Fibre to the home UK - Fibrevolution: Cumbria

Showing posts with label Cumbria. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 November 2011

DCMS Minister fuses his first fibre for Cyberbarn

Read more! The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP today (yesterday for many of you!) cyberopened Cyberbarn by fusing a length of fibre which, in an ideal world, would have been wrapped around a laptop sporting a presentation about Cyberbarn as there was no way in his Olympic schedule to get him through our door in Warcop. Nothing ever quite happens as you expect......

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

The Olympics event overran by a whole hour, which left Cumbrian businesses and campaigners without a moment to see Jeremy before he had to hotfoot it to Carlisle for his main purpose of the day - the Olympics, sport etc. Somehow, our MP Rory Stewart persuaded Jeremy he could spare the broadband group 5 minutes. ECCBF (East Cumbria Community Broadband Forum) spoke about the ethos, purpose, structure etc we are exploring, which is a message which needs disseminating more widely as Cumbria is a pilot for these things with BDUK and that £830M. Other pilots should be talking to us just as we need to talk to you.

Jeremy *had* to leave to get to Carlisle. But we (read: Lindsey) simply couldn't allow him to leave without fusing some fibre in Cumbria in 2011 and opening Cyberbarn (although the real world opening still falls on Rory's shoulders, and if you have two minutes, please ask BT Open Reach CEO, MD etc for the loan of their new super shovel for that occasion!).

I am extraordinarily grateful to John Colton of Lucidos for pointing out to me when I rang yesterday and said, "I don't want to sacrifice any of my fibre so he can 'cut a ribbon'..." that we were going about it the wrong way. John turned up with a splicer so Jeremy could fuse fibre - sweet!

And then Jeremy signed our Cyberbarn certificate (which had been made by me when I thought he was going to leave the building without even a minute to spare to meet us).

It's been a very long day - I have just got home. I can't even begin to write how I feel. I hope for all of you following on Twitter, this will do as a start. Thank you everyone for your support in making Cyberbarn happen and for your ongoing support of me, in particular. It has been much appreciated recently.

(Oh, and as someone who used to make videos for a living, yes, I know they are not perfect, but I was presenting and filming as my video monkey has only just got home from her 18th birthday celebrations last weekend. So, no, if you're interested, she doesn't take after her mum even a smidgen!)

Read more!

Saturday, 22 October 2011

Big Society Hurdle Busting

Read more! I sat on the doorstep of Cyberbarn tonight, waiting for two of our seriously active community campaigners (have you voted for Libby yet?)

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

When these folk arrived, just after I had spoken to Rory on the train as he came home to his constituency, we took Cyberbarn to pieces and reconstructed it. I am very lucky to have people like this around me. So is Cyberbarn.

Every hurdle we currently face will be removed by our Big Society barrier busting team. And people like Julie and Libby.

Watch this space. Cyberbarn is knocking down hurdles that it seems County would prefer stayed in place for at least another year. No chance. You will be voted out at the next election and we will make sure that your actions about bringing broadband to the Final Third are made public.

Read more!

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Ready for the next item on the good news agenda?

Read more! I wasn't. And nor were the projects here in Cumbria.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Turned out (Mondayish) that there is an ITT out for consultants to advise the Cumbrian pilots on business plans, instruments etc. Came as a bit of a shock to the projects listed, as you can imagine. But I forwarded it to them in case they didn't know. They didn't.

Staffed by some of the most inexhaustible volunteers who have forged relationships within their communities (literally on their doorsteps), the idea that a furriner would be allowed access.....

Actually, it's worse. A PAID furriner, who knows absolutely nothing about these communities, and has been chosen in a rushed 5 day process (Oct 21st to 26th) could be forced in to Cumbrian communities who have established relationships that telcos, governmental departments and civil servants can only dream of. And not a single one of these hard working people who have already, in some cases, got networks up and running, HAS RECEIVED A SINGLE PENNY YET FROM BDUK.

The mind boggles.

So, I'm applying. Because I'm at least local and know every single one of these communities personally. And I'm in good company who can ask far more important questions than me starting with "Why not us?".

I'm sure we won't get it, although the team we have put together in a few short hours could do this job perfectly, without stepping on any toes or peeing money up the wall. (For those who feel like throwing my outcome income statement at me, I will explain this soon, I promise).

Can these furriners create the so-called Community Broadband Toolkit for the next wastage (sorry, spend) of public money called the Rural Community Broadband Fund due to be rushed through (sorry, launched) by the end of November.... when we find out who has "won" the chance to run the gauntlet of some severely cross Cumbrian communities, I'll post again.

Read more!

Hey, it gets better....

Read more! I lied. It really doesn't.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

In the last two days, rumours have been circulating on't Cumbrian jungle drums that one supplier (of the 3, or is it now down to 2?) on the Lot 2 list has told some folks that they are doing nothing more for now on any pilot*.

*There aren't actually any pilots** in Cumbria yet because the State Aid issues have not been resolved. We could be the first county to have pilots that come post-procurement. Go, us! For achieving sweet FA since Rory's event, let alone the 7 years or so since the Project-Access-debacle, we should get yet another EU award (I was there in Brussels, PA really did get one and it should be removed/denounced/stripped, publicly, for out and out lying about the success of that nigh on £20M spend, read: #fail).

**Oh and none of the pilots are actually allowed to do that innovative lark we were all so looking forward to. It has to be one of the prospective bidders or get oot. It's beginning to look as though if you don't choose the right one, you will find you have wasted at least a year of your life come next spring (see a future post on the actual date) when/if procurement is actually announced.

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Cumbria...take a very deep breath

Read more! Herefordshire, North Yorkshire, Scotland and every other county who thinks it has won the pools with BDUK, this includes you too. Shall I give you the good news first? Or are you up for the bad?

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

OK, neighbours, take this in.

Good news first.

The shouting about outside-in has, finally, hit a target. (That's it, the good news). Only taken, what? A decade? Now, let's see if there is some sort of consistency between documents, thinking, procurement..... CCC, BDUK, CALC et al are being particularly tight-arsed with sharing info at present, but hopefully when Jim, Liz and all the others return, who seem to be missing in action right now (holidays and visits on Tuesday by ministers etc), this blog might have some answers for you. I'd far prefer to be doing a different type of digging but needs must....

State Aid compliance has not yet been met. Heard this from 3 different sources last night. So, if you are one of the pilots, leave your hands tied to the chair for a while longer. There is no ERDF dosh coming your way, yet. Personally, I'd JFDI and forget the promises of free cash - it's looking increasingly vacuous.

Still no definition of SFBB in any county, and particularly not ours. Ask your MP about symmetry if all you are going to get is 2Mbps, which seems to be the ambition for this fair nation now - roll back to 2002 or worse, 1984. Question of the day is though: since when has SFBB meant choice of provider before speed of connection?

