Advice for setting up Community Fibre Partnerships

All,
I am sure that there is a wealth of experience in these forums regarding working as a Community Fibre Partnership and rather than reinvent the wheel, I wondered if you would be kind enough to share it with me. I have tried searching a few terms but that is the long way round.

I live in a rural village and my FTTC is 24Mbps/3Mbps which with 2 adults and 2 teenagers trying to work and learn through lockdown has been tough. Zoom/Teams etc has pushed the upload bandwidth to the limit. I am looking to pull my neighbours together to see if we can bring forward the date when we might get something better. The checker shows that the 330/30 FTTPoD is available for my line but I know that sharing the build costs is more sense than paying it all myself.

Thoughts welcomed.
Colin

Hi Colin

What questions do you have that aren't answered on the CFP sites?

I went through the pain of organising a CFP about 18m ago, and we went live with fibre in January - just in time. In the end OR canned my CFP, refunded the payments we had made and did it for free. This is not typical.

What worked well for people trying to engage their community, what was less successful. Are there characteristics of properties in a rural setting that do not stand a chance or will be so expensive that they qualify for special aid. Are there sources of funding that we should be looking to. Anything of that nature that can help.
Thanks
Colin

OK, well from my own experience and from reading what has worked for others ...

For engagement, cast your net wide. You will find lots of people who say "Nah, it works just fine" and others who will bite your hand off. Getting the largest number will give you the strongest case. Posting a circular through letter-boxes is hard work, but often successful. I suggest you contact local councils (esp parish) to see if there is anyone there who has experience of local projects.

For the affordability, given that I have only seen my own case I can't add anything about characteristics which make for a successful OR roll-out. The funding program we benefitted from has now closed. There is a rural broadband scheme that has replaced it, but I'm sure you've found that already.

are most or all properties provided by copper wires overhead or via a duct or are lots of cables buried in the ground? if they are buried, the cost of ducting is enormous unless you do that yourselves.

The CFP I tried to run failed due to that, although people will whine, many will not willingly spend more than £300/property.You dont give many details, but assume the costs is about £10K total if the installation is straightforward.

Also because of frequent updates from BT and Local Council about new funding for more BDUK subsidised work, that made people think something was about to be done for them without having to spend their own money. I dont think you will have that now.

The CFP people are very helpful, call them.

I am not sure with regard to the last mile cabling. I would suggest that most of the village is covered by a combination of overhead cables and ducting. This is a rural exchange (SSBBG) and so there will inevitably be some people who will need extreme solutions. Those people probably do not have FTTC today.

We have 2 areas at opposite ends of the primary village supported by the exchange that have FTTP already. One is new build and the other, I believe, was an FTTPoD for a pub. There a number of smaller villages or groups of properties hanging off the exchange but the primary requests at the moment are from people who get 20 - 25 Mbps FTTC and are struggling WFH with kids home schooling.

If you start a CFP today it might be 18 months or more before it bares fruit.

Simplest and cheapest quick fix would be for people to order a second FTTC line now and maybe have the kids use one and the other for WFH.

First step is get an idea of how many would pay around £500 towards it, if that looks a decent number and are concentrated in one area then it might work.

Lots will say they'd like faster speeds, but once you mention paying that number will drop quickly, so asking with a ball park example (that may be higher or lower) will at least give you an idea.

In short need to canvas everyone and be prepared for lots of questions, a key one is some might be happy to chip in lesser amounts and others more. A lot will vary depending on ability to pay versus desire for faster speeds. For some with limited income its worth highlighting that once live they don't have to buy the fastest speeds.

Using mobile data may actually be a good secondary option as well (and for some a much better primary option).

Hi Colin - I'm looking to do the same thing. Current connection speeds of 20 mbps / 4 mbps are struggling and with full fibre being installed right next to us but not actually including us I'm keen to at least see what a CFP may achieve.

My plan is to write an open letter to distribute around all the houses in my area with similar speeds (I checked this using BT's Availability Checker) and probably a bit further still. This will take me into at least a couple of hundred. This should help me gauge interest. I'm also going to contact the parish/town council so they are at least aware and get some support and backing. Similarly, we have a primary school a couple of hundred yards from our house which I intend to get involved.