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Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (6th Nov 2021 - 08:16:49) Hi Liphook You may or may not be aware but you are eligible to apply for free ultrafast broadband for your community (go here and enter your postcode: openreach.com/fibre-broadband/community-fibre-partnerships ). The houses covered in each application will become apparent as the application progresses. I have done this for our part of Liphook (broadly the estate behind Sainsburys). We are at the next stage of the process so if you haven't already done so, you can pledge here www.openreach.co.uk/dontmissout. Once we hit 100% of the target the installation of Gigabit fibre can get underway, increasing speeds from c. 40mb to 500mb+ Many thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Helpful Person (6th Nov 2021 - 16:23:25) Not my area, but just wanted to point out it is also worth registering interest with Grayshott Gigabit and Swish as they are both planning builds in the local area, and obviously they are funding any top up needed beyond grants themselves (obviously from the profits they intend to make). grayshottgigabit.com swishfibre.com

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - paul earwicker (6th Nov 2021 - 18:13:38) Hi, Thanks Neil for the link, applied for Midhurst road Liphook.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Peter (6th Nov 2021 - 22:00:39) Someone out conford/passfield way posted the same sort of thing about 5 years ago and then every few months since and is still going about it. Sounds like it never lands What confuses me here is you claim to have 40Mb already which is more than enough for a large family to work stream and play. What next? you want 10Gb switching in the home?

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - D (7th Nov 2021 - 07:34:49) Another sales pitch for Openreach? When my phone line wasn't working I found Openreach became out of reach. Other providers are available.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (7th Nov 2021 - 10:33:31) Hello D This isn't a sales pitch for Openreach. They carry out the infrastructure work but then householders are free to choose broadband from any of the available providers. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Jen (7th Nov 2021 - 18:20:03) Sorry to disappoint but I suspect the whole thing is yet another slice of pie in the sky from the government. Nothing ever actually happens with these schemes. People go to enormous lengths and great efforts to put in an application, have hundreds of people enter pledges etc. You get an acknowledgement email and are told that there's a backlog so you have to wait... and wait.... and wait a bit more. Then, surprise surprise! The scheme you signed up for is cancelled and replaced by a wonderful, new and different one, which has slightly different entry requirements and slightly different options. And you have to start all over again. And so it goes on.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (7th Nov 2021 - 20:53:40) Hi Jen You don't try, you don't get. I'll let you know how we get on. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Richard (8th Nov 2021 - 08:43:18) @Peter. 10Gb sounds a great idea in the home. Maybe I should start fibreing up now!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (8th Nov 2021 - 12:42:29) Hi Peter 40mb down speed will quickly become obsolete as data requirements for TV (once everything is 4k, then 8k) and other streaming services increase. Remember the times when a 1mb broadband connection seemed lightning fast compared to dial up? A good up speed is equally important, particularly when saving large documents to a company server, for example. For a bit of effort we can get a free upgrade to future proof our properties. No brainer. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - passfield resident (8th Nov 2021 - 14:21:19) As far as I am aware, Passfield was supposed to get this but the funding wasn't available once the hoops had been jumped through. Does remind me of the govt bike servicing vouchers which were inadequetely funded. This government is big on talk but short on fulfilling its promises. Saw an internet ad for Nigel Farage's current venture the other day-it starts with him saying "Haven't you noticed how everythiing is becoming more expensive". That's the world we live in, where the right have lost any pretense of dealing with people honestly or serving the public or their constituents. Politics is just a gravy train (pig trough would be a better description) to them.Farage and Cameron were two of the biggest players in Brexit, but while they are lining their pockets we are suffering the consequences.Faster broadband was an manifesto commitment, wasn't it?

