The history of living-where-we-live in terms of Broadband speed is one of continuous frustration! Where it seems everywhere else is getting speeds greater than this locality through their telephone connection (residents round here seem to get – at best – about 1-1.5 Mbits/second), nothing seems to have improved much over the years. Regular phone calls to BT/Virgin and Sky by me has always resulted in them all confirming ‘we have no plans to upgrade your area to Fibre’.
The situation got so bad when I was running the business from home a few years back, that I dabbled with a broadband connection by satellite, provided by EuropaSat. This gave me an ugly extra satellite dish on the side of the house, but the upside was I enjoyed speeds of almost 16 Mbit/sec. In comparison to others nearby, this was heaven! – and in the years I’ve had it, it’s been pretty reliable, but it is expensive!
Now, I like to think I keep abreast of technical innovations, but I learned something today that had completely passed me by – and I felt the need to share the good news!. Thanks to a chance conversation with our good friend and neighbour, Valerie, I learned that a BT Engineer (who had visited to sort out Val’s connectivity issues) had informed her that the local area had at last been brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century – and fibre optic was now available for our collective postcode – that’s the WHOLE street.
Val and I checked and double checked online, and according to the BT webpage (and AOL’s), we could get speeds of up to 70 Mbit/second. It all sounded too good to be true, and being a suspicious type, I didn’t believe it for a minute, especially as I’d spoken to BT only last week, asking them to check the line speed (prompted by one of their almost weekly promotional leaflets through the door promising ‘a lightning fast connection’) – and they’d confirmed AGAIN, the speed was a paltry 1-1.5Mbit/sec.
So, I rang BT and they confirmed the good news! They’ve promised speeds of between 52-70 Mbit/sec DOWNload together with an eye-watering 15-20 Mbit/sec UPload (the latter is especially useful for me updating websites). I quickly did some price comparison with the mighty Sky, and although there wasn’t much in it, in terms of £s per month, BT speeds are faster (Sky only offered 40Mbit/sec and Virgin definitely don’t cover this area for cable broadband).
I’ve placed the order, and within about a fortnight, we should at last, be able take full advantage of this superfast connectivity. My only grumble with BT is that how come I had to find out from a neighbour about this latest innovation???
Still, happy days ahead!!!!
I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!
I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!
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