Broadband speed areas announced

CONNECTING CHESHIRE has revealed the first areas that will benefit from its plans to speed up broadband in Cheshire. 

[caption id="attachment_114" align="alignright" width="500"] Fibre Broadband signs such as this one will soon be a common feature across Cheshire. Picture: Flickr/Ell Brown[/caption]

More than 15,000 premises are set to benefit from the first phase of investment from the end of March 2014, with high-speed broadband coming to over thirty outlying and rural communities across Cheshire.

Acton Bridge, Barton, Central Chester, Christleton, Clutton, Davenham,Great Mollington, Guilden Sutton, Kelsall, Lach Dennis, Norley, Tarporley,Tarvin, Tattenhall, Weaverham and Wincham are all of the areas listed under Cheshire West and Chester Council that are set to benefit first.

Bill Murphy, managing director of next generation access for BT Group, was keen to emphasise the economic benefits of the scheme. He said: “Fibre will have a significant impact on the local economy. We know, for example, that small businesses form a key part of the local economy in rural areas.”

“Faster broadband breaks down the barriers to doing business in the digital world like online trading, which helps to empower those small businesses to find new markets, sell new products, try new models and compete on an equal footing with larger businesses.”

The Connecting Cheshire project was launched in April 2013, following the signing of contracts between four Cheshire councils and BT, which will see a total of £28.5m spent of fibre broadband investment in the county.

This investment plans to bring fibre broadband to 96 per cent of Cheshire, extending the network to over 80,000 premises in the process. As a part of the plans, some 400 fibre cabinets and 875 miles of fibre optic cable will be laid as BT’s engineers work to upgrade the county’s infrastructure.

As a result, 96 per cent of Cheshire premises will have access speeds of up to 80Mbps as a result of the scheme, in contrast to Cheshire’s current average speed of 16Mbps.

Local residents and businesses can check the coverage by visiting www.connectingcheshire.org.uk/check-availability to find out more.

To view the Connecting Cheshire broadband roll-out information and coverage map, visit www.connectingcheshire.org.uk and click the Check Availability tab.

Chester Intelligencer reporter, Sean Lunt

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Breaking down broadband

As part of its plans to bring fibre broadband to 96% of Cheshire, Connecting Cheshire recently revealed the areas that are part of the first stage of their plans. As part of a £28.5million deal with BT, the network will be expanded to over 80,000 premises across the county so that everyone can be ‘Superfast’. However, for those amongst us who aren’t tech savvy all of the information and jargon can be a bit confusing, so we have produce a broadband guide, answering the most important questions. 

What is fibre Broadband?

[caption id="attachment_764" align="alignright" width="500"] Superfast internet will arrive for many by the end of 2015. Photo: Flickr/[/caption]

Broadband is a method of connecting to the internet. Unlike the traditional telephone and modem method used in the past, broadband is a high bandwidth connection, so information can be sent and downloaded much quicker as a result.

Fibre broadband replaces the old copper telephone wires with new fibre cable optic cable. With copper cables, there is an element of information loss the further it has to travel, whereas this is not a problem with fibre optic cables.

What are megabits per second?

Megabits per second, or Mbps, are the industry standard way of testing how fast an internet connection is. Your download speed is most important here, as it shows the pace at which data is transferred from another source to your device. For example, if your download speed is 5Mbps then you will download five megabits of information per second.

How fast is Fibre Broadband?

Internet speeds depend on where you live. However, to put it into perspective, Virgin Media says a 100Mbps connection will allow you to download a 60MB music album in 6 seconds, a 350MB TV show in 30 seconds, a 1GB movie in 1.5 minutes or a 4GB HD movie in 6 minutes. Don’t get your hopes up though; Chester’s average speed is around 16Mbps at the moment, though it will improve with these planned improvements.

How do I know if I’ll go ‘Superfast?’

Again, it all depends on where you live. If you happen to live in a very remote area, your internet speeds are unlikely to be very high as it is hard to get fast internet to these areas, although there are plans afoot to improve this. If you live in a more built up location, the chances are that superfast broadband could soon be upon you as infrastructure is already in place or improved as part of the plans.

To take advantage of the new speeds however, you will have to contact your internet provider to discuss any upgrades in your plan. Connecting Cheshire’s roll-out map shows where and when superfast broadband will arrive and can be accessed here: www.connectingcheshire.org.uk

How will these works affect me?

BT’s plan is to cause as little disruption as possible, often carrying out works during the night to minimise disruption. However, as these plans will involve having to improve old copper wiring, there is a chance that some disruption will be caused.

Chester Intelligencer reporter, Sean Lunt

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Chester broadband set to go 'Superfast'

CONNECTING CHESHIRE has revealed its roll-out map to bring fibre broadband to 96 per cent of Cheshire.

[caption id="attachment_114" align="alignright" width="500"] Fibre Broadband signs such as this one will soon be a common feature across Cheshire. Picture: Flickr/Ell Brown[/caption]

The map shows where communities throughout the county can expect the high-speed technology to arrive by the end of summer 2015. It also shows the areas already able to access the fibre broadband and those planned to be connected under the Connecting Cheshire programme, which will extend the network to over 80,000 premises.

This news comes seven months after four Cheshire councils signed a £28.5million deal with BT to improve speeds across the county.

Councillor Herbert Manley, Executive Member for Growth and Innovation for Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “The delivery of Superfast Broadband is a huge step forward for Chester West and Chester businesses and communities.”

“The Connecting Cheshire team has worked tirelessly to deliver this project; it is an excellent example of partnership working.”

As a part of the plans, 875 miles of fibre-optic cable will be laid as BT’s engineers work to upgrade the county’s infrastructure of telegraph poles and underground wiring.

According to an Ofcom UK Broadband Speeds Report in June 2013, Cheshire’s current average speed is 16Mbps, whereas ninety six per cent of Cheshire premises will have access speeds of up to 80Mbps as a result of the scheme.

The final four per cent of premises are currently under evaluation with the project requiring additional funding or technological solutions to upgrade their speeds to 16Mbps. They will however see an upgrade as the project aims to deliver 2Mbps or more to all home and businesses by the end of 2016 via enhancements to the existing copper network. Currently the most remote homes and businesses, around 12 per cent, receive less than 2Mbps.

Connecting Cheshire expects to announce which areas will be included in the first stage of its roll-out in early December, though there are a range of factors which impact on the viability of the upgrades to fibre. These include issues such as the number and density of premises, the deployment cost and whether eligible small or medium sized businesses would be served, which is a condition of the project’s European funding.

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Next Generation Access, said: “We’ve made great progress planning our network for Cheshire but, with a programme of this size, it’s not possible to upgrade every area at the same time.”

“We are going to be working as we can to bring more fibre to more people over the next two years.”

BT’s network will be available to all internet service providers and so Cheshire households and businesses will benefit from a highly-competitive market which will bring greater choice and lower prices.

To view the Connecting Cheshire broadband rollout and coverage map, visit www.connectingcheshire.org.uk and click the Check Availability tab.

Chester Intelligencer reporter, Sean Lunt

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