When the Internet took off in the run-up to the millennium, futurologists were predicting that anyone with an office job would now be able to work from home.

Instead of wasting hours commuting to work, we would be sitting in an upstairs bedroom, with the whole world available at the click of a mouse.

But unfortunately, we are all spending longer on our daily commute — partly because communications have not kept pace with our growing need for data.

The problem is worse in rural areas. Dotcom entrepreneur Matthew Hare is on to his third company — and he still does not have fast broadband at home in Stanton Harcourt.

A resident since 1999, the founder of ultrafast broadband provider Gigaclear has a unique insight into the problems of Internet users who live in rural communities.

Mr Hare previously ran CI Net in Kidlington before selling it to MDNX in 2010. When he sold his second company, ts.com, which offered web-based ticketing, he knew just what to do next.

He said: “When I ran Community Internet (CI Net) we provided Internet services to small and medium-size businesses.

“Typically they had up to 20 to 30 people working at home, all on DSL, using copper phone lines. There were endless problems.

“Performance was not good enough in rural areas. Every time it rained people would drop off their network and couldn't do their work.”

Despite £1.2bn of public spending to boost rural broadband, he says many communities will still be cut off. The Government project involves installing fibre-optic cable to the green cabinets used for BT phone lines, but he said not everyone will benefit.

“People who are more than a kilometre from the fibre-optic cabinet are not going to see much improvement and not everyone’s telephone line is connected to a cabinet. Lots of phone lines are connected directly to the exchange."

Oxfordshire County Council says 90 per cent of the population will benefit from the BT project, but in several villages, people have got fed up with waiting.

One of Gigaclear's first successes was the village of Appleton, with Eaton and Besselsleigh, where more than 150 households now have broadband.

It followed a two-year campaign by residents annoyed that they could not download films or watch TV via the Internet — and by home-based businesses who need fast connections for video calls On Skype and for sending large amounts of data.

He said: “In Standlake there are 183 direct exchange phones. That is one of the reasons why Standlake is trying to get enough people to subscribe to our service for us to be able to connect them.”

As well as improvements in the productivity of broadband-enabled firms, the Government says faster broadband will create an additional 56,000 jobs in the UK by 2024 and the work involved in the current roll out is expected to provide a £1.5bn boost to local economies, with approximately 35,000 jobs created or safeguarded over the period to 2016.

By 2024, the Government’s current investments in faster broadband will be boosting rural economies by £275m a month, said Culture Secretary Maria Miller, who last month announced a further £250m for ‘hard-to-reach’ areas.

“Superfast Broadband will benefit everyone — whether they need it for work, to do homework or simply to download music or films.

“We want to make sure that Britain is one of the best countries in the world for broadband, and the extra £250m we are investing will help ensure communities around the UK are not left behind in the digital slow lane,” she said.

By the summer, Gigaclear expects to have about 150 contractors working on digging up roads and pavements and installing the fibre-optic cable needed for faster broadband.

He said: “It is messy for a few weeks but once installed it's there for 50 years, passing as much data as people want.”

Digging is under way in Stanton Harcourt, with almost a third of residents signed up.

“Hopefully at some point in April I will get a broadband service myself,” Mr Hare added.

Next in line could be Otmoor communities Beckley, Noke and Horton-cum-Studley, plus Stanton St John and Watereaton, with interest from Kingston Bagpuize, Southmoor, Wootton and Boars Hill.

The company is also busy in Kent, Rutland, Leicester and Hampshire.

Mr Hare is philosophical about the fact that none of the huge public contracts came his way.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticised the Government for "mismanaging" the project by awarding all 26 rural broadband contracts to BT and he hopes lessons have been learnt.

But he is not waiting with bated breath for a slice of the £250m extra Government funding.

Malcolm Corbett, head of the Independent Network Co-operative Association, hopes smaller community-based schemes will be recognised in the new grants.

Mr Corbett said: “There are a lot of independent suppliers who can offer a much better deal for the taxpayer.

"Some of the alternatives to BT require far less state aid and they are offering fibre to the home which is a future-proofed technology meaning bandwidth ceases to be an issue."

Mr Hare said: "We can build a viable business on a commercial basis, but we could probably do it quicker if we have Government grants."

One way forward has been pioneered by Northamptonshire County Council, which has launched a programme of loans to create superfast services, which Gigaclear intends to join.

Contact: 01865 591100 Web: www.gigaclear.com