Full-fibre broadband is set to reach another part of the village Further to last year’s FTTP scheme for the top of Doctors Hill a second group of 30 properties at the bottom of Doctors Hill and in Newtown Road have accepted an offer from OpenReach to install ‘Fibre-to-the-Property’ (FTTP). The contract will give residents and businesses the ability to choose a FTTP provider and level of service from 30Mbps to 300Mbps, which is approximately 100 times faster than currently! The contract cost is fully covered by the Government’s ‘Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme’, and the service will start sometime in the next 12 months. Another advantage of FTTP is that you no longer have to have, or pay for, a ‘landline’. Your existing phone number can be transferred to the much higher quality digital service. It is also noted that FTTP monthly costs have fallen dramatically in the last 12 months and it could now be cheaper to have an FTTP service than households currently pay for broadband.
If you are part of either of the above two schemes you will already have been contacted by your local broadband co-ordinators John, Sarah or Eric. Community thanks to all three for co-ordinating and sorting the paperwork.
Anyone else in the village who is currently getting a miserable broadband service is encouraged to seek a similar scheme. The political situation is improving, vouchers are larger and FTTP installation prices are rapidly decreasing as technology improves and demand increases.
The latest schemes final costing was a third of the initial Openreach estimate and the
lowest price per property seen locally. At £670 per property rural gigabit vouchers worth £1,500, residential and £3,500 per business (small sole traders count) will easily cover the scheme costs. Check your cabinet connection and available options using http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome Register your interest in a community fibre partnership on Openreach website https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/community-fibrepartnerships/
Do email if you have any questions about setting up a local scheme. We now have community models that work. John & Ursula, broadband@sherfieldenglish.org.uk