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Passfieldian (8th Nov 2021 - 14:50:39) Good luck, I hope you get plenty on board and meet the target. Just to let you know, we reached our target for Passfield and Conford area within the deadline and it still hasn’t happened. The team running it have had to be in touch with the MP etc. Wishing you lots of luck.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (8th Nov 2021 - 14:58:36) Hi everyone We're at 57% of the pledge target so far, keep spreading the word and get your neighbours involved if they're on the list (see first post). Many thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - D (8th Nov 2021 - 17:07:00) Is it common practice to publish all these addresses, Neil? Don't you think it's pressurising people to have this work done? If you published my address like this I would be none too pleased.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Jen (8th Nov 2021 - 17:41:26) I'm in Passfield. I remember being so excited watching our percentage of take-up going up. It was such a good feeling in January this year when we reached 100% of our target and then beyond. We were fully funded, with plenty to spare and submitted well within the deadline. We had confirmation from Openreach and were told that all we had to do is wait. On 18th January an email from Openreach said "You should shortly receive an email from the DCMS regarding your Gigabit Broadband voucher, please respond within 28 days". None of us ever received the promised email. Then the scheme was changed. Good luck with your venture, Neil. But, as I said earlier, I suspect the whole thing is a bit of a con. BJ seems to be rather good at those.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (8th Nov 2021 - 18:10:05) Hello D A house name and number is not personal data. I will ask the editor to remove them though if you are that bothered. @editor please remove the addresses Thank you for all of your negative input to what was meant to be a helpful post to improve the infrastructure of our estate. I hope you're pleased with yourself. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - T (8th Nov 2021 - 18:45:28) Well said Neil.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Helen (8th Nov 2021 - 18:51:41) Neil Well done for kicking this off. I live in a road in Hill Brow Liss and we started this process earlier this year as our download speeds were shocking. The process moved very quickly for us once we had reached our 100% and now the whole road has the option of fibre to premises. Our house was the first to be connected and we now enjoy speeds of over 450mbs - it’s fab! I would say though that our providers are BT and it was easier for those of us with them than others who had providers like Sky or Plusnet as some of these companies are not yet set up to deliver fibre to premises. Ignore the naysayers - it really is worth doing - not sure what has gone wrong with Passfield but that was definitely not our experience.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Richard (8th Nov 2021 - 19:36:52) I am curious why Plusnet was having problems, as they are owned by BT

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - D (8th Nov 2021 - 19:45:20) Neil, I agree that publishing a list of addresses is not personal data, what it pertains to could be regarded as so though. But it's clearly something we're going to have to agree to differ on. I apologize if you consider my input negative. I think it wonderful that Openreach took two weeks to restore my phone line.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - C (9th Nov 2021 - 09:32:24) To D I believe that this list of addresses (now removed) reflects everyone who responded to the letter that Neil put through the letterbox of every property on the Canada Way estate so they, like me, have already expressed an interest in this project. I had no issue with part of my address being shown and in fact Neil had also emailed with a reminder.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - K (9th Nov 2021 - 09:55:05) Neil, Well said. As one of those whose address was listed, I have no problem with it being shown and I really appreciate your efforts to improve the broadband speeds. It might not happen any time soon, but it is well worth trying. Thanks mate, K

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Penny Williamson (9th Nov 2021 - 13:57:45) Well said Neil. It is a wonder these days that anyone tries to get anything done - the negativity their efforts receive is draining. Your posts have been courteous and it sounds as though you are not too discouraged - I hope this is the case. In my own personal experience the people who are the most negative and critical are those that contribute absolutely nothing to help society. They are too busy being negative and critical usually behind a keyboard. The world needs pro-active people like you.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - rolli (10th Nov 2021 - 09:18:41) Sometimes though DoGooders are oversensitive to criticism. Its not as if the precedent hasn't been well set on TalkBack.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Penny Williamson (10th Nov 2021 - 13:27:28) I don't quite understand your post Rolli. Are you saying that people who are proactive in our society and want to help people are "Dogooders"? If you are, then I profoundly disagree with you.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Julian (10th Nov 2021 - 17:07:58) Hi Neil et al, I have been heading up the Passfield & Conford Community Fibre scheme and more than happy to share our frustrations with Openreach and DCMS. Despite the offer of assistance from Hampshire County Council nothing has been forthcoming. We hit our target of £675,000 in January 2021 and in one month we actually hit pledges of £820,000. Since this time our Vouchers have been awaiting approval & funding with DCMS. Unfortunately for us, it's not a question of hitting target and then it happens. There is also much bureaucracy involved. We have a Facebook page for anyone interested in reviewing our scheme to date ... facebook.com/groups/ultrafastinternet Neil, I would be more than happy to chat if you are available? I'd be happy for the Editor to pass on my contact detail Regards, Julian.

