FREE Fibre Broadband in parts of Amport and Monxton
In January 2021 after lots of technical broadband issues in Abbotts Ann discussions took place with Openreach to upgrade all properties in Abbotts Ann to be paid for using the Government’s voucher system.
The project progressed with more than 80% of the residents in Abbotts Ann signing up. Each residential property signed up would provide £1,500 and £3,000 for business properties meaning the cost of implementation infrastructure by Openreach would be fully paid using the Government’s voucher system.
All was progressing well with Hampshire County Council also putting money into the project when a few weeks ago Openreach suddenly informed us that ALL subscribers to the Abbotts Ann Telephone exchange must be part of the project. They gave us a list of 155 properties we did not know were on the Abbotts Ann exchange and they were all in Amport and Monxton.
So after further dialogue with Openreach the team agreed to widen the project to include properties in Amport and Monxton in the existing project!
Do you want Gigabit fibre to the premises broadband? Surely the answer is “Yes!”
In order to make use of the government funding (to pay for the FTTP upgrade), you must opt IN to the project. You do this by filling in your details, and submitting them here: https://www.abbottsann.com/gigabit-broadband-signup-form/
MAKE SURE: If you are a legitimate business, or run a business from home (the Government will check you are a registered company) – you apply as a business – as this increases the funding the government will give to the project.
Please ensure you have signed up by 17 October 2021
You can find most answers to your questions on the FAQ HERE Wherever you see “Abbotts Ann” think Amport and Monxton as well.
You should also view a video by Jeremy Mason one of the project team members who overviews the project HERE
You should also click HERE to find out if your property is eligible for the FTTP free upgrade. If you property is not on the list and you think it should be, then please email keith@abbottsann.com
Finally, please encourage everyone to sign up then click HERE to do that.
What is FTTP (Fibre To The Premises)?
Fibre to the Premises (FTTP, or FTTH – Fibre to the Home) is a broadband technology that uses optical fibre to provide broadband and very fast internet speeds. The optical fibre broadband internet connection from the local exchange is connected to the router in your home, which is much faster, stable and more reliable than the old copper telephone line used by many other broadband services. The result is you can enjoy very high speeds of up to 1Gbps (gigabits per second).
Why should I take this opportunity?
If you are a regular user of the internet, if you work from home or run a business in the village, you will no doubt be aware of the limitations that the current village infrastructure imposes;
- regular drops in internet signal
- frequent drops in internet speed
- buffering when watching movies
These issues will get worse over time, as ever-increasing amounts of data are squeezed down creaking 1950’s cables. The FTTP gigabit enabled broadband project offers us the chance to upgrade the village infrastructure wholesale, and have it entirely funded by the government. This is a time-limited offer by the Government and should be taken advantage of. Without government funding, the upgrade costs to households in the future are likely to be in excess of £1,200 per property.
Property value increase
An independent review of the superfast broadband program, conducted by Ipsos Mori, found that the value of homes increased, if they had fibre to the premises, compared with homes without. The point is, even if you are not a heavy Internet user, it makes sense to take this opportunity to upgrade to FTTP as you are adding value to your property at no cost to yourself. With more people working from home, this feature will become more critical in the future.
