Project Gigabit
What is Project Gigabit?
Project Gigabit is the UK government’s programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband.
Freedom Fibre’s project in North Shropshire will provide a major broadband upgrade to approximately 12,000 homes and businesses, transforming broadband speeds for local residents.
Why full-fibre?
FTTP (Fibre to the premises), or full-fibre, is the future of broadband. With the huge growth of online streaming and gaming, working from home, internet-dependent devices, and many essential services moving online, your broadband needs to be able to keep you connected when it counts.
This is where our lightning-fast, gigabit-capable network can help. By having an FTTP service, you’ll be using the UK’s fastest and most reliable broadband technology that guarantees robust connectivity, no matter what time of day or how many devices you have connected.
FAQs
I already have fibre, what’s different about this?
There’s a HUGE difference! Current standard fibre, or FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), only uses fibre cabling to the cabinet and then copper cables to deliver the connection into your home or business. This means that your speeds will still be limited and your connection unreliable. Across the UK, the average home broadband speed is around 65Mb/s. With our full-fibre service, we remove that copper element and install fibre straight to your door which allows us to provide up to 1000Mb/s. You’ll be able to work from home and stream movies even while the kids game online with their friends without worrying about losing connection or buffering.
I don’t really use the internet, so why do I need this service?
Full-fibre technology provides a more reliable service, so even if you don’t really use the internet other than for sending a few emails it will help keep you connected – especially with more and more essential services such as healthcare and banking being moved online. There is also significant evidence to suggest that available broadband speeds form part of the decision-making process for property buyers and having full-fibre can increase house prices by as much as 3%. So, although you may think you don’t need it now, it could benefit you in the future. BT Openreach has also announced that it doesn’t make sense for them to keep old technologies running, and they are stopping the sale of services using the copper network, replacement parts are no longer being made, and eventually, they’ll ‘switch-off’ the copper network altogether. So, it’s wise to be mindful of this and start considering moving to a new full-fibre network like ours to avoid being left without a broadband connection.
Is it more expensive?
Depending on the service provider, FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) packages can be slightly more expensive than FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), however, you’re effectively getting 10x the bandwidth, better quality and reliability of service, and futureproofing your connectivity. Our network is currently available to connect to through our internet service provider partners.
Why are new telegraph poles being installed on my street?
Wherever possible, Freedom Fibre uses existing telegraph poles to deploy its full-fibre network. Similarly, existing underground infrastructure will be utilised if available. However, in rare cases where there is no suitable infrastructure, installing telegraph poles may be necessary to deploy our network to homes and businesses. Using telegraph poles as opposed to laying cables underground is much quicker, more affordable, less disruptive, and considerably better for the environment. On a recent project, a staggering 2,400kg of carbon was saved by installing telegraph poles as opposed to digging up roads and paths to lay the cable underground.