Ultrafast broadband - getting there - Neil (15th Nov 2021 - 19:03:17) Hi everyone Update: We're currently at 83% of the required total pledges! Click here to pledge (it's for the estate behind Sainsbury (St James' Park)). openreach.com/fibre-broadband/community-fibre-partnerships/connect-my-community If you've already pledged could I ask a cheeky favour: please can you speak with your neighbours / anyone you know on the estate and try to get their support. This is a great opportunity to have lightning fast internet speeds, protecting the value of your property. It would be amazing if the next update was to confirm that the campaign is fully-funded. Many thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (20th Nov 2021 - 09:33:02) Morning all Another update, we're now at 93% of the required number of pledges meaning we only need another 3 or 4 people! It's for the estate behind Sainsbury's (Canada Way etc). Despite 2 notes through doors and posting on here, fewer than 50% of the houses have signed up. I realise that people are sceptical of change or might think it's a scam but really it's not. Please continue to spread the word. Many thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Paul J (24th Nov 2021 - 09:28:05) For transparency, could the person or persons campaigning for ultrafast broadband disclose what their personal interest is in this please? For instance, what industry they work in (e.g. VR gaming, that might require ultrafast broadband in order for them to WFH)? Not knocking the idea, I'd like to know why this is so important to them when 'generally' broadband speeds in the area are more than adequate for domestic and WFH use. Thanks.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - C (24th Nov 2021 - 09:55:45) The personal interest is getting much better broadband for themselves. AS a by product it will be improved for everyone in the Canada Way estate. Many of us work from home now and fast broadband is essential. Why does anyone think there is anything dodgy about this?

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (24th Nov 2021 - 18:29:23) Paul J Original poster here. My only 'vested interest' is improving the speeds available to me and protecting the value of my property. For the younger generation internet speed is now one of the first questions that gets asked when buying a house. Whether you like it or not, it's a fact. In my opinion, the current speeds are not adequate for the modern world. We have 2 people who WFH full time, one of whom runs training courses via Zoom for paying clients, as well as 2 children who use online services. We've often experienced speed issues with concurrent use. Not very professional. The up speeds are pretty terrible to be honest, which is half the problem. From a leisure perspective, a lot of new console games are now digital download only. The recent release Forza Horizon 5 is 100gb and took me 8 hours to download using all of the bandwidth. With this free upgrade that might be more like 30 minutes. Purchasing and downloading a Friday night 'spur of the moment' 4k film would take an hour but with ultrafast that would be more like 2 minutes. You catch my drift? Interesting you mention VR gaming, as I was Head of Finance for a VR games studio in my previous role. No reason why VR gaming would be particularly data intensive, by the way. Hope that addresses your queries. Many thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (24th Nov 2021 - 20:21:05) As a light hearted aside (we all need a laugh sometimes!) the main drawback of getting faster internet is that the Liphook TalkBack negativity will load faster!!! Neil ;)

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Joe (24th Nov 2021 - 21:25:52) Just curious, a question for the original poster, as the amount of bandwidth your household is trying to use seems more suited to a business use. Would going down that route get you a faster broadband speed?

