News. . . .
October 20th, 2010
Newcastle Emlyn high speed broadband campaign launched
Remember to vote for Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband says Adam Jarvis who is launching a campaign to try and get high speed broadband for Newcastle Emlyn.
You may have seen in the news, BT as part of a pilot scheme/national competition are looking to upgrade 5 Telephone Exchanges around the UK to Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband. The Winner will be the Community that shows the ‘most interest’
BT are calling this ‘The Race to Infinity’. The highest percentage of registrations wins. It’s that simple. So what do you need to do?
Everyone with a phone line (land line) in Newcastle Emlyn needs to Vote/Register at the BT Website: www.bt.com/racetoinfinity. Remember it’s free to enter, no obligation – there is no commitment.
Adam’s website for the campaign is www.nofibre.com.
The closing date is 31st December 2010.
Adam says:
“I’m passionate about getting a level playing field for rural communities, regarding technology. I see Newcastle Emlyn as one of the ‘Strategic Towns’ in Wales offering Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband, so we can live and work near to our families. Being left out of this technology race isn’t an option, well maybe for us – but not for our children. Its important for the next generation growing up in Newcastle Emlyn.”
We all pay the same line rental, in an ideal world we should really expect the same level of technology/communications as everyone else. Business need it, we need it. We’re a small community. The investment/credit crunch and targeted funds mean it won’t happen without a campaign.
“It is possible for a Small Town like Newcastle Emlyn to be one of the 5 towns to win the ‘Race to Infinity’ competition by Voting/Registering at here.
“Since yesterday we have 50 Votes out of a possible 1657. That’s 25 more Votes/Registrations than yesterday, 20 a day would mean 1500 registrations at the end, but getting more than 75% of lines registered ‘as interested’ is the goal. We’re actually ahead of Cardigan now.
“Its free to enter, there is no commitment and you don’t need to have Broadband to vote (you just need a BT Landline)- its just to say ‘Yes I’m Interested’ – in seeing Newcastle Emlyn get the latest technology installed. Potentially, every phone line connected to the Newcastle Emlyn Telephone Exchange needs to be registered ‘as interested’ – we have 74 days – its a tall order.
“We really can’t miss out any, Is there a house empty you know?, do you know the owner. – Contact them too. Estate agents can help with the Empty / for Sale houses by contacting the owners and highlighting that registering would be good for house sales/the area as a whole.
“Rally round your neighbours, download and deliver Posters yourself. Let me know – I can highlight areas on here that have been delivered to i.e. sub campaigns. So we know places that still aren’t aware.
“As a minimum, download and print off and post a few Posters through your neighbour’s doors. If you know them – knock on the door and explain the campaign. If everyone just gets one other person to register, especially older people with just phone lines. We could actually win this.
“Remember, you don’t have to have Broadband already to use your phone number as a ‘Vote’/Register online. just has to be a BT Landline Number ie. 01239 710/711/712 etc, as said there is no commitment, its part of a national competition to win it for our exchange.
“If you have printing facilities, or want to help develop a better poster, or want to arrange a meeting regarding the campaign email. If you have contacts to get Businesses in the Area involved, that would be great too.
Hi Adam,
You are to be congratulated on your excellent campaign to hopefully bring superfast fibre optic broadband to Newcastle Emlyn (“NCE”).
I myself have just registered for the scheme as I have a long phone line (about 2.5 miles from the NCE exchange) and rarely achieve download speeds in excess of 1.2Mbps which is below the UK government’s aim for everyone to have a minimum broadband connection of 2.0Mbps by 2012.
A number of NCE residents on broadband may already be getting download speeds of between 3.5 to 6.0Mbps if they live within a reasonably short distance from the local telephone exchange (say up to 0.75 miles). However, this should not prevent them from registering their interest in the NCE broadband community campaign (via http://www.bt.com/racetoinfinity) because the way that technology is advancing, such speeds will be inadequate in the not too distant future.
Another factor to consider is that the lack of a decent broadband connection is starting to have an adverse affect on home sales. Some estate agents across the UK, and specialist broadband websites, have recently indicated that this is becoming an increasingly important factor being taken into consideration by home buyers.
Like you, therefore, I strongly believe that it is very important for as many NCE residents as possible to register in the NCE community campaign to bring super fast fibre optic broadband to our locality.
Regards
Eric Bingham
A big thank you to everyone that has voted so far.
(thank you to Jeremy for providing the link on the Newcastle Emlyn Website)
(Remember its free to enter, no obligation)
Update:
Newcastle Emlyn as of 30/10/10 is
Second highest in Wales! 80th Position in the League of Exchanges.
Newcastle Emlyn has passed the 100 mark on Votes/Registrations, 6.17% of Votes, out of 1654 Premises. We are currently 80th Position. To put this in perspective another 70 Votes would put us in 30th Position, another 200 would put us in the top ten. We need to be in the top five to Win.
Newcastle Emllyn is currently second highest in Wales!
Further updates are available at http://www.nofibre.com
Newcastle Emlyn (“NCE”) is responding well to this campaign but must keep up the momentum if it is to finish in the top 5 for BT to upgrade its exchange to provide Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband.
As at time of writing, there has been 738 page view hits to the website about this campaign that shows there is ample interest; however, not enough votes (only 187 so far out of a possible 1,654) have been registered by NCE residents on the BT website (www.bt.com/racetoinfinity) to reflect this. Castleton (Gwent), which has a smaller exchange than NCE, has registered 442 votes of interest out of a possible 1585 so far that currently puts them in the top 5 (refer: http://racetoinfinityandbeyond.veadas.net/league).
Please note, by registering your vote on the BT website, you will be under no obligation and are not making any commitment whatsoever. There is nothing spurious about this campaign, it is merely a competition being run by BT to determine whether there is sufficient interest in the NCE exchange being upgraded to provide Fibre Optic Broadband. If you experience trouble in registering, ask a friend, relative or neighbour to help you. Perhaps some of you are not interested or do not have a computer. However, as Adam Jarvis says …”Remember your children, grandchildren – your fighting for them too”.
Some of you might think that you have an adequate broadband internet connection now but in a few years time it will be too slow to cope with the rapid advances being made in technology. Furthermore, as the NCE exchange still only offers BT Wholesale ADSL Max Broadband speeds of up to 8Mbps (which only those living within a short distance of the exchange can enjoy), the probabilities of BT rolling out fibre optic broadband to our area in the foreseeable future is very low. As sure as “eggs are eggs”, NCE will need faster broadband in the near future and this competition/campaign gives us the chance to obtain it.
So come on everyone, register your vote to help put Newcastle Emlyn in the top 5. We can do it!