Broadband

Hyperfast GB – High speed broadband in Cumbria

You may have seen a number of vehicles around with ‘Fibrus’ on them, people with high-viz jackets and ‘Viberoptix’ teams (a Fibrus contractor) digging up roads and pavements – especially around Cockermouth lately.  This is part of a programme for Cumbria for the rollout of ultra-high speed broadband, part of ‘Project Gigabit’, due to be completed by 2026. Some of our local areas may be completed by as early as the end of this year, although others will take longer. Once the infrastructure is in place, it is up to individual households and businesses to enter into an agreement with an internet retailer for the service, much as you do with your current broadband/telephone provider. Broadband speeds are measured in megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps). 1 gigabit is 1,000Mbps. These speeds refer to how quickly data can be uploaded or downloaded from the internet. Gigabit internet speeds allow large amounts of data to be transferred extremely quickly to your devices. Essentially, this means that everyone should be able to run multiple devices – download films, play videos, run websites, video conferencing and play on-line games, all at the same time, without any ‘buffering’ (the so called circle of doom). Fibrus was selected to deliver a £108 million broadband improvement contract for Cumbria to bring next generation broadband services to up to 60,000 (around 95%) of homes and businesses that might have otherwise missed out on gigabit upgrades. To see if your property is covered under the rollout, follow the link https://hyperfastgb.com/ and put your post code in. Then select your property from the list. It will then tell you whether you’re within the build plan or not. We understand that the list is not yet finalised and more properties may be added. If you’re one of the 5% not in the initial plan, an organisation called Connecting Cumbria, which is part of Cumberland Council, is responsible for arranging alternatives. Your parish councils are working with Connecting Cumbria and Fibrus to make sure as many properties as possible within the 5% get connected. More updates will be published as the project progresses. Issued by the four Parish Councils of Blindbothel, Buttermere, Lorton and Loweswater.

 

Pip Wise – July 2024