreds of families - some living as far as two miles away - some locals experience broadband speeds of less than 5mbps (megabits per second). For comparison, the national average is 64mbps.

Residents say there are a number of everyday struggles that put them behind the rest of Hampshire.

At a recent Hampshire County Council meeting, Bighton resident Jonathan Booth said that the parish 'doesn't want to be left behind' and pleaded with Openreach for the area to be included in plans for gigabit speeds across the county.

It comes as the county council gears up for Project Gigabit, which will bring speeds of 1,000mbps within the next eight years.

At the moment Bighton and Gundleton are not included in Openreach's plans, but the firm has said it is working with residents on a solution.

One resident, who lives in Bighton but didn't want to be named, said: 'A number of us have been campaiging for faster broadband speeds for a good few years now.

'Where I live close to the box my broadband speed is okay, but for those who live further out, particularly in Gundleton, they suffer quite badly with slow speeds and intermittent connection.

'In a world where we're relying more and more on e-consultations with GPs and businesses are going cashless, we need reliable broadband.

'The fact that parents have to weigh up picking their children up from school with whether they can actually complete their homework at home isn't acceptable.'

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Bighton and Gundleton previously attempted to sign up to the government's broadband voucher scheme, with a 90 per cent takeup.

However, Openreach quoted an upgrade price that was 'extortionate' and included households outside the village.

Another resident said: 'The infrastructure is the main problem. Not only do we only have one box, but some of the cables running to the houses aren't even copper ones - they're aluminium.

'Hopefully Openreach will have some news for us in the next couple of weeks. We're really keen to catch up with the rest of the country.'