First Epping Forest Home is LIVE on Gigaclear’s FTTP Broadband Network

After just three weeks of deployment Gigaclear has today confirmed that the first property (a house in the Ongar village of Bobbingworth) on their new 1000Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in the Epping Forest area of Essex (England) is now connected.

The project, which is funded by £5.5m from Gigaclear and £2m via public investment (state aid from Broadband Delivery UK and the Local Authorities), aims to benefit 4,500 premises in the Epping Forest area by the end of 2017 and forms part of the wider Superfast Essex scheme that has otherwise been dominated by contracts for slower services from BT.

The first phase of deployment only began at the start of December and we weren’t expecting the first live connection until the very start of 2016, but Gigaclear appears to have made rapid progress. Customers typically pay from £39.90 per month for the entry-level unlimited symmetric 50Mbps package (no phone line rental required) and the top 1000Mbps service costs £74.

Apparently local residents and representatives from Essex County Council, Gigaclear and the Epping Forest District Council were joined by Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey to witness the launch of the new speeds at the Venditti’s home (talk about a busy house!). It’s claimed that Internet speeds of up to 940Mbps upload and up to 940Mbps download were reached on the day.

Dr Nicholas Venditti remarked:

“We are all reliant on cloud-based technology so it is vital that we have decent upload and download speeds. Our daughter is a medical student and our son is currently doing his A-Levels so it is vital they are able to have reliable and fast access to the Internet in order to do their homework and university studies.

My wife and I both work from home at weekends so it is really going to revolutionise things for us. Previously our broadband used to drop off all the time, so this will make a huge difference in our lives. Our house is one of the oldest in the village, so much so that we have no mains gas or drainage but we do have the best broadband in the country now!“

Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, said:

“We are transforming the digital landscape of Essex, and Superfast Essex has already made fantastic progress. More than 4,500 local businesses and homes – like the Venditti’s – are set to benefit from this next phase which will see ultrafast speeds rolled out across 18 parishes.”

The following areas should ultimately benefit: Fyfield, Stapleford Tawney, Bobbingworth, Ongar, Moreton, Magdalen Laver, High Laver, Little Laver, and Theydon Mount). Elsewhere some parts of these communities will also be connected: High Ongar, Willingale, Abbess Beauchamp and Berners Roding, Stapleford Abbotts, Stanford Rivers, Matching, North Weald Bassett, Lambourne, Theydon Garnon, Sheering, Epping Upland, Theydon Bois and Chigwell.