We are due for the latest set of Census figures this month, but the last Census back in 2006 showed 50 per cent of Tenterfield had an internet connection.

That was six years ago, and the world has moved further into the online age. That figure can only have increased - and probably dramatically.

At that stage, nearly as many people were using dial-up as broadband.

Today, a fast, reliable connection is seen as critical to not only those who use computers for business, but the many people who use it for personal reasons.

There were probably quite a few people who were looking forward to a more immediate online connection to the world around them.

Unfortunately for those who live in town, that will not happen until 2015 - at the absolute earliest.

When you live in a rural area, you do expect that you will not receive the same services - or the same level of services - that cities receive. After all, they are catering for a far larger number of people.

You know things are going to be slower and sometimes more difficult.

That’s why it is cheering to hear that people outside the town will see something happening soon. Bear in mind though, that they will be paying the same as city people for a lesser service.

But 2015 for the town of Tenterfield? Who knows what might have been invented by that time.

This is a clear indication that we are hardly even on the map as far as communication services are concerned.