Over the last two years, there have been mulitple stories on this website about high speed internet, including a proposal two years ago for the village to lease it’s own fibre connection. That failed to gain traction, mainly because of the approach by both Wessex Internet and Jurrassic Fibre, promising to connect the village within 12 months.

Finally, it looks as if Wessex Internet has won the race and their engineers have started installing the undergrown sections of their network. This network is being sponsored by the Government, as part of their pledge to bring high speed internet to rural areas. As such, it is part of the national infrastructure and Wessex Internet is committed to connecting every property in the village. If anyone does not want a connection now, then a connection will be burried outside your property for a future owner, or if you decide to connect at a later date.

At the moment, there is no other provider for fibre broadband in the village, although this might change in the future, or Wesssex may be forced to let other companies lease their infrastructure, as Open Reach do for all other suppliers of internet and telephony.

At the moment, the government sponsorship covers installation of a fibre cable to a junction box inside your property for free. At a future date, there may be a cost of installation and equipment from both Wessex or a future supplier, deals seem to change daily, so it is worth considering the cost and value of your current deal against the landline rental and internet package that you currently pay for.

In addition, Wessex usually charge a one-off administration charge at the point of connection of £49. If you sign up at residents meetings or drop-in sessions run by Wessex Internet, they will waive the activation fee on the evening.

We are not quite there yet. At the moment the engineers will be ploughing and moling the cable underground. Then they will bring the connections to the edge of your property before finally, a garden gang will arrange how best to get the cable through your property and into your home or business. Nothing will be done on your property until you request and sign an agreement. If you do not wish to have a fibre connection at this moment, they will bury a coil of cable outside your property for future use. You would then have to pay the going rate to have that cable taken into your home etc. There is a road closure booked in March and it is unlikely that anyone will actually be connected before April, but it would be wise to register your interest on their website if you have not already done so.

Most people who have been waiting for this moment will not need further explaination but for those that are in two minds; currently, you probably rent a landline, which consists of a pair of copper wires, linked to an analogue telephone exchange in Crewkerne. Through those two copper wires, your supplier also manages to connect you to the internet, although the broadband will be very slow and with a tendancy to drop out. This is because we are so far away from the exchange, interferrence on the wires means that Openreach has pushed their analogue technology as far as it can.

At the end of 2025, it is the governments policy to have phased out all analogue telephone systems n faour of digital, and they are actively asking residents of NP to do this switchover now. This means that your telephone will then be digital and pass through the internet, rather than the current analogue exchanges. If you stick with the current land line, and broadband, your phone will be transmitted via your broadband after the switchover. Most people will be aware of the quality of voice over internet if you have used Zoom, Goole Meet or another provider. In general, the quality is far inferior to using a land line and that is because our internet connections are so slow. With fibre, the speed and quality of the connection should be much better, comparible to landlines.

What will this all cost? Currently you probably lease a land line from BT, Ultility Warehouse or one of the many other utility providers. You can carry on with your existing contract but at some point you will be forced to transfer to digital telephony. Apparently this will have a similar cost to as present……..

If you connect to Wessex, their current cheapest rate is £29 per month for 100mb/s. They also offer a digital telephony contract (keeping your existing number) but are not advertising a cost as I write this. A few weeks ago it was about £6.50 a month. Using Wessex for calls will mean you can drop your landline, which is often the most expensive part of a current package.

Please keep an eye out for the drop in sessions where you can speak to Wessex member of staff to find out your best options.