Connect8

If all else fails, this could be the answer providing you can get 4G!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3200291/Farmer-sick-poor-internet-signal-built-DIY-mast.html

Joe Garner on the BBC Today programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33957405

On BBC Radio Oxford this morning the Minister for Broadband (and local-ish MP) Ed Vaizey responded directly to connect8’s concerns about rural broadband.  Unfortunately though it was very much wait and see.  Responding to Peter Richardson’s questions all Ed could hold out for us was to wait for a plan for the last 2% of Oxfordshire (as part of a plan for the last 5% of the UK) which he said ‘we hope to’ publish by the end of the year.   To go direct to this part of the radio show click here.

Ed Vaizey as is his affable, decent way went through the usual stuff about the difficulties of building infrastructure, the national expenditure and the situation in Oxfordshire – Oxfordshire has £22m to spend on broadband, with £3m extra being raked back from BT.  And 98% of Oxfordshire is due to be covered by superfast by 2017.  He hinted at a coverage map by the end of the year to allow people to plan to work with other providers than BT.

We know all this though and we are firmly in the 2%.  Overall it strikes me that  the government in general are still in a ‘supply-led’ mindset focussed on ‘houses passed’ rather than switching whole-heartedly to a ‘demand-led’ situation that rewards communities who campaign and demonstrate a local need.  The government has created an expectation in rural areas that it now can’t meet.  In highly rural areas like ours, with clapped-out over extended BT infrastructure from the 1970s and 0.5 Mb/s or less the need is far greater than the semi-suburban areas being connected now with huge subsidy.  The government also seems tone deaf to the problems faced by communities who want to deal with their 2% problems, but that is so often Whitehall’s way.

In the Connect8 area, we bemoan our lack of a decent broadband service. We are not alone – take a look at the House of Westminster debate recently and you will see this is a national problem!

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2015-06-24a.287.1

Two further reports well worth reading are:

Going-the-last-mile—How-can-broadband-reach-the-final-10-

Rural Broadband – Reframing the Debate FINAL

Yet another collection of voices telling us what we know so well!

Worth reading just to see if anything useful does materialise from it?

http://www.rsnonline.org.uk/services/mps-ramp-up-pressure-on-broadband

Representatives of Connect8 met yesterday with Countryside Broadband to discuss the possibilities of using their technology to provide an acceptable broadband solution for our area and we are in touch with our subscribers to tell them more and ask a lot more questions.

Countryside Broadband operate a “network” in the Woodcote area with 170 subscribers and they are of the opinion that it may well be possible to “clone” their operation for us. It revolves around a base station which is ideally mast mounted to give great height, a series of relays in strategic spots and small radio receivers at each property. The subscriber cost proposed and the installation costs seem reasonable and the upload and download speeds are way better than at present.

It is radio technology not phone lines and dependant on lines of sight – hence the height requirement.

We are in the process of a thorough evaluation and we hope to have a proposal in place by the end of the month.

As you might expect from one of the founders of lastminute.com, Martha Lane Fox delivered a telling message in her role as a crusader for the digital world and through the Richard Dimbleby Lecture.

Her message about superfast broadband was clear – every citizen should have access to and feel confident and enabled to use it to enrich their lives

I just hope you can find enough resource to watch it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05p9tvt/the-richard-dimbleby-lecture-30032015

try this link too

Dot Everyone – making Britain brilliant at the Internet 

The topic of broadband speed and availability is constantly heard and it now widely accepted that there is a responsibility resting on the Government to address the problem with positive action and appropriate funding

Which Article April 2015

We were invited to the studio to identify an example of the business difficulties experienced by so many people in the Connect8 communities and Stephen Duckett from the Hundred Hills vineyard provided an excellent summary of the frustrations facing us

If you go to the link below advance the time by 1 hour and 8 minutes and we had over 20 minutes of air time with presenter Kat Orman trying her best to get some positive news from the Better Broadband team at OCC!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02kpy13