Background
It doesn’t seem more than a few years ago that Easton had a new Superfast Broadband rolled out served by copper wires from the local cabinet. County Broadband is a communications provider that is delivering Hyperfast fibre broadband to rural communities in the East of England where a demand for such a service is identified. Fibre Broadband uses optical fibre right through to your house to enable speeds of up to 1000Mb/s, compared with approx 30-60mb/s which you may currently have on the existing Superfast Broadband.
County Broadband Offer
County Broadband came to give our village a presentation in the church on the 6th September 2022 and covered the details of the service they offer. The key points are that if a threshold of at least 22 houses sign up for the pre- deployment offer then the usual installation charges will be waved and the first 6 months of service with be given at approx half price. In addition to this they are also offering to install and provide fibre broadband to our church as the community hub of the village, free of charge.
Once the Fibre Broadband is rolled out, County Broadband will be responsible for the service, for fault reporting, and even your existing BT phone number can be retained as part of the Fibre service.
We only have the next couple of weeks to gather the required minimum 22 preorders for this service, otherwise this service will not be rolled out to the village and we will be unable to take advantage of this pre-deployment offer.
If anyone has any questions not covered in the Q&As below, please use the ‘Contact Us’ page on this site to point the question at the Parish Council who attended the presentation, or alternatively use the contact details in the attached document to raise queries directly with County Broadband.
County Broadband Information Summary (the web site will open in a new window)
Some questions and answers that arose in the Meeting on the 6th September;
Will other Broadband providers be offering service in Easton?
All Broadband suppliers are aware of each other’s activities, and will generally not attempt to roll out services in areas already targeted by other companies. So it is therefore unlikely that we will get other similar offers like this in the near future.
What happens if the minimum threshold of 22 properties is reached?
County Broadband estimate that once the green light is given for the rollout, it will take approx 6-12 months to complete the service to Easton to those properties that signed up to the pre-deployment offer.
Will County Broadband be digging up our roads?
They will not affect the existing copper phone lines to your property, and will use the existing method to supply your service, which may be underground or overhead.
Can I apply to County Broadband for Fibre Broadband service at a later date?
Yes, but you will be liable to pay the installation cost plus cost of a router, and will be unable to take advantage of the existing limited time offer on the monthly charges.
Will my existing BT phone service be affected?
As the County Broadband installation does not use any of your existing BT wires you can retain your current landline service including your existing BT phone number if you wish.
Will County Broadband provide phone service if I want it, as well as the Broadband?
Yes, they can supply phone service and if you wish they can transfer your existing phone number over to the Fibre Broadband service.
What if I am already under contract with an existing BB supplier?
County Broadband will install the new service for you, but you do not have to start paying until the end of your existing contract.
What happens if I sign up to the pre-deployment offer but then change my mind at a later date?
By signing up to the limited time offer you are you will be contractually obliged to take on service when it is ready unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Who looks after the service, including fault reporting, once the service is live?
County Broadband will be your first point of contact for any service issues as they will own the entire fibre network they have deployed. There will be no involvement with BT or Openreach.
Am I stuck with County Broadband forever to provide my service?
No, as soon as your County Broadband contract finishes you are free to approach any other provider to give you service over the fibre network that County Broadband installed.