Beyond superfast broadband on the way

12:00pm Tuesday 20th November 2012 in Countywide

TALKS with prospective broadband providers are due to start this month as councils prepare to improve connections in parts of Oxfordshire.

The county council has started “competitive dialogue” with providers ahead of implementation of its Better Broadband Programme.

The scheme includes a £10m investment from the county council, along with £3.86million in national funds, in the Broadband Delivery UK’s “superfast broadband” programme.

It will aim to extend and improve the broadband infrastructure to parts of the county which currently suffer from poor or unreliable connectivity.

The council is also working to deliver “beyond superfast” connectivity for the Enterprise Zones of Harwell and Milton Park using £2.1m from the Government’s Growing Places Fund.

It has also joined forces with the city council in preparing a bid for £5m from the Government’s “super-connected cities” fund.

A report to yesterday’s county council growth and infrastructure scrutiny committee said: “The programme will enter into competitive dialogue with prospective partners in November 2012, with an expectation of a signed contract in the spring of 2013 and completed roll-out by 2015.”

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The meeting was held at the County Hall in New Road.

Comments (7)

1:27pm Tue 20 Nov 12

Pavinder Msvarensy says...

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin has been providing us with sooper dooper fast Broadband for years now but never gets a mention in these stories. I wonder what he has done to upset the establishment so much, you can go back to the Lottery and recently to the trains just to see.
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin has been providing us with sooper dooper fast Broadband for years now but never gets a mention in these stories. I wonder what he has done to upset the establishment so much, you can go back to the Lottery and recently to the trains just to see. Pavinder Msvarensy

4:08pm Tue 20 Nov 12

aitchpee says...

Unfortunately Pavinder, because the market (Virgin/BT etc.) cannot get superfast broadband to the rest of the county, that's why the council is having to stump up cash to try and deal with the problem. There are other projects helping to fill the gaps left behind in the county's strategy, such as ours in West Oxfordshire through http://www.cotswolds
broadband.co.uk/.

I'm afraid the commercial ventures such as Virgin aren't that newsworthy, but they do have a role in helping stimulate demand for better infrastructure to support superfast broadband.
Unfortunately Pavinder, because the market (Virgin/BT etc.) cannot get superfast broadband to the rest of the county, that's why the council is having to stump up cash to try and deal with the problem. There are other projects helping to fill the gaps left behind in the county's strategy, such as ours in West Oxfordshire through http://www.cotswolds broadband.co.uk/. I'm afraid the commercial ventures such as Virgin aren't that newsworthy, but they do have a role in helping stimulate demand for better infrastructure to support superfast broadband. aitchpee

6:46pm Tue 20 Nov 12

rob_w2010 says...

But the council's definition of 'Superfast' is 24mbps.... nothing to get excited about really.
But the council's definition of 'Superfast' is 24mbps.... nothing to get excited about really. rob_w2010

4:42pm Wed 21 Nov 12

Pavinder Msvarensy says...

Hi Aitchpee I checked with virgin and Ntl did not (as you say) cable certain rural areas. But in 3 market tests I checked out their non fibre optic BB and in Chinnor and Woodcote you can get 20mb and in Bloxham 18 mb through your phone line with Virgin at the moment with no upgrade. Now unless you have ten computers in your house all playing online games or downloading movies at the same time then that speed is plenty fast enough for every "normal user". you can get away with streaming movies and the dodgy footy with less that 4mb so I don't know why all the fuss and £millions needed when the service is already there.
Hi Aitchpee I checked with virgin and Ntl did not (as you say) cable certain rural areas. But in 3 market tests I checked out their non fibre optic BB and in Chinnor and Woodcote you can get 20mb and in Bloxham 18 mb through your phone line with Virgin at the moment with no upgrade. Now unless you have ten computers in your house all playing online games or downloading movies at the same time then that speed is plenty fast enough for every "normal user". you can get away with streaming movies and the dodgy footy with less that 4mb so I don't know why all the fuss and £millions needed when the service is already there. Pavinder Msvarensy

5:45pm Wed 21 Nov 12

aitchpee says...

Hi Pavinder. Sorry, I wasn't saying that Virgin and others are providing superfast services in the rural areas, I was saying that the county council is TRYING to deal with the problem by using state aid through the BDUK programme which is match funded by the market to deliver a superfast infrastructure, but that just isn't reaching the final 10% of the county.