I'm breaking this into multiple posts as even I am struggling to take this all in now we're past the good news.
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Saturday, 24 September 2011

FibreWalk Time Travellers

Read more! Fibre Walk has received some fantastic press coverage courtesy of the Herald. Thank you again to ITS for sponsorship. Read the copy below....

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

From Section 2 of the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald 24th September:

Above: Freddy Markham, armed with laptop, and other enthusiasts prepare to board the 1946 Leyland bus.

IT was a case of old meets new on Friday as a group of internet enthusiasts gathered in Kirkby Stephen's Market Square in order to be transported to Warcop via a classic coach for the UK's first public "Fibre Walk".

The group, led by broadband campaigner and Warcop parish councillor Lindsey Annison, walked a route from Warcop School towards the proposed site of the UK's first cyberbarn. Along the route, a group of 23 people discussed the challenges presented by DIY fibre cable laying across the landscape.

Present on the walk were representatives of a number of remote villages in different parts of the country who have grown tired of waiting for their lack of Internet access to be solved by the big telecoms companies and government, and have decided that their only solution is to take up spades and ploughs to dig the trenches that will house the fibre cables that bring future-proofed internet to their communities and businesses.

Also present were parish and county councillors, broadband consultants and fibre optic experts from across the north of England.

Special guest Donny Smith, of Minnesota-based Jaguar Communications, which has rolled out an extensive fibre broadband network in an extremely remote part of the United States, shared his expertise.

"Donny's experience in all aspects of fibre optic broadband, from the pitfalls to solutions, was incredibly valuable," said Lindsey, who was joined by John Heron, chairman of Warcop Parish Council, and Richard and Liz Wynne, of Warcop village hall new build committee.

The event was sponsored by ITS Technology, which is experienced in fibre and advanced network technologies. John Bookless, its chief executive,, said, "This event has done fibre to the home in rural communities proud, and ITS is delighted to have had the opportunity to share our expertise and be involved in such a fantastic initiative to increase awareness of the challenges we all face with hyperfast broadband."

Read more!

Thursday, 8 September 2011

When modern technology meets vintage!

Read more! Colloquium Update for Friday 16th September event.....

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

I just thought you would all like to see the fabulous bus we will be travelling on next Friday to the walk. Cumbria Classic Coaches' 1946 Leyland Tiger.

Rosie has a very special place in our household as we named her. We were sleeping in her one night many moons ago at the Barnard Castle Steam Fair (like you do!) and there had to be a bedtime story for the twins. So, she was christened Rosie and it stuck.

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Monday, 5 September 2011

Fibre Walk Colloquium

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Sunday, 17 July 2011

Cumbria Broadband Slowspots

Read more!

We have mapped the identified slowspots in Cumbria from data which appears to have come originally via BDUK. This map shows all those places where properties cannot receive 2Mbps or higher. We do not believe this map is complete and are asking the help of Cumbrian residents and businesses to make sure the full picture is understood, and publicly available.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

The full Cumbrian broadband slowspot map is available here.

Zoom in, and if there is no circle near to your house or business premises, or within your postcode area, and a speedtest.net test shows that you receive under 2Mbps, please complete the following form and we will add your postcode to the map.

If you know of others nearby who suffer slow broadband, please help them to add their postcode too and tell others about this map, wherever they are in Cumbria, and the press, the radio stations, blogs, twitter etc.

(Due to some discrepancies with how Google maps renders postcodes, we think some of the postcodes are slightly misplaced on some browsers. We are working on this).

Should this data be available in the public domain for every county? We believe so. Then, use the people who can actually run the speedtests in their houses on their equipment (with whatever limitations that has) to pin themselves to the map to get a far truer picture of broadband in the UK. Ditto for mobile coverage.

UPDATE: BBC are announcing a similar crowdsourced exercise for national mobile coverage tomorrow. Hopefully the data will this time be made publicly available and stay on the website forever.

Read more!

Friday, 15 July 2011

Is Cumbria JFDI Part 2?

Read more! I feel I can better expand on the Broadband Industry Day last week after catching up with some thoughts of those who were there too this week.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

There appears to be a mix of emotions surrounding not just that day and who was (and wasn't) present, but also the procurement process and progress in general.

There is one question which I feel needs to be asked over and over again until we get a reasonable answer: Why has Cumbria County Council chosen the short list for suppliers when the Council does not even seem remotely clear about what it requires and is therefore procuring?

The second question which follows that is: why are IT services included in the spend of a £16.8M pot destined to solve the rural broadband issue, not CCC's infrastructure problem?

It seems the second list is now down to four (CTC have dropped out because they were actually more interested in the IT services list, or so we hear) - BT, Cable & Wireless, Commendium and Fujitsu.

This is an eclectic mix to say the least. C&W, Fujitsu and Commendium all appear to be working on a telehealth experiment in Shap together. (About which it appears Shap know little to nothing). One could wonder if there are actually only two players left in that list? In which case, as CCC are still unclear precisely what is to be delivered, how on earth are Cumbrians to believe that these may be the best suppliers for the still-to-be-defined task? Particularly as there are other suppliers who fail to meet procurement criteria in multiple counties now who could deliver in a more agile and probably cost-effective manner, who seem far more interested in working with the communities.

My slightly more positive feel about BDUK and CCC on leaving in the pouring rain on Friday does not entirely appear to be reflected by others present. And having heard their concerns, I have to admit to beginning to feel as though we are on a roller coaster which may find itself running out of track before ere long. However, there is agreement that there are definitely some hearts in the right places, and support for community broadband. But there seems to be a growing feeling that process and bureaucracy may prove the undoing of the mere mortals/human beans that should be being served by the process rather than vice versa.

The suppliers seemed to have been a variety of - 'scared stiff', 'gobstruck' at the professionalism of the community presentations, as well as eager (or not, in some cases) to work with communities, as well as keen to work with other supplier partners (or not).

There is a concern I think that there will be a power struggle to ensure that the second list do actually deliver what Cumbrian communities need, now and in the future, and do not just pay lip service to what CCC and communities are saying purely to win the bid. This is extremely likely if CCC do not clearly define exactly what needs to be delivered and understand at least approximately what that may/should cost.

PhilT put this rather succinctly the other day when commenting about technology neutral bids when he said that what we should be doing is defining the gigabit connection and then allowing the suppliers to indicate precisely how they would deliver this. Rather than giving the suppliers enough rope to hang the entire county with which is what I think many are concerned that CCC may be doing, inadvertently or otherwise.

I did feel frustrated on Friday that there still seem to be too many on very steep learning curves, very late in the day, and that there simply is not enough collaboration and sharing of knowledge going on. To assume that all the knowledge is within the suppliers' camps is a disproven theory now, and actually it could be argued that some of the information that the communities now hold is far more commercially sensitive than that of some of the suppliers. Particularly those suppliers who are only in this for the money.

