Lukewarm broadband speeds fixed by Marston Heating Company

A heating company employing around a dozen people in a Lincolnshire village can stay local for many years to come, thanks to Openreach’s full fibre broadband build.

Radiant Heating Solutions, based in Marston near Grantham, had been considering whether to move to new offices, as they were struggling with slow broadband speeds.

Things were so bad, they estimated they were losing around 20 minutes of working time every hour.

The most common complaints from the team included not being able to connect remotely when working from home, large plans and documents taking hours to download and upload, and it being difficult to attempt any form of cross working, both in and out of the office.

But since Openreach’s Chief Engineers built[1] a new full fibre broadband network in Marston earlier this year, which is also benefitting around 160 local households, slow speeds have become a thing of the past.

The new full fibre broadband network also kept people connected during recent disruption caused by a nearby cable theft. In October, thieves took around 1,500 metres of copper cable, severely disrupting phone and broadband services in Marston for those not using full fibre.

Vicki Welch, Business Manager at Radiant Heating Group, said: “Upgrading to full fibre broadband has transformed our business and secured our long-term future in Marston.

Due to the nature of our work, connectivity is key. We have technicians working out in the field and it’s vital they’re able to report back in real time, share information including images, and discuss issues and solve problems from wherever they’re working.

“Our download speeds used to be in the low single figures, which just wasn’t sustainable. We were even considering moving to new premises in an area with better broadband. But upgrading to full fibre means we no longer have issues when everyone’s on the network, working from different locations, and completing multiple pieces of work. It’s changed everything.

“Gone are the daily frustrations of struggling to get online and waiting for things to upload or download. The team used to be unhappy with the connection daily and it was a big barrier to working as effectively as we needed to. It’s certainly changes the mood when people can just do the work they need to, when they need to, without any disruption due to a broadband connection.”

Openreach is the UK’s largest broadband network, used by customers of companies like BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen.

Openreach’s full fibre build in Lincolnshire has already reached more than 60,000 homes and businesses – an investment already of around £18 million. Engineers are working hard to extend that reach, with places such as nearby Grantham, Newark and Sleaford already included in build plans.

Kasam Hussain, Openreach’s regional director for the East Midlands, said: “It’s great to hear how our full fibre build is making a difference to businesses like Radiant Heating Group. We know our network is well equipped to be the backbone of the local economy, keeping people connected to faster, more reliable broadband for decades to come.

“We’ve already done a lot of work in Lincolnshire. Some of it under our own steam, and some in partnership with the county council. But we know there is more to do. We’re always looking to extend our network and build full fibre to new locations, and we regularly publish information about which communities we’re heading next.

“If you are fortunate to live in area that’s already been upgraded, then now could be a good time to explore the benefit of switching. Full fibre brings many advantages and broadband companies are increasingly offering competitive deals to those who take a service. You can check if it’s available to you on the Openreach website, and then speak to your broadband provider for more details.”

Full fibre broadband offers download speeds of one gigabit per second (1Gbps), which means it’s up to 16 times faster than the average home broadband connection, bringing faster game downloads, better quality video calls and higher resolution movie streaming.

It’s also less affected by peak time congestion, which means people can use multiple devices simultaneously, even at peak times in the evening, without the connection slowing down. That means more people can get online at the same time without experiencing stuttering, buffering or dropouts.

More than 1,600 Openreach people already live and work across the East Midlands, and Openreach’s full fibre build has reached more than half a million homes and businesses across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) estimates that connecting everyone in the region to full fibre would create a £3.5 billion boost to the economy. You can find out more about the Full Fibre build programme and check what’s available at your address here.

[1] The network was built in Marston as a result of Openreach’s Fibre Community Partnership scheme, where the company works directly with a local community and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to fund the project.