Tag: Eaton

The Appleton and Eaton fibre network completed, more communities to cover

Article

thinkbroadband :: Gigaclear announces completion of its Appleton and Eaton fibre network

Previous coverage on HomeNetworking01.info

Gigabit broadband now in Appleton, Oxfordshire

Two large Oxfordshire villages now to have fibre-optic broadband

From the horse’s mouth

Gigaclear press release

Gigaclear Web site – Appleton service

My Comments

After three months of hard work, the fibre-to-the-premises gigabit broadband rollout has been completed in Appleton and Eaton in Oxfordshire. This has passed 400 properties with 40% service take-up at the time of writing.

As previously mentioned in the coverage, this service is intended to be a symmetric network with equal bandwidth for upload and download. This feature will make it work well for telecommuters, Skype users and small businesses who synchronise data between home and the shopfront.

There is a desire by Gigaclear to cover more Oxfordshire rural communities. One of these is Watlington where the Watlington Community Broadband service wants to move from ADSL2 copper technology to the newer FTTP all-fibre-optic technology.  Anna Badcock who is representing Watlington on Oxfordshire District Council and formed Watlington Community Broadband with county councillor Caroline Newton is behind this concept as a service improvement effort.

Through the construction phase for this network, Gigaclear have hosted many demonstrations of what this technology can do. This included use of the smart-TVs’ Internet-enabled capabilities, VoIP-based telephony including the ability to retain one’s own number and handset, video telephony amongst others.

What is being emphasised here is the concept of a rural lifestyle but being able to still benefit from real broadband Internet. This concept underscores professionals working from home in a lot of the country villages and towns through country-based businesses being as competitive as city-based ones to country-based hotels and similar businesses offering Wi-Fi to attract the city-based business traffic.

A question still worth raising regarding these FTTP broadband rollouts that Gigaclear are undertaking is whether the farms, manors, and similar large properties on the outskirts of the villages are being given the option to have this broadband service delivered to them. The question that will often be raised by the owners of these properties is how much it would cost to roll out the fibre-optic infrastructure to the main building.

As we see more of these developments taking place around rural UK courtesy of Gigaclear and others, it could be a chance to prove that real broadband Internet, especially next-generation Internet can be a reality in the country.

Gigabit broadband now in Appleton, Oxfordshire

Articles

thinkbroadband :: Gigaclear delivers Gigabit in Appleton, Oxfordshire

Previous Coverage

Two large Oxfordshire villages now to have fibre-optic broadband

From the horse’s mouth

Website for Appleton & Eaton deployment

My Comments

Previously, at the end of May 2012, I wrote an article about action taking place by Gigaclear to wire up Appleton and Eaton in Oxfordshire for real next-generation broadband.

Now the setup is in full flight and Gigaclear were running a demonstration about the idea of Gigabit next-generation broadband in these villages at the Appleton Village Hall to prove to Appleton & Eaton residents what this is all about. Here, they demonstrated the high-speed broadband service and what it can offer including VoIP, IPTV and similar services.

They will install the services to the property boundary but it will cost GBP£100 for 50m of drop fibre and a fibre modem-router. Here, the cabling will be installed by the owner or a separately contracted third party like www.boxcomngn.net who charge £85 for up to 25m. On the other hand, Gigaclear could do the job for up to £500 for a 50m run.

The service, which supports future-proof IPv6 dual-stack will typically cost £37 / month for 10Mbps reserved to £195 / month for 100Mbps. It includes use of 1000Mbps burst bandwidth and is sold in a similar manner to how most interconnect and hosting bandwidth is sold, and, to some extent some business Internet service are sold. It may seem expensive but there isn’t a requirement to maintain a PSTN line with British Telecom for an Internet service to exist.

The villagers can sign up to VoIP as a telephone replacement if they are happy with no battery backup if power is out. As well, there is the option to sign up with various IPTV services. Even Vodafone had offered a “Sure Signal” femtocell service for their subscribers so that they can get proper mobile telephony in to their properties.

This is another example where the small villages in the UK are being made aware of the idea of real broadband and what it can offer. It is also a good chance for villagers with larger properties to have a look at the feature articles so they can gain the best out of the new Internet benefit.

UPDATE:

Householders can use a UPS like the APC BackUPS ES series units (Amazon UK) or the Zigor Ebro 650 UPS (Amazon UK) to power the router, modem, analogue telephone module and DECT base so they can keep a lifeline VoIP service for this Gigabit fibre-optic broadband service.

Two large Oxfordshire villages now to have fibre-optic broadband

Articles

Ultrafast Broadband…It’s A Yes | Appleton With Eaton Parish Website

From the horse’s mouth

Gigaclear

Press Release

My Comments

After success with Hambleton in Rutland which has been previously covered on HomeNetworking01.info, Gigaclear are to set up and service two Oxfordshire villages with real next-generation broadband.

The neighbouring villages, Appleton & Eaton will be using a fibre-to-the-premises setup with buried fibre infrastructure which is to pass 400 homes and businesses in the community. At the time of writing, there were 120 subscribers committed to the service.

The service will yield 10Mbps switched bandwidth but provide access to shared bandwidth at 1000Mbps on a “burst” process. But this allows for a continuous path of improvement and a sense of future-proof design as these villages either become larger or take on a significant employer. The costs for this service would run at £37 per month, with a total startup cost of £185 (£100 connection fee + £85 installation), and the prices include VAT at the current rate.

The main access driver in these villages are the small businesses which operate from home and are driven by one or two people. One of these businesses that put Appleton on the map is White’s Of Appleton who hang the church bells in many of the churches in the UK. How I see this is a way of making it more cost-effective for these businesses to communicate across the country, Europe and the world, thus being able to nail more business or deal competitively.

The key organisations who are behind this include the Appleton Broadband Group and the Appleton & Eaton Parish Council, which is an example of local public money going behind a next-generation broadband effort. It was part of an 18-month improvement effort by the council to keep both the towns on track, along with keeping the local bus service alive and establishing a new children’s playground in these areas.

This is another example of a proactive effort taking place to make sure that small rural communities do have a chance at real broadband Internet, especially next-generation broadband in order to afford them what urban dwellers take for granted.