I think that as we are a Big Society area and were specifically given instructions by Nat Wei in Kirkby Stephen to kick down the barriers which prevent delivery of the right solutions for this fair land called Eden, that some of those barriers may be about to receive a serious kicking to remove them once and for all. And to be honest, not a moment too soon after the Project Access debacle.

It would also seem that some of the suppliers are treating this simply as a commercial process, which is fine, but in times of tight budgets, cuts etc, one would have hoped (in my little idealistic world) that perhaps the Council would work doubly hard to ensure that the money goes as far as possible. One community has reported that a supplier took away their shopping list to 'shave a few pounds off it' and came back with something that was almost double the original costings.

Which is standard public funding behaviour (think of a number, add a zero, times by pi) but in this day and age, and for community broadband for a county such as Cumbria which has such a high proportion of experienced fibre and broadband folk - that's not going to fly, is it, eh? Or one would hope that the Council would see through such behaviour and stamp on it.

I am beginning to wonder whether I am correct in believing that a growing number of folk are disenchanted with the entire procurement process and are actually planning to JFDI without the backing of the Council. Yes, it could prove inordinately difficult, but that depends on whether the rest of Cumbria understands what is going on and backs these communities. After all, it is not too difficult to vote out those who have been elected in the future if the actions of a few determined folk prove over time that the Council went about things the wrong way.

In reality, it only needs one reasonably sized community to work together with smaller suppliers, who could not even make those short lists, to JFDI, and a spotlight could be turned onto the winners of the bid to ensure they deliver above and beyond what 'hicks in the sticks' can. However, this would mean building a world-class network and not an interim solution; but it seems that there are at least two of the pilots that are already at the required level of knowledge and planning to carry that through. I suspect there are more who are not as vocal or as public who could also be a 'threat' to the Council's procurement over the coming 2-5 years.

And this, to me, is where things may well get interesting. If the communities act together to share information, skills, knowledge, best practice, we could see some best networks built on and in Cumbrian soil that surpass anything that the winner might choose to deploy given a commercial choice. And all of us will be far more interested reading a front page of the Herald that shows people we know, in places we know, digging where they live, than passing yet another BT van at the side of the road.

£16.8M is a drop in the ocean to some of the companies on that short list, but it could still turn dirty. It's not about that funding; it's about landgrab and having customers who may stick with the supplier for 20 or more years into the future. Trouble is, oh supplier friends of ours, this is a very tight-knit community and our jungle drums are far faster than any broadband you may care to install! Dirty tricks will be exposed in less time than you can dip a sheep, and will be shared via our traditional communications routes. And Cumbrians are vocal!

At a time when Cumbrians are struggling to make ends meet, wastage of what is viewed as OUR MONEY, paid from our TV licences, is likely to be taken badly. And if CCC act properly and there are penalty clauses for failure to deliver, this could become a costly exercise. But, let's not jump that dry stone wall before we get to it, eh?

Rory said he wanted to see spades in the ground before the end of this year. Or that's what I heard, but someone else thinks he said before the end of August. That being the case, we have come up with a pilot that could potentially do just that. And to me, that is one of the joys of rural living. Throw an idea into the communal pot, toss it around a little with your neighbours who are equally as passionate about Eden, work out the kinks and details, and then JFDI before moving on to the next project our communities need that no-one else can work out how to fund or action!

Watch this space....

Read more!

Monday, 6 June 2011

This harsh geography is not conducive to fibre lay.....

Read more! I have to admit my jaws ceased to meet on overhearing this the other day....not that title statement, but what followed. Libby Bateman, you are a very astute young woman! And if anyone headhunts her from Eden, you will find yourself facing Rory's Reivers and many more who value her, who will fight tooth and nail to keep her here where she belongs, doing what she is incredibly good at, and putting hundreds of overpaid people to complete shame. In our region as well as in most others. Libby is Big Society personified - learn from her.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Location: Rheged. When: coupla days ago. Present: someone with a "Responsibility for making life-changing decisions about broadband for some of us". (I actually like this person, but ....well, another blog post will be writ on that matter.)

(Paraphrased) Libby: Laying fibre across Cumbria is a nightmare of an engineering task. "Apparently." According to the telcos. In tiny little trenches. But look what runs right through our region? The Settle-Carlisle Railway. So, over 100 years ago with no mechnical assistance whatsoever and in the most difficult of climates, they could build a world-renowned railway, with viaducts such as Ribblehead, tunnels and bridges, the longest, steepest hauls on UK rail, through some of the harshest [yet most beautiful] landscape there is. And yet now they are claiming no-one can lay fibre here?

You have to admit, she has a point. So, you short listed folk, get this. If you don't lay fibre across this county, we'll take to you to the bloody cleaners for incompetence and failing to learn from the past. Not just in the last century and more, but the last decade too.

You will NOT repeat Project Access's utter failure on our doorstep again. Not with this region's history for DOING MAJOR ENGINEERING WORKS right. We are not Numbrians. We are proud of our heritage and want to leave our legacy for future generations too.

Read more!

Thursday, 10 March 2011

The FTTH Pledge Pot

Read more! I believe (Blimey, sound like someone else!) that there is an appetite to invest in order to resolve the broadband issue. And, oh dearest Coalition, I think you may be making it harder than it need be.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

My belief in how to ensure that the UK has ubiquitous, accessible and affordable true broadband has never faltered. The Access to Broadband Campaign was built on the most solid of foundations, and I believe that all we pushed for in 2000-2004 stands solid today. AFAIK, the website and all the incredible content that we created, and which has fed into so much of today's thinking, is still there as reference material.

However, it is time to overcome an issue that is so simple to solve, so obvious a barrier, and so vitally important to resolve, if we are to succeed with Next generation broadband.

FUNDING.

Someone, somewhere, decided that Local Authorities, in the midst of massive and comprehensive budget cuts, and with no experience of telecoms or even knowledge of the last decade of broadband revelations, would be the most appropriate to "bring up to speed" and pilot solutions for an issue of such huge import as "Final Third First".

Knowing what effect next generation broadband has both socially and economically, someone, somewhere, chose to dump this firework into the laps of people who cannot possibly be expected to understand 25 years of FTTH, let alone 120 years of telecoms, in a few months, whilst also operating in what can only be called a "public sector war zone".

From the outside, it looks like the majority of people are trying to stick to the "Keep Calm and Carry On" ethos, whilst keeping their heads low so they are not caught in the crossfire of budget cuts and lay offs.That is entirely understandable - you too have mouths to feed, and mortgages/rent to pay.

The 4 BDUK pilots have not yet, in six whole months, actually been introduced to each other AFAIK. Online or offline. There has been no meeting that would permit these public sector bods, who are also citizens and consumers once out of their suits, a chance to talk to one another about common problems, issues faced with the procurement etc. Let alone bringing together the "Big Society" who have clearly established their wont to be involved in making the right decision with this money from the public purse.

