A small village in Wiltshire is playing host to a brand new super-fast wireless broadband trial as part of an exercise by Virgin Media to examine how feasible rural wireless broadband connections are for home users.

Chapel Plaister, near Corsham, has been chosen for the trial which will see Virgin Media team up with telecommunications company Vtesse Networks in order to offer high speed connections to properties within the isolated hamlet.

The trial will lead into a wider set of tests in which the next generation of broadband technologies are being provided to various customers around the country as the deadline for universal broadband availability draws closer.

Vtesse and Virgin Media hope that they will be able to offer customers connections that far exceed the 2Mbps minimum as laid out in the Government’s Digital Britain bill.

The trial in Chapel Plaister will begin in early 2010 and is complemented by a number of other trials taking place in Cornwall in which cheap cable broadband using fibre optic technology is being made available.

Vtesse CEO Aidan Paul commented that the new home broadband technologies being tested by his firm would ideally provide high speed broadband to those living in areas currently bereft of broadband availability.

Mr. Paul made it clear that he is not confident that the 2Mbps target will be reached in rural areas, with land line connections for home users either too expensive or limited by line length. Wireless broadband and the possibility of cheap cable broadband for residents in these areas could be the ideal solutions if industry backing and commercial success are assured, according to Mr. Paul.