LightSpeed Broadband Finally Puts FTTP Live in Cromer and Sheringham
Alternative network provider and UK ISP LightSpeed Broadband, which has so far built their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 250,000 premises across the East of England and West Midlands, has finally started to put their new network live in the neighbouring coastal Norfolk towns of Cromer and Sheringham.
The provider, which in 2023 was acquired by Kompass Kapital (here) after suffering some job cuts and a build slowdown in the East of England (here), is currently busy deploying across parts of 32 market towns in South Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Rutland.
In terms of Cromer and Sheringham, it’s easy to forget that both towns were first mentioned as potential targets for the provider around four years ago, although little seemed to happen until June last year when they were formally announced as part of the operator’s latest network expansion phase (here). Both towns currently have strong gigabit broadband coverage from Virgin Media and patchy FTTP cover via Openreach.
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LightSpeed has since been busy building in the area and reports in a local newspaper (here) suggest they’ve now covered 2,700 premises across the towns and have just gone live. This coverage is expected to reach 9,500 by the end of March 2025.
Brett Shepherd, CEO of LightSpeed, said:
“We’re excited to introduce ultra-fast broadband to Cromer and Sheringham, offering a transformative experience for the community.
From busy families to thriving local businesses, our service ensures a dependable and effortless connection for all.
We look forward to welcoming our first Cromer and Sheringham customers onto our network so they can enjoy the fast, reliable digital access they deserve and all the possibilities it brings.”
Residential customers of the service typically pay from £18.99 per month on a 24-month term for symmetric speeds of 75Mbps, which rises to £54.99 for their top 2000Mbps tier. The package includes a wireless router and free activation, except on their 75Mbps plan, where there’s a £30 one-off activation charge. A number of packages are also throwing in Amazon shopping vouchers worth between £30 and £130.
Customers can optionally add a Home Phone plan for £4.80 a month, as well as a Static IP for £6 or a signal-extending Wi-Fi mesh from £8.99.
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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Meanwhile, they havent even bothered finishing the area’s where their initial roll-out was. Instead with all their procrastination, UPP/Virgin have moved in to plug the massive holes they have left, BT Have finally figured out there is competition and trying to catch up, and City Fibre are about to start.
It’s been over 3.5 years since Lightspeed laid their trunk past my house, yet I still cant get a connection from them. Their rollout is anything but Lightspeed
They did the exact same thing in Spalding, where they were once headquartered. There are massive holes in the network which are shortly going to be completed by Openreach, and if you ask them about it you get fobbed off.
Market Deeping here.i even enquired about a business line – the business manager took 3 months to get back to me, only to tell me to get Starlink
In addition to Lightspeed not even completing the rollouts in the originally planned towns in Essex, they still aren’t able to offer static IP addresses, contrary to what their website says. It’s still CGNAT, hence of no use for CCTV, certain IoT devices, or running a server.
They do static IPs for £5 a month I have one.
Not in North Essex, places like Harwich, Frinton, Clacton etc can only have CGNAT.
No issues here is Spalding. Although router comms with ONT is a nightmare sometimes. Use my ref dagnisQgAA to receive two months free.
No one in the these towns will upgrade to them, all they have done is piss off the local people with their builds by going through existing Openreach cables and water and leaving places looking like a mess, not the best way to get people to sign up with you.
Roll on Holt NR25.
Upp door dropped postcards about a year ago inviting expressions of interest but I haven’t seen anything since, certainly no build out in my road (which only has FTTC 30 capability or 5G from Three/EE)