Over 5,000 people have already pledged their desire for superfast broadband for Nottinghamshire but we still need your pledge if you haven't done so yet
Bringing superfast broadband speeds to Notts
If you are frustrated by slow broadband at home or at work, then we still need you to pledge in our campaign. 5,000 pledges was our initial target, but the more people who register their details, the more evidence we have of the strength of demand here in Nottinghamshire.
Still wondering why we need faster broadband speeds in Nottinghamshire?
Thousands of residents and businesses across Nottinghamshire suffer very slow speeds or get no broadband service at all. It's frustrating for home computer users, but potentially disastrous for businesses.
Worse still, things could stay this way for many years unless we can persuade the telecoms companies to invest and prioritise work in Nottinghamshire.
Superfast broadband will change the way Nottinghamshire lives, works, plays and learns
The aim of the Superfast Nottinghamshire programme is to achieve the best long term broadband coverage for Nottinghamshire.
A next generation access (NGA) network will help improve the quality of life and leisure prospects for Nottinghamshire families and will open new opportunities through online learning and faster access to information and services. It will provide a huge boost for businesses and the Nottinghamshire economy. Nottinghamshire firms will be able to find and establish new markets (locally, internationally, and globally), increase their competitiveness and create new jobs.
So what is Superfast Broadband?
Broadband is a service that allows a connection to the internet that is always on, allowing for constant access without the need to dial up.
Superfast Broadband is used to describe broadband speeds greater than 24 megabits per second. The majority of homes and small businesses in the UK currently receive broadband services via copper cable through their local telephone exchange. 24 megabits per second is currently the maximum speed for broadband over these copper telephone lines.
The terms next generation access (NGA) will provide a significant upgrade to the access network.
In NGA networks, some or all of the copper in the network is replaced with fibre. Fibre broadband is the new generation of broadband - much faster, more reliable and using a different technology, it is capable of sustaining much higher data transmission speeds over longer distances.
The capacity of fibre is virtually unlimited. Co-investing in a mainly fibre network offers the greatest flexibility and ease of upgrade in the future.
What will the project do?
The Superfast Broadband for Nottinghamshire project aims to deliver broadband speeds in excess of 24 megabits per second* across 90 per cent of the county and 2 megabits per second to the remainder by 2015.
The project will provide the next generation access (NGA) infrastructure necessary to get access to Superfast Broadband speeds. This means installing new fibre cabinets. The project will not fund the individual connection costs of businesses or premises. You will still have to contract with and buy broadband services from the internet service providers (ISPs) operating in your locality – but better broadband access will be available and you won’t have to pay over the odds for it.
How is this being paid for?
Nottinghamshire County Council is investing £2.5m from County Council funds into this project. This is matched by £4.5m from the government, and commitment from the district and borough councils to put towards the infrastructure costs associated with next generation broadband access. We’re working hard on securing European funds too.
This public sector investment is essential if superfast broadband speeds are to reach most parts of Nottinghamshire in a realistic timeframe. Unfortunately, it is not commercially viable for the private sector telecommunications market to invest in rural and isolated parts of Nottinghamshire. This project will fill that funding gap.
Increasingly broadband is at the heart of everything we do, both for work and pleasure, and this will mean a huge step forward for the county as a whole
Therefore the question is not whether we can afford to invest – it’s about whether we can afford not to!
Why not invest in wireless or 4G?
Wireless networks are already operating near fundamental limits. In practical terms, the design of wireless networks is often ruled by capacity rather than reach which requires the installation of more base stations or transmitters. Every wireless transmitter needs a high-capacity link to carry data back to the local aggregation node – today this is often achieved over copper telephone lines because they are cheap and readily available, but wireless capable of supporting superfast broadband to multiple end-users will need faster connections using point-to-point microwave or, better still, optical fibre. Ultimately, wireless and fibre will complement rather than compete with each other.
The infrastructure is not yet in place to provide 4G across the county, like it is in more densely populated areas such as cities. Also, as a public body, we are not permitted to invest in 4G. However, the improvements made through this project are a step towards getting 4G in the future.
* Megabits per second (Mbps or Mb/s) is the way in which internet speeds are measured. One bit means one piece of basic information, and one Megabit is a million such bits of information.
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