There is no use of the premium channel we are endeavouring to build access to - t'interweb- so these 4 pilot communities can meet each other, talk, discuss, find solutions etc.

And there is certainly no-one out there saying "How do we get best value from this BBC License Fee money?"

Where are the business planners, showing all of us how the pilots will benefit us? Where are the economists, serial entrepreneurs, experienced commercial operators?

Where is the one single person asking ME, as a resident of this pilot area, how much I am willing to invest in a solution?

Why ask BT? Why not ask me first?

I run a business. Every single farm in Eden/Cumbria, Hereford, Scotland and North Yorkshire is a business. There are thousands of businesses in these 4 counties. We can invest against tax. We can make informed business choices. We run businesses, day in and day out.

Has a single one of us been asked how much WE are willing to put into the pot to ensure that we build a next generation infrastructure that will not force our children away from this area? Into education, work, houses etc away from their homes?

We care. We know how to make profits, even when times are really rough. We know what certain solutions are worth to us, to our families, to businesses, to our communities. And therefore what we are able to put into the Pot.

Are you really going to ignore all of us, sideline us, gag us, so that contracts can be given to companies who have zero interest in our children, our schools, our Parishes, our neighbours, our livelihoods and our communities?

Really?

I pledge here and now, from my Eden-based internet marketing business, £5,000 towards building a next generation broadband network within Eden that meets all of the State Aid Guidelines, and is community-owned. (Whether as a Trust, co-op etc).

I hope that it will be on a long-term investment basis, because I am proud to live here, and I know that FTTH is a viable, sound, economic investment for anyone. However, if it has to be a legacy from which I, in my lifetime, see no return, then I will GIFT this money because I appreciate all that the generations before me have done to leave legacies of land, buildings, funds, Reading Rooms, co-ops, Aid funds etc. In both Eden and Wensleydale, the evidence of previous generation's generosity is impossible to ignore.

It is surely our task to continue the work that the previous generations started in Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Herefordshire and Scotland to ensure the well-being of our children?

I know I will not be alone, any more than my mother was with her railways - SCR and WCR.

So, I pledge £5000 for an Eden True Broadband Solution.

(And vultures, stay away. You have all been circling far too close recently.)

We can JFDI Pledge Pot Proposal

Read more!

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Greed bites.....

Read more! The telcos seem to have won an own goal and can now force you to submit to UBB (Usage Based Billing). Whilst logic and basic maths (plus hard evidence from areas where fat pipes are all the rage) implies that abundance rather than scarcity will always see a business prosper, the telcos can't get over their own 100 year old scarcity model. Sadly, it seems the regulators are equally as dim.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Canada has fallen for UBB this week. There is no round of applause from here and a huge sadness that Canada, who led the way for so long in fibre, next gen and true broadband, has so completely lost the way. (Apart from with the Inuits, who seem to be making the most of the infrastructure in the far north, far beyond the focus of the gummint). And long may it remain so.

It looks as though Cumbria is about to fall into the same pit, believing telcos over common sense. I wish I knew more about the other BDUK projects but I'm fairly sure there is at least one that will overcome all issues and endeavour to be the guiding light. Scotland.

1 out of 5 ain't bad.

Is it? {cough}.

As I said some time ago, 4 bed house in Cumbria for sale, I'm moving north, south, anywhere to escape this ridiculous approach to comms.

Imagine if during the stone age, they had restricted access to hides and bones, except for hunting or access to the tribal elders? There would have been no drums to communicate danger, no chance of developing language, and
zero chance of music becoming what it is today?

Read more!

Saturday, 29 January 2011

Working Together...in action (not)

Read more! Oh delightful. Cumbria County Council can't work with Lancashire to maximise the CLEO asset and seem determined to give the over-specced educational network to BT when we paid for it. We have politicians who are playing some sort of divide and conquer game in the North West instead of working together....excuse me whilst I apply my head to this breeze block.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

We're back in that stupid world where people forget broadband can cross county boundaries and are determined to go for some sort of personal glory instead of joining up the dots (and fibres and demand and funding) to get the best end result.

Let's pick a place at random, say, Sedbergh. Is it in North Yorkshire or Cumbria? Well, just to confuse matters, it used to be in the West Riding of Yorkshire, but now it's in Cumbria whilst also being in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the South Lakeland District Council. Where are the nearest shopping places to Sedbergh? Yep, in Lancashire and the Lake District, but many of the residents have relatives in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. (Look at a map if you are confused!) And just in case you don't grasp how multi-regional the people of Sedbergh feel, it's twinned with Zrece in Slovenia.

Sedbergh's exchange provides the phone lines for people up and over in Yorkshire (Garsdale) and could (if you look at a map) solve a problem for a bit of Cumbria directly over the hill from Garsdale.

But, oh look. We've got county councils being parochial in both their thinking and use of the funding, instead of communicating with each other about getting the best deal for the whole region, and politicians from different parties trying to group demand into constituencies instead of saying, "Hey, let's work together and make something really quite extraordinary happen."

I personally have a deal of respect from the majority of northern politicians, as I've been lucky enough to get to know William Hague, Tim Farron and Rory Stewart, but guys, guys, guys......rural areas suffer from lack of population. Don't divvy us up even further. And as for the County Councils in Lancashire and Cumbria, I think they need their heads banging together. The two counties are already joined up by a fairly substantial lump of infrastructure in CLEO. What on earth are you doing failing to maximise that asset so the whole of the North West could be sorted out? (Excluding all that urban bunch in the south of the region who don't fall into the Final Third and can resolve their own, different arguments with the telcos).

In Cumbria and Lancashire we are about to see two re-runs of the total failure that was Project Access, using even more money, without, seemingly an ounce of common sense being exhibited by those who were elected to do a job on our behalf.

I am increasingly disappointed with the news coming out of this region, frustrated at the abysmal failure to learn even one lesson from the recent past, let alone the many that could be learned, and embarrassed to watch the regional broadband news develop in a way that, at present anyway, can only be a substantial waste of public money, time and effort.

I suspect that once again we will look back on this time, as we did with Project Access and the ADSL rollouts, and be bloody ashamed we allowed such an obvious, basic, bunch of avoidable errors happen. Let alone the impact that making the decisions which look likely to be made, or already have been, will have on our long-term economy.

Shame on you, I say.

Read more!

Friday, 28 January 2011

How bad is IT?

Read more! I'm hoping that some of the truth around the absolutely shameful behaviour within the UK telco industry is about to out.....

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Whoever you are, wherever you live, it can no longer be hard to avoid that our telcos are behaving on a par with the banks. Ripping everyone off, banking phenomenal profits, whilst providing a degraded service that is only debatably fit for purpose.

