PM David Cameron Switches On Gigaclear’s 1Gbps Broadband in Northmoor

Residents and businesses in the Parish of Northmoor (West Oxfordshire, England) can now benefit from an ultrafast 1000Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network after the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, turned up for Gigaclear’s official switch-on event.

The new fibre optic network, which covers around 500 premises in Northmoor, Moreton and Bablockhythe, remains one of the few non-BT schemes to secure a slice of funding from DEFRA’s £20m Rural Community Broadband Fund (i.e. £186k that was then matched by Gigaclear).

The deal itself was officially confirmed in March 2014 (here) and at the time Gigaclear predicted that the network build phase would be completed by September 2014, which is exactly what seems to have happened. The new service was thus officially switched-on by the Prime Minister on Friday 15th August 2014 (sorry we’re a bit late but for some reason Gigaclear didn’t put out their official PR until yesterday evening).

David Cameron, Prime Minister, said:

“It was great to see the launch of superfast broadband in Northmoor. This is a great advertisement of how a small community can come together with the help of the Government’s Rural Community Broadband Fund to get some of the fastest broadband in the country brought directly to their homes. A huge congratulations to all involved and I would encourage everyone to take up this opportunity.”

Graham Shelton, Chair of the Parish Council, said:

“The delivery of ultrafast Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) broadband across our community catapults us straight into the 21st Century. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the unfailing support of West Oxfordshire District Council to make the DEFRA grant process a success and have this broadband service transform our community. We also want to thank the Prime Minister for supporting us today on what is a truly momentous occasion for all of us here.”

It’s interesting to note that the original plan called for broadband download speeds of just 24Mbps+ (Megabits per second) to reach 100% of premises within the relevant footprint by 2015. By comparison Gigaclear has managed to deliver a 1000Mbps capable network and their press release is at pains to stress that a pure fibre optic connection will always be able to deliver better and more stable performance than BT’s ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) product.

One downside is that the FTTP solution will only be available from Gigaclear and the packages start at £37 per month for a symmetric 50Mbps service that comes with unlimited usage, parental controls and a gigabit hub (plus a £100 installation fee). The faster packages will of course cost even more, rising to £69 per month for their 1000Mbps option.

Admittedly this might seem expensive, although everybody should be able to get more or less the best speeds available and if you’re coming from an area where sub-2Mbps has been the norm for years then that’s quite a significant and welcome increase. Not forgetting that Gigaclear’s symmetric service gives the same speed for uploads as it does for downloads and, crucially, you don’t have to pay for BT’s phone line rental if you don’t want it.