It is HERE!

Openreach has turned the fibre circuit over the Call Flow so Temple is now connected to the Superfast Internet.   Call Flow has done the work they needed to do, that normally takes two weeks, in a single day.  Orders that Call Flow has already, or will be taking now, will be filled in two to three weeks.  This is the time required to do the actual cut over of service with Call Flow making a request of Openreach for the individual line to be provisioned.

Superfast Broadband is (Almost) Here!

The below is the content of a flyer that is going to be delivered to residents of Temple that live outside of the Island where a regular newsletter has been carrying updates. I was able to talk informally to one of the Openreach engineers today who informed me that fibre has now been run to our new cabinet and that everything should be within a couple of days of turnover to Call Flow. I have asked our liaison at Openreach for an update but have not heard anything that would give us a good idea of when a turnover will occur. Once the turnover is done Call Flow have pledged to be ready in a week! So the question is...what is ALMOST?

Superfast Broadband is (Almost) Here!

In the coming days Temple will go from having some of the nation's worst broadband speeds to having some of the best.  Bradenham Lane is currently closed to allow for the laying of the fibre cable for our new service.   We are close!

Background

Three years ago I learned that BT had decided that it was economically unviable for them to upgrade our Internet service to a fast, fibre based, solution.  The good news is that the government is helping communities like ours with a program called Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK).   I contacted Superfast Berkshire, who are working with BDUK, and they introduced me to Roger Thurston who lives on the Island and was also interested in getting Temple onto the high speed internet.

To make a long story short, with the help of the community, we were able to get Temple included in the current round of funding for broadband upgrades.  This was announced two years ago (July of 2015) with the expectation that we would have our new service by June of the following year.  Again, in the interest of brevity, it is now almost June of 2017, it has been a long road to get here, but our upgrade should be completed very soon.

What This Means to You

If you are happy with your current broadband service you do not need to do anything.  Nothing will change for you.  The good news is that it may actually be a little easier for you to sell your house when the time comes as having access to a fibre based Internet connection is important to a growing number of home buyers!

If you are interested in the new service you will need to contact Call Flow to switch from your current phone and internet service provider (Bt, Talktalk, etc) to a Call Flow package.  They won the contract to provide the needed technical infrastructure to give us access to the high speed Internet.  There were costs to provide that service that were above and beyond what would normally be entailed and while some of those costs were offset by Superfast Berkshire and BDUK there was also an investment made by Call Flow.  For this reason the high speed service will cost slightly more than a “normal” service from vendors such as BT, Talktalk, or Sky.  At some point in the future there may be other vendors offering us service using the infrastructure that Call Flow has put into place but for now you can ask your current vendor but be prepared to contact Call Flow!

Browse to https://www.callflow.co.uk/ and enter your postcode to see how fast an upgraded connection will be.  The closer you are to the new cabinets the faster your speed will be.  Our estimate is for 90 mbps! They are taking orders already.

Please note that I am in no way connected with Call Flow.  I am simply communicating what I know about the upgrade.

Ever So Close

The road is closed, trenching has begun, and cable is being pulled.  No one has committed to a completion date but one of the workers did say that things were going "exceedingly well".  Sounds good to me!

Road Closure Sign is Up!

We are closing in on a completion.  A sign indicating that the road will be closed for installation of the new conduit is a clear indication of that progress.

Both Call Flow and Openreach have pledged to have our service up and running quickly once the new conduit is built.

I hate to make predictions but June is starting to look possible?

Inching Forwards

We now have a schedule for the closure of Brandenham Lane on the RWBM website for the last two weeks of May.  The same dates are on Openreach's works calendar according to Call Flow.

Hopefully everything will be routine from here on out and come mid-June we will have high speed service.

Sign Post for Progress?

Call Flow has added us to their database!  This means that you can enter your postcode and get an estimate for your speed and see how much that speed will cost you.   You can also place your order and get in line behind me.

https://www.callflow.co.uk/coverage-and-speed/

We have not heard anything, yet anyway, to indicate that June is not going to be feasible as our go-live.  It is all up to the road closure proceeding smoothly and Openreach doing their thing expeditiously!

Below is what went out to the residents of the Island:

Call Flow are hopeful of providing Superfast Fibre Broadband to Temple late next month, if Highways stick to allowing Bradenham Lane closure

​ so that our Fibre Cable can be brought down from the A404​

. They have now published their tariff and estimate speeds of up to 80Mbps, 

​though​

 our village expert calculates

​ more likely​

 

​up to 50​

Mbps.  

If you are interested to subscribe to Superfast Fibre Broadband then please read on. If you are not interested and are satisfied with the Standard Broadband you currently use then there is nothing you need do, nothing will change. 

Call Flow are making a special offer of free installation and a free modem for their top unlimited package. It will be at the same price as their middle "capped" package for which there is a

​ £60​

 installation charge. Who wouldn't, I'll be signing up for

​ the Special Offer​

, along with Anytime Phone Calls. 

Please note that the prices include Line Rental but phone calls are charged by the minute other than free calls to 0800 and 0808 numbers. A Phone Package can be bought, either Evenings & Weekends or Anytime. 

It is an Eighteen-Month Contract with early termination fees. 

Please see precise details by clicking on this Link. If you pre-order, your payment will not be processed until Call Flow contact you on your live date. 

https://www.callflow.co.uk/cov erage-and-speed/ 

Put in your postcode and select your address from the dropdown. 

Maybe by the Start of the Summer

Highways RBWM is unwilling to move the closure of Bradenham Lane forward any more than to the middle of May.  It seems that we are somewhat ring fenced by other work being done on the 404 and the policy of not having the signage for two projects competing with each other.  The project that is most in our way is a four week effort being done by Highways England and ending the middle of May.   Andy Hudson, the Director from Openreach that is helping us to get connected, has had someone on his staff meet with Highways England in hopes that if their project is done more quickly than four weeks, that we might then get a jump start on ours.  Andy is hopeful that this will be the case.

The bottom line is that we will not get the fibre to our new cabinets until May.  This is why we were hoping that Openreach could have come to terms with Randall Farms.  It is too late now for a second path to help us but if we had been able to gain access to our neighbouring farm land we would likely be saving some months of waiting.  I guess having waited for years a couple of months is not that long but I am still disappointed that any additional delay is being added on top of the months and months that we have already seen tacked on the end of our original promise date.

If there is any good news it is that we have been assured that Call Flow will be ready to connect the fibre and offer us service in the minimal possible time.  We have not gotten any indication from them, however, as to what they expect that length of time to be.  I think that we can be assured that it will have been a year from when we had originally hoped to have been connected to when we are FINALLY brought out of the dark ages of Internet connectivity.  I lived on a boat in near Washington D.C. fifteen years ago and had better connectivity that I do now living in the shadow of one of the world's greatest cities.  It is really a little appalling.  Hopefully not for much longer.