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

Ofcom wants to know!

“Ofcom wants rural people (sic) to tell it about the broadband challenges they face” -  according to the Rural Services Network (www.rsnonline.org.uk/services/telecoms-watchdog-seeks-rural-volunteers). Volunteers are being sought to join Ofcom’s expanded research panel so that they can get a better understanding of the challenges we face.
 
Interested? then sign up on Ofcom’s partner web site https://signups.samknows.com/ofcom/. If you are accepted on the scheme, you will get a ‘white box’ which reports the performance – or lack of it – of your broadband connection. The whitebox will not interfere with your connection as it only runs tests when the connection is not in use, and it does not monitor what you use the connection for. I’ve had one for some time now and the graphs it produces make interesting and sometimes depressing reading but they do alert me for example to when the line is going down.
 
On a different tack, I’ve got an exploratory meeting next week with Openreach together with the person responsible for their community broadband scheme. I hope to pick up some more information about where we are with phase 2 connections and how we might fill in the SFBB gaps that are left. Watch this space!