Ultrafast broadband finds its way to Hetton Hall
A tiny community, nestled along the ancient pilgrimage route of St Cuthberts Way in the North Northumberland countryside, is now one of the best-connected places in the UK having clubbed together to fund a new broadband network.
While retracing the steps of St Cuthbert would take around five days, people living and working in Hetton Hall are finding their online lives moving at a much faster pace since being upgraded to Openreach’s full fibre broadband network.
They’re now able to connect multiple devices at gigabit-capable speeds, with buffering and dropouts a thing of the past. The technology also supports day-to-day, business critical tasks like video calls, banking, and online trade and contact with customers.
The community used the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme1 alongside funding from Openreach, to help pay for the vital upgrade.
Resident Richard Allen, who campaigned tirelessly for the upgrade, said: “We live in such a beautiful corner of Northumberland, but we are remote and that was very challenging from a broadband perspective.
“We could just about stream a TV program on a good day, but it was often very slow and prone to the dreaded buffering. And there was no chance of using more than one device at any one time.
“Even online shopping could be hazardous as our connection could drop out in the middle of a payment leaving you in doubt as to whether it has actually gone through or not and concerned about paying twice.”
Getting the new technology to Hetton Hall was no mean feat as the nearest main fibre artery was more than four miles away.
Engineers managed to keep disruption to a minimum however, building fibre right to residents doorsteps with only one short road closure. Using a nifty piece of kit called a mole plough they cut and placed the fibre directly into grass verges for more than three kilometres.
Michael Sowiak, Openreach’s Northumberland Fibre Build manager, said: “Richard and the community have worked hand-in-hand with us and Northumberland County Council’s iNorthumberland team, to make this upgrade a success.
“Working in communities as rural as this isn’t without challenges, but hearing from residents the difference this technology is making to their lives makes it all worthwhile. It’s great that they’re now enjoying all the benefits of faster, more reliable broadband.”
Full fibre broadband provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity; with fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands. It's also future-proof, which means it will serve generations to come and won’t need to be upgraded for decades.
Local people can visit openreach.co.uk/ultrafastfullfibre to register for updates and check their postcode to see if and when services are available from their chosen provider, and find out more about the benefits of an upgrade.
1The UK Voucher Scheme forms part of Project Gigabit, the UK government's £5 billion programme enabling hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband.
