North Yorkshire Villages of Darley and Appletreewick Get Superfast Broadband

Several isolated rural villages in North Yorkshire (England, UK), including Darley, Appletreewick and Blubberhouses (possibly the best village name we’ve ever seen), will today celebrate the launch of a new community broadband wireless network (wifi) at the local Darley Memorial Hall (11am – 12 noon).

The service itself, which has been created with some grant funding from Connecting North Yorkshire (CNY) and will be supplied by network provider LN Communications (responsible for the majority of funding) through its local sibling ISP ILoveBroadband, is to be distributed by wireless transmitters on top of the local School in Darley. The network is supported by a NYnet fibre optic link to the School, which is managed by LN Comms.

County Councillor and Chair of CNY, Carl Les, said (Harrogate News):

“Connecting homes and businesses at high speeds to the internet is vital for the future of the economy of rural communities. The CNY team and partner organisations have worked hard to deliver the funding for the scheme but there is no doubt that we wouldn’t be celebrating a broadband connection now without the dedication of our local campaigners David Holland, Sue Welch, Norman Wheat and Adrian Precious.

The Broadband Champions have worked hard over the past nine months, raising awareness and surveying households to prove that there is both a need and a demand for faster broadband in the community. I am delighted that their efforts have helped to secure the funding for the scheme.”

According to Darley Village’s site, the service itself has actually been live since the end of March 2012, although more transmitters had to be installed before its coverage could be extended. The signal was then linked into the Blubberhouses and Appletreewick schemes to create a very large community network for local residents and businesses.

The first customers can now expect to receive symmetric broadband speeds of up to 20-50Mbps (Megabits per second), with prices starting at just £12.99 a month. Faster and more expensive solutions are available for businesses. It’s worth pointing out that LN Comms are continuing to extend the reach of their service around the region.