Today, I spent the day staring at a phone that couldn't find a network. I wasn't close to a landline, but as soon as I was, I rang Orange. Undoubtedly they have the recording; until then, I'll paraphrase.

"My phone won't work, at all. It has been cr*p all day and I need a connection asap or an alternative."

"Your mast is white".

"Sorry? Does that mean it's offline?"

"We-e-e-ell, it means I can't actually find it right now ....can you put your phone on 2G?"

"2G? You think I'm in a 3G network area? We don't have 3G here, even 40 miles from your HQ in Darlington."

"Ah, no, but all will be well in February. A massive upgrade is due to all your masts, including the T-Mobile ones."

"So, I might get a connection again in February?"

"Honest, it'll be great in February. Just put your phone manually onto 2G now and all will be fine then."

"In February?"

"Yep".

"What about now?"

"There's a mast {here - unknown dale} - that's sort of online. Must be the upgrade."

"I've never heard of it. How far is it from me? Are all our masts down locally?"

"Well, the one in Kirkby Stephen is white, Maulds Meaburn is a bit low....Um, they're all off."

"There is no way I could even see those masts from here anyway, what about locally?"

"They are local."

"No, they are not. We have hills and forests that are in the way....."

"Oh, how about {names 5-10 different places that are within 50 miles}...?"

"No way can you see those from here....". [I've surveyed thousands of miles in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire, line of sight for FiWi....]

"But they're...sort of working....it must be this upgrade to 3G. It'll all be fine later in February".

"What about tomorrow? I need a phone."

"All I can tell you is to put your phone, and your neighbours, on to manual 2G, find the best network [he suggested T-Mobile - which Orange own] and then stick with that until we upgrade."

"So, when will our mast be fixed?"

"Well, I have to say this is a bit tongue in cheek, but the repair date on your mast is currently unknown".

"So....tomorrow?"

"Um, I don't know. Really. My best advice is stand on the highest chair you have got..."

I hung up.

You know when you realise the person you are talking to on the helpline has no chance of making as much sense of the data as you, and you have no chance of seeing it? You just give up. I can't blame the operator, but I can blame the networks.

Do you know what? Your consumers are not morons? Don't treat us as such.

Meanwhile, BSkyB buy the Cloud, O2 offer nationwide wi-fi, most mobile networks in rural areas cannot download an app let alone use it; I hear it's as bad in London if you are an iPhone user. (But where is the news on that?) The country spends its life trying to pay over the odds connection charges to help lines for support issues, whilst getting nowhere. And we think it's ahem...normal?

Want my opinion? OK. Here goes....Not a reader? Start at "Everything old is new again" and read this about BskyB's acquisition of the Cloud. The Cloud (Niall Murphy) was one of my early event speakers and sponsors, before most of you had heard of wifi or broadband.

Our networks are fooked. They cannot provide the service required TODAY, whether wired or wireless.

It is time for a hats on the table summit where people TELL THE TRUTH and find the right solutions for UK plc comms. Because, otherwise, what is going to happen is that someone, somewhere, will put together a femto cell deal or similar over wifi that takes the lot of you greedy, difficult, mobile operators and telcos out at the knees. And if it doesn't happen from within industry, it will come from the grassroots people who are utterly and totally fed up with your shenanigans.

We need mobile comms not to feed money into your pockets, but to STAY ALIVE, to keep our businesses running, to track our kids, to share village news, to COMMUNICATE. WE don't need you purely so you make your profits. It's so simple. Get IT.

Read more!

Friday, 21 January 2011

What short and selective memories we have (2)

Read more! If you are late to the party, the intro to this particular post is here

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Some of you won't remember LS29 and similar community networks who sought to connect communities to broadband when the incumbent was dragging its heels, urban and rural. Or even the trigger level campaigns for ADSL that employed well-meaning volunteers within communities around the country, (Think Infinity - it was exactly the same programme but more aggressive - most exchanges, not a just a "lucky" handful). Those people believed the adverts - everyone would be connected if they just trod enough miles around their Parish/exchange area to 'stimulate demand' with pre-prepared posters on behalf of a private company.

You probably don't recall the fight for the arrival of the LLU unbundlers. They came later in the tale. And their appearance was for a very good reason, but they are, sadly, still in the Betamax category for many consumers. And no-one seeks to help consumers make an informed choice, even today....

I know that the vast majority of the readers of this blog were not at the first BSG conference in Birmingham, (I did not sing my tagline; that rumour is not true!) or present when the Analysys Mason report was launched to huge dispute about that £28Bn figure for FTTH, or at the Amsterdam FTTH conference when the miniscule British contingent were so, so depressed at the oh so apparent lacklustre UK approach to telecoms infrastructure as we heard what other countries were doing.

Many of you may not remember the huge arguments during the trigger level campaign that ADSL was an "interim technology", "unfit for purpose in the 21st century" etc. The utter tosh (sorry, I mean corporate spiel) about how great ADSL would be for this country and how it would reach "nearly everyone" met with substantial resistance, but we didn't/couldn't spend £30+million marketing it to the British public. (£35M ISTR was the ad spend in year 1 alone by BT - Source: Marketing Weekly, on a train, many moons ago).

Back then, some were, and still are, trying to get party lines removed so people could have a phone line each. You think broadband notspots are bad? There are (AFAIK), or definitely were until very recently, still people in this country sharing phone lines on what used to be called 'party lines', so they must wait for the neighbour to get off the phone to make a call. House on fire? Tough. You won't find these people wingeing in online forums - they can't even consider getting online. And when that disconnectivity coincides with no mobile coverage? Well, go figure how this country is ever going to lead anyone in telecoms infrastructure when we allow that to happen.....

I'm quite sure most people don't remember the miraculous trigger level hits that occurred almost overnight when a community network offering an alternative to ADSL went public locally. Nor the fact that there were trigger levels reached that sometimes stretched the imagination for the total number of residents within that exchange area, or when local knowledge denied that that many residents could even access or use a computer to register. The announcements of ADSL exchange enablement which coincided (oh, how coincidental?) with community networks announcing to their residents that they were going live within days or weeks because the local demand was high, especially when there had been zero indication (in some cases, flat denials), that it would be 'economically viable' or that anyone else was willing to chuck a DSLAM in the exchange.

Someone, somewhere, was scanning local papers, which at the time were nowhere near as online as now, to counter any such community or technological 'attacks' on what can only be seen as a land grab. After all, if all you can offer a rural area is something worse than ISDN, do you *really* want a bunch of geeks to appear out of the rural or urban woodwork and set up a network that offers a far better solution, locally run, than you care to offer during THAT DECADE?

Can you spot the similarities yet? Are you mapping community activity to put in FTTH or alternative solutions vs Infinity and amended FTTC announcements? Well, you should be.

