Community Online 65 Report post Posted September 3, 2014 The August update from Connecting Shropshire Connecting Shropshire update - August.pdf Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 3, 2014 Note sure if I find this whole Connecting Shropshire, or the country upgrade a bit of a joke. All it appears they have done is give the people who probably already had reasonable (in most cases sufficient) internet speeds an even better service. People connecting to the Oswestry exchange who already had decent download/upload speeds and for most people easily sufficient for most applications are now getting downloads speeds of 40Mbps. Where if you are like me in Weston Rhyn, connecting to cabinet 6 in Chirk, we have always got pretty poor internet speeds and are currently getting up to 2.5Mbps at best. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie 65 Report post Posted September 3, 2014 Terrible today here in Chirk Bank, little speed with frequent dropping out completely, but they were digging up the ground again by the new cabinet! I'd love to be able to watch a catch-up streamed video. I got cross reading the smug people on the connecting Shropshire website talking about how they could now watch streaming in HD which was much better than the previous version so agree with Lee. I was also very cross when Shropshire used the big EU grant specifically for improving poor rural broadband speeds on the towns which didn't really need much improvement. We are lucky here in Chirk Bank because the Welsh Assembly administering the EU money have improved Chirk exchange with fibre optics, and Shropshire got shamed into agreeing that those of us on Chirk exchange across the border would be improved in their next round of funding. I am surprised that BT have installed new cabinets because I thought that Shropshire Council weren't 'able' to provide the match needed for the second round of improvements but I might have missed something. At Weston Rhyn Parish Council on Monday people from the Wern pointed out that there were no plans to improve their abysmal service soon and that they are not on the Chirk exchange. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 4, 2014 So how come Chirk Bank users get the advantage of the Chirk upgrade and people in Weston Rhyn don't? We are also very limited in Weston Rhyn to service providers, BT internet is pretty much the only choice. What is also annoying is that I pay the same amount of money for my poor service, surely we should get some kind of discount or reduced rate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie 65 Report post Posted September 4, 2014 Most of Weston Rhyn is on the Chirk Exchange, the same for St Martins. I don't know about Gobowen, or Selattyn. (Oh great, have had to wait ages to post this, until the little broadband icon came back on). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 4, 2014 Gobowen will be on the Oswestry exchange so most are getting superfast..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 5, 2014 I sent a message to Connecting Shropshire on Twitter and got the following response... "The rollout plan was decided so we could reach as many users as possible which means building the network out. We're still in relatively early stages but we are working out to people with lower speeds/rural areas & are updated the plan" To me an easy way to reach as many users as possible to the upgrade the more densely populated areas, its more about improving statistics than actually getting better service to the people who currently have the poor service. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Connecting Shropshire 2 Report post Posted September 5, 2014 Hi everyone! We were kindly invited to join and talk about the rollout plan and the thinking behind it. So here is a quick(ish) summary. The programme has a £24m budget and the main aim we’ve got is to build the fibre network to serve as many premises as possible. The premises included in our programme area are all ones which would not have been served by the commercial network because it is ‘commercially unviable’ (meaning the cost of installing the network would exceed any revenue gained from it by the company installing it). Some areas in the programme, like Harlescott in Shrewsbury for example, are relatively densely populated and nearby to existing fibre networks but still were not planned for fibre because of this. In order to make the money benefit as many people as we can and the network be built as much as we can, we’re building outwards from where the fibre network already exists (this is often called ‘points of presence’ in the industries). This of course means areas where there is currently no fibre nearby and very expensive to install will be towards the end of the programme. By building in these areas later the cost of building is much lower than it would be if we were to be building there now. This means that the money can go as far as possible and the network is as far reaching as possible and as many people in Shropshire will benefit. I can understand that, at this early stage, it can seem that the programme is not focussing on the harder to reach areas. But this is simply because we’re not at that stage in the roll out yet – we will be in these areas as time goes on and the network grows. I know it can be like waiting for Christmas, but we are working our way there! Some places unfortunately won’t be included in the programme, it is inevitable with a finite budget sadly. However, we are looking at finding alternative options for these areas and are hopeful that we can reach them with extra funding so you aren’t left behind. On a side note - we're expecting the first cabinets in St Martin's to be going live in the coming weeks after some blockages that was stopping them being connected to the fibre optic cable have been cleared. I've got to dash off now as I'm all the way up in Scotland this weekend but will be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend anyone reading this! :) 1 Maggie reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 8, 2014 Thanks for joining the forum and updating us about the rollout plan. As you may know this community forum covers the parishes of Weston Rhyn, St.Martins, Gobowen and Selattyn; would you be albe to give us an update on those areas and any proposed plans? As I see it: Weston Rhyn (Chirk Exchange) - No Plan St.Martins - In progress soon to be online Gobowen - linked to Oswestry exchange so already online Selattyn - ?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Connecting Shropshire 2 Report post Posted September 8, 2014 Just had a look through and got some info for you on Weston Rhyn and Selattyn. Weston Rhyn is served by three cabinets - Chirk 6, 11 and 16. We're currently working on all three of these and are nearing a go live date around the end of October. I'll come back and post in here when they are live and will tweet out on Twitter too. For Selattyn there is slightly less good news I'm afraid. While the main cabinet that serves it is in the programme (Oswestry Cabinet 18), it is quite a long way away from the village which means there may not be much increase in speeds because of the distance of copper wire from the cabinet to the village. There is a little bit more info on this effect through our FAQ page on the website if anyone would like it. It may be one of the areas we come back to towards the end of the programme to assess and could be an area we look to improve with Superfast Extension Programme funding afterwards. I'm sorry I can't give you a better picture at this stage and it's not the news you were hoping for but I thought it was at least better to let you know what our data is predicting than not. 1 Maggie reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 8, 2014 That sounds good that Weston Rhyn could 'Go Live' at the end of October. Does that mean we could be getting 40Mbps if we go with BT Infinity? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie 65 Report post Posted September 8, 2014 Thanks Connecting Shropshire, great news. I am so looking forward to watching video feeds. Might be able to get Netflix. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Connecting Shropshire 2 Report post Posted September 9, 2014 The speeds you would get would depend largely on how far from your cabinet you are and less so on the ISP package you get. Off the top of my head I'm not sure what ISPs serve these areas but Sam Knows is a great website which shows what ISPs are in your area and what they can offer you as you can go with any of them through the fibre network (only saying as many people get a little confused and think they have to go through BT, but it open to any ISP) Here's the link to Sam Knows for you to use when the cabs are live :) http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 9, 2014 We have always been pretty limited in Weston Rhyn and it usually comes down to BT internet being the only option. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Connecting Shropshire 2 Report post Posted September 10, 2014 Just to let you know in case you miss it, we've got a new exchange area map on our website which can help you check your house/business's postcode and availability of fibre. http://connectingshropshire.co.uk/when-and-where/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leebarnfield 30 Report post Posted September 10, 2014 This is the response I get..... Coming soon You are connected to cabinet number 6 on the Chirk exchange, and work is currently taking place to install the fibre network in the exchange area. We expect the first cabinets in the Chirk exchange area to be upgraded by the end of December, 2014 I did notice that BT were in the village this morning working near the box on Station road and on High Street Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