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (25th Nov 2021 - 04:54:57) Joe The speeds available in a property are determined by the infrastructure. Whether on a business or consumer package the limiting factor in our case (and in a lot of the UK) is the copper wiring under the ground going from the cabinet to the properties. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Sam (25th Nov 2021 - 07:04:50) Have seen a number of these campaigns to garner support on the Liphook site, the big one was the conford campaign that started many years ago with sign up to this etc and it went on for years, popping back up over and over across years and it got quite boring eventually. Have you tried knocking these peoples doors? You know where they live, it would be a lot more effective I’d also update your network drivers on your devices and check your equipment as 2 people doing Zoom calls can’t swamp 20mb upload or 40mb download, many people perceive network problems as purely bandwidth when often it can be something as mundane as drivers, wifi signal or interference etc. Speeds of 40/20 should be enough, zoom themselves say bandwidth of 1.5 is needed and one to one video calls typically use 0.6

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (25th Nov 2021 - 08:54:12) Hi Sam Thanks for the info. We have enough people now so are moving onto the next stage of the process with Openreach. Our up speed is most likely the problem as it's 6mb maximum on a good day but is sometimes slower. To be honest, the problems have been most noticeable when my wife is on a video call (she is teaching up to 1,500 people at s time) and I'm saving large files (20mb Excels or 60mb PowerPoints, for example) to the work servers. It struggles then. All drivers etc up to date. A while back I got a much better router (TP Link AC2800) and have given QoS preferences to our work laptops. Plus my wife's laptop is hardwired. So I think we've done what we can to alleviate potential bottlenecks. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - M (25th Nov 2021 - 09:36:59) Good luck with your endeavours and I hope you get your Fibre to Premises broadband. I do, however, think your terminology with regard to costs could be seen as a little misleading. To say ".........With this free upgrade that might be more like 30 minutes......." is a little misleading. A quick Google around comes up with Full Fibre 900mb prices from around £60 per month, where as I believe most people don't pay much more than £25/30 per month for Fibre to Cabinet broadband (we pay £23 for line and broadband and receive 32mb, which does everything we need). For those happy to pay for a premium service then please go for it, but remember it's not a free upgrade, you have to pay for it one way or another.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Sarah (25th Nov 2021 - 10:17:33) Just in reply to Sam and the ‘boring’ nature of the Conford/Passfield scheme, those of us who live in Conford and Passfield have terribly slow broadband and old wiring, all coming from the little exchange in Passfield. So it isn’t boring to those of us who live here who have been trying to improve things for several years. I understand you might mean the constant call to arms over it, but it’s important to realise that many pockets in and around Liphook have not benefited from what is automatically updated and on offer to others, because of poor infrastructure in those areas. Our similar Conford/Passfield scheme was completed several months ago but has not been straightforward in progressing, with the local MP now involved fighting our corner - since we had everything in place before the deadline. Hopefully now progressing again but we shall see. The involvement of our local MP might reassure those unsure of signing up to these schemes, who presume these schemes are a scam or have a catch.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (25th Nov 2021 - 11:53:14) Hi "M" That's a fair point. I've just done some research on Sky prices, which is who I'm with. Conclusion is you could end up paying more if you go for the fastest speeds, but you will probably get speed gains even if you don't pay more. My current package is called 'Superfast', which gives up to 59mb/s (we actually get 35mb/s). £33 per month. This is the fastest package available for FTTC. 'Ultrafast' is also £33 month but only works if you have FTTP. Average download speed is 145mb/s. 'Ultrafast +' is £45 month and gives average speeds of 500mb/s. So, with my provider at least, I'll benefit from more than double the speed (which is still a great increase) for no extra groats. Or if I want to splash out £12 a month (2 or 3 pints?) I can go really speedy. The packages you quote for £60 would be an option for people, but not a requirement. Let's not try and put people off, hey? We're doing this for the benefit of the neighbourhood. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - er (25th Nov 2021 - 12:12:17) Neil, the latest top 3 tips for a happy marriage can now be updated to read: 1) Buy her flowers 2) Takle her out to dinner 3) Do not upload large work files (ie 60mb PowerPoints) to your work servers if your upload speed is 6mps and while your wife is on a video call teaching 1,500 students! All the best with your project!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Chris S (25th Nov 2021 - 17:28:28) I lived in Liphook about 8 years ago on the Headley Road and in terms of broadband speed downstream it was around 18 mb/s in those days. When I moved further south for family reasons speed was around 2.5mb/s. This made working from home impossible. Through a lot of local campaigning and involving the local MP we now have up to 900 mb/s via FTTP. We choose to go for 150 mb/s downstream with an upstream speed of 32 mb/s at £32pm. This means no delay either upstream or downstream. I can remember when I first worked from home in London and the speed at best was around 56kps so downloading an individual email took several minutes and a PowerPoint presentation was several hours. My perspective is that Neil is absolutely spot on here. This is about helping now and future proofing for what may be. I am not going to say that my life has been revolutionised by far faster internet speeds but I will say it makes a very positive difference. Best of luck Neil!