Solway Expands Fixed Wireless Broadband Network to More of Cumbria UK

Fixed wireless broadband and fibre optic ISP Solway Communications has installed a new mast near Moota, which will help to expand their signal coverage area to include Cockermouth and more parts of West Cumbria in England (this doesn’t yet appear to show on their website’s coverage map).

Solway operates both a Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) service in a small number of locations and a wider Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband network (transmitting on 24GHz and 5.6GHz links), which typically focuses on serving homes and businesses both in and around Carlisle.

The new mast also adds Cockermouth, Maryport, Tallentire, Blindcrake, Redmain and Dearham to their wireless coverage in Cumbria.

Nick Kittoe, MD of Solway Communications, said:

“We are now able to give residents in and around Cockermouth more reliable, and faster internet.

In 2017 nobody should really have to put up with slow and unreliable broadband and it is a disgrace that some people in Cumbria still have to.

We are particularly pleased to be able to help local businesses and farms, two groups that really need a good broadband connection now.

The good news is that Solway Comms can help solve this problem, and expanding our network with our new Moota mast is a fantastic development.

The best thing to do if you live in our coverage area, across north and west Cumbria, is to give us a call or check our website to see if we can help you.

Even if we can’t, we can usually give you advice on how you can improve your current internet situation.”

Unfortunately the residential packages on offer to new subscribers aren’t particularly inspiring, starting as they do at £34.80 inc. VAT for an unmetered 5Mbps (2.5Mbps upload) service on a 12 month contract and rising to the expensive heights of £69.60 per month for a top speed of just 10Mbps (5Mbps upload). Installation is £220 (one-off), although until the end of 2017 you can get this for free with a Government subsidy (eligibility allowing).

Granted this might still be better than the poor connectivity that some parts continue to suffer, but it’s also a long way short of even the Government’s original definition for “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+). We recall that Solway did use to promote a faster wireless tier for homes but that one no longer appears to show up on their website.

Some faster business options are available, but even they only go up to 20Mbps and are much more expensive. Solway could soon find themselves vulnerable if they aren’t able to keep ahead of rising expectations.