The good bit and the lesson that should never be forgotten was when Ed Brown of ADIT helped BT enable the 23 (was it 23? I think so) rural Yorkshire and Humber exchanges that BT claimed weren't viable. Yep, with public money, but, oh, if they prove to be viable after all, guys, you are paying that money back to the public purse. My sources tell me that repayment came to over a £1million.

So, if all these rural areas that we are planning to chuck £830M at turn out to be viable after all............? We should have anywhere up to £830M to play with all over again. N'est-ce pas?????

Some of the networks that consumed the Net from the mid 90s onwards and made it accessible to anyone in their region, on free spectrum that could be set to work on even the most battered PC that had been binned for running Windows 3.1, must have been a bit of a worry, I guess. But not to their users who (mostly) LOVED 'em and supported 'em. And many of whom, seemingly, are on worse connections now, 10 years later, because someone, somewhere has gone to great efforts to make it damned difficult for those altnets to bypass the...sorry, got to say it, incumbent.

I don't say this lightly, but I strongly believe, and am willing to hear otherwise, that there was an ethos of "Take 'em out at the knees" and we are seeing that again. Not for the greater good and well-being of UK Plc, but for a long-term gain that is endeavouring to capture as large a market share for THIS CENTURY as possible for shareholder interest.

And our memories are too bloody short.

Well, most of them are. You, whoever you are, are probably reading this because you are frustrated that the UK is lagging behind Latvia, Estonia, Korea, Sweden, and a whole host of other countries. Damn, where did our Empire go? Are we really Third World, or heading that way, because we can't play in the knowledge economy - we've not got much else to play with industrially. Have we?

Are we really going to forget that we were all promised the light fantastic with ADSL, and thousands and thousands and thousands of this people in this country have nothing, or near as dammit nothing, that you could call 'broadband' by the 1984 definition, let alone 2003 or 2011? Capable of simultaneous transmission and reception of voice, video and data - what the hell happened to that? I look at sending a less than 20MB PDF to the printer today and it's walk away from the computer time - pick a task to fill the time - I drove 10 miles to submit my self-assessment form (do it online? PAH!!!). In 2011. In Great Britain.

If you really believe that giving anyone the money for a future-proofed solution, when they are proposing a solution for the 21st century that reworks a 100+ year old copper telephone network, is right, then I suggest you take a look around the world at the places where for at least 5 YEARS, tiny little rural companies have been able to chuck more than is promkised with FTTC over far longer lengths of copper. Because if a certain massive multinational hasn't worked that one out when they should have been taking the lead, globally, then all I can say is that Peter Cochrane retired too damned early and we need him back in Ipswich to get fibre to the home back on the menu. Fast.

Or else we realise that ADSL is still, all these years later, a short term interim solution, as is anything over copper, and it is time to assess how much not having decent broadband is costing this country. That tax return I submitted today, well, dead sorry HMRC, but once again, you are getting nowt off me as I can't compete with the guys who started up in my sector 5 years and more after me. The competitive advantage that I, and many other companies in the IT industry had from being British, innovative, ingenious etc has now been so substantially eroded, you are now writing us cheques, year on year. Bloody genius. That should force the national economic recovery...not!!

If the Treasury, HMRC, our economists etc are willing to permit private companies to drag hundreds of thousands of small businesses into the gutter, when we should have been leading the world and cashing in, perhaps it is time to reassess exactly who is benefiting from this approach?

And you, oh Councillors etc who are going to make decisions for public purse money this year through the 5 BDUK projects, don't look to Cornwall. Look beyond these shores at what is being done elsewhere. Why are we NOWHERE CLOSE to being on the FTTH Council League tables even with the proposed spend on 'fibre optics' for the next few years being lauded in the press?

Ask yourself if the ASA was wrong to ignore all the complaints that, if you call it a fibre optic connection, it must be precisely that - not coax or any other form of copper. And are you falling for very expensive ad companies working their magic on your minds with convincing messages?

Or do you understand, fully, the implications of the huge savings this country will make - economically, environmentally and socially - if we have a comms infrastructure which is appropriate for this century? Are you going to deny this country that, by choosing, as David Durnford of Small World rightly pointed out yesterday, a non-innovative and oh so last century approach?

“Also the whole point of this Government money for Cumbria is to be innovative and BT’s approach is not innovative – arguably they shouldn’t even be bidding.”

Don't be governed by the pace of today. Make time to learn from history. Much of this very, very recent history is on the Net (accessible within seconds) and all of us owe it to this once great nation to look back, learn, and apply the lessons, so we don't find ourselves in 5, 10 or 20 years time from now in the same sorry state we are in today.

And yes, I accept this is a massive rant, but if in 1 or 2 (or another 15) year's time, when I am sitting on my fibred island, and I see the UK in a similar comms mess to the one it is in today, I would kick myself out of my hammock if I hadn't spoken out when I had the chance. Read more!

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Why we must settle for nothing less than FTTH....

Read more! I am struggling a tad with a story yesterday that implies that "superfast broadband" is 'up to 6Mbps' from now on. Have we lost it??? Other countries are doing 1000Mbps (yes, count the zeros) and we think 6Mbps will make us a leading broadband nation?
This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, thanks to Twitter, I finally have permission to reproduce a quite extraordinary post from across the Atlantic (I presume) from @lamapper on the Broadband Cumbria site

If you are not following Barry Forde (my first ever keynote speaker, in Leyburn, possibly before many people here had even heard the term "broadband" and long before I knew many of those who are now broadband centre stage!), then do so. Now!

Do not support a BT Infinity campaign or let your County Council spend your/our money until you know the options. Barry is outlining the choices and the world is responding..........

@lamapper says:
Great article, with great explanation that . . .

“they (BT)refuse to supply dark fibre to third parties”

. . . that is the problem in a nut shell in every country in the world today.

Japan solved this by deregulating NTT, thus in 2000 Japanese consumers received 100Mb/100Mb for $55 per month…Thanks to the de-regulated Fiber by 2006, they could swap out their Fiber Modems and could get 1 Gbps/1Gbps for $52 per month. The price going down as more and more subscribers come on board in spite of the exponential increase in a customer’s bandwidth is a very STRONG indication that the Japanese economic market for Internet access is working.

Many of us understand that you can multiplex a single fiber cable and increase the bandwidth from 1X to 1024X, this has been true since the early 2000s. And when a company runs Fiber, they do not just run a single strand…that would be a waste of time and money…they just leave the extra Fibre dark.

Here in the USA, the current non Fiber providers – read Cable, DSL, Telco… (and the non synchronous Fiber providers like Verizon who only offers 50Mb/5Mb) are quick to deny the reality that consumers need high levels of bandwidth and that ONLY Fiber To The Home (FTTH) will do the job over the long haul.

Any solution that does not put Fiber in the home of the consumer is at best a waste of time and money, and at worst a Ponzi scheme perpetuating the bandwidth scarcity myth that most providers rely on for their failed tiered pricing plans.

