Ecom’s Remote Rural FTTP Broadband Reaches Hillesden in Bucks
UK ISP Ecom, which is currently building a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to reach remote rural communities across Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, has now managed to extend their fibre to reach homes in the villages of Hillesden and Steeple Claydon.
The provider, which last we were told was aiming to cover 2,500 premises with their new “full fibre” network by the end of 2021, has so far managed to reach around 900 premises and some 500 of those have taken their service. The high take-up isn’t too surprising because many of these are demand-led builds and supported by the Government’s gigabit voucher scheme.
So far Ecom’s new fibre network has already reached a good number of smaller communities and villages across the two counties, such as Ledburn, Wingrave and Wing, Crafton, Creslow, Mentmore, Blackthorn (near Bicester), Highmoor Cross, Thornborough and Hulcott.
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The latest two locations to benefit are Hillesden and Steeple Claydon in Buckinghamshire, with the former going live this very week (i.e. a further 100 homes have been reached). Up until now the only broadband option open to locals was a slow fixed-line copper (ADSL) service, with lines being split between the Steeple Claydon and Buckingham exchanges.
Homes on the new network can typically take packages from 300Mbps (£36 inc. VAT per month) and this goes all the way up to 1Gbps (£96) on a 12-month term. Meanwhile, installation costs are generally covered by the voucher scheme.
Nicole Allen, Marketing Director of Ecom Fibre Networks, said:
“Whilst we are always excited to bring new areas online at ultra-fast speeds it is even more rewarding, especially in the current climate, to support businesses and enable both working and learning from home in rural communities. We are delighted that we have been able to empower Hillesden with the technology needed to thrive in these modern times and to demonstrate that rural properties stand shoulder to shoulder with big cities when it comes to the ability to connect.”
Paul Musselle, CEO of Local Business Giggabox, said:
“As a rural business the impact of the Ecom solution is transformational for our business. The economic impact is incredible too as we’ll be able to expand, recruit and deliver more effective and efficient services for our clients.”
Despite being a fairly small provider, it’s worth considering that rural builds like this tend to require a lot of optical fibre, which needs to be stretched over masses of countryside in order to reach disadvantaged communities. As such, Ecom’s physical network is a lot larger than it may seem, and if this were an urban build then they’d probably be covering thousands more premises with a similar amount of cable.
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The provider’s wider network is also partly surrounded by rival gigabit-capable broadband (FTTP) deployments from Openreach and Gigaclear, although they’ve so far done a good job of going into the smaller patches that those players have missed.
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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Steeple Claydon is a surprising omission from Gigaclear. Carry on down to Edgcott & Springhill estate now please !
Wonderful, power to the altnets. Going where the big telcos fear to tread.
Really
Wasnt correct when you first said it in 2013
Its significantly more incorrect stupid to make that comment in 2021
I wonder how long it will be before all these small altnets either go bust, or are mopped up. Looking at the Aerial screenshot, it looks as though they’ve followed a right of way footpath from Hillesdon, with the Fibre terminating in the general area of Steeple Claydon Telephone Exchange. Hillesden looks really rural, and Steeple Claydon doesn’t look much bigger. I would guess that Steeple Claydon will be one of the 4600 Exchanges closing, and that general area will be served by Bicester, or more likely Buckingham.
Proximity of the cabinet to the Steeple Claydon exchange is purely coincidental
Not in Wingrave yet. I live here and so far no work has started, unless you mean new builds in houses costing up to a million pounds or more and it’s not ecom but BT apparently. It was stated a few months ago by ecom that the start of rollout would be at the end of July. Nothing since.
An update for Wingrave is going out this week. I would point out though that we are only 1 working day past the end of July!
UPDATE. Well it’s now January 2022 and Ecom stopped the promised weekly updates on the village postie website in November. Work finally started in November and abruptly stopped at the end of November. They seem to have disappeared into thin air. The village has also disappeared from the Ecom builds in progress website updates. Next village has people demanding money back according to villagers who took up the offers that haven’t been delivered. People in my village are now feeling very dubious about the state of the company to deliver anything. We need some confirmation of something.
@peter feel free to respond with your email addy or insta/FB/signal/wa account. Should you do somy associate may have information pertinent to your situation?
Thanks for that Chris!
Can anyone tell me how things are coming along at the Dairy Farm near Preston Bissett/ Hillesden Hamlet/Copperhorse farm? Can’t get a reply via email or phone!
When I check my postcode (in Steeple Claydon) it says invalid postcode. I would love to move away from BT and get decent speeds. Can I get it in Taylor Close?
Ignore. I’ve registered interest as I live in part of Steeple with isn’t covered.