Spectrum Internet Bring FTTP Broadband to Old School Lane, Bristol

Residents living on Old School Lane (Clifton) in the city of Bristol (South West England) can now access a Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network after ISP Spectrum Internet extended their network into the area, albeit with a little help from the Government’s Gigabit Vouchers.

The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) offers vouchers worth up to £2,500 a pop to help businesses get a new 1Gbps capable connection installed (leased lines, FTTP etc.), while residents are offered up to £500 each but only if they’re part of a local community group that includes small businesses (i.e. up to 10 homes can participate for every one SME).

Apparently locals on Old School Lane were keen to secure something better than the existing crop of slow broadband services. Thankfully they were able to work with Spectrum and the Government’s voucher scheme to get the new network deployed. Spectrum offers services from Openreach (BT) but they also build some of their own infrastructure.

Dave Roberts, Local Resident and Community Champion, said:

“I bought my house in the heart of Bristol 9 years ago. It was one of a new development overlooking the harbour, fabulous! Imagine my horror when I discovered the best broadband available was 6mbs down and 2mbs up! I spent the next 9 years trying to get a better service, even resorting to a very expensive cellular service. Then in 2018 I came across Spectrum and a solution started to materialise.

A few months on and I now have the fastest broadband I have ever encountered! If that is not good enough their customer service is simply the best I have dealt with, what a delight these days to be engaged with such a business. Fantastic!”

Giles Phelps, Spectrum Internet’s Managing Director, said:

“We’re working with a number of communities, like Old School Lane, that not only want ultrafast speeds but also an ultra-reliable service. Families today want to Skype family in Australia or watch the latest release on Netflix or Amazon knowing that their broadband isn’t going to let them down. To do that we need Full Fibre broadband infrastructure installed across the UK -and we’re starting right here in Bristol.”

Sadly it’s not known precisely how many homes along Old School Lane have taken up the service or how much the whole deployment cost. We rarely see single streets being targeted like this and thus it’s an interesting use of the voucher scheme. Spectrum has also recently installed FTTP at Southpoint Industrial Estate in Cardiff.