Broadband
.: UPDATE - 18th September 2015:.
The fibre cabinet is now live and operational. BT Infinity is here. You can put in your orders now. This was a long hard struggle, but with persistence and pressure, we finally got a semi-decent broadband. Those on the further end of the reach of the cables may expect speeds of upto 10 - 15Mbps which isn't great but better than nothing.
.: UPDATE - 25th March 2015:.
A fibre cabinet has now been put in place over the road from cab 20, in the grounds of the pub. The fibre cabinet and the main PCP cabinet (cab 20) have now been connected. It's just a matter of time now. Current timescales are suggesting broadband availability will be September 2015. More information to follow as we get it.
.: UPDATE - 19th November 2014:.
A quick update on progress... A couple of businesses in Arncott have now got faster broadband after following advice on how to get a usable service. This is great news for those businesses. Without the broadband improvements, S&S Motors would have had to move premises had they not been able to get a usable broadband due to changes in the way their MOT systems will be working from next year. Now they are able to stay where they are! More good news is that the broadband delivery date is still on for 2015 although it has slipped to June 2015 but it is still on course for an upgrade to fibre for those of us that suffer with almost no broadband or very poor broadband. Please check here to keep tabs on the delivery date.
Please do get involved either directly by contacting us through the website or complaining directly to BT. With BT it is all about numbers. The more people that complain, the quicker things get done. Register your interest with BT about getting fibre here. If you're not with BT, you might want to consider changing as they'll be the only supplier that can provision a fibre connection at the moment.
BT has now been appointed to be the contractor to roll out the fibre network across Oxfordshire. There is now a pot of £25 million (10 from OCC, nearly 4 from BDUK and BT are putting in another 11) to help improve broadband in rural areas in Oxfordshire. In Arncott it looks as if the rest of the village that are currently stuck with rubbish broadband will finally get a fibre connection by March 2015. The plan is to keep pushing BT to do better than this and get it done sooner. The more noise we make, the more pressure. The more pressure, the quicker things can get done. It's now about who shouts the loudest. See here for more information. Here is the rollout map.
Broadband for us residents in Arncott is divided roughly into two areas. Those that have it and those that don't. This is due to Arncott being serviced by two cabinets in the village. These cabinets are called Cab20 and Cab30. You'll be familiar with these cabinets as they're scattered throughout the country and they are the green metal cabinets you take little notice of by the roadside.
If you have superfast broadband you are probably lucky enough to be connected to Cab30. This cabinet is actually two distinct cabinets which are sited on the corner of Green Lane and Norris Road. This cabinet is fibre enabled. If you have very poor broadband then you're probably unlucky in that you're connected to Cab20 which is unfortunately housed to the right hand site of the entrance to DSDA HQ, just inside the MoD ground. This cabinet is not fibre enabled.
The village has an appointed broadband champion who is working with OCC and pressing BT and Openreach to do something about this cabinet that exists in the MoD ground to change it to a fibre enabled cabinet which will bring superfast broadband to the rest of the village. The more pressure that can be applied to BT and Openreach, the better. This pressure needs to be co-ordinated properly so if you'd like more information about this effort and also to see what you can do to help, please contact us via the website or email us.
Without any pressure BT and Openreach will do almost nothing to help so please do get in touch to help. If you want faster broadband first check your speed here and then check to see if you can get fibre broadband which will be supplied via BT. To check to see if you can get it, see here.