More details have been announced about Openreach’s plans to improve broadband coverage for Cumbrian properties.
The company, which maintains BT’s broadband and phone network, says it will bring ‘ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband’ to about 100,000 properties in Cumbria.
A total of 21 exchanges across the county are being upgraded, with the majority of homes and businesses in places such as Appleby, Carlisle, Keswick, Longtown, Shap and Whitehaven set to benefit from what will be a massive nationwide, five-year feat of civil engineering.
The full list of exchanges being upgraded in Cumbria are: Ambleside, Dalston, Longtown, Silloth, Appleby, Egremont, Maryport, Staveley, Carlisle, Grange-Over-Sands, Milnthorpe, Ulverston, Cleator Moor, Keswick, Seascale, Whitehaven, Cockermouth, Kirkby Lonsdale, Shap, Wigton and Windermere.
Open Reach’s updated build plan will be fundamental to the UK Government achieving its target of delivering ‘gigabit capable broadband’ to 85 per cent of the UK by 2025 and it follows an extended investment commitment by its parent, BT Group – which means Openreach will now bring full fibre technology to a total of 25 million premises, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the country.
With download speeds of 1 Gbps, it’s up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband connection. That means faster game downloads, better quality video calls and higher resolution movie streaming.
You can also use multiple devices at once without experiencing slowdown – so more people in your household can get online at once. Even if the rest of your family are making video calls, streaming box sets or gaming online, all at the same time – you won’t experience stuttering, buffering or dropouts.
Full fibre is also less affected by peak time congestion.
