Rural Broadband

[Afasoas]

I've been asked for help by someone in a semi-rural location with a 0.3 Mbs Internet Connection - other properties on the same lane fare much better, there's just (at least) 3 properties at the end of the lane which need a line upgrade in order to receive a higher bandwidth internet connection. BT's suggestion has been that they crowdfund to pay for it!

I've asked about 3G/4G reception in the area and whether there's line of sight to any properties on the same lane that do receive half decent broadband.

Has anyone here had any experience of this sort of thing?

[Jaded]

Probably not relevant, but 40+Mbps in a rural area

Google Highland Community  Broadband

[Morat]

I'd suggest that this will depend on the number of potential users, what they're prepared to pay and where the nearest decent connectivity is located.

If digging fibre is possible (it rarely is) then that's the ideal solution but normally you'll end up with Wifi connecting customers to a single (preferably) location that has some sort of decent internet connection. The quality of this wifi gear is a factor, but the main one is getting good clear Line of Sight between all your antennae.

In what capacity have you been asked to help? In a similar situation a few years ago I negotiated the provision of antenna sites and found the backhaul connection to the internet but there was no way in hell I was going to deal with billing/support for domestic customers and I got a local WISP to impliment it all.
I didn't make a penny, but I did get a free connection

Local knowlege is the key, and probably the reason the big companies find this all so difficult.

[pcolbeck]

Our village had crap Internet and BT deemed it too expensive to lay fibre from the nearest exchange. In the end BT put up a microwave link between the village and the exchange and moved the DSLAMs to a box in the village. So now we get 60Mbs.

[Afasoas]

Thanks all, that's useful.