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Thursday 4 March 2010

The Pressing Need for Fibre


BSG have put out a call for evidence by March 17th re the fibre cost model that was submitted to the Caio Review back in Sept 2008. They are particularly interested in local and community projects as well as new entrants deploying innovative or different techniques. Meanwhile, one of the first replies sent to the BSG went like this....

Hi Peter
Thanks for the pdf, will read it properly tonight, but one thing isn't going to change and that is my personal experience of laying and lighting fibre in our network. (the first rural fibre lit by a community May 2009)

My initial thoughts are...
it aint rocket science.
If two housewives who are sick of bad connections can lay and light over a kilometre of fibre between three rural properties then surely telcos can do it too?

Cost £2.75 a metre for digging (by professionals) but me and Julie did some with spades in gardens so entire cost was £760 (we got a discount due to mates' rates).
Fibre (12core armoured fibre) £1 metre (delivered and donated by fibrestream just to see if we could JFDI)
Lighting kit (for both ends) £247 p property no discount.
Man to do the fusion £300 per day. Can do lots in a day... (but he's a mate so did ours as a favour)
videos we took of it are on youtube, just search on wennetvideo

Faced with a pile of ironing at 9am on a monday morning I decided to do IT.
By 3pm I had the fibre and the diggers, it was dug in by dark. It was dug through the garden and hole drilled into houses the next day. It was lit the next day. Three days from start to finish.IT just works. IT is mega. It is an example of FiWiPie. Fed by wireless 2meg symmetrical cos we have no ADSL or mobile round here. More details available if you want them. JFDI rocks.

Analysys Mason don't have experience of real rural communities?
We do. Many of them.
I still have over 100 properties round here with no broadband. I have only one brain, one pair of hands and lots of ironing.


There are plenty of others out there who have sought to solve the problems caused by the apathy in this nation over FTTH, who have the experience the BSG require to change their cost model so it accurately reflects what can be done, not what the telcos feel like doing, and there is untold hard evidence from abroad that should be being shared to make FTTH happen today.

Please contribute to the BSG - whether you are a new entrant, a community, a small project (such as Rutland) or an existing player who is using the latest tech to deliver FTTH at reasonable costs.

2 comments:

Cyberdoyle said...

What makes you think the BSG is interested in anything the communities have to offer? They seem more impressed with info from the copper cabals.

Cybersavvy UK said...

The BSG has to be all-inclusive and it is only by submitting the evidence that they can realise how much of it there is to hear from grassroots.