BBC East Midlands Today had an item about the progress of Superfast Broadband in Rutland. It is now available but not necessarily installed, under Digital Rutland, to 48% of the homes and businesses in the county, one of the highest percentages in the country.

Broadband speed and capacity is limited by the physical connection. Think of the connection like a hosepipe. There is some loss of pressure because the physical connection comes from Manton to Wing.

Standard Broadband uses the old Cabinet at the bottom of Reeves Lane. Copper wire all the way from the Manston exchange and is limited to around 3Mbps. It’s like a garden hose. Your internet “bucket” will fill slowly and if several people use it at the same time it will just be a trickle. So it takes a while to fill your browser page.

We have Superfast Broadband available in the Village Hall and some of the homes in the main village. This is provided by optical fibre out of the new Openreach Cabinet at the bottom of Reeves Lane. This is connected to the Manton exchange which can handle the whole village with ease because it is like a fire hose in capacity. You have to get a new contract from BT to get connected to the new Cabinet. It is not automatic.

This is Fibre To The Cabinet ( FTTC) . But the connection to your home from the cabinet is still the old copper wire, the “garden hose” used by the telephone. Homes furthest from the cabinet e.g. Mill Close, and therefore at the end of more copper cannot get the 50Mbps that homes closer to the cabinet get. They are limited to 25Mbps.

In some parts of the country, including Uppingham, you can get Fibre To The Premises ( FTTP ). This runs a fibre cable, a fire hose,  right to the home and without the copper they can get speeds around 1000Mbps. You can download a 2 hour movie in 3 or 4 seconds at that speed.

About Digital Rutland

The majority of the 18,600 homes and businesses across Rutland have already benefitted from superfast fibre broadband, bringing speeds of up to 80Mbps.

Digital Rutland is a partnership between Rutland County Council and BT that is connecting towns and villages across the county to fibre broadband.

Speeds – The majority of properties will be capable of download speeds up to 80Mbps.  Even the most isolated properties will get 2-24Mbps.

Choice – Eventually you will be able to remain with your existing broadband provider, or choose a new provider from a wide range of well-known broadband companies but BT is the only provider in the early stages.

Coverage – All 10 exchanges located in Rutland have been upgraded as part of the project (Oakham as part of the BT commercial roll out).

Timescales – Phase 1 deployment has completed with 9400 homes and business now connected to fibre.  Following a further Open Market Review , Public Consultation and State Aid approvals we are now planning a further  phase of deployment  during 2016 including to our more hard to reach areas.

Superfast Broadband

Superfast broadband will make it possible for people to make video calls, watch TV/movies online, as well downloading music in seconds.

It will also benefit local businesses who will be much better placed to exploit new technologies.

Find out more about how superfast broadband works and the benefits at home and benefits to business of superfast broadband.