Sorry about the lack of the meeting stuff in the magazine, I've been a bit snowed under. But I have just finished programming the party planner database, which the steering group will be using to make certain that absolutely every single Froyle resident gets invited to one of these consultation sessions. This is also linked in with the Village Design Plan - how would you like to see Froyle develop?
Broadband (and poor performance thereof) is one of the issues identified by residents (not just me!). There is some funding available to the parish (possibly, some quite significant funding) which could be used to bring a network here.
In response to the above - from my investigations:
- The Bentley exchange is about 2km from the edge of the village, lines pass underneath the only road that goes to Froyle, and exit at:
- The one cabinet is right on that edge of the village (near Hussey's Lane)
- The speeds in the area swing wildly and nobody gets more than 6Mbps (6.7Mbps would be the top possible speed given the exchange has only up to 8Meg services, which actually only run at a maximum of 6.7Mbps anyway, about level with what 3G can manage - see signature for my own solution!)
- Line lengths from the exchange vary from perhaps 2km to about 7km
- Line lengths from the cabinet vary from perhaps 6m (for that lovely house on the other side of the road to the cabinet) to about 5km (bit more for one or two outlying properties)
The variability in speeds at the moment could be down to several factors. It may be that some houses have such an ancient installation that they still have star-wiring configurations and GPO boxes like this house, which can get 1.7Mbps and is about 400m from someone else who can get 6Mbps. The 6Mbps is good for the line length, the 1.7Mbps dreadful.
Could also be that some/many lines are aliminium not copper hence the wide variations.
But even if that could all be sorted: what we're looking for here is next-generation. Especially if the village is going to spend its own money here. 6Mbps down 1.5Mbps up (which we can get via 3G much of the time though not all) is not next generation and I struggle working with these speeds here. Sadly since the cell is contended, everyone getting 3G dongles isn't going to solve the problem. Actually, please don't, it will remove my only broadband option if too many people go for it!
What could we have?
Cable - I'd have thought it very unlikely, though we do intend to approach VM (this is the most requested option, because people want access to TV services also); not a wholesale option (choice of 1 ISP)
Fibre to the Premises - high cost (though we might be able to chip in a fair amount), still under-developed/in its infancy, no nicely packaged TV platform exists for that yet nor a phone solution that would mean people could take a phone service too if they wanted; there is still no real fibre player yet for this to be Wholesaled though, so potentially a choice of 1 ISP - though if the Fujitsu-VM collaboration ever got off the ground that would be a good option. Trouble is it doesn't exist yet. (More on this later, some of this is quite detailed)
Wi-Fi - the most economical, obvious, least intrusive, affordable solution, not future proof, though. Two possible sites for the cell confirmed, one repeater likely to be needed because of the hilly nature of Upper Froyle and line of sight issues. Not in its infancy, there are providers, but not many. Possible aesthetic issues regarding the siting of the cell/mast.
4G/LTE - the next generation of 3G, not coming online for a couple of years. Potentially quite decent speeds, but again heavily contended (like 3G) and probably not a comprehensive option for the whole area, which assumes it will be upgraded and it may well not be. Not futureproof.
Options which won't work are:
ADSL
Anything based on ADSL - not futureproof; an ADSL2+ LLU service at the exchange would, I'd estimate, make very little difference to most of the village and trying to run an ADSL2+ signal over some of these lines might well result in worse service, if the ADSL2+ mode will stick at all (it places even more demands on the lines) - this may or may not be why the exchange was scheduled for 21CN upgrade in 2009 but the date was just quietly dropped.
FTTC
Fibre to the Cabinet - the lines are just too long and some too poor for this to provide any kind of comprehensive service; not futureproof - e.g. the houses in Hussey's Lane might see maybe 30Mbps but poor West End Farm, the Treloars site and a lot of Upper Froyle probably wouldn't be able to get much if anything at all given distance from cabinet. Good for free if BT were going to do it, but to be fair, they've "completed" Alton while leaving huge chunks without any service, so I don't see them bothering with that cabinet.
Though, if we got a private solution, I'd fully expect to see that one cabinet with fibre PDQ and people could then choose.
In other words, what we have here - an ancient phone network - doesn't really give us anything we can build on, about the only value of the thing is the ducting, and to be fair, this wouldn't be a hugely difficult area to run FTTP ducting to nearly all the homes since they almost all "sit" at the sides of two roads.
I see the argument "you can get between 2Mbps and 6Mbps which ain't bad for a non cabled area" but frankly, in the year 2011, 6Mbps is just pants even if everyone could get it. That the country's average is only 4 to 6Mbps is absolutely pitiable.
The main thing is that, as already pointed out, this is highly unlikely to progress without regulation (PIA access - detail - again more later, but this involves other companies using the ducting to lay their fibre rather than digging new ones, potentially bringing the cost down) or village funding.
Thing is, of the money that we might be able to push towards the project: how many feel the same? How many would sign up to an alternative service, and at what price? (That's the survey which is part of the planning process - all the speeds experienced by residents will be dog slow IMO at the moment even with a full ADSL sync - but that's my opinion; there are other calls for money to be spent in other areas)
The other aspect touched on is the numbers. There are only 240 houses in Froyle, but a WiFi solution could potentially encompass Bentley and Binsted for instance. I have made four attempts now to contact someone, anyone, from the Bentley and Binsted steering groups. If anyone is reading, please respond to your voicemails and emails.
@ Tim Robinson - thanks for your post, I will indeed check it out. Have already investigated this logistically in some detail and even priced it up based on a 1Gbps link to start with and it works well with 30% take-up. The survey we're doing will aim to see what take-up we might see at various price points. Many thanks for your input.
As I mentioned, we potentially have some cash. So if anyone else is interested, don't hesitate..
I'm off to finish coding the party invitation thing and fleshing out the community planning website content. This will all really be in the next magazine issue, promise
