Well, it’s a pivotal moment here at ‘Pemberley HQ’. We’re finally, finally, FINALLY getting top-end full-fibre broadband installed.

Regular readers will know that for as long as I can remember, internet speeds here have always been very much ‘behind the curve’ (actually, no sign of the curve AT ALL). During the many years that I ran the business from home, ‘decent’ broadband speeds were never possible and back then, even the big corporations (yes, BT and Virgin, I’m looking at you!) officially confirmed they had no plans to bring faster speeds to the area.

Anyway, fast-forward to a few years back when the rumours began circling locally about a startup called CityFibre who was revolutionising broadband connections, digging up pavements and roads and installing ‘next generation’ full fibre. Even then, I honestly never thought they’d reach Kettering!

Currently, we’re on around 40 Mbps which for the average home would be more than enough. Those who know me, know that we’re not average with our techy stuff and ‘just’ 40 Mbps speed was struggling to keep everything working smoothly. When I first began looking for a faster package, 500 Mbps was about the best you could get – and that, in truth, would have suited us perfectly. Then, just when I thought that was as good as it gets, along came ‘gigafast’ – almost 1000 Mbps (910 actually). A ridiculously fast connection – and no need for it at all here… but I chose it anyway! . Bizarrely, it was CHEAPER than the 500 Mbps option.

Then, just recently, they brought out 2.3 Mbps. Even with my enthusiasm for tech, at £70 per month, it wasn’t for me! Just yet, anyway!!

On the day of the install, we’d prepared ourselves for a bit of upheaval. I was always interested in HOW they we were going to connect us to the main fibre hub as CityFibre had never actually been as far as our place in terms of digging up the pavement/road. I shouldn’t have worried, as apparently, they were going to take advantage of the utility ducts as well as the BT trunking to get the connection right up to the house.

I should make it clear that CityFibre aren’t actually our broadband provider – they just laid the infrastructure (as most Kettering residents will confirm, as huge parts of the town were dug up to bring us into the 21st century!). For the actual supplier, we either went with ‘small and specialist’ or one of the big corporations. In the end, we went for the latter, and selected Vodafone (there was a choice of around a dozen suppliers, all using CityFibre technology).

From what I read online, their customer service gets a bit of a bashing, but they are one of the few that offer the latest router technology (WiFi 6e – thanks for asking!)…

…and a mesh setup (when you can have lots of devices in all corners of the house – that’s us!). Add to that, automatic 4G backup if the fibre connection goes down, and we’re pretty much covered. Oh, and they also ported our home telephone over to run off the router at very little extra cost – and we retained our number too – for the three or four people who ring us on the landline!

8.04am: Well, top marks CityFibre – for punctuality! These days, anyone before 9am means they’re either an ambulance, a doctor or the police!

Jordan and his colleague were straight down to work. First job was to install the ONT (Optical Network Terminal)

That seemed to go smoothly! The next stage took a little longer – getting the fibre optic cable from ‘somewhere up the road’ to the house.

9.45am: Well it all went really smoothly, where a quick test showed some impressive download speeds, although uploading was a bit flaky. I was promised it would all settle down – and it did. By lunchtime, I was getting much more than the ‘minimum speed guarantee’ (455 Mbps). Plenty of homework too for me, as Routers have certainly evolved since I last looked at one in detail. A 2.5G WAN socket and two RJ45 telephone sockets..? OMG!!!!

Time will tell as to whether Vodafone was a wise choice, but for now, I have speeds that I could only have dreamed of (just) a year ago. Now all I need to do is point all our smart plugs and lights to the new connection (see you around Christmas!)

Steve Palmer

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!

StevePalmerTheBlogger.com

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