Uppingham School go Gigaclear

Gigaclear is now live at Uppingham School, Rutland with 800 pupils connected into the network.
Demand for bandwidth has increase dramatically as video-learning and other Internet learning resources become the norm in classrooms. Since moving to Gigaclear fibre, the ultrafast network has helped Uppingham School meet and surpass this demand, as the school reported its first-ever Terabyte of data – one million Megabytes – downloaded/uploaded in a single day recently.

Welland Valley Northamptonshire Villages to get Gigaclear

Gigaclear have now extended the planned FTTP network to include Welland Valley villages in Northamptonshire including:

• Ashley
• Brampton
• Dingley
• Stoke Albany
• Sutton Bassett
• Weston by Welland

Gigaclear secure £7M additional funding

Gigaclear have secured about £7m in funding from CF Woodford Equity Income Fund — which is part of Neil Woodford’s fund management group — as well as other existing and new private shareholders. The Neil Woodford funds are now the largest investor in Gigaclear owning approx.. 30% of the company.

This new money will be used to build the FTTP network throughout the Welland Valley.

Follow up to LCC / BT presentation!

We have had to write again yesterday to LCC because of information passed to us by a resident in another village: 
Email to Assistant cheif Executive, LCC: 

'Talking today to a resident in another Parish they told me that Gigaclear were withdrawing from Hallaton. I questioned what can have given this impression, to be told that Hallaton residents had received a letter about it. We are still at a loss to understand the reasons for the first letter, but the impression that is spreading is maybe what the author hoped to achieve. It seems that to gain a few shekels of gold from Hallaton, the letter may prove very, very expensive for the County Council if Gigaclear were to withdraw. I would hope that LCC are carrying out a full investigation to establish why such a letter was sent in the first place and the potential financial impact it may cause.'

In discussions with Gigaclear today they tell us that they have their sales team on the ground again from Monday 16/2/15 and plan to complete the orders phase within two weeks.
Finance for our area is in place and to speed up installation additional work teams are being ordered.

Leicestershire County Council / BT presentation in Hallaton

We have sent several emails to LCC pointing out that the letter sent to Hallaton residents did not disclose the financial interest LCC have in the BT product and failed to mention Gigaclear.

At the Hallaton presentation there was considerable discussion regarding the performance that residents would receive from FTTC product.  The answers were vague and no guarantees could be provided to residents.

We have today written to Matthew Kempson the LCC project manager as follows:

In answering a question regarding the broadband speed a resident could expect at a distance from the cabinet, you answered that 95% of residents should get an average of 24Mbps.

The follow up to this from our John Neilson was, what is the lowest number to be expected on the basis that 24 was an average. So what was the lowest number used to calculate the average? You said you would take this away to find out.

I believe I am correct in thinking that the only way to find out what the actual speed would be for a resident, would be to order BT Infinity on a 12 month contract from an ISP and see what it is. What redress does a resident have if the performance falls short of the 24Mbps?
Currently I have an 8Mbps contract but get 0.3Mbps.

Bringhurst: You explained that residents in Bringhurst who are connected to the cabinet in Great Easton would see an uplift in broadband speed. Again it would appear the only way for a resident to find out what speed could be achieved is to order BT Infinity and then be stuck with it for 12 months contract if the speed is poor. So residents can make an informed decision vs Gigaclear option could you please indicate what broadband speed the residents should expect as a minimum.

People can only make an informed decision between the BT or Gigaclear options if they have a guarantee of the speed they would get from a BT solution.
Gigaclear make clear what speed will be delivered.
Perhaps in the letter to Hallaton residents this issue should be addressed, so residents are fully informed on broadband speed to expect rather than order and be disappointed. An average would be less than acceptable as it would be vague indication of what a resident will be getting for their money. 

LCC tell us they will be writing to all Hallaton residents again explaining that they have two options: Gigaclear or BT.

Leicestershire County Council promote BT to Hallaton residents

Residents of Hallaton have received a letter from Leicestershire County Council [LCC] alerting them to a presentation by BT on 11^th February 2015.  What LCC did not disclose in the letter is that they have a financial interest in residents signing up to a BT solution as they get a fee for every BT order above a defined level.

We the Welland Valley Broadband Group have always been clear that our objective is to get fast, reliable and affordable broadband for all residents.

Through pressure from our group, LCC held discussions with Gigaclear and agreed that they would invest in the Leicestershire Parish’s in the Welland Valley.

As we have always explained the villages of Hallaton & Medbourne would have the option of subscribing to the BT ‘Fibre to the Cabinet’ with the existing copper cable used to the property, or Gigaclear ‘Fibre to the Property’ solutions.  All other villages in the Welland Valley will have Gigaclear or nothing.

The BT FTTC solution has been funded by taxpayers via LCC, whereas the Gigaclear FTTP solution is completely funded by the company.

The most important issue for users of broadband are the speed, reliability and affordability:

The speed achieved via FTTC over copper wire is dependent on the distance from the cabinet.  For instance at 500m [on the cable route] from the cabinet the speed has reduced by 62%, at 1.25KM the speed has reduced by 83%.  FTTC data upload speeds used for Skype, Cloud applications etc. are 25% of the data download speed.

The use of the existing copper cable has, as we experience many reliability issues.

FTTP is a fibre cable direct into the property offering up to 1,000Mbps for both data download and upload irrespective of the distance from the system centre. 10,000Mbps options are also available for business users.

The costs of the alternative services are comparable.

Hallaton residents have a choice of supplier: BT or Gigaclear.

The Welland Valley Broadband Group want the best, high quality, long term solution for our community.  Please carefully investigate fully the options available to meet your long term requirements.

LCC have now confirmed to us that they will be writing to all residents again indicating that BT is not the only broadband provider in Hallaton.

Gigaclear on YouTube

If you have any doubts about Gigaclear product performance go to:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gigaclear

Welland Valley FTTP project extended to cover Northamptonshire Villages

Following the enthusiastic response from the Leicestershire Villages in the Welland Valley, Gigaclear have announced that the fibre roll out is now to be extended into the adjoining villages in North Northamptonshire.
Villages such as Weston by Welland, Sutton Bassett, Ashley and Dingley are now able to order the Gigaclear FTTP system.

70% of the way!

Gigaclear are now working on a number of projects related to the Welland Valley.  The field salesmen have been deployed to other areas therefore for the past couple of weeks.
The good news is that we are at 70% of the orders needed and Gigaclear say they are on target to complete the order requirement in the next few weeks.

Lyddington 'Fibre to the Property' roll out complete

The roll out of fibre cable to all properties is now complete in Lyddington, Rutland.
This is great news for the Welland Valley as our fibre cable will come from Uppingham, through Lyddington and on via Stoke Dry.