Ben and his colleagues held a well supported meeting last night with over 45 villagers in attendance. There were a lot of questions answered during the evening, some of which are listed below, which may be of some help if you were not able to make the meeting:

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIGITAL SWITCH OVER? – According to the government website, this will happen between now and 2025. When this takes place, all land line calls will be sent digitally over broadband. If the speed of your broadband is not sufficient, the quality of your land line calls will drop significantly. When the switchover occurs, you will need to either have a full fibre connection or Openreach will need to upgrade their service to North Perrott. There is no indication that the latter will happen. You can test the quality of VOIP calls (Voice over internet protocol) at any time using an app such as Skype, Messenger or WhatsApp etc. At present, these calls are very poor quality in North Perrott because our broadband connection is very slow.

HOW FAST IS BROADBAND IN NORTH PERROTT AT THE MOMENT? – there are various options for getting broadband in the village at this time: from Starlink (fast but very expensive), 4 or 5G mobile routers (less expensive but limited in speed) and conventional broadband via your landline. The latter is termed Sub-fibre by Openreach, because their fibre network only reaches Haselbury. From there, it is carried by a pair of copper wires to your home. This is a considerable bottleneck for digital communications. Over the years, the speed of broadband has quickened significantly but the current equipment is stretched to breaking point and will be replaced with digital technology within the next 2 years. At present, Openreach will guarentee 12-20Mb/s for most areas of the village but those further away from Haselbury may be on contracts that specify only 3-9Mb/s. On top of that, the system is oversubscribed, so although the speed reading may register as 20Mb/s, the more people using the internet in NP at the same time, the slower it gets. This is because we are all sharing the same “bandwitdth”. A similarly would be having a water pipe with multiple taps on it. Every time an extra tap is opened, the overall flow is maintained but the pressure at each tap drops, meaning each tap has less water coming out of it. A full fibre connection will mean that there is no concatonation and everyone will receive the full speed that is shown on their contract.

WHO IS BEHIND WESSEX INTERNET? – Wessex Internet is a young, small privately owned company that currently has 7,000 customers. It is owned by James Gibson Flemming, a farmer near Blandford and is backed finacially by ABDRN, a well established company with investments over £300bn

WHEN WILL CONNECTIONS START? – The current schedule is that the infrastructure should be complete by April and connections will begin from May.

WHAT PACKAGE DO I NEED? – Even the slowest Wessex Internet package at 100Mp/s download and 15Mb/s upload, is about 5 times faster than our current Openreach connections. In reality, because there will be no bandwidth restrictions, it will not suffer from peak usage slowdowns, so in effect, full fibre may be the equivilent of upto 10 times faster that we currently enjoy. The basic package will revolutionise most households use of the internet and be more reliable and buffering free. If there are several householders viewing different digital TV’s or gaming at the same time, then it may be necessary to have a faster package. There is also the question of keeping up with technology. When full fibre is available, the jump in technology such as smart TV’s and gaming will undoubtably increase the volume of data that you seek to use. Please ask advice if you think you might need more than 100Mb/s download speed. Upload speed is also important, not so much for watching TV, where the data comes into the home but if you are gaming or videocalling, then you also need data to upload. Uploading usually costs a bit more and you may need a faster package to accommodate this.

HOW LONG ARE THE CONTRACTS: – All signups commit to a year and after that are rolling monthly contracts that continue at the current rate. Unlike many suppliers, there are no penalties for being on a rolling contract. If you chose to upgrade before the year is up, you can do, so but the clock starts again for the new contract and you have to commit for another 12 months before the contract becomes monthly rolling.

VOICE OVER INTERNET CALLS (VOIP):- Wessex Internet provide a telephony package that starts at £7.95 for a basic service with unlimited landline calls but 10p per minute for calls to mobiles. £11.95 includes all mobile and landline calls. Please check about the cost of international calls. Using this service means you can dispose of your existing land line, which is frequently the most expensive part of your current communication cost. You can keep your existing landline number and your existing home telephones and wiring simply plug into the new router.

