Colton Superfast Broadband Why it's important and how we can get it......Mike Postle (mike@mpo1.uk)

Colton gets FTTP just in time

Those of us who have been languishing in the slow lane here in Colton hamlet have now got fibre to the premises (FTTP). The Community Fibre Partnership (CFP) finally delivered the pure fibre network just before Christmas and then everyone signed up for the at least 100 Mbps service that the contract demands early in the New Year. I had hoped to be able to say well before now that all is ‘done and dusted’ but one property is still waiting for their connection to the house because of unexpected technical issues and this is preventing the CFP from claiming the DCMS vouchers for payment. Clearly with the current lockdown that’s not going to happen for some while yet.
 
However all the rest of us (19 properties – residential and business) are enjoying an ultrafast connection which is just what’s needed for virtual coffee mornings, keeping in touch with friends and family, streaming films, conducting business meetings etc etc – all so necessary when we are confined to barracks so to speak.
 
Which I suppose brings us to my first blog post in June 2013 in which I was espousing the benefits of superfast broadband and saying that communities which get left behind will be at a severe disadvantage. Nearly seven years on this has become very obvious. Luckily, here in Colton Parish we now are well served with only a few not spots still lingering. I’ll address what we can do about this in a subsequent post. Meanwhile, stay safe and enjoy what superfast connectivity can do to make things easier as the lock down continues.