Claxby & Normanby Fibre Project Updates operated by Claxby Community Fibre Broadband Ltd

01/06/2021 Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme - Fibre Broadband Audit

After each of us is connected we will receive an email from DCMS to confirm we are connected (see below). However it seems that some of us are randomly chosen to take place in a DCMS audit to confirm Openreach have complied to the terms of the voucher. The wording of the email includes "DCMS have passed on your details and instructed us to arrange a compliance audit to measure the broadband speed at the premises. This is to ensure services have been delivered to you in line with the scheme terms and conditions." The auditors are a company called Campbell and Kennedy Maintenance Ltd, therefore if you are one of the (un)lucky ones please follow the links on the email. They will then send details of whether a phone call or visit is needed. I have been chosen, date 3rd June 2021 and will report back on this page.

27/05/2021 Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme - you need to confirm your new connection to receive your grant

Please follow the directions on the email from DCMS and respond as soon as possible after you receive the email. If you do not respond to this email within 28 days, DCMS may cancel your voucher. If this happens, you may have to pay your supplier for the full cost of connection the voucher was in place to fund.

If you receive an email that your voucher is about to expire please ignore it under Openreach instructions.

29/04/2021 (9/5/2021 Please note amended BT phone numbers)

We can now start ordering FTTP Ultrafast Broadband. It is in your best interest to order as soon as possible as there appears to be a delay of around 4 weeks to get an installation appointment. Also you will at some point receive an email from DCMS confirming that you have taken out a contract so Openreach can reclaim the cost of the installations.

Please note:- Openreach have just informed me that there are 15 properties still not connected and I will be informed when these are complete. Unfortunately I do not which these are! When you contact a provider they should know.

Please read the information below as the situation looks a little complicated.

If you are with EE ring 0800 079 5128 or use the EE website https://shop.ee.co.uk/my-offers/home-broadband. Note that EE will not provide a landline, but you can now have broadband without a landline if you wish to use only your mobile to make and receive calls. EE will transfer you to BT for a landline.

If you are with BT and wish to have a landline ring 0800 800 150 or 0800 587 4787 or use the BT website bt.com/broadband/deals and specify that you want a landline.

If you are with any other provider I cannot help as it is up to you to choose from other providers that are offering Ultrafast Broadband. I do not have the complete list of Internet Service Providers (ISP's). Make sure you choose Ultrafast Full Fibre and that up to 900mbps is offered. Do not choose Superfast Fibre as this is Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) and this is not available and much slower than FTTP.

Check the websites carefully because there is now a range of speeds that you can choose from depending on your needs. The speeds available from BT are 36, 50, 74, 150, 300 and 900mbps. Choose your speed carefully as many older devices may not operate at the higher speeds. Check the speed of your devices using the internet, look for 802.11 speeds, or look in your owners manuals. If you choose a speed higher than your devices are capable of you will be paying for a speed that you cannot fully access.

When you have placed your order Openreach will install a drop line from a suitable pole to your house. This line consists of both copper and fibre connections. Your existing copper line will still be used for the telephone and the fibre connection will later be connected to the new router (BT Smart Hub) when it is delivered. The copper phone system will eventually be removed and all calls will be made using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). I do not know when this will happen.

My job was to initiate FTTP and this is now complete. It is now up to yourselves to decide which provider from those available, which service best suits you and what speed is best for you. The cost of the fibre installation will be covered by the voucher scheme (DCMS) so it is essential that we all fulfill our obligations to ensure there is no financial shortfall.

20/4/2021

I have just received the following update from an Openreach manager.

"I've read a note dated the 13/04/2021 from the programme lead advising that there was an issue with live power cables touching trees which needed to be cut therefore a major safety issue. Looks like this has now been resolved and the programme is back on track and the commissioning is due to start very soon. You will be notified once this is completed and will then be able to place an order for the service."

So we still do not know when!!

9/3/2021

1. Fibre cable work almost completed
2. DCMS have been sending emails about your voucher expiring, you may have received or may receive one. I have spoken to Openreach this morning and they say to ignore any such emails, they have the problem in hand.
3. When cabling complete Openreach will check all is well.
4. Openreach will then contact all suitable ISP's (BT, Sky, Talk Talk, EE etc) and tell them that FTTP is available.
5. Openreach will then email me that FTTP is live and I will contact everyone.

11/12/2020

A couple of residents in Normanby expressed concerns about how the verges have been left by he contractors. I have today spoken to one of the managers from UFN, the contractors, who has told me that when they have completed all the work they will be making good any outstanding work and reseeding the verges.

Some more news. The same manager has informed me that they are installing all the necessary ducts and cables from the exchange through to the villages. They will also fit the distribution boxes at the top of all the poles. Now the good part!! They are hoping to get this completed before the end of January ready for Openreach to connect to each household. If you notice any markings on the road with the letters "UFN" don't worry. This is where there is a blockage in the underground duct, they will need to dig a small hole to rectify.

30/11/2020

Email message from Openreach

I’m writing to give you an update on your community funded FTTP Project in Owersby Moor xx Claxby and I am pleased to say that we are making good progress and the survey and planning work is complete. We are now in the build stage of our deployment where we can actually start to install the fibre network and associated infrastructure. You might see our engineers working nearby but they could also be working anywhere on the route from your community back to the local telephone exchange. We will be in touch with you again in the next few months as we get nearer to the go live date, however I just wanted to let you know that as it stands, we are on track for your go live date in March 2021.

28/11/2020

Contractors working in village connecting base of poles to underground ducts.

