Full Fibre Connectivity for Horningsea – Register your
interest now!
Six years ago, Horningsea was connected to the SuperFast network. This meant the internet speeds went from being capable of allowing us to send email and browse webpages to using services like Netflix and Video Conferences.
This is great but it is now showing its age. We have the opportunity with a one-off government voucher scheme to bring Horningsea internet up-to-date. To do so we will ask you to register interest so read on for information on how to do this.
Why would fibre to the home
be better?
Horningsea currently has Fibre to the Cabinet in Horningsea. This means that the BT cable that comes into the village is made of glass fibre. The advantages of this material is that it does not corrode, does not drop signal strength over distance and does not suffer from interference. This means that a consistent internet speed is available over the entire distance from the Exchange in Waterbeach.
The reason that we do not get the full internet speed once the internet reaches our homes is that the village still has copper wire running from the cabinet outside St. John’s Lane to our
homes. This copper infrastructure is decades old and is decaying. It is already overdue for replacement regardless of the need for HyperFast internet. Fibre to the Home will replace the ageing copper wiring in our village for glass fibre. Glass fibre does not decay, corrode or short out when submerged in water. It also does not lose signal strength over distance. Replacing the copper wiring with fibre will make Horningsea ready for the future.
What can I expect if I sign up
for Full Fibre?
Speed
First of all, you can expect better internet speed. Most of us do not get much more than 35Mbps (Megabits per Second). This may seem like a big number but in real terms it means that if the family is using two or three different internet services at the same time, they will start to notice slow downs. We have had a number of reports that today’s speeds are just not enough anymore. Especially now that many of us have discovered working from home because of the changing lifestyle. A full fibre network will take speeds up to a maximum of 10Gbps (Giga Bits per Second). That is 10,000 Mbps. Nearly 300 times faster than today’s connection. It should be mentioned that current contracts offer up to 1Gbps to the home. This is still 30 times faster than your current connections and it does not cost much more than your current
connection. Full Fibre internet will prepare the village for the next 2 or 3 decades.
Reliability
Secondly, the network will be much more reliable. No more drop outs when it is raining. No more issues with corroded cabling. This is something that many households have suffered from and, unless the cables get replaced, is nothing your Openreach engineer can do anything
about. The cables need to be replaced to improve reliability.
What can I do to get Hyperfast
Internet?
Show interest, sign up now!
The government is running a voucher scheme which could grant you £1,500 towards your home connection. This will likely cover most of the cost for a single household. Businesses may receive a voucher for up to £3,500 depending on eligibility. The scheme ends in March 2021 (or when the funds run out). This is likely to be a one-off scheme. Beyond March it could be a lot more expensive to get connected. It is however not as simple as signing up and receiving the new internet connection. The scheme requires enough households to sign up and connect to the new network. This is because the £1,500 from one household cannot cover the cost of replacing the wiring in the village and connecting it up to the Waterbeach exchange. We do therefore need as many people as possible to sign up to the scheme. Early polls have shown us that we have already got interest from 24 households. We would need more and are therefore finding out if you are interested in upgrading your internet connection to Full Fibre. So make sure you get in touch. Register your interest with us. You are not committed to signing up for a connection should you not want to continue. We will work with Cambridge Fibre to put the project together and provide new information when it is available.
To show interest send an email with your name and home
address to: ultrafast@horningsea.net
More information
Gigabit Voucher Scheme: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/
Cambridge Fibre: https://www.cambridgefibre.uk/
For more information or any questions, please feel free to
contact Chris Lindley and Robert Balm on
ultrafast@horningsea.net
You can also submit the form by printing the PDF below:
This is the Cambridge Fibre flyer that explains Full Fibre Internet. Please note that this service is not yet available in Horningsea and you can therefore not contact Cambridge Fibre to sign up. When the voucher scheme is available to us you will be informed. This flyer is an example of a flyer that you can expect to see as soon as Full Fibre is available in Horningsea.: