A petition to bring super fast broadband to Kent has racked up almost 13,000 votes amongst disgruntled businesses and households.

Although thousands of businesses across Britain have voiced their support for similar campaigns, connection problems are especially evident in the Kent area.

The large majority of residents can only gain speeds of 256 kilobytes per second and that's through a temperamental connection. Businesses from the towns of Sevenoaks and Swanley have been linked up to receive improved speeds, but the technology hasn't made its way into the wider areas of Kent.

Kent County Council (KCC) announced on twitter.com that they'd received a total of 12,933 votes from residents through a form available on its website. The response, council officials hope, will help bring connections of up to 2 megabytes per second to 90 per cent of local homes and businesses by 2015. 

Talking to thisiskent.co.uk, KCC cabinet member for business strategy said slow speeds are hindering the service of the many local companies - preventing them quick access to their dedicated servers - which is why the petition should not be undervalued. 

"To many people and businesses, a good broadband connection is a vital utility. And for many businesses, poor broadband is crippling and better broadband would help them compete," Mr Gough stated.

"The value of better broadband should not be underestimated and I hope many thousands more people will sign up between now and the end of the campaign in June."