14/06/2020

1. Openreach survey completed.

2. Fibre cable successfully installed over the railway line yesterday.

We are now in the planning and build stage of the project.

11/05/2020

Contract signed. We are now in the planning and design stage of the project.

10/05/2020

We have now reached £126,500 and only require one more DCMS voucher. I am going to sign the contract with Openreach on Monday 11th to start the design and installation process. I will then email all residents of Claxby and Normanby-le-Wold every time I get any information from Openreach. They suggest that the timescale for completion will be of the order 9 to 12 months from date of signing the contract. Do not worry if you have not been asked to claim a DCMS voucher as we had more vouchers available than was needed (see below), everyone we approached will be included in the contract to get an FTTP connection.

Current Ultrafast Fibre Broadband deals with BT look something like this:-

Name of Package Speed Cost per month

Fibre Essential 36Mbps £27.99

Fibre 1 50Mbps £27.99

Full Fibre 100 150Mbps £39.99

Full Fibre 500 500Mbps £49.99

Full Fibre 900 900Mbps £59.99

There are also options to include BT TV (£10-£20 per month), BT Sport (£15-£20) and telephone plans, including 500 minutes per month to UK landlines or mobiles, day or night, for £5.

23/03/2020 - Missing DCMS Voucher Requests

The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have started sending email requests for residents to claim their voucher. The reason you may not have had a voucher request is that Openreach are only entitled to claim sufficient vouchers to meet the £128,000 total cost. So initially they have claimed 68 vouchers from DCMS out of a total of over 90 that are available. If some of those 68 vouchers are not claimed by residents, Openreach will then forward to DCMS email addresses from those remaining on the list. Please keep looking, it may be one/two weeks before you are asked to complete a voucher request from DCMS.

23/03/2020 - DCMS Voucher Requests

The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have started sending email requests for residents to claim their voucher. Please reply to the email ASAP and will you let tme know so I can keep a record of how many vouchers have been claimed. Email david@dlmail.uk - thank you.

06/03/2020

Received a final quotation from Openreach, just less than £128,000. We have told Openreach to go ahead with the project and let the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) know and for them to email all interested residents to claim the Rural Gigabit voucher. This will be done in the next two to three weeks (all being well with the Coronavirus problem)

13/02/2020

There has been a small problem as some of the properties uploaded on 11/02/020 were not on the original quotation. This has now been overcome so Openreach need to do an update costing. We are waiting for this to arrive.

11/02/2020

Property details for both Claxby and Normanby-le-Wold have been sent to Openreach. They will be forwarded to Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport. This government department is issuing the vouchers to Openreach. It will shortly be emailing all residents in order to claim each individual voucher. It is essential that you reply to this email to ensure the money generated by your voucher is available to Openreach to cover cost of the infrastructure. Once the infrastructure is in place you will be able to contact an Internet Service Provider and access Ultrafast Broadband (FTTP). To abide by the conditions of the voucher you must take out an ISP contract of at least 12 months.

Current number of properties that have taken up the offer of voucher.

89 residences £ 133,500

18 businesses £ 36,000 £2000 premium for businesses

Total £ 169,500

28/01/2020

Current number of properties that have taken up the offer of voucher.

Claxby 61 residences £ 91,500

17 businesses £ 34,000 £2000 premium for businesses

Total £124,000

Should be enough for Claxby to proceed. No figures for Normanby yet.

27/01/2020

The following deals are currently offered to properties that have an FTTP connection

Superfast Fibre Essential 36mbps £27.99

Superfast Fibre 50mbps £31.99

Superfast Fibre 2 74mbps £39.99

Ultrafast Fibre 100 150mbps £39.99

Ultrafast Fibre 250 300mbps £49.99

16/01/2020

Pro-forma printed for each individal property owner. Started to go round villages again to collect additional data require by Openreach and clarify what deals are available from BT. Initially Ultrafast Fibre 100 and Ultrafast Fibre 250 were the deals that looked the best. Time scale of 9 to 12 months suggested by Openreach.

3/01/2020

Properties on Mulberry Road, St Mary's Lane and Boggle Lane not eligible for voucher due to inaccuracy in Ofcom web site. Resolved satisfactorily on 16/01/2020

2/01/2020

Received ball-park figure from Openreach for job on 2^nd January 2020.

Core community – 102 Premises

Initial Estimate – £82,326.00

Cost Per Premise – £807.12

19/11/2019

All addresses have now been uploaded to the Openreach Portal. Openreach are now working on a ballpark cost so during this time our application is 'locked'. We'll hear from them soon with a figure that we can discuss with our community. Once we've done that, we have to let Openreach know if we want to proceed. Openreach will then work up a full design, showing what speeds each premise would receive.

15/11/2019

Have a look at this website. It covers a lot of basic info regarding Mr Corbyn,'s promise of full-fibre broadband to every home and the future for That and 5G. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50432073

14/11/2019

Almost all addresses entered into Openreach Community Portal. We are still waiting for a couple to be entered.

Claxby Fibre to the Propery (FTTP) Gigabit Scheme

You may have heard that the Government has allocated £5bn to allow ultrafast broadband to be rolled out across the country. Claxby has the opportunity to access some of this money to allow us to install a fibre internet and telephone connection to each house in the village. It will allow us to achieve at least 30mb of data and retain our phone numbers. Each property will be able to draw down the equivalent of £1500 and each business £3500.

In order to access this fund we need to ask each household or business if they are interested in the scheme. We need a list of a single person in each household, address, together with telephone number. For businesses in the village we need the business name together with either a business number or VAT number.