Internet on Berneray, Outer Hebrides, depending on the tide

The residents of the island of Berneray off North Uist in the Western Isles had to wait a long time before they could get hooked up to the broadband network that many of us now take for granted. But the islanders are having problems..
..with failures in their connection and it seems that it is all due to the tide. The distances involved had made a landline impractical, so the link is being provided by radio transmitters. However, radio waves do not travel in a totally straight line and can be reflected off various surfaces. It has been found that the high tide is creating enough reflections to cancel out the main signal and knocking it out of phase.

It seems that Berneray is the only location in the Western Isles where users have to check the timetable for the tide to see whether it's worth trying to connect to the Web. Now that the engineers are aware of the problem, they are to instal another relay site closer to the residents. All the British Telecom exchanges in the Highlands and Islands have been upgraded to provide broadband except one - and the island of Foula is scheduled for May.