I have just taken out a new 12 month broadband and phone contract. As seems usual these days, loyalty is not rewarded and you need move every 12 months to get the best deal (or at least threaten to move :-/ ). In the process I found out that for fibre Sutton Benger is unbundled which means cheaper prices. For copper Sutton Benger is not unbundled which means Open Reach (what used to be BT) only, no real competition. The end result was that I could get a 12 month contract from sky for fibre for the same price as ADSL 2 from Plusnet. I found ADSL 2 enough for my needs and was going to stick with that thinking why pay more for fibre, except the reality is fibre is the same price or even in fact a few pence cheaper than the best price Plusnet could offer me.
News
Fibre, or strictly FTTC, fibre to green BT cabinet then copper to home, is now available in Sutton Benger. You can put your post code or phone number in the BT post code checker to see what's available together with a speed estimate. Of course fibre costs more than ADSL1 (aka ADSL max) which was all that used to be available here. But ADSL 2+ is the same cost and, if you ask, this should be a free change (it was for me on Plusnet). Quite why they don't automatically upgrade everyone I don't know. You'll need an ADSL 2+ router, if you haven't already got one, but these can be under £20. I was on ADSL 1, connecting at 8128 kps and on speedtest.net I typically measured 6.5 Mbps down, 0.38 Mbps up. Now I connect at 17720 kps and get 14.3 Mbps down, 0.95 Mbps up, according to speedtest.net. All for the same monthly cost s
Fibre for Sutton Benger is currently in the "Installing Now" phase for those of you who've not noticed the new green cabinet outside the village hall or realized its significance, or even recently tried the post code checker at wiltshire online. From what I've seen happening in the village I think we have the cable ducts and equipment cabinets in place. We're now waiting on fibre to be threaded down the ducts and kit to be put in the cabinets. The next stage after installing now, is gone live at which point you'll be able to order faster broadband. The BT post code checker gives a date of 14 July 2015 so watch this space.....
I've come across this petition for Fair retirement age for Emergency Ambulance staff which seems a worthwhile campaign to me. Not only does it seem unfair to expect the over 60's to be rushing about carrying heavy bags and even heavier people but I might might one day need a paramedic. I'd like that to be someone fit and fast so they get to me ASAP. In my opinion that would exclude most 68 year olds. The campaign asks nothing but name, email address and post code.
I hope others too feel it worthy of signing.
Finally, at the second time of jumping through all Yahoo's hoops, I got some at Yahoo that fixed the problem and I now believe that Yahoo has unblocked this IP so there should be, I hope, no more problems.
Note that you may still see emails mistakenly labeled as spam so be sure to check your spam box and then label site emails as valid. In Yahoo mail, select your spam folder, then tick all SB emails and then click not spam button in the top bar. For gmail the process is similar, click folders expand arrow in left hand side menu to reveal spam folder. Click spam folder to view spam emails. Tick all SB emails and click "not spam" bottom at the top. Note do this for all SB emails to train the filter to accept them as valid even if the emails are old and you plan to delete them (i.e. delete from inbox not spam box).
Note: Yahoo users are still blocked. Anyone using Yahoo email cannot receive emails from this site. Sign up for gmail instead.
After more research it looks like the whole issue of email blocking was a combination of Yahoo and me hitting the flush queue button a tad too often. Hitting the button caused a hiccup that made other ISPs also block this site. Those blocks were quickly removed once the other ISPs were contacted.
All users with Yahoo email address please read it all!
Due a hiccup in the email setup this site got temporarily blocked by BT internet and Yahoo. BT internet was quickly fixed in an hour or 2 after entering the error in their page for that purpose. Yahoo do NOT have a page to tell them of errors and the saga with Yahoo is still ongoing owning to Yahoo living up to English dictionary definition "a rude or noisy person" - a dumb bunny as we might also say. Despite emails from this site having the correct spf, ptr, and being signed with dkim Yahoo say
"Based on the information we've gathered regarding your sending reputation, we're unable to guarantee consistent delivery to your customers' inbox"
The broadband rollout page has again changed and again the web designers fail to redirect links and so have broken the Seagey exchange link in the previous news, however the top link still works. The process now is to enter your post code which for Sutton Benger says we are still "Future Deployment", until that changes there is no expected date. However, the map, I believe since it has few towns marked, suggests we are in the expect solution by spring 2016. Two years later than when the project was first announced.
The 2 of the links on the previous broadband news item are now broken and Wiltshire Online web designers haven't been polite (or savvy) enough to redirect the links so here is a new link. The timescales quoted in the original press release have all changed. The original fibre coverage map has been replaced by one without any roads or many towns so it is not certain SB will now get fibre. If it does happen it might be as late as Spring 2016 rather than the end 2013 on the earlier map. The status for Seagry Exchange is "The exchange area is currently under evaluation for the Wiltshire Online Programme.". Rather disappointing given what was promised in the early press releases.
For those who didn't know, Sutton Benger and other villages around are scheduled to get fibre broadband late this year (2013) according to this map. This is part of a scheme funded by Wiltshire Council. Latest news on this can be found here and at the bottom of this page you can register to get informed when the update page changes. According to the update page Royal Wootton Basset will be able to order fibre spring 2014 so it looks like there has been some slippage from the end 2013 date on the map. Still better late than never.
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