{"id":36179,"date":"2023-10-31T13:12:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T13:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=36179"},"modified":"2023-10-31T13:12:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T13:12:41","slug":"openreach-bring-fttp-broadband-to-most-haunted-village-in-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/10\/openreach-bring-fttp-broadband-to-most-haunted-village-in-britain.html","title":{"rendered":"Openreach Bring FTTP Broadband to Most Haunted Village in Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given that today is Halloween, it seems only fitting for Openreach<\/a> (BT<\/a>) to announce that they’ve just deployed their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP<\/a>) broadband ISP network to the village of Pluckley in Kent (England), which has been named by the Guinness World Records as the most haunted village in Britain.<\/p>\n

The village’s official website notes that the community plays host to “12 official ghosts<\/em>,” although the party pooping scientist inside me would like to highlight the lack of any solid empirical evidence for them to actually exist. But while ghosts such as \u201cThe Screaming Man<\/em>\u201d, \u201cThe Red Lady<\/em>\u201d and a phantom horse-drawn carriage (probably just an Uber) have allegedly been spooking people in Pluckley for decades, one thing no longer horrifying locals is the slow broadband speeds (caveat: only if locals actually upgrade to it).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Openreach<\/a> are investing up to \u00a315bn to bring FTTP<\/a> to 25 million premises by December 2026 (80%+ of the UL) – almost 12 million have already been covered.<\/div>\n

Locals used the UK Government\u2019s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme<\/a>, alongside a contribution from Openreach<\/a>, to help fund the village\u2019s fibre upgrade – benefitting around 600 homes and businesses. But no details on the cost of this project have been revealed, which would have been useful to know.<\/p>\n

Andy Whale, Openreach\u2019s Chief Engineer, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really pleased with the result we\u2019ve been able to get for Pluckley. Our engineers, local residents and highways authorities worked together to overcome many challenges and it\u2019s a tremendous example of what can be achieved when communities come together for the benefit of everyone.<\/p>\n

Building Full Fibre in rural locations poses a complex engineering challenge, but the residents will benefit for generations to come.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been one of the biggest Fibre Community Partnerships we\u2019ve done and I\u2019m very proud of what my team has achieved. Pluckley now joins the one million homes and businesses in the South East which can upgrade to Full Fibre; I\u2019d encourage anyone who wants better broadband to check their postcode on our website or look at a Fibre Community Partnership.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just for a bit of fun, here’s a list of the village’s “official<\/em>” ghosts, none of which will be able to enjoy the new fibre optic connectivity. But to be fair, most of them sound like a typical Friday night at 2am, potentially occurring anywhere in the UK.<\/p>\n