Ultra Fast Broadband Info
Spalford Exchange Ultra-fast Broadband Delivery Project – Update July 2024
Openreach are trying to bring Ultra-fast, fibre-optic broadband to our villages! South Clifton is a member of the ‘Spalford Exchange Project’ which includes South Clifton, Girton, Spalford and North Scarle.
This project is part of Project Gigabit led by the UK Government. The way it works is residents and communities that are not already part of communications infrastructure companies’ (like Openreach) plans for expansion are given the opportunity to ‘pledge’ Government funded vouchers to drive the delivery of the infrastructure to their areas.
As residents, all we need to do is pledge these vouchers as individual households under the ‘Spalford Exchange Project’ by visiting the Openreach Website and completing the simple, short form.
Once you have pledged your voucher, you will receive an email from either the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSINT) or the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the UK Government, asking you to validate your voucher.
Once your voucher is validated, there is nothing more for you to do! The only commitment is that you agree to sign up to 12 month fibre broadband contract with a supplier of your choice (You are NOT tied to BT!) once the infrastructure has been delivered.
WE STILL NEED MORE SUPPORT! Without more pledges we may lose this opportunity to bring this critical infrastructure to our villages!
Please, if you haven’t already I would urge you to follow the link and pledge your Government funded voucher to the Spalford Exchange Project Openreach scheme.
https://www.openreach.com/connect-my-community
If you have already pledged, thank you. Please consider talking to your neighbours and bringing this information to their attention.
Current State
We currently know of
1: Your address has pledged your voucher and validated via the separate email. There is no further action required from you!
2: Your address has pledged your voucher; you have received the validation email but have not validated. Action required! Our understanding is that your voucher will now have been CANCELLED and you will need to pledge again.
3:Your address has pledged your voucher and you have not received the validation email. There is no further action required from you YET. You should keep your eye on your inbox (including spam/junk folders) and validate your voucher when you receive this email.
4: Your address has not pledged your voucher. If you intend to do you so, you need to follow the instructions above.
Next Steps
If you have any questions, please do let Dan Finch know on finch.scpc@gmail.com.
Below is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) which we appreciate is rather long, but it provides some really valuable information including a significant amount we have managed to find out from Openreach directly.
If you suffer issues or error messages please send an email to fibrecommunitypartnership@openreach.co.uk and explain the issue. The team will work with you to complete your pledge. You are welcome to ‘cc’ in the above email address to keep Finch informed, and he will help you work through those issues.
FAQ (updated 25 Jul 24):
1: What are the steps to signing up and validating?
There are TWO steps to validating your Government funded voucher.
Step 1: You fill in the form on the website, which takes less than two minutes.
Step 2: You will then receive an email to confirm that Openreach are allowed to validate your voucher on your behalf. Follow the link and complete the actions required.
Once the project is started, Openreach will deliver the full-fibre infrastructure to the street level. This means there will be fibre optic cabling up to the boundary of your property.
Then, you will need to order your full fibre broadband package from a supplier of your choice, who will come and fit your full fibre connection into your home, free of charge. This is direct to property fibre! No copper at all! (see point 21 below)
2: What will happen now if we do not reach the pledge target / what is the time limit for reaching the target?
At this point (as of 01 July 2024) we simply do not know the answer to this question. We do not want to find out.
3: I don’t know whether I have pledged or validated by voucher.
If you have pledged, then your address will not appear in the drop down list for the project. If you HAVE pledged and are unsure whether you have validated your voucher, please email fibrecommunitypartnership@openreach.co.uk and explain the issue. The team will work with you to find out the status of your voucher.
4: What happens now? (As of July 2024)
The technical surveys are ongoing. You may see Openreach (or contractors on their behalf) working on these in the next few weeks/months. Our understanding is that the surveys will continue despite the pledge target now being under 100% again.
5: I’ve seen vans from x-company driving around the project area. Are these to do with Openreach?
If the van is from a company that works in the telecommunications industry then yes, possibly. Vans / uniforms may be branded with Openreach or other companies doing the surveys on Openreach’s behalf.
6: My address does not appear in the drop down list and I am sure I have not already pledged / I receive an error and the system will not let me pledge.
Please send an email to fibrecommunitypartnership@openreach.co.uk and explain the situation. The team will work with you to complete your pledge.
7: How long will the project take?
It will take Openreach 12-18 months to deliver the project.
8: Does it cost me anything up front?
No! The pledge allows Openreach to claim Government funding on your behalf.
9: Do I commit to anything?
Yes. By pledging your voucher you commit to purchasing a 12-month full-fibre broadband contract from a supplier of your choice, upon delivery of the project.
10: Is the cost of full fibre broadband in addition to my current broadband costs?
NO! When you take out a full fibre broadband contract, this REPLACES your existing costs. Depending on your line rental agreement etc. you could end up SAVING money! (see point 11 below)
11: How much does full fibre broadband cost?
According to USwitch.com, full fibre costs range from around £25.00 per month for a basic package, upwards depending on the speeds that you opt for. A lot of us will already be paying this much for the poor internet we currently receive.
12: Will it affect the value of my property?
Not necessarily, but it may improve saleability. The current internet speeds in South Clifton are well below the National average of 73.21Mbps (USwitch, 2023) at an average of 10-15Mbps in the village. This may put potential buyers off from moving to the village.
