Aylesbury Vale Broadband ISP Launches “Ultrafast” 300Mbps Package

The publicly funded Aylesbury Vale Broadband project, which is rolling out a Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network to the rural Buckinghamshire (England) villages of North Marston and Granborough, has launched a new 300Mbps package to help keep pace with Ofcom’s definition of “ultrafast“.

The service officially went live in North Marston (home to around 800 people) last month and is now in the process of being expanded to Granborough (600 people). Early customers can expect to pay from £30 per month for an unlimited 30Mbps service (symmetrical) or £38 for 100Mbps, with a one-off £150 connection fee and various installation options.

Sadly last week’s Connected Nations 2015 report from Ofcom (here), which took the unusual step of redefining “ultrafast” speeds to 300Mbps+, made it difficult for AVB to call their service “ultrafast“. However the advantage of a high capacity FTTH network is that you can adapt to such problems, which is exactly what AVB have done.

AVB Statement

“So if we want to be able to say we’re delivering ultra-fast (as per OFCOM’s revised requirements) then we need to be providing 300 Mb/s. We’ve spent the past few days dwelling on this. Did we need to worry about making changes, after all we’re still providing super-fast (and that’s amazingly fast)? But we all agree, what’s the point of having a 100% fibre network if you can’t provide ultra-fast?

So today, we’re proud to announce that for those who want blistering fast speeds – true ultra-fast speeds – we’re announcing a third package for residential properties of 300 Mb/s for BOTH uploads and downloads. We’ve flicked a switch and it’s available now.

Only 2% of the UK population can receive speeds of 300 Mb/s – and now, this includes our customers. AVB can continue to say, we’re delivering true ultra-fast broadband in the middle of rural Aylesbury Vale.”

As you might expect there is a drawback to this otherwise excellent news, which is reflected in the price tag of £135 per month. By comparison B4RN’s faster 1000Mbps (Gigabit) package costs £30 per month, while Gigaclear charges £74 for the same speed and Hyperoptic £47.

In that sense AVB is one of the more expensive FTTH providers, but each network will have its own unique challenges and costs to consider. Never the less most locals will probably be perfectly happy to take the more affordable 30Mbps or 100Mbps service.