WHAT ABOUT MY EXISTING HOME NETWORK? – Most homes have some kind of hardwired or Wifi Network. This might include a smart TV, networked printer or even third party equipment such as sky box etc. Generally speaking, if it plugs directly into your existing internet router, it should simply plug and play when connected to your Wessex Internet router. Some equipment may not be compatible, especially if it does not connect directly to your existing router. Some Wifi and “Mesh” extenders are paired to specific models of router (eg BT) but most aftermarket equipment will continue to work or may need re configuring to the new router. If in doubt, ask before signing up.

WHAT ABOUT MOBILE PHONES:- Wessex Internet do not currently offer a mobile service but for anyone who’s mobile phone can use WiFi calling, their service will be greatly enhanced when using taking mobile calls from within their fibre Wifi network. For those who do not use their landline, it will enable them to live without the cost of VOIP and rely just on their mobile contracts.

ARE THERE ANY HIDDEN COSTS TO WESSEX INTERNET: – For the next 12 months at least, the government scheme ensures that full fibre will be brought inside your home for free, including a new router. If your home is large or has thick walls, you may need a “mesh” or series of Wifi extenders, as you currently would. Extenders can also be hardwired using ethernet cables. If you choose to delay or have no requirement for internet, then a coil of cable will be left outside your property for a future connection. If the eventual connection falls outside the government scheme (beyond 12 months) then you may be charged for some or all of the cost of connecting the fibre inside your property. The cost of this will depend on the work involved.

I ALREADY HAVE A TELEPHONE CONTRACT:- Homes that already have a telephone and/or broadband contract maybe charged a cancellation fee to break that contract and may therefore prefer to wait until their contract ends before swapping to full fibre. If that contrat is for longer than 12 months, it is worth considering that the subsequent cost of connection will be greater than the cancellation fee, so please contact both your current provider and Wessex Internet, to determine what is best in your particular instance. If you are under contract, you whatever circumstances you should call Wessex Internet who may be willing to help you break your existing contract. This will be entirely down to individual circumstances but is a stone that should not be left unturned!

IS FIBRE SUITABLE FOR ALL – At the current time, full fibre cannot support the use of “assitance/panic buttons” in the during a power cut. Advice is to contact your service provider and find out what provisions they are making for the digital changeover. This will likely consist of a rechargeable battery in your home that will support the continued use of a panic button during a loss of power. If in doubt, please ask your service provider before cutting off your existing land line. You can have full fibre and continue your land line for in the immediate future.

WILL FULL FIBRE COST ME MORE THAN I PAY NOW :- Currently, broadband packages are dependent on renting a landline. On top of that, there may be a calls package, the actual cost of broadband and most families also have at least one mobile phone. This all adds up to a considerable cost per month but is viewed as essential for modern life. A typical contract might cost per month, £17 – £20 for line rental, an additional £8 – £18 for broadband and my be another £8 for an inclusive calls package. Some of those costs will be bundled together but a very basic internet and all calls included package will cost between £30 and £40 per month. The basic equivilenet from Wessex would be £29 per month for 100Mb/s and an inclusive calls package for £11.95. Although this is at the top end of what people will be paying at the moment, it is for a service that is 5 – 10 times faster than we currently enjoy and opens up a digital world that many of us cannot currently access. It only becomes a financial burden if you choose to keep your landline. However, there is a opportunity to save money if you decide to discontinue with your old landline number and instead choose to use only your existing mobile phone through your Wifi at home.

TOP TIP! – Wessex Internet have a one off charge for activating a new account. Currently this charge is £49 for broadband and there may be a smaller activation charge for telephony too. Those people that attended the meeting were offered a waiver for that fee if they signed up on the night (with no commitment). If you have already signed up or missed the meeting owing to unforseen circumstances, please call Wessex Internet and plead on bended knee for a discount 😉