Connect8 Celebrate as 24Mbps+ Wireless Broadband Comes to Stonor Village

The Connect8 campaign has this week hailed the arrival of a 24Mbps+ Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband network in the rural South Oxfordshire village of Stonor, which has been deployed by Village Networks and is also being extended into Pishill (as far as is technically possible).

Connect8 was originally setup a few years ago to fight for better broadband in the rural villages of Howe Hill, Britwell Hill, Cookley Green, Greenfield, Park Corner, Pishill with Stonor, Russells Water and Swyncombe. However Openreach (BT) recently began rolling out their 80Mbps capable FTTC (VDSL2) broadband network into some of the villages (here), which is expected to cover around 70% of the area by December 2017.

Never the less some parts may not be reached by Openreach’s deployment and so a separate deal was done with Village Networks, which has spent the past few months re-lighting / extending an unused fibre optic link in the Stonor Park area and building a new transmitter on top of a nearby hill. The ISP has also worked with Stephen Duckett at the Hundred Hills Vineyard in order to complete the initial network (note: £10,000 has been invested to cover this “early work“).

The good news is that the first part of the new wireless network covering Stonor and Pishill is now live and delivering download speeds of 29Mbps (4Mbps upload). Going forwards the network could also be extended into a number of other villages, which should help to ensure near total coverage of the area.

Peter Richardson, Connect8, said:

“We have also received a “go ahead” from Thames Valley Police enabling VN to add the Britwell Hill masts to the infrastructure backbone, with subsequent community cluster connections to Cookley Green, Russells Water, Maidensgrove, Britwell Hill, Turville Heath and further afield as demand is extended.

We are working with [the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire project] to secure as near as 100% coverage in our area as is possible, through a combination of more fibre enabled cabinets and wireless broadband – a model that is the best solution as it currently stands.”

Residents can expect to pay £40 per month inc. VAT for an unlimited up to 24Mbps download / 2Mbps upload broadband service over the new wireless network and installation costs around £222 (one-off), although prices do vary depending upon location.

We suspect there may also be a little overlap with Openreach’s FTTC deployments in some parts, but at least the VN approach appears to be making good use of private investment.