18 or 20Mbps is fine today but you have to look forward at what the demands will be in five or ten years time, because otherwise the whole process will have to be repeated when there is a realisation that even 24Mbps isn't capable of supporting concurrent digital television, telephony, cloud computing and other streaming services for homes and businesses in the county, let alone an antiquated copper infrastructure that will have been in the ground for up to (and over) 50 years. And that's before we even consider future bandwidth-hungry services that haven't even been invented yet!

If my home is anything to go by, we already use every bit of bandwidth we can squeeze out of our connection, and that demand is only going to increase, not remain static.

Please don't get fooled by anyone trying to fob you off with anything less than a future-proof network. It's called Fibre To The Premises and it really is the only way to go!
Hi Pavinder. Sorry, I wasn't saying that Virgin and others are providing superfast services in the rural areas, I was saying that the county council is TRYING to deal with the problem by using state aid through the BDUK programme which is match funded by the market to deliver a superfast infrastructure, but that just isn't reaching the final 10% of the county. 18 or 20Mbps is fine today but you have to look forward at what the demands will be in five or ten years time, because otherwise the whole process will have to be repeated when there is a realisation that even 24Mbps isn't capable of supporting concurrent digital television, telephony, cloud computing and other streaming services for homes and businesses in the county, let alone an antiquated copper infrastructure that will have been in the ground for up to (and over) 50 years. And that's before we even consider future bandwidth-hungry services that haven't even been invented yet! If my home is anything to go by, we already use every bit of bandwidth we can squeeze out of our connection, and that demand is only going to increase, not remain static. Please don't get fooled by anyone trying to fob you off with anything less than a future-proof network. It's called Fibre To The Premises and it really is the only way to go! aitchpee

7:43am Thu 22 Nov 12

MBuckingham says...

Pavinder Msvarensy wrote:
Hi Aitchpee I checked with virgin and Ntl did not (as you say) cable certain rural areas. But in 3 market tests I checked out their non fibre optic BB and in Chinnor and Woodcote you can get 20mb and in Bloxham 18 mb through your phone line with Virgin at the moment with no upgrade. Now unless you have ten computers in your house all playing online games or downloading movies at the same time then that speed is plenty fast enough for every "normal user". you can get away with streaming movies and the dodgy footy with less that 4mb so I don't know why all the fuss and £millions needed when the service is already there.
Pavinder,
Please come to my house in Stanton Harcourt and show me streaming movies working on my 0.7Mb "broadband link". The rural villages really do need money from somewhere to supply even moderate broadband speeds.

Malcolm Buckingham
[quote][p][bold]Pavinder Msvarensy[/bold] wrote: Hi Aitchpee I checked with virgin and Ntl did not (as you say) cable certain rural areas. But in 3 market tests I checked out their non fibre optic BB and in Chinnor and Woodcote you can get 20mb and in Bloxham 18 mb through your phone line with Virgin at the moment with no upgrade. Now unless you have ten computers in your house all playing online games or downloading movies at the same time then that speed is plenty fast enough for every "normal user". you can get away with streaming movies and the dodgy footy with less that 4mb so I don't know why all the fuss and £millions needed when the service is already there.[/p][/quote]Pavinder, Please come to my house in Stanton Harcourt and show me streaming movies working on my 0.7Mb "broadband link". The rural villages really do need money from somewhere to supply even moderate broadband speeds. Malcolm Buckingham MBuckingham

7:30pm Thu 22 Nov 12

Pavinder Msvarensy says...

Hi mbuckingham, for the Stanton Harcourt postcode the best you can hope for with Virgin at the moment is 2.4 MB not great, but fast enough to do a lot more than you can with your existing provider, give them a call. it will be £34 a month including phone line rental. but we are spoilt in Oxford, I just checked my speed and with a wireless connection during Virgin's slow down peak period it still came out at 35.7 MB.
Hi mbuckingham, for the Stanton Harcourt postcode the best you can hope for with Virgin at the moment is 2.4 MB not great, but fast enough to do a lot more than you can with your existing provider, give them a call. it will be £34 a month including phone line rental. but we are spoilt in Oxford, I just checked my speed and with a wireless connection during Virgin's slow down peak period it still came out at 35.7 MB. Pavinder Msvarensy

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