ISP Hey! Broadband Spotted Building FTTP in Hemel Hempstead UPDATE
The large Hertfordshire town of Hemel Hempstead in England appears to be next on the list of areas where UK ISP Hey! Broadband (F&W Networks) are deploying their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network. Some build has already begun between the Chaulden and Boxmoor areas.
Until now the new operator has been largely focused upon deploying to c.15,000 premises in the town of Horsham (West Sussex), but they also harbour a long-term aspiration toward covering over 1 million UK premises by 2024 (here) – some of which may involve a little fixed wireless connectivity too.
Sadly Hey! has never really issued a solid rollout plan and so we’ve instead had to rely on feedback from our readers, which have often been the first to spot new deployments. In this case the credit goes to one of our forum members (batch), who reported having received a leaflet (pictured) from the ISP in the Hemel Hempstead area (here).
Advertisement
Some checking confirmed that an active build was indeed underway in the town and part of that appeared to involve some use of Openreach’s existing cable ducts and poles via Phyiscal Infrastructure Access (PIA). One catch here is that Openreach have also targeted the same location for their own FTTP build (here).
Separately, several other readers have reported (and we’ve since confirmed) that the operator is also active around parts of the Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Peter areas in South Buckinghamshire, which is interesting because rivals Swish Fibre and Openreach (example) have also been busy in parts of the same area.
Customers can expect unlimited packages that cost from £35 per month for speeds of 250Mbps (50Mbps upload) or £40 (discounted from £65) for 1000Mbps (symmetrical upload), which comes with unlimited usage, a wireless router, an 18-month contract term, parental controls and free installation. The ISP also promises “no price increase during [the] minimum commitment period.”
UPDATE 23rd Feb 2021 @ 4:38pm
Advertisement
We’ve had a bit more detail from the provider.
A Spokesperson for Hey!Broadband said:
“After successfully deploying a full fibre network in the area of Horsham (West Sussex), Fibre and Wireless are now deploying their network in some locations of Buckinghamshire, including Gerrards Cross, Chalfont St Peter, High Wycombe, Hemel Hempstead and Beaconsfield.
Their rollout plan will include some new locations to come in both West Sussex and Buckinghamshire which will soon be announced.
Hey! Broadband offers symmetrical gigabit internet speeds (1000Mbps) to both residential and businesses in the areas, with the believe that “everyone deserves a fast, reliable and affordable connection with amazing customer service”.”
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
« ISP Exascale Extend FTTP Broadband Rollout to West Bromwich
Uswitch 2021 Awards Name the Best UK Mobile Operators »
The number of new fiber isps and deployments at the moment is massive.
I’m on this website everyday but would struggle to name even 5 of them. Great work keeping track of all these!
Sad to see the usual doubling up and adding in more options in areas that dont need more broadband options and the usual ignoring those that have very little. I’m not talking about hard to reach out low density areas either.
The digital divide is growing, and this sort of uneven deployment isn’t helping.
Hemel has very little FTTP deployment currently, though it is on the Fibre First list.
I wouldn’t count deploying FTTP in an area where only Virgin Media exists as overbuild.
I live in Hemel, right next to the industrial estate. The best non Virgin connection I can get is 67mb down and 17mb up. So to say we have plenty of options isn’t correct.
BT are building in Hemel and one of the other fibre companies (name escapes me). So that’s Virgin plus three other gigabit options.
I’d say that’s pretty good provision.
10G capable? Is this PtP or XSGPON?
I am in Hemel Hempstead – the Nash Mills / Bennetts end Area. My virgin renewal is coming soon. Do we know where HEY! Are rolling this out in Henel and timescales?
Thanks
one.network shows a lot of F&W Networks activity over the next few weeks
https://one.network/?GB121194984
Now live in Gerrards Cross (I had it installed this morning).
Still not live on my part of Hemel. Is it a delay or something?
I live in Adeyfield, Hemel Hempstead and Hey Broadband are cabling up on the telegraph poles as I write this.
Hey Broadband Pricing is now three tiers: 100Mb (£25), 250Mb (£35) and 1000Mb (£45). Price for the fastest speed has increased by £5 as it was previously advertised for £40 (discounted from £65).
Super annoying the pricing has gone up before we could even take advantage of the first tier. Still in Hemel (Nash Mills end) without availability. Hopefully these guys will have competition from other fttp providers to get reasonable pricing and a sense of urgency.
I just saw them today on Hatters Lane in High Wycombe. I have to reach out to them and see how much of HW they will be covering.
Looking at the my luck, I can’t see them doing our road as it is off Totteridge Lane!