Consumers in the USA are no longer waiting for the telco – cable – wireline – wireless provider oligopoly to provide Fiber any longer. Consumers are beginning to wake up and have noted that their (providers) actions since 1990 have shown their true colors. That they have no intention of providing Fiber To The Home unless forced to do so. This is in spite of receiving in excess of $900 Billion SPECIFICALLY for Fiber from American Tax payers (money + taxes + fees) since the 1990s. They have had three decades, over 30 years to provide Americans with Fiber. They have failed. In fact it is reported they spend in excess of $1.5 Million per WEEK lobbing elected politicians to avoid fulfilling their 1990 era promise of Fiber…for which they were amply paid I might add.

Heck Chattanooga finished their FTTH build-(approx 2,500 businesses and over 20,000 residences) out 7 years ahead of schedule with an infusion of cash of barely over $100,000. EPB finished in 3 years instead of the planned 10 years. As of December 2010 they are finished with the initial Fiber build out and are already looking at expanding their offering thanks to the huge demand for the service by their citizens. It should be noticed that the incumbent provider had been fighting against EPB and Chattanooga since the 1990s to prevent this reality. Thankfully they failed.

In spite of these un American and anti-competitive providers a few American communities have provided FTTH to their citizens. In every case they have been fought tooth and nail by the incumbent provider whether telco or cable. In spite of the up hill battle, almost 30 communities have SYNCHRONOUS FTTH Internet in the USA. When Google announces their 5 Go Big With a Gig communities there will barely be over 30 communities in the USA that are providing true and honest Internet service to consumers, citizens and residents.

This map shows the locations of SYNCHRONOUS FTTH US communities/cities: http://sn.im/1axal4

It is interesting to note that Utopia in Utah provides FTTH via User Owned Fiber. Home owners pay $1,500.00 and their community provides another $1,500.00 via bonds for this purpose. The home-owner’s real estate increases in value thanks to this User Owned Fiber.

Most of my friends are planning to move to one of the 30 or so communities on the map in order to secure FTTH Internet for themselves and their posterity. We have waited 30 years, we will NOT wait another 5 years. Thankfully we do not have too.

Over time as more and more home buyers insist on FTTH as their number 1 consideration when purchasing a new/used home, communities will have no choice but to either force their providers to provide Fiber or kick them out of their communities. Those communities with FTTH offerings are recovering faster economically than others as businesses too are relocating bringing jobs with them. Makes these communities a better long term investment in all areas, especially Real Estate.

What BT and their ilk should worry about more is the loss of TRUST that their inaction, bad business practices and customer no service methods have caused among their consumer base. After multiple decades of abusing their customers TRUST, why would you even want to do business with them, ever. My friends and I do NOT and we are instilling this legacy in our children as well. The great things about our kids, they are more Internet savvy than many of their parents, they get it.

Let em choke on their non FTTH, non synchronous, non net neutral inferior Internet offerings.

A couple of the FTTH communities thanks to synchronous bandwidth are allowing their customers to run their own personal cloud, file and email servers from their homes….long overdue and about time!

Even 10Mb/10Mb at between $25 to $50 per month is much, much better than a promise of “up to” anything, throttled back to less than 100Kbps/30Kbps, the Cable provider reality in the USA today.

In Japan, NTT, thanks to owning the Fiber once again found themselves in the dominant position in spite of De-regulation, I suppose consumers in both England and the USA are going to have to get a little bit more upset at the incumbent provider’s customer-no-service and insist on FTTH or they will never get it! Our combined telco/cable Internet history shows this truth to be self evident.

Here in America, we are relocating and moving for FTTH, problem solved.

Funny how synchronous Fibre bandwidth solves the net neutrality issues as well, once the bandwidth scarcity myth is put to death, there is no longer as large an incentive to censor, restrict and limit, why waste time and money on software and/or hardware if its simply not needed?

The Future can be BRIGHT, but only with FTTH, nothing less!
Read more!

Sunday, 14 November 2010

Rory's Reivers do Ambridge!

Read more! I am very proud to announce Radio Lentil's latest contribution to the broadband world. Light listening for the masses!

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

We decided to 'do' Ambridge aka Asby because we have been trying to feed rural and community broadband stories to Radio 4 plus the TV soaps for years. Almost ten years, in fact. Having tried various routes and got nowhere, it finally dawned on us that technology was now perfectly advanced to let us make our own version.

We are all ready to admit that the final cut of our first episode could be more polished, but we learned many lessons and are ready to put them into practice in the following episodes. And boy, was it fun making it!!!

Here is how it happened:

Lindsey has late night idea, runs it past a couple of people with the necessary skills and enthusiasm – Mark Holdstock, former BBC presenter; John Popham, blogger/social media/citizen journo; and Chris Conder – who needs no intro!

Draft script gets sent round, written hurriedly as a first draft, but, as ever, no-one really has time to think it through or do more than make passing comments.

All arrive in Great Asby for the Reivers Broadband Conference for Cumbrian communities, organised by Rory Stewart MP. Having had John Popham to stay overnight, plus picking up Chris at the station on the return from Doc/Fest in Sheffield, we have ¾ of the cast present. Or so we think!

Take up residence in the Three Greyhounds, as after all the episode is set in the pub. John looks constantly at his watch as he is filming, livestreaming, photographing and reporting live from the event which begins at 2pm. It is now 1.30pm. No-one has even seen the script for two weeks, let alone read through it. We finally pull it out of the cloud over the GAB network to display it on Mark's laptop.

Recording begins, with zero rehearsal whatsoever and a few strays sitting around the table who are being gesticulated at “Can you read this line?”. Knowing nothing about writing a radio script, different characters are indicated with the marginally casual – Some1, Some2, Some3!

Short of Cumbrian voices, we drag the landlady from behind the bar and force her to overcome her stage fright to read a line. Next line says “single mum”. A what?! Look out the window and spot a female wandering towards the event. Cyberdoyle rushes out, explains breathlessly what is required and drags her into the bar. My Radio 4 hoody and Mark's professional recording kit convince her this is for real. No point bursting that bubble just yet – she reads her line perfectly and takes up position to capture the event on her camera! (Turns out later, this is Nicky @getgood from@talkaboutlocal – a speaker at the event).

We duck and dive around the table and bar, thrusting the mike into anyone's face just to get all this recorded before the main event of the day. We reach the penultimate line – we need a Parish Council Chairman. In the door walks Rory Stewart, MP. Oh sweet! “Rory, Rory, please, just read this into the mike”. He looks at us, somewhat bemused, and then realises it's his Reivers. You can see the look of resignation. Whatever we are up to now, he knows it is “for the cause”.

