It depends on the solution. From looking at the BT process it can be weeks before they even come out to survey the site. Different providers have different ways of connecting our homes to broadband and as such different lead times. BT for example would use the existing copper cable from the green cabinet to our homes, and need to run a brand new fibre cable from the exchange in Finningley to the cabinet. Virgin run brand new fibre cables from their network to each house which can mean longer lead times. Local providers such as Pine Media and Quickline use wireless technologies so can be set up in the development in a matter weeks.
Not necessarily. The original questions I asked you came from the BT Community Fibre Partnership spreadsheet but I'm also reaching out to other providers namely Virgin Media, Gigaclear, Pine Media and Quickline to keep our options open. There is every chance that another provider may be able to get superfast broadband installed to the development quicker than BT.
Most providers charge a standard monthly cost for their broadband package and this will be no different to the normal pricing they offer. There may also be a cost to bring the broadband technology to the development, which the provider may cover, and may also be covered by a subsidy available from the government for those homes who have speeds of less than 2 Mbps. It's hard to tell at this early stage but rest assured that you haven't been committed to spending any money by filling in the survey.
For residential customers like ourselves, BT and other providers prioritise downloads over uploads (as most people are streaming, downloading files etc) so we can safely assume that as most people's download speeds are less than 4 Mbps then the upload speeds are lot worse.
Right now it's all about showing demand to providers. If you haven't already registered your interest with Virgin Media and Gigaclear please do so now as the higher the demand the more likely they are to come and install their broadband in our development free of charge. When you register there is no obligation to subscribe with them, it's just so they can see how many people there are in a specific area who would like faster broadband.
You might also consider writing to your house builder to complain, from the survey responses it seems like a lot of people were misled into thinking fibre was here or coming soon by the sales advisors and they all know that this is not true.
Get in touch via email and I'll respond to you directly and if it's of interest to more than yourself I'll also post the question and answer up here.