I received this from a resident and I said I would post it for others to try and get further – particularly those for whom fast broadband has been an issue.  I have removed their name but left the contacts for BARMM / Voneus.

“Hi Francis,

I know this won’t interest many people as most I’m sure will already have fast broadband, but the following email may be of interest to those who like us are struggling to get speeds greater than 1-3mgb because we are too far from the green boxes.

Voneus (see email below from Anthony Jones) are proposing to build a broadband network that will serve out reach areas such as Utkinton, Kelsall, Mouldsworth and Eaton that aren’t currently provided with faster broadband from Open each.

I wonder if you would be able to forward this on please as it is likely people may not have seen the original Facebook post.   Anthony Jones – barmm.uk@gmail.com is co-ordinating the scheme in the area with Voneus so if anyone is interested please register your details with him directly.

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Anthony Jones <barmm.uk@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 at 08:17
Subject: Latest update from Voneus
To: Undisclosed recipients <barmm.uk@gmail.com>

Good morning all, as promised here is the latest update from Voneus below. I was part of a conference call with then yesterday after many residents had been in touch with me wanting to know what was going on. Please bear with me as this is quite a lengthy email.

So, it has now been established that the number of residents and businesses that have registered their interest has increased significantly over the last few months, this is partly due to the residents of Kelsall being added. Because of this the network needs to be built on a larger scale to facilitate the potential demands of it’s users. This requires much meatier equipment on masts (not homes), this is now an increased cost to Voneus at the beginning. This requires a little more funding from the government which is being approved currently. This will add a little more time to the ‘go live’ date, but will not be significant. 

Due to the sheer size now of the area which we are trying to cover… Eaton, Tiverton, Kelsall to Kingswood, licence links need to be purchased, this is due to there being more than 2 fixed points, this is currently with OFCOM who are in charge of frequency spectrum’.

A & B sides have now been identified and it is understood that the people who can be a B side have been contacted, I will be in touch with some of you shortly to establish that this is the case. There are a small number of locations we will require as B sides, but this is more towards who owns the land, gathering information on land owners is taking a little time. Unfortunately I can not share the ‘B’ side locations with the masses as this is somewhat confidential. For now at least.

I can say, that as long as the land owners and residents who are reached out to to become ‘B’ sides say ‘YES’ then there is no reason why EVERYONE should not be able to take advantage of this service. Should any landowner or resident say ‘NO’ then alternative locations will need to be established and this will have a knock on effect to those who are reliant on that ‘B’ side. 

Something slightly different, Voice Over I.P (VOIP) is available to take as a bolt on service with Voneus, this service will replace your traditional telephone line. 

I have asked for costs etc, but have been told it will be very close to £12/month inc VAT for home users. You will also be able to carry over your current number.

VOIP uses your current internet connection to make and receive calls, this is ultimately the way all telephone systems will go in the near future as BT/Openreach decommission their current legacy copper equipment. 

Once I have more information on the cost per minute for calls etc I will be sure to let you all know in case this is something you are interested in. It may well be cheaper than your current package provider.

NOWTV – NOWTV is also coming to Voneus, more and more people are streaming online these days and evidence has shown that people like to mix and match TV packages, this is something NOWTV will be able to offer. Prices have not been released yet, but more information can be found here https://www.nowtv.com/  again, this may well be cheaper for those of you who are currently with SKY or may make a nice addition to FREEVIEW.

Just one final piece on the broadband… Due to the slight change in the location of the backhaul to the internet (it was going to be Winsford). Eaton and Tiverton will go live first in the coming months, then it will be Kelsall, Ashton Hayes, Mouldsworth, Manley and then Kingswood.

The hardest part right now is getting the main infrastructure built, the client side (CPE) can be rolled on en mass to large number of homes within weeks once the main pieces are in place.

Everything is moving forward, a slight addition to the time scale I originally updated you on last time unfortunately, but nothing to be alarmed about. I understand that many people may feel frustrated that things are not rocketing along, but please bear with me and Voneus. This is a huge undertaking for them and the largest build they have ever done.

They have assured me it is coming, its moving forward and we will be part of this monumental leap in broadband speed.

I will be holding a community meeting in July with Voneus in attendance, this will be the ideal forum for you to raise questions and get the answers you need. Once a date is fixed, I will update you all.

Thank you for being a part of this and as always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kindest Regards”

Anthony Jones

Mobile: (0) +44 7540594600

E-mail: barmm.uk@gmail.com

Website: www.barmm.co.uk