Several of us cannot hide our grins of delight as our MP becomes “victim” and contributor to our latest mad idea. We couldn't have arranged this if we'd wanted to, so the BDUK reps look on, waiting for his attention, whilst he makes at least one constituent supremely happy.

“It's a wrap”. We've collared people in and out of the pub, recorded at least enough to make it work (ish!) and the job is done.

Grab our laptops, bags, recording equipment, thank the locals who have put up with us this last half hour and rush to the Village Hall for the real thing.

With many thanks to Mark Holdstock for editing, Chris Conder for putting together the Youtube video/slideshow, Ian Bankhurst; John Popham; Nicky @getgood; the landlord and landlady of the Three Greyhounds, Great Asby; Bill Conder aka Eddie; Rory Stewart, MP; and the Archers/Corrers/Emmerdale teams for refusing all these years to listen and forcing us to make our own soap!

The next episodes will follow communities in the Big Society vanguard and BDUK area of Eden, as well as other communities elsewhere, as we all try to solve the problems inherent in getting next gen into rural areas for businesses, citizens and communities.

If you have script ideas, want to take part, or wish to offer advice on how to improve on our first effort, please do get in touch! Sponsorship and product placement opportunities also exist ;o)

Suffice to say, we are highly critical and equally delighted that we JFDI! Enjoy.... Read more!

Sunday, 7 November 2010

News.....

Read more! I know you think I've sold out, but that isn't true. I suspect I am learning, finally, to stay stumm occasionally! However, this last week deserves a blog post

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Sunday: 600 miles to drive in 2 days.....Having negotiated a mainly closed motorway network on Sunday (and no, you can't send the kids back to school/college over Skype - I have tried), I finished my cross-national double zig, (Cumbria-Leeds-W Mids-Wales/Shrops) with a big zag to Lincs.

My first big surprise was a sign saying "Rutland". So, Dave et al, *that's* where you are!! I've now moved my personal Watford Gap so that Lincs and Peterborough are on the same side of it. Rutland Telecom - be warned. Arrive at South Witham Broadband late at night. Which other ISP will put you up when you are stranded on their doorstep?! I suspect most would have told me to sleep in the car....

Monday am: Met with Tref from Timico. For lunch. We ate pigeon.

Monday pm: Drove into the deepest flattest wilds of Lincs. Much of the rest cannot yet be told, but suffice to say, I learnt more about fibre laying by a community than you may want to hear. Sadly, however, you will shortly be able to read about it all...book #3 in the JFDI Community Broadband series. (Like the others - NOT available from Amazon, buy it from Lulu).

Was gutted to find the bubble car museum highlighted on my endurance rally map had moved. But, not to be deterred, I tracked down the owner, and now have a new pin in the map. (If you don't know, my kids' book character has a bubble car and I have an unhealthy fascination for them - James Caan now knows! And I am 1/4 Manx so what better fit for the Peel car?).

Monday night: Turns out this is a very small world. Invite a local rally driver I met on the Lombard for a pint and find he knows the fibre folk I am with from waaaaay back when - when fibre was made by Tuaregs and only in blue. (Oh, was that Paris-Dakar fibre, not the Lombard?).

Get told a cracking story about a consultancy employed to advise on dark fibre. "We've just realised we don't know what it looks like".....

Tuesday: Meeting with fibre training company about the conference in June and the new book. (I lie because really what I wanted to see was the fibre training courses and the blowing demo. Sneakily sign up for a course and now have to be in't Midlands for 8 weeks masquerading as someone who works for an overcome telco who has suddenly realised they laid off all the wrong people not that long ago).

Surprise meeting in a driveway: Long conversation, out of the blue (bloody Tuaregs and sand getting in the way again!), about disaster relief and fibre. In the middle of nowhere. Brain goes into overdrive......Watch this space.

Afternoon: Get informed that sometimes my blog posts don't make sense. Have re-read the above and think they were lying.

Tuesday night: get home and within less than 5 mins out of car get calls from Canada and USA. About fibre. Am beginning to think I should try to carve a career out of this....

Wednesday: Discover am ill

Thursday: Day off, prone and exhausted. Or as you lot think, another day not answering phone when you ring.

Friday: Watch Big Society meeting online. Finally devour enough painkillers to be able to be present - John Popham's video footage was right. This was one event that was too good to miss. Kidnap two of the attendees and force them to stay at my house. And wait for news that @cyberdoyle has won the £10k video prize from digitalrevolutions. When we finally learn she lost to a PROFESSIONAL photographer in the amateur category, Sheffield becomes a no go zone. Possibly for ever. 10km of fibre needed now to connect her community vs a flash camera for a man who earns his living looking through a lens. Not impressed.

Saturday: Rory's broadband day. You want links? #gab10 on Twitter. The rest you must find alone.....Hover between groundhog day (about 8 years ago) and a feeling of elation. I think BDUK can make the right scenario occur IF Cumbria County Council don't relive Project Access (my biggest fear). Ups and downs. Pick Cyberdoyle up from the station, and spend the rest of the day watching her hand out fibre to strangers. "It's a sharp" LOL. CD on form and wasted in the audience. She should have been on stage. Ditto Barry Forde, whose Powerpoint I will hopefully put up here in the next day or two.

Prior to event, we move into pub with our pet BBC sound recordist - Radio Lentil interviewer extraordinaire, Mark Holdstock - and make our own version of the Archers. Obviously, called The Reivers. Collar landlord, landlady, passing strangers (who become friends (@talkaboutlocal) to read lines, and then Rory Stewart MP walks in the pub and agrees to feature in it! Radio Lentil hits a new high - the edit should be available in the next few days. Scripts for future episodes are welcome.

Had a momentary burst of pride when Gt Asby was cited as a model community broadband network in the event - I know the history! Fast, Faster, EdenFaster - today, six years ago, was when we got the funding. (Another day I was at a broadband conference instead of remembering the kids' birthday but some of you may remember filling a Pringles tin antenna in Hawes to make up for it!)

OK, we weren't right with all we did way back then with Edenfaster, but we put two networks in place that still exist and are now breaking the ground for everyone else, and not just in Eden, Cumbria. Indirectly, we set off more than just a few others. Pat ought to get some glory and recognition; I was very pleased to hear some tales of GAB installs that were about his hard work, but in the wider world, the ground we/he broke then is often unknown.

Sunday: going to get an engine for my very poorly car. Stay on the road a while longer - no buses, trains to speak of that would have made last week even vaguely possible. See my parents. Post the kids' presents. Enjoy autumn. Ignore broadband for a whole day.

The last paragraph probably won't come true, but the rest happened, and far more!

Read more!

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Fibre tax and my licence fee

Read more! I've got a bee in my bonnet again. Sorry folks but I think this stinks.....
This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

Broken Telephone - Why are we pissing away £120M?
and also Is Govt robbing the BBC licence payers?

Would welcome a different viewpoint on all this, if there is one!
Read more!

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