Rural UK Full Fibre ISP B4RN Partners ZyXEL for School Routers

Rural focused UK ISP B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North), which is working with volunteers to help fund and build a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network in remote areas, has partnered ZYXEL to offer their AX7501 router for free to 21 schools in Lancashire, South Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales.

As part of their build strategy B4RN often tries to reduce deployment costs by asking local landowners (e.g. farmers) for help, such as by waiving their right to payment as part of a wayleave agreement. This enables the fibre to be dug through their land or for a new full fibre cabinet to be built on the same land.

In keeping with that they often also give local schools a free gigabit connection. Now a further 21 primary schools in Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire look set to receive this service alongside one of ZYXEL’s new AX7501 routers, which supports the latest 4×4 dual band WiFi 6 (802.11ax) standard for a maximum wireless throughput rate of up to 6Gbps (local network connectivity).

Barry Forde, CEO of B4RN, said:

“Prior to being connected with B4RN’s network, these rural schools did not have access to the same level of wireless connectivity as their urban counterparts.

Nobody knows what the future of education will hold, but with this router, we can now increase each schools’ broadband service from 1 Gigabit per second to 10 and help them compete with some of the best-connected educational institutions.”

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