B4RN Cheshire Set to Begin Primary 1Gbps FTTH Broadband Rollout

After a long wait we’re pleased to report that the B4RN Cheshire project, which as the name suggests is a region specific off-shoot of rural focused full fibre UK ISP B4RN, is finally about to start digging work for Route 1 (i.e. connecting Capenhurst to Shotwick).

The project in Cheshire exists outside of B4RN’s traditional network reach in the north of England but it adopts an identical model, which means that volunteers will help to fund and build the new Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network by digging (soft dig) fibre optic cables into the ground, such as across fields and under roads (often done in exchange for shares instead of cash).

In this case the local project extends to a geographical area of some 12 square miles and incorporates the villages of Puddington, Burton, Capenhurst, Shotwick, Ness, Two Mills, Wood Bank and Ledsham (well over 1,000 premises), where receiving USO class speeds of 10Mbps can in some areas still be a major challenge.

The main cabinet in Capenhurst (pictured) arrived earlier this year and has already been installed. Since then the team have been busy preparing their plan for the duct digging on Route 1 (pictured below – Capenhurst to Shotwick) and this is now set to start on 3rd June 2019. Some parts of this will involve the use of professional contractors.

Once completed customers will pay just £30 per month for a 1000Mbps (symmetrical) unlimited service and there’s also a one-off connection fee of £150 with a 1 month rolling contract, which is very cheap when you consider that it’s a full fibre network.