Friday, 13 February 2015

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 11th 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.


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