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Julian (25th Nov 2021 - 19:35:11) Just to share our experiences ... We have been working on the Passfield & Conford Community Fibre Partnership scheme with Openreach for nearly three years now. The project is very much alive, but these things take a long time to get through. There are many Fibre Partnership Community groups on Facebook, all experiencing the same frustrations and delays as we are. As Sarah mentioned, we are still receiving invaluable support from Damian Hinds and Cllr Debbie Curnow-Ford. And Sam, its been quite interesting actually ;-) Openreach and DCMS often look at these schemes not on a "road-by-road" basis, but on a "value for money" basis. This can often mean updating the infrastructure in the entire area to benefit the entire town, village or community. To improve Liphook Internet speeds I understand that NEW fibre would be required from Haslemere to Liphook (7Km). This has significant time & cost alone. Funding for such projects is never guaranteed. Once our own project hit 100% target, Openreach processed our application with DCMS, however the HCC budget had already been allocated elsewhere. We had to wait a further year to see if we could get funding in next financial year. We are very nearly there now and hope to hear the decision in a few days. Its still not over the line. With our Community scheme, when applying for a Voucher each applicant agreed (in the small print) to double their current speed within 2-months of the fibre being installed. Bear in mind you might have to pay the additional cost for the superior FTTP service. From similar community schemes, its also worth noting that some providers don't offer FTTP right away (if at all) so you may need to change providers to get FTTP. This may be an issue if you are already in a mid-term contract or have a bundled offering (Internet, TV, mobile & calls) that a new provider may not support. It is certainly worth checking what your scheme actually requires in greater detail. As Neil mentions, its of great benefit for the community and hats off to him for taking this onboard.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (10th Jan 2022 - 20:42:25) Hi everyone I hope you all had a great Christmas break and are well. Brief update: For those who registered previously, Openreach has confirmed that the emails from gov.uk will shortly be with us so we can formally pledge our vouchers for the upgrade. Please keep an eye out on your inboxes. Many thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (22nd Mar 2022 - 19:59:02) Hi everyone The Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport has recently sent out emails to the people who indicated interest in the upgrade for the formal pledging of Hampshire County Council vouchers. If that includes you and you haven't seen the email, please check your spam folders. I got in touch to clarify a point with Openreach as the wording in the DCMS email referred to signing up with Openreach for 12 months. Here's an excerpt of the response: "...you have to sign up to a provider on the Openreach network. As we are only a network provider and not a service provider you can’t sign up with us anyway. You can choose from any of the providers that use the Openreach network so your initial thoughts are correct. We are trying to see if we can get DCMS to change the wording on their email." Any questions, please let me know. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - C (23rd Mar 2022 - 11:31:03) Thanks Neil. I've received an email with a voucher number but I'm not entirely clear what to do next. Is the infrastructure now in place or does redeeming the voucher just mean that it can now be add to the exchange etc? If it's now all good to go, I'm still under contract with my supplier (PlusNet) for a few more months so do you think I can contact them to upgrade now? Do I need a new router (I'm using a TP Link router not the one provided by PlusNet)? Any assistance to this Luddite much appreciated!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (23rd Mar 2022 - 21:35:51) Hi You need to click the link in the email and follow the instructions. Once enough vouchers have been pledged then in theory at some point (who knows how long given Openreach and DCMS are involved) the cables will be upgraded. Once that's been done you'll need to switch to an ultrafast subscription with you existing or a new provider. If a new router is needed for that I assume they would provide. Although if you have a decent TP Link you should be fine (don't quote me on that). Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - C (24th Mar 2022 - 06:58:08) Thanks Neil, I thought there was nothing immediate other than pledging the voucher but just wanted to check. All done and fingers crossed!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (12th May 2022 - 08:51:18) Update - the laying of the new fibre cable started yesterday and is continuing today. They estimate 3-6 months till it goes live. Who was it again on here who said this would never happen? Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Pete (12th May 2022 - 10:23:10) Thank you Neil, excellent news!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Jen (12th May 2022 - 10:23:38) Hi Neil, it was me who said that it wouldn't happen, as I was going by my own experience of the voucher schemes that have come and gone in the past few years. Clearly I was wrong though and it's just Passfield that it applies to!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Sarah2 (12th May 2022 - 11:17:28) Jen - the Passfield scheme is also going through, it has been approved, but is taking longer because our upgrade is beginning with infrastructure in Haslemere. So all good in Passfield as well!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Jack (18th Aug 2022 - 12:33:30) Hi all - do we have an update on works being completed? Just now followed link to pledge a voucher - hopefully we have the numbers. Thanks

