Middlemarch residents have been fast to engage with a Government initiative that could rid the ''tourist hub'' of its slow internet connection.
Strath Taieri Community Board and Middlemarch Promotions Group member Noel Matthews said he was campaigning for Middlemarch to be selected for the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative.
Broadband speeds in Middlemarch needed to be faster.
''The download and the upload speeds are very slow.''
The speed of the broadband in Middlemarch homes fluctuated between 480Kbps and 2.5Mbps.
A consistent speed of 5Mbps would be desirable, he said.
Better broadband was needed because Middlemarch was a tourist destination on the Otago Central Rail Trail.
Mr Matthews owned a trail company, Rail Trail Planner, and last season there was a ''huge increase'' in the number of international tourists visiting Middlemarch.
The tourists expected to have access to reliable broadband, preferably a WiFi connection, he said.
''We are a tourism hub and the expectation for visitors is they should be able to connect with good internet.''
Mr Matthews said Digital Office project manager Josh Jenkins would hold a community workshop in Middlemarch to ''get a feel'' on what the community wanted and understand the level of digital use and digital skills in the district.
The date of the workshop would be announced soon, he said.
The Rocks Station and Accommodation owner Lynnore Templeton, of Middlemarch, said rural people were more reliant on the internet than urban people.
''Because we are isolated, we depend on it heavily for all aspects of our lives . . . you can't just pop into your bank or your accountants; you have to do an awful lot of it online.''
Middlemarch sheep and beef farmer Bales Elliot said he paid 95% of his accounts using a computer.
''Good [internet] access is important because this is what we run our businesses on.''
Middlemarch resident Norma Emerson said the best time to access the internet in Middlemarch was between 1am and 7am.
Better broadband would stop rural people moving to the city, she said.
''If people had decent technology, they can stay in their little country town to do their business and not have to move to the big city. If rural areas have the same advantages that city areas have, you won't see your rural areas become depopulated.''
Her husband, Richard Emerson, a brewer at Lion owned Emerson's Brewery, used broadband when he worked from their Middlemarch home for two days a week, Mrs Emerson said.
''Sometimes he comes out of his office and says, `Ugh, let's go take the dog for a walk,' because the internet has come to a standstill.''
Digital Office project manager Josh Jenkins said the office would lobby the Government on behalf of Strath Taieri, Middlemarch and Otago Peninsula for the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), a wireless broadband solution and lobby for Outram, Waldronville, Waitati and Warrington for the Ultra Fast broadband (UFB) extension.
The next stage of the lobby work included creating a plan with communities over the coming weeks to prove residents would use a faster connection, if available.
The greater the involvement, the greater the chance a district got a better connection, he said.
Residents could email the Digital Office at josh@digitaloffice.co.nz or contact their community board, he said.
