Broadband in Froyle

 

 

High speed broadband is essential for many people in the 21st century, whether for working from home, running a business, or entertainment and communication for the whole family. Froyle is a rural area, and like many rural areas, there can be challenges with broadband speeds.

 

 

Today, there are three ways for Froyle residents to get broadband access to the internet:

  • Openreach copper cables (over the “phone line”), with a wide range of Internet Service Providers to choose from. This service is known as Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC). The speed will vary depending on your distance from the  cabinet you are connected to – Lower Froyle residents are connected to the cabinet near the Anchor Pub, Upper Froyle residents to the cabinet near the Hen and Chicken pub. Checking your address on your preferred ISP’s website will indicate the likely speed of your service, which could vary from 80 Mbps if you are close to the cabinet, to 10 Mbps or less at the furthest distance.
  • 4G broadband service from a mobile operator – this is likely to require an external antenna and testing of the four different mobile providers (EE, O2, Vodafone, Three) to establish if a reliable and high-speed connection is possible from your address. The nearest mobile mast is in Bentley at the sewage works, and for a high speed connection, line of sight to this location is preferred. We are not aware of 5G service in the village on any network at this time.
  • Starlink – the most expensive but most reliable service using satellites, via a dish installed on your house. This provides 100 Mbps+ download speeds.

Full Fibre Broadband

A group of residents has for several years been trying to find a way to get “full fibre” broadband installed in the village. This provides for much higher speeds and a more reliable connection than using the existing copper cables. Thank you for the participation of residents in 2021 and 2022 in our efforts to get a full fibre network built using a government voucher scheme. Unfortunately this plan was overtaken by a broader government procurement effort for rural broadband in Hampshire, yet this specific project is not planned to cover Froyle.

We are more hopeful that another, separate project by Openreach may cover our area and the current status of this project is:

Openreach announced in May 2024 that they will be installing “full fibre” broadband on the Bentley telephone exchange, but that this is “more than 12 months away”. It is still unclear if this investment by Openreach will include Froyle, but we are hopeful that it will. This information is up to date as of January 2025.

Any updates to the above status will be posted on this page.

You can help by registering your interest in full fibre broadband with Openreach at openreach.com/fibre-checker – and ask to be kept updated regarding “Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband”. The checker still says that Openreach has “no major plans to build”, this is not updated yet! Registering has no commitment and will ensure that Openreach is aware there is demand in the village for the latest broadband services.

 

“Digital Voice” Services

Separately to the above, telecommunications companies are moving to supply landline phone services via “digital voice”. This means that a landline phone is plugged into your broadband router and relies on your broadband connection.

There are two significant limitations of this system: firstly, in the event of a power cut, it is no longer possible to make landline calls. If you have poor or no mobile signal at your property, BT are supplying battery backup units to customers to enable them to continue to use their landline in this situation. 

Secondly, digital voice services may not work with older telecare systems for the elderly, or burglar alarm systems that are connected to the phone line. Customers should check with their telecare or burglar alarm provider to confirm they are compatible with “digital voice”.

More detail can be found on the BT website here: https://www.bt.com/broadband/digital-voice 

Be aware of telephone or doorstep “cold-callers” on this topic –  BT or your telecare provider will never call or visit you unsolicited, or demand personal details.

 

Charlie, Michelle and Mike
Team Froyle Fibre
froylefibre@gmail.com