Robert Ashworth – 4G Broadband Scheme

How did the 4G broadband scheme benefit you?

For many years rural broadband connectivity has been an issue for my In-Laws who live in a pleasant part of the Cheshire Countryside. Whilst they are not completely remote, they are distanced away from the urban areas of Macclesfield and Congleton.

When broadband performances improved in urban areas, theirs remained distinctly fixed in the dark ages of new technology.   As systems, applications and programmes improved the disparity between what they could get through their copper wire connection and others on fibre optic became increasingly apparent – especially when their grandchildren came to stay, and the refrain was frequently heard of how slow the internet is here.

At that stage download speed was about 5 MBPS compared with what others were used to and getting at levels over 50mbps.

So, we sought out alternatives and one which became apparent was a wireless connection but in early days the issues of data use and consistency of performance made one a little cautious about committing to such a system.  With research and help from Digital Cheshire we were able to establish a significant improvement from the existing service.  More importantly it was structured so that if the improvement did not materialise then one was not immediately tied into a system that was not performing.  As with any user change of systems can bring adaption difficulties but the initial field tests showed that speeds were now greatly improved.

The first speed test showed download speeds massively improved to over 145 MBPS, via the 4G broadband scheme at Digital Cheshire.  Practical tests for the use of online services such as television online viewing were greatly improved, as was the connections now made through online video calling with other members of the family in various parts of GB and the world.

As with any technology or system there are issues to be aware of such as the number of users using the wireless connection.  However, due to the rural location of the property that is not a realistic problem just yet and even when speeds are affected by other temporary passing users in vehicles etc the dip in performance is small and remains above the more common fibre link services found in suburban locations.

Broadband is now important to my in-laws as they use this new technology to keep themselves in touch with their family and to source such things as films, television and other online entertainment such as iPlayer or Netflix.  Simplicity is also a major plus because it has become far more an exercise of simply switching the system on and it works whereas before the doubt brought about by slow performance often led to concerns that something else needed to be done when it was simply a time issue.

Currently there is much to recommend with this wireless option in rural areas via the Digital Cheshire scheme, especially if you have poor infrastructure, or there is little prospect of a fibre upgrade anytime soon.