Report on the information webinar hosted by Jurassic Fibre
Due to public gatherings being prohibited under the Coronavirus restrictions, the Jurassic Fibre team hosted a webinar for West Hill residents on 17th June. Around 24 people attended to hear representatives from the company talk about how they plan to bring super-fast fibre optic cables through the village to homes and businesses. Speeds will start at 50Mbps and go up to 1Gbps download speed, depending on the package.
Broadband coverage in West Hill is currently patchy and depends on how far properties are from their nearest BT cabinet. The existing service is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), so although the village has fibre optic cables feeding the green cabinets, the last few yards (or more) between the cabinets and homes is via copper wire. The signal degrades in copper depending on how far it has to travel. Some residents are only achieving a download speed of 1Mbps. Jurassic Fibre will bring the fibre optic cable to the home, known as fibre-to-the-home (FTTH).
Rural areas have traditionally been poorly served by the large providers, due to the cost of laying the infrastructure, making cherry-picking more populated areas more attractive to them. High-speed broadband is increasingly important as consumers rely on it for shopping, streaming media, gaming and accessing basic services such as banking. The Coronavirus crisis had led to many more people working from home and placing a strain on existing broadband infrastructure.
Jurassic Fibre is currently laying infrastructure in Aylesbeare and is making its way towards West Hill.
If you would like to be on the Parish Council's broadband mailing list, please contact the Parish Clerk on clerk@westhillparishcouncil.gov.uk. We will keep you up to date with developments as we hear more.
Alternatively if you would like more information about Jurassic Fibre's plans for the area and packages, please click here to go directly to their website.