July 2017
Are you getting superfast broadband?
Essex County Council is running a public consultation during August 2017 to create an updated map of superfast broadband availability in the county. The council will publish an online map showing all Essex premises and their current classification (superfast broadband available or planned/ superfast broadband under review/ no superfast broadband available). Superfast broadband is now defined as a connection offering at least 30Mb download speeds most of the time. When the consultation launches on Monday 31st July, residents and businesses are invited to check their broadband status on the interactive State Aid map available at: www.superfastessex.org/whatshappeningnext. The Superfast Essex programme team at Essex County Council would like to hear your feedback on the broadband status allocated to your address. This includes feedback confirming the broadband status shown on the map is correct as well as feedback from anyone who disagrees with their current broadband status. Respondents will be required to provide some evidence to back up any requests to change the status of an address. Details about the type of evidence required and instructions about how to obtain this will be detailed in the public consultation feedback form. Full details about the consultation, including the link to respond, will be available on the same ‘What’s happening next?’ page of the Superfast Essex website: www.superfastessex.org/whatshappeningnext with the interactive State Aid map. Please note the map being consulted on will be used to decide whether properties are eligible for public subsidy in the future. This is different to the interactive rollout map which is separate to this consultation. The outcome of this consultation will form the basis for directing future investment by Essex County Council to improve broadband access, with the ambition to ensure everyone in the county has a superfast connection by 2020 at the latest.
Feedback on the consultation must only be submitted via the online public consultation feedback form available on the ‘What’s happening next?’ page at: www.superfastessex.org/whatshappeningnext. Residents in areas with poor connectivity are encouraged to take the time to visit libraries or use workplace computers to complete their feedback, as the team would like to hear from them in particular. Unfortunately, due to the volume of responses expected and the need to process them quickly, Superfast Essex is unable to offer the option of hard copy correspondence. If you agree with the status of your property as shown on the map (e.g. no superfast broadband available), you do not need to take any further action, however we would welcome your feedback via the public consultation form to confirm the current status shown on the map is correct.
September 2016
Those in the village who are attached to the Ardleigh exchange may be interested to know that the cabinet on the corner of Waterhouse Lane that Great Bromley residents are attached to has been upgraded to fibre. To see if you will be eligible to get a *much* faster broadband serice check your details here: http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/OurNetwork/Superfast/buy-it-now.aspx
Also, planning permission has been granted to build a fibre cabinet at the junction of Springhill Close and Mary Lane North - ref 16/01175/TELLIC
3rd March (2014)
Those who showed an interest some 20 months ago now in the service proposed by County Broadband will probably have today, the 3rd March 2014, received a notification from them saying they are ready to proceed. If you did show an interest but have not heard anything and are still interested in proceeding with them, we suggest you contact them at info@countybroadband.co.uk
Another supplier, MML, are, according to TDC, in the process of setting up a service for people in this are.
In the meantime please note that Essex County Council is still pushing BT to speed up the roll out of their high speed broadband network to rural Essex. For more information, please go to: http://www.superfastessex.org
13th March
No formal communication from County Broadband suggesting the end of March is not likely as a 'go live' date.
16th November
A revised estimate for going live in Great Bromley of the first quarter of 2013 has been provided by County Broadband
13th November
County Broadband have advised that they hope to be up and running within Great Bromley by end of January 2013.
6th October 2012 - For those enquiring on progress with County Broadband, please can you contact them direct. The Parish Council's role is to facilitate the bringing together of interested parties which has now been done, and any arrangement ongoing is between County and the individuals concerned. In the meantime please note that Essex County Council is pushing BT to speed up the roll out of their high speed broadband network to rural Essex. To add your voice to this campaign, please go to:
essex.gov.uk/Pages/Superfast-Essex-Broadband.aspx.
27th July 2012 - Those who registered an interest in receiving a service from County Broadband should have today received further information together with an application form.
Some background:
You may be aware that Great Bromley Parish Council has been working with Tendring District Council to identify ways of bringing high speed broadband to the village. A potential supplier has now been identified and there is the possibility that the necessary infrastructure can be installed at no cost to the village. Recent announcements in the media have detailed high speed broadband solutions for the people of Colchester and BT have announced further plans for Tendring including an upgraded service in Manningtree. However none of these schemes will benefit Great Bromley which falls into an area referred to as 'the final third' - basically the bit left behind that the government is looking to third party suppliers to provide a solution.
As previously mentioned any supplier needs assurance that there is necessary interest in the area so the investment they are prepared to put in is worth their while. As such the Parish Council will be required to conduct a house to house survey of every property in the parish to gauge the potential take up of any such service.
To whet your appetite the service being proposed will have a number of competitive price bands offering different speeds. At the top end an initial download speed of 20Mbps (increasing to 40Mbps in due course) will be available. To give an idea of performance, an hour long TV programme on the BBC iPlayer takes approximately 2.5 hours to download with the average speed available in Great Bromley. At 20Mbps it will take 3.5 minutes.
