Cwestiynau cyffredin

Partneriaeth Gymunedol Llanbedr DC.

What is a Community Fibre Partnership (CFP)?

It’s a partnership between residents and an infrastructure provider (in this case Openreach) set up to deliver full fibre broadband to a community. We have set up the CFP and received a quote from Openreach to connect 250 properties.

Currently Llanbedr DC has access to fibre broadband ‘to the cabinet’ (FTTC), and then an old copper telephone wire connects to the house. A few lucky properties already have fibre cables running from the cabinet ‘to the premises’ (FTTP). This project is to bring FTTP to another 250 homes in the village and extending out to locations including Clwyd Gate and towards Hirwaen.

How much faster is Full Fibre (FTTP)?

You can find out your existing broadband speed by running a basic test. Just Google ‘speed test’.

Full fibre delivers speeds up to 1000 Megabits per second(Mbps) depending on the contract you take out with your service provider.

It’s going to be increasingly important to have full fibre as demands on bandwidth increase, with increased TV streaming and working from home placing greater demands on bandwidth. Full fibre is not only faster but provides a more stable and reliable connection with fewer ‘drop-outs’. And it even adds value to your home!

You are asking me to send my contact details. Are there any cost implications now?

No. You are not committing to anything at all, other than receiving another email or two from us. And by ‘us’, we mean Llanbedr Community Councillors.

We are just building a mailing list of interested residents. This is for two reasons:

• to demonstrate to Openreach there is sufficient local interest to make the project viable; and
• so we can get in touch with you to let you know what you need to do next (assuming you remain interested).

Will I have to pay for the new connection?

No. Either the project for upgrading the existing copper telephone lines to fibre will be fully funded by government grants (via a ‘voucher’ scheme), or it will not happen unless we can find other sources of funding. The way it works is as follows:

• Every property in Wales is eligible for a ‘Gigabit voucher’ worth up to £3000, or £7000 if a business is run from the property. The voucher can only be claimed from the government by an infrastructure provider (e.g. Openreach) who is delivering full fibre broadband via a Community Fibre Partnership.
• Once we have gathered initial details from interested residents, we will know whether we are likely to get enough £3000 vouchers to fund the project.
• If the project looks viable, we will ask you for more details and ask you to agree that we can send those details to Openreach. We will not do this without asking. At present we have not even asked for all the details we need to do this.
• If enough people give their details and permission to use them, Openreach will send the details to the government and ask them to send out vouchers to residents by email.
• You will then be asked to ‘pledge’ your voucher to the Community Fibre Partnership. What this means is that the government will email you a voucher code to enter into a website. You will be asked to promise that you will upgrade to a full fibre broadband contract for 12 months if and when the infrastructure is installed. If you make the promise/pledge and enter the code, then the government will release the money to Openreach. It will be very clear when you are being asked to do this, and if you don’t want to pledge then you can just ignore the email.
• When Openreach has installed the fibre network, you will be expected to fulfil your promise and upgrade to a full fibre contract for 12 months. After that you can change to whatever contract you like.

Will I pay more for a full fibre contract?

It depends how much you are currently paying for your phone/broadband contract.

As an example, BT are currently offering a 24-month full fibre/ultrafast contract for £32.99/month including line rental.

Can I stick with my current service provider?

Yes, you will simply be able to upgrade mid-contract (unless your provider doesn’t offer a full fibre broadband contract option). Check this list of providers: https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-providers

Will I still be able to use my landline?

Yes. You can choose to keep the copper line for voice calls.

How would it be installed?

It would follow the existing cable route, which round here is usually via telegraph poles. It would only be installed when you take out a full fibre contract with a provider. It is worth noting that this installation will be paid for in full if done as part of the CFP project, but if the project goes ahead without you there is no guarantee that you will not have to pay for installation later. At some point in the future the UK’s existing copper infrastructure will be turned off and everyone will have to move to fibre.

How long is this project likely to take?

Openreach will normally deliver a viable project within 12 months.

Who can I contact with more questions?

Just fill out our contact form at https://llanbedrdyffrynclwyd.org.uk/contact/and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.