WeLink Comms to Rollout 1Gb Wireless Broadband in Edinburgh
A new Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) ISP called WeLink Communications UK has recently begun inviting homes and businesses in the city of Edinburgh (Scotland) to pre-register for their new “Wireless Fibre” service, which claims it will be the first such provider to offer symmetric speeds of up to 1Gbps in Britain.
At the time of writing very little is known about this Harrogate-based ISP or the exact technology being used, although their LinkedIn page states that they were founded in 2021. However, we note from the Companies House records that WeLink itself was renamed in June 2021 and had previously been called InTechnology Smart Cities Limited, which specialised in urban WiFi services.
The provider is also a member of the UK Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (UKWISPA), which interestingly lists them alongside several potential coverage locations beyond Edinburgh, including Andover, Alton, Coalville, Ashby de La Zouch, Scunthorpe, Portobello Road London, Southend, Watford, Coventry, Windsor and Maidenhead.
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The provider’s website also lists several so-called “Wireless Fibre” packages, which start at £35 per month for a symmetric 100Mbps service (unlimited usage, two Mesh Wi-Fi routers and free installation) and goes up to £50 for their top 1Gbps plan. We interpret the name of these to mean fibre fed (capacity) wireless masts, since there’s nothing fibre optic about the wireless radio signal itself. An antenna will thus need to be installed outside your home.
Meanwhile a news report on Daily Business states that the first locations in the city to benefit will be those premises around the Old and New Towns areas.
Natalie Duffield, CEO of WeLink Communications UK, said:
“We are really excited to be piloting our lightning-fast technology in the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh where many premises struggle to access decent and affordable broadband.
Given the growing importance of connectivity in this day and age, communities cannot afford to be left behind.”
The provider appears to claim that their product will be Britain’s first wireless gigabit broadband service, although Broadway Partners did pilot a 1Gbps wireless link to a rural village in Wales back in 2019, which used a mesh based 60GHz wireless technology.
A number of other 60GHz Mesh solutions have also been developed by different companies to support consumer gigabit speeds, but consumer packages have yet to follow. We suspect WeLink may be taking the same sort of approach and hopefully more details will follow in due course.
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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.
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I think it sounds good for getting to properties that have no ultra fast speeds.
But, one problem, it is a wireless network and they charge £50 and that is only a £10 difference between a cable that will be more stable and a wireless signal that could go wrong, especially since there are lots of trees and other interference in the city.
I feel like they make it sound like you are going to get 1 gigabit for less ££’s than other 1 gig big company competitors but, in practice you may only get at least 20% of the speed.
“Wireless Fibre”? What a terrible name for the thing.
Just as misleading as calling VDSL solutions “Fibre broadband”.
Metronet UK was doing 1Gbps symmetrical years ago
The ASA need to finally step in and stop allowing providers to create their own definition of ‘fibre’. FTTC is the most meaningless of the lot.
Or perhaps ban ASA because it refuses to do its job?