Superfast Broadband
Superfast broadband arrived in the Parish in 2016 when Openreach provided fibre to the local cabinets (FTTC) with the last link to homes still being the old copper wires. This provides speeds up to 80Mbps but properties even just a few 100m from their local cabinet will only see speeds of 30Mbps or less.
Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) have contracted Airband to provide Ultrafast broadband in the Parish with speeds up to 1,000Mbps by providing fibre directly to the premises (FTTP). It now appears that only some properties in the Parish will be connected by Airband having previously believed most, if not all, properties would be connected.
Village Voice has provided periodic updates on Airband's progress and below is an article from the June-July 2022 issue written by Chris White, the Thurlestone Parish Broadband Champion.
Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) have contracted Airband to provide Ultrafast broadband in the Parish with speeds up to 1,000Mbps by providing fibre directly to the premises (FTTP). It now appears that only some properties in the Parish will be connected by Airband having previously believed most, if not all, properties would be connected.
Village Voice has provided periodic updates on Airband's progress and below is an article from the June-July 2022 issue written by Chris White, the Thurlestone Parish Broadband Champion.
To remind you, Airband have been contracted by Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) to bring Gigabit capable Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) to our Parish, with a completion date which is currently Autumn, or maybe the end of the year.
The situation that we find ourselves in regarding this contract is far from ideal, and is the result of a decision taken by CDS in 2015, to bring Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) to the Parish. The coverage provided by FTTC was patchy, to say the least, but the driving factor behind the latest contract is the download speed that individual premises currently achieve in theory, if not in practice.
CDS carried out a desktop survey of the Parish, and any property which can theoretically receive 30mbps download, or more, is excluded from the contract with Airband. Apart from the fact that this creates FTTP coverage for the Parish which is just as patchy as the original FTTC coverage, it has also produced numerous anomalies, whereby one property is included in the contract, and the house next door isn’t. This situation is made worse by the fact that FTTC Broadband speed is heavily dependent on the quality of each individual line between the cabinet and the property, so the theoretical speed, based on distance from the FTTC cabinet, can bear little relation to the actual speed achieved, leading to more anomalies.
A classic example of the sort of anomaly that has arisen is the Downs, where three flats are included in the contract, and the rest aren’t – and they’re all in the same building.
There is a limited amount that you, the end users, can do about this. If your property is excluded from the contract, but you are within 70-75m of a Distribution Point on the new fibre network, then it is likely that you will be able to have your property connected. So, where are the new cables and Distribution Points going to be, I hear you ask? Sorry, they won’t tell us as it’s “Commercially sensitive information”.
The best we can do is to ask you to (go to this page and see file below), with the list of all the properties that are included in the contract - it’s too long to include in the magazine. If your property is on the list, then you will get a connection. You are not under any obligation to make use of it, but if you want to, then use Airband’s Broadband Coverage Checker https://www.airband.co.uk/broadband-coverage-checker/ to find your property and register your interest.
If your property is not on the list, but it is close to other properties that are on the list, and you would like a connection, then the route is the same. Use the Coverage Checker to register your interest, and Airband should pick this up. If, in addition to not being on the list, you have a “Superfast” Broadband contract, and still receive less than 30mbps download speed, then I suggest that you also contact your Devon County Councillor, Rufus Gilbert, to make sure that your request is not missed rufus.gilbert@devon.gov.uk.
If your property isn’t near any properties that are included in the Contract, then it’s likely that you’ve missed out on the CDS lottery this time. However, there’s no harm in registering an interest anyway. It is clear from emails that I have received from Airband, that at one time, they were seriously considering a project to connect a lot more properties, at their own expense. Sadly, as they are now several months behind schedule on their contract, it’s also clear from a conversation I’ve had, and a Webinar I’ve attended, that CDS are putting them under severe pressure to stick to the contracted properties only, to try and ensure that they don’t fall any further behind schedule. However, the more interest we show, the more likely it is that they will come back
The situation that we find ourselves in regarding this contract is far from ideal, and is the result of a decision taken by CDS in 2015, to bring Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) to the Parish. The coverage provided by FTTC was patchy, to say the least, but the driving factor behind the latest contract is the download speed that individual premises currently achieve in theory, if not in practice.
CDS carried out a desktop survey of the Parish, and any property which can theoretically receive 30mbps download, or more, is excluded from the contract with Airband. Apart from the fact that this creates FTTP coverage for the Parish which is just as patchy as the original FTTC coverage, it has also produced numerous anomalies, whereby one property is included in the contract, and the house next door isn’t. This situation is made worse by the fact that FTTC Broadband speed is heavily dependent on the quality of each individual line between the cabinet and the property, so the theoretical speed, based on distance from the FTTC cabinet, can bear little relation to the actual speed achieved, leading to more anomalies.
A classic example of the sort of anomaly that has arisen is the Downs, where three flats are included in the contract, and the rest aren’t – and they’re all in the same building.
There is a limited amount that you, the end users, can do about this. If your property is excluded from the contract, but you are within 70-75m of a Distribution Point on the new fibre network, then it is likely that you will be able to have your property connected. So, where are the new cables and Distribution Points going to be, I hear you ask? Sorry, they won’t tell us as it’s “Commercially sensitive information”.
The best we can do is to ask you to (go to this page and see file below), with the list of all the properties that are included in the contract - it’s too long to include in the magazine. If your property is on the list, then you will get a connection. You are not under any obligation to make use of it, but if you want to, then use Airband’s Broadband Coverage Checker https://www.airband.co.uk/broadband-coverage-checker/ to find your property and register your interest.
If your property is not on the list, but it is close to other properties that are on the list, and you would like a connection, then the route is the same. Use the Coverage Checker to register your interest, and Airband should pick this up. If, in addition to not being on the list, you have a “Superfast” Broadband contract, and still receive less than 30mbps download speed, then I suggest that you also contact your Devon County Councillor, Rufus Gilbert, to make sure that your request is not missed rufus.gilbert@devon.gov.uk.
If your property isn’t near any properties that are included in the Contract, then it’s likely that you’ve missed out on the CDS lottery this time. However, there’s no harm in registering an interest anyway. It is clear from emails that I have received from Airband, that at one time, they were seriously considering a project to connect a lot more properties, at their own expense. Sadly, as they are now several months behind schedule on their contract, it’s also clear from a conversation I’ve had, and a Webinar I’ve attended, that CDS are putting them under severe pressure to stick to the contracted properties only, to try and ensure that they don’t fall any further behind schedule. However, the more interest we show, the more likely it is that they will come back
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Click on the file to open it and see which properties are 'in contract' --->>
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