BT have told a retired scientist that it he wants his "ridiculously slow" broadband coverage improved it will cost him around £40,000.
David Henthorne was quoted the eye-watering amount to enhance the service at his home near Buxton in the Derbyshire Peak District.
The provider told the man that due to how isolated his home is, he would have to pay to install the infrastructure to improve his internet connection.
DerbyshireLive reports that he would have to dip deep into his own pockets if he wants anything accept snail mail going forward.
David had been experiencing internet speeds of 2 megabits per second, which is way below the national average of just over 22Mbps.
He had been with his broadband provider since 2002 - but as his reliance on the internet increased, he noticed that his service was completely unsuitable for everyday tasks.
During lockdown he found it impossible to shop online.
David said: "I have an Amazon fire stick to watch films, but it was buffering every other minute and made it look like I was watching the film through a window with rain on it.
"During lockdown I used online supermarket shopping, but my connection was so slow the tab would time out before I could order everything."
To try and fix the slow speed David reached out to BT in January 2021 to discuss improving his broadband speeds.
It was then he was quoted £40,000 to deliver him a broadband service under the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO).
The Broadband Universal Service Obligation was legislated for in 2018 and it gives eligible premises in the UK the legal right to request a decent broadband connection with an affordable monthly service charge.
The legislation says that if the cost for work is over £3,400 (BT’s contribution) then the end user can pay the excess costs and still get an upgrade.
The price of the work is dependent on factors such as location, and how many will make use of the connection.
The cost of digging up roads to fit cables, as well as paying engineers to carry out the work, were all contributory factors which resulted in the £40,000 quote David received.
David said: "I am so far away from everyone that they would have to put fibre cables in for basically just me."
Through his own research, David explored alternative broadband solutions and enquired about National Broadband's 4G-based solution, which is a home internet service that uses 4G rather than a fixed line, such as a phone line or fibre optic cable.
Within a week of contact, David was set up a much faster connection taking advantage of 4G-based broadband.
Benefiting from speeds of 20Mbps, David described the 4G solution as a "miracle".
He added: "I am now able to get on with my day-to-day online activities and talk to friends and family online and hassle-free."
A BT spokesperson said: “The quote provided to Mr Henthorne was the cost of delivering a broadband connection under the Universal Service Obligation in January 2021.
"We’re pleased that Mr Henthorne has since been able to find an alternative connection.
"Although the cost of delivering broadband services to some areas remains high, we’ve improved the support available to customers to fund USO builds, including an option for communities to share the cost of a USO connection between them.
"Last year, we changed our USO approach in a couple of ways.
"First, we launched a crowdfunding platform to support communities to crowdfund the costs for delivering a broadband service.
"And second, where the broadband build was to a number of properties, in some cases we are able to commence that build once the first resident pays their share of the cost, rather than waiting for full payment. I.e. if a build to 10 houses has a total cost of £50,000, then we would start the build when the first resident paid their share (£5,000) rather than waiting for the entire cost to be paid up front."
Whilst for David his situation has improved, Ofcom estimates that there are over 600,000 properties in the UK that find themselves in a similar situation to David and that are simply unable to access a reliable broadband service via fixed landline networks.
