Do You Want Faster Internet?

STOP PRESS:  Having only had 84 responses, 74 of them valid, out of a population of 1,200 households in St Margarets, we cannot take the next step.  The interested residents were spread all over the village and there is not a sufficient demand to warrant what will be a considerable cost.

The way the Openreach partnership below works is that the phone number and postcode for all interested parties have to be entered to their system. Once this has been submitted for costing, it is not possible to add extra names. We haven’t got enough interest to take this next step.

Realistically we estimate we would need a 40% take up to make the next step viable. We are currently under 1%.

If somebody from the village is willing to take this on, publicizing, putting up notices, canvasing neighbours etc then  the Parish council would be happy to support, we could even find funds for stationary, leaflets  etc. THe data collection link below is still running but has only been used once since the end of April.

SORRY

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The next generation of connection is Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) offers 100MBps.  BT Openreach are slowing deploying this: Sandwich is well on the way, Walmer and Deal will follow; but there are no plans at all for St. Margaret’s or Dover.

We have therefore registered with the community Fibre partnership with Openreach. Feel free to read this PDF  here or peruse : https://www.openreach.community-fibre-partnerships We would like our residents to have access to  FTTP  but we need to get good community support. If there is a good demand, we would look at applying for grants towards the full installation costs.

There are presently three broadband speeds: up to 16MBps (Suitable single users, with minimal video streaming), up to 38MBps (Suitable for two or three users streaming) and up to 80 MBps (Suitable for Large Families, Gaming and Businesses).  The village has Fibre To The Cabinet FTTC which can support upto 80MBps. The connection speed degenerates as the length of the old-fashioned copper cable from the cabinet to your premises increases. Those of us living over half a mile from the cabinet and trying to work from home, with children home-schooling on-line and others streaming real time film content, are finding it very difficult.  Those lucky enough to live near the cabinets my be getting a reasonable connection but would like a better one, if not immediately, but at least in the foreseeable future.

If you are interested (no commitment) in Fibre all the way to your premises, Openreach require us to collect and enter the following information – postcode, house name/number and land line – (we will not be storing this data) and they will give us an indicative cost. The more who are prepared to show interest, particularly businesses, organisations and charities, the more grants we could be eligible for. We are looking to fund the full installation through grants.

If this is something you feel passionately about please canvas (from a distance) your neighbours, friends, and any casual passers-by.

We are also interested in your upload and download speed. When we upload your details, we will be told  what you should be getting and we would like to check.  If you click here – speedtest.net   you can check your speed in a new window.

  Register/click  here

If this tentative first step is positive, we will need champions – so if you are prepared to help or if this is something you feel passionate about  – please email us on broadband@stmargaretspc.co.uk

For some of us this is a no brainier and we are desperate, others maybe unsure. We need to work together as a community to make this happen  and now or we won’t have it in 10 years time.  As a final thought, there could come a time when you will have difficulty selling  your property without good internet infrastructure.

                                  We can but try – We managed to be one of the first rural villages to get broadband in 2004 through a similar initiative – so it could even work!