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Freedom Fibre
Whitchurch is one of the newest locations to benefit from the rollout of Freedom Fibre’s lightning-fast, full-fibre broadband network.
With the build planned to extend between Marbury and Welshampton, the first areas have already been