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Neil (19th Aug 2022 - 08:23:53) Hi Jack The latest update I have from Openreach is that the engineering work is scheduled to be completed by the end of September. The application covered most, but not all, of the houses on the estate behind Sainsbury (Canada Way etc); some of the houses on the edge of the estate must be on a different loop. I've seen people around on various days laying cables along the roads and there's a big green cabinet they've installed next to the Millennium Centre. Thanks Neil

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - C (2nd Mar 2023 - 17:27:59) Does anyone know how Swish links with the Gigabit Broadband Voucher that we were encouraged to apply for last year? I’m wondering if I’ve made a mistake going with Swish? I’m now getting emails from Open Reach saying I have to sign up with a provider on the Open Reach network. Does anyone know if these can be ignored?

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - M (3rd Mar 2023 - 16:38:36) The Swish Fibre network is nothing to do with the BT network, it's a completely separate network so I imagine that any vouchers associated with the BT network will not be applicable. We looked at going with Swish last month when our broadband contract came up for renewal but decided against it. Although Swish say they won't increase the price mid contract they could very well increase it substantially when you come to renew, and by then you're tied to Swish as your BT line has been disconnected and you won't have the option to shop around and choose from multiple suppliers that use the BT unbundled network. The cheapest Swish option is £30/month, free for the first 6 months, but what will it be after 18 months? We got a reduced price on our Plusnet contract (which was already competitive) and the speeds we have are more than adequate for our needs. You make your own choice, that's what a free market economy is all about!

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Richard Rowson (3rd Mar 2023 - 19:34:07) BTs existing ADSL/VDSL network (ie. phone lines) will all be switched to a new fibre technology by 2025, ie within the next three years. BT are going to have to lay fibre under the Universal Service Obligation to most locations, so in the future we should have a choice of Swish and BT based providers. I expect prices will go down in areas where BT have competition.

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - sam (3rd Mar 2023 - 23:42:41) Key point being = Make your own choice This is the opposite of "I bought a house in a terrible internet area yet am going to spam the death out of all my neighbours after I realise am getting 1mb download and then blame that on everyone else and work across dozens of media to participate in some scheme" which never works

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - C (4th Mar 2023 - 09:37:54) Thanks for explaining that the Swish network is separate from the Open Reach network - I already understood that! My question was about the terms and conditions of the Open Reach Gigabit vouchers - can Open Reach penalise in any way those of us who were persuaded on this site to sign up to the voucher but who have since gone with Swish?

Re: Ultrafast broadband - if you live in one of these properties, your help would be appreciated - Richard (4th Mar 2023 - 17:48:22) Swish Fibre in and working. I went for the 150Mb package, as it is nearly three times faster than what I was getting. For those who care about such things, when quiet the unloaded latency is 5ms, rising to 6ms at peak time. The installation team were clean, efficent and tidy, and like all contractors, I gave them coffee and let them use the bathroom. The actual installation was very discreet. I am still curious what the BT offering will be, as they are not able to quote a price for this area, but indications from other (fibre enabled) areas were similar costs for the basic package. But SF can provide the service today! Overall, I am very pleased.

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