Excluded by the UK's fiber rollout, Oxfordshire villages roll their own 1Gbps broadband service
No matter which provider you plump for, the UK's fiber broadband roll-out won't connect many under-served rural communities. Annoyed at the snub, residents of Frilford and Frilford Heath teamed up with infrastructure business Gigaclear to do something about it -- with startling results. The company's fiber broadband service promises a whopping 1,000Mbps, putting it in the same leagues as Google's Kansas-based internet experiment. While it'll set locals back £195 ($295) to reach that top speed, it's far better than having no choice at all.
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Oxfordshire Businesses Embrace Ultrafast Broadband
Gigaclear starts installation in Frilford and Frilford Heath
27 February 2013, Oxfordshire Gigaclear, a provider of ultrafast fibre optic broadband to rural communities, has begun installing 1000 Mbps (one Gbps) network in Frilford and Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire. Residents, including several small business owners, look forward to benefiting from world-class connectivity from April 2013.
Bruce Ballard, managing director of Paddock IT solutions, runs a small business from his home in Frilford Heath. He comments, "With Gigaclear I look forward to a massively improved service at a lower cost. I choose to work from home because it is cheaper and affords me a better quality of life. The company's servers are based here and three other members of staff connect to them using a virtual private network. The company provides remote IT support to its customers and their servers are occasionally based here too. Broadband speeds are really important to us."
Bruce continues, "We use ADSL over copper at the moment but with so much upstream traffic it performs badly. We've also found our existing service provider's attitude to outages unacceptable. Until now, suitable alternatives have been either unavailable in this area or prohibitively expensive. I am delighted that the local community has opted to go with Gigaclear. Gigaclear will give us 1000 Mbps – more than enough to accommodate the needs of the company as well as my wife and children who like to be able to browse the internet and stream videos during working hours. It's like opening a door to the future."
Gigaclear, chief executive, Matthew Hare comments, "Many small business owners living in rural locations such as Frilford and Frilford Heath elect to avoid the commute and the cost of separate business premises by operating from home. The challenge is getting adequate upload and download speeds without paying prices that would make even large organisations wince. Business customers, in or near to an area in which Gigaclear is building, can get a range of access products and services at a significantly reduced price/Mbps – plus the same residential benefits enjoyed by their neighbours. We expect demand to keep on growing."
Gigaclear serves communities that are not currently served or 'planned to be served' by a high-speed broadband provider. To qualify communities must comprise at least 400 properties and 30 per cent of the community must sign up. For further information see www.gigaclear.com/can-i-get-it