13: How fast is Ultra-Fast Broadband?
Basic full-fibre broadband packages start at around 50Mbps and go all the way up to 1.2Gbps (1200Mbps!).
The way these numbers work is the higher the number, the greater the throughput and the more information can travel simultaneously.
14: Will I be charged to cancel or change my current contract?
There are no penalties for upgrading your contract with your current provider. Because the project will take 12-18 months to deliver, many contracts may have run their course by the time the project is complete and you need to place an order. If you are “out of contract” you can shop around and pick a provider of your choice.
If you decide to change supplier whilst still in contract with another, there may be penalties or cancellation charges from your current supplier, but many suppliers will offer to pay these for you if you switch to them.
15: Will this affect my phoneline?
Current phone lines operate on the old analogue phone copper infrastructure (completely separate to broadband). This infrastructure will be retired by the end of 2025 and all phonelines will at that point go through the internet infrastructure. If we have full-fibre, this will be an improvement. If we do not, then your landline phone will have to go through the same, poor copper broadband infrastructure that our internet does at present.
16. If I move house after pledging, will Openreach try to reclaim the value of the voucher from me?
If you do nothing, then yes possibly. However, you can contact fibrecommunitypartnership@openreach.co.uk and explain the situation. They will then, with the new resident’s permission, transfer the voucher to them, or cancel the voucher for you. The key is that you will need to let them know.
17. I rent my property. Can I still pledge?
You can, but you will be responsible for taking out the contract when the project is delivered. Openreach cannot tell you whether it is your responsibility however, generally if you are responsible for your own broadband package at present, then you will need to do the pledge. If your landlord provides you with broadband, then they will need to the pledge for the property.
18. I operate a business from my home and/or from an address. Should I pledge as a “home” user or a “business” user?
This depends on whether the package that you take out is for personal use or for business. We are not financial advisors or business advisors and so cannot provide advice on this. If it does not make a difference to your circumstances, the “business” user vouchers are worth more to the project then the “home” user vouchers!
19. What does “Applied For Top Up” mean on the form?
This isn’t relevant for our project! Leave this blank.
20. I’m happy with my current broadband speeds. Why should I sign up?
Ultra-Fast Broadband will give you or future residents, as well as other members of the community who have very poor connections, the ability to have even faster speeds. When it comes to the cost of ultra-fast broadband packages, you will need to do your own research to see whether you could in fact save money on your package. (See FAQ number 11)
21. I already have Superfast Broadband / Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC). What’s the difference?
Ultra-fast Broadband (or ‘Full Fibre’) is what’s known as Fibre to the Property (FTTP). This provides a direct fibre-optic cable all the way into your property, whereas Superfast Broadband and FTTC only provide it to the local cabinet. Your connection then relies on copper cabling from the cabinet to the property. Imagine the Humber estuary flowing down into a funnel! The copper cabling is the funnel!
22. I’m using Starlink (or any other Satellite Internet / Mobile Internet provider) and its great! Why should I sign up?
Similar to answer 21., Ultra-Fast Fibre broadband will bring faster and more reliable connections. I myself (Dan Finch) use Starlink because I have been forced to. The cost is astronomical compared to fibre broadband and the connectivity still isn’t the best available!
23. What is the actual difference?
Our current infrastructure relies on degrading copper cables. Ultra-Fast Broadband will rely on a brand new infrastructure of fibre optic cables which use light signals to send data rather than electrical currents. The fibre optic cables do not degrade, they are more resilient, cheaper to maintain and provide much greater connectivity then copper. Over time, the copper cables we currently use WILL fail and if we do not have fibre optic in place, we will literally be disconnected, save for mobile and satellite, which we already know are poor or expensive.
24. Are there any other technical differences?
Ultra-Fast Broadband uses fibre-optic cables and technology to provide communications. As explained above, the “Speed” or ‘XXMbps’ describes the throughput of the cables.
What this means is your connection can download / upload more data simultaneously per second.
Fibre-optic cables use pulses of light energy to transmit data. Using digital signals, these pulses are sent and received and interpreted as data.
Copper on the other hand uses electrical energy to do the same, using electrical charges which are then interpreted. This is less reliable, as these charges can be interrupted more easily, degrade over distances, and can be interfered with accidentally, deliberately or even simply by the environment (background radiation etc.).
25. Is Ultra-Fast Broadband more secure?
Not necessarily. You will still be responsible for installing, implementing and using security best practices to keep yourself safe. Technically speaking, fibre optic cables are more difficult to physically interfere with without being discovered, which can help deter physical man-in-the-middle (MIM) type attacks, (literally ‘listening’ to the signals being sent by placing yourself between the sender and the receiver) but this is only one vector of cyber-attack.
26. Who didn’t validate?
We have no right to know for Data Protection reasons. Openreach legally cannot share personal data of anyone with anyone else within the community.
27. My antivirus / browser is showing the site to be unsafe and / or a scam.
This has been reported to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) several times and it is an issue with the digital certification of the website. As long as you have followed the links provided or entered the address correctly as shown on the leaflets, you can be assured that that the site is legitimate and safe to continue.
Any questions about internet, information security or other technical details can be directed to Dan Finch on finch.scpc@gmail.com