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It’s Britain’s fastest ever broadband…
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| THE FUTURE: Broadband to make you smile |
BOURNEMOUTH will get the fastest internet connections in Britain, thanks to a £30 million state-of-the-art cable network - in the town's sewers.
The resort has been chosen as the country's first Fibrecity, meaning computer users will get to trial the next generation of internet access.
In the largest project of its type in Europe, fibre optic cables will be fitted in all the resort's sewers, giving thousands of homes and businesses access to super-fast broadband.
Downloading music, watching films online, transferring documents and video conferencing will all become easier and quicker with the new system.
Fibre optic company H20 Networks chose the town as its first Fibrecity after installing the system at Bournemouth Borough Council's offices last year.
The company will provide all the cables and pay to set up the network at a cost of £30m.
According to its website, having Fibre to the Home (FTTH), in your living room may even be free.
Councillor Nick King, Bournemouth Borough Council's cabinet member for communications, said: "Bournemouth is incredibly privileged to have been chosen. This is a giant leap forward and gives us a real competitive advantage.
"Bournemouth needs to embrace the many advantages that being a Fibrecity will bring.
"It will mean massive rewards for all homes and businesses that sign up to the services that this network will enable.
"The council has already installed H20 Networks' high speed fibre to its offices and the Bournemouth International Centre and Pavilion Theatre, so we are aware of the difference this type of connectivity can make."
It took just a week to link the council with the BIC and Pavillion Theatre, using the sewers to run fibre optic cables under the Winter Gardens.
Work to install the rest of the cables is due to start in September.
All the town's businesses and more than 88,000 homes will be able to gain access to connection speeds faster than anything available on current digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable modem.
Manchester-based H20 Networks hopes to eventually have fibre optics in all of the UK's 360,000 miles of sewers.
Wayne Harris, managing director of Poole-based IT consultancy Saratoga, said: "The ultra high bandwidth will be a minimum of 100 megabytes per second available to homes and businesses in Bournemouth.
"I can see it being great for local businesses.
"There will be the opportunity for them to work with larger data files.
"Consumers will be able to download more TV and radio programmes, films and games.
"It will become possible to watch a film while it is streaming on the internet without downloading it.
"We work with Hope FM and the station sometimes has difficulty streaming its material over the internet due to file size.
"Next generation broadband will be an advantage for businesses like this.
"I imagine it will cost more than the current ADSL offering although I believe it is a pilot so prices ought to be competitive.
"Like with anything, once the volume is there it will be cheaper. It's an innovative idea."
For more information and to register for updates, including how to get FTTH, go to fibrecity.eu/bournemouth
7:00pm Thursday 8th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Spacehopper, West Parley on 10:05pm Fri 9 May 08
Fibre Optics through the sewers? How will they get it into the houses? I suppose it will be through the U bend of your toilet!I won't need to worry, I doubt if it will make it as far as West Parley. We still haven't even got cable TV here.
Fibre Optics through the sewers? How will they get it into the houses? I suppose it will be through the U bend of your toilet!I won't need to worry, I doubt if it will make it as far as West Parley. We still haven't even got cable TV here.
Posted by: PETE WOODLEY on 10:02pm Sat 10 May 08
[quote][bold]Spacehopper[/bold] wrote:
Fibre Optics through the sewers? How will they get it into the houses? I suppose it will be through the U bend of your toilet!I won't need to worry, I doubt if it will make it as far as West Parley. We still haven't even got cable TV here.[/quote] Wait until they start building there,then you can have cable,etc.
Spacehopper wrote:
Fibre Optics through the sewers? How will they get it into the houses? I suppose it will be through the U bend of your toilet!I won't need to worry, I doubt if it will make it as far as West Parley. We still haven't even got cable TV here.
Wait until they start building there,then you can have cable,etc.
Posted by: RM, Poole, Dorset on 10:57am Sun 11 May 08
Being of a very cynical turn of mind, I have to ask - what's in it for H20 Networks? I can't see that having only one supplier throughout the UK would be good for the end users. Without any competition we'd have to take what we're given rather than having choices.
Being of a very cynical turn of mind, I have to ask - what's in it for H20 Networks? I can't see that having only one supplier throughout the UK would be good for the end users. Without any competition we'd have to take what we're given rather than having choices.
Posted by: Jayteer, Bournemouth on 9:29am Mon 12 May 08
[quote][bold]RM[/bold] wrote:
Being of a very cynical turn of mind, I have to ask - what's in it for H20 Networks? I can't see that having only one supplier throughout the UK would be good for the end users. Without any competition we'd have to take what we're given rather than having choices.[/quote] It will probably work on the same ideology that current IT infrastructures work on.
The cable network in the UK for example is owned by Virgin Media- However when the cable network was installed years ago (i may be wrong on this!) it was installed by NTL, which at the time was part of the AT&T corporation in the states.
The same with BT- BT owns the telephony network in the UK and business ISDN infrastructure- BT leases out the lines,numbers and technology to 3rd party companies like Tiscali,Freeserve etc, and before you know it, several companies are offering broadband running from one source, in a competitive market.
Virgin Media however has the monopoly on the cable network in the UK.
And im guessing that due to the huge demand for speed which is an issue plaguing Service providers nowadays, there will be a mad scramble for fibre networks as it will offer the speed needed.
Hence, Virgin Media, BT and all other companies will race to H20 to lease the networks for their own users.
Competition wont be a problem- The biggest problem will be who will be the cheapest offerer of the service!
RM wrote:
Being of a very cynical turn of mind, I have to ask - what's in it for H20 Networks? I can't see that having only one supplier throughout the UK would be good for the end users. Without any competition we'd have to take what we're given rather than having choices.
It will probably work on the same ideology that current IT infrastructures work on.
The cable network in the UK for example is owned by Virgin Media- However when the cable network was installed years ago (i may be wrong on this!) it was installed by NTL, which at the time was part of the AT&T corporation in the states.
The same with BT- BT owns the telephony network in the UK and business ISDN infrastructure- BT leases out the lines,numbers and technology to 3rd party companies like Tiscali,Freeserve etc, and before you know it, several companies are offering broadband running from one source, in a competitive market.
Virgin Media however has the monopoly on the cable network in the UK.
And im guessing that due to the huge demand for speed which is an issue plaguing Service providers nowadays, there will be a mad scramble for fibre networks as it will offer the speed needed.
Hence, Virgin Media, BT and all other companies will race to H20 to lease the networks for their own users.
Competition wont be a problem- The biggest problem will be who will be the cheapest offerer of the service!
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