By: MarkJ - 4 September, 2010 (6:41 PM) - Score: 12419 - Fixed Line Broadband
It's been revealed that BT quoted the tiny rural UK village of Erbistock (Wrexham, Wales) a staggering cost of £550,000 to install broadband for just 80 homes. The village presently resides too far from BT's exchange to receive a good internet service. Luckily BT aren't the only game in town and the local community has a significantly cheaper alternative.In fact Rutland Telecom (RT), a rival UK ISP, announced in April 2010 that Erbistock would be the next location on its list to benefit from an unbundled 'up to' 40Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet ( FTTC ) broadband service (original news). What's more, RT claims the work would only cost £50,000!
Fibre-to-the-Cabinet technology ( FTTC ) delivers a fast fibre optic link to the operators street level cabinets, while the remaining connection (between cabinets and homes) is done using VDSL2 (similar to current ADSL broadband but faster over short distances) through existing copper cable
David Lewis, MD of Rutland Telecom, told the BBC News:
"We've been able to do this work for £50,000. I'm not sure why BT said it would cost so much more, but essentially this is a case of community action and a small company working together. This is now the first Welsh notspot area to receive broadband using this method. We hope to go live in October."
"We've been able to do this work for £50,000. I'm not sure why BT said it would cost so much more, but essentially this is a case of community action and a small company working together. This is now the first Welsh notspot area to receive broadband using this method. We hope to go live in October."
Residents of the village are also attempting to use the new Welsh Broadband Support Scheme, which offers financial help of up to £1,000 per home to those whom reside within a 'not spot' location, to cover the £50k cost. Rutland Telecom has since suggested that BT did not appear to show much interest in Erbistock until they got involved earlier this year.
UPDATE 9th September 2010
A little Karma from BT, it seems.
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Comments: 4
timelessPosted: 4 September, 2010 - 8:22 PM
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well its obvious they would, BT are quick enough to complain they arent getting their piece of cake, but when it comes to them paying out they are obviously going to go for areas where they can make the most money..
as for their estimate.. lm sure that if BTs estimate was right, then its quite likely that £50,000 was the correct cost to install the network however the rest of their estimate aka 500,000 was for things like the engineers coffee breaks and bacon butties and other needed essentials like newspapers and stuff while they were taking breaks from installing the network.. (heh thats all l ever see openreach doing around my area to be honest.. they are always taking a break at a recent station l go past daily).
JamesPosted: 5 September, 2010 - 12:20 PM
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Its great they have alternative suppliers. BT is a megalithic corporate entity its sole purpose is turning a profit for its shareholders not servicing or helping its customers, just like any other corporate organisation.
angeloPosted: 6 September, 2010 - 11:17 AM
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As an installer of this technology for BT Talk Talk and Huawei we always have a giggle at how much they estimate the costs to be. I can tell you that on our rates for installation there is no time for extended lunches and butty breaks.
Angelo modular networks solutions
timelessPosted: 6 September, 2010 - 2:49 PM
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maybe its just the installers up here that look like they dont do anything.. still regardless, why is it BT doubles costs or triples them for something that can be done for a fraction of the price? strikes me the fraction is for the work and the other two thirds are for the shareholders... and l think thats damn wrong.
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