AFTER months of campaigning, Mellor residents have collected enough signatures to be switched on to broadband.

The 'Broadband 4 Mellor' campaign, launched last June, reached its 'trigger level' of 350 signatures on Sunday.

The 'trigger level' represents the number of residents who need to show an interest in upgrading their telephone lines, before BT will invest in a system upgrade.

Campaigner Ian Hodgson, said: "We were very pleased when we found we had reached our trigger level.

"350 signatures represents about a quarter of the people in Mellor.

"BT have started upgrading the exchange already so we think we'll have broadband up and running within the next couple of months."

Broadband operates at up to 40 times the speed of a standard modem Internet connection and enables users to use the telephone at the same time as being 'logged-on'.

More and more broadband campaigns are being set up as people come to realise the benefits of high speed Internet connection.

Last July, 11-year-old Joshua Fisher successfully campaigned for Wilpshire's exchange to receive a broadband upgrade, and received a personal tribute from BT chief executive, Ben Verwaayen, as the youngest campaigner in the country.