ISP Big Blue Rocket Expand Wireless Broadband Coverage in Derby

Alternative UK ISP Big Blue Rocket has expanded the coverage of their Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) based 40Mbps superfast broadband network to reach “almost all industrial estates” in the city of Derby (Derbyshire, England), as well as improving the reach of their residential service.

The ISP typically builds a fibre optic backhaul link, which then feeds a tall mast and that in turn distributes their wireless broadband signal to local homes or businesses. At present the small provider caters for around 200 residential customers in four rural areas (mostly communities in South Derbyshire), while their business centric coverage now reaches across pretty much the whole of Derby.

The latest network expansion phase has seen a new mast installed to help cater for businesses around the Ascot Drive area of Derby, which complements their current network coverage in North and Central Derby, as well as the South Derby rural belt.

Craig Hall, MD of Big Blue Rocket, said:

“Today we have completed our expansion into the eastern, central and southern industrial districts … Our new fibre/air broadband mix removes any copper elements from a broadband connection by using wireless as our transporter to a high speed fibre link located in three areas of Derby.”

Residential packages typically cost from £22.99 inc. VAT per month (plus £185 one-off for installation) for a 10Mbps (2Mbps upload) package with a 20GB usage allowance on a 24 month contract term, which goes up to £44.99 for their top 40Mbps (20Mbps upload) tier with unlimited usage. The business packages cost a little more but also add a router, lower contention and bigger usage allowances on the cheaper tiers.

As usual residential customers in poorly served areas (i.e. locations where minimum broadband speeds of 2Mbps+ are not available) may also be able to get a free installation by applying for one of the Government’s rural focused Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme grants (details).

It’s worth noting that Derby is already extremely well served by fixed line superfast broadband (FTTC) networks from Openreach (BT) and ultrafast cable from Virgin Media, although clearly BBR has found some niche for itself in the middle of all that otherwise they wouldn’t be investing.