One of the main drawbacks of living where we do is that broadband (BB) connections are expensive and unreliable (satellite BB doesn’t work well in the rain) or slow/non-existent (terrestrial BB).

So getting a BB service into the valley is a key requirement for us to run our lives and businesses. And it would also enable us – via some newly available technology from the mobile companies – to provide a mobile phone service in the valley. This is a critical safety requirement, not just a handy modern annoyance.

The good news is that we’re mostly in Powys, which has a good scheme for rural broadband, and a new local MP who has committed to helping communities like ours get connected.

The bad news is that all the broadband scheme seems to assume that the recipients are individual properties, some distance away from a BT ‘Green Box’.

We’re not like that

The the Grwnye Fawr valley is a distributed ribbon settlement (yes, I was paying attention in O-level Geography). So to get a piece of fibre from the BT Green Box to the last property is around 13-15 km. The £3000 subsidy currently on offer wouldn’t get a fibre more than a tiny fraction of that distance.

But such a cable would pass most of the other houses! So there’s no point each property getting its own piece of fibre all the way to the green box. A better solution would seem to be a single cable with drops for each property. Some are next to the cable part – others are a few 100s of meters from it:

Map of the Grwyne Fawr valley communications links and houses

So, what’s the solution? Get the CIC to try and arrange a single solution for all the properties in the valley.

But don’t hold your breath: as we don’t fit the pattern which government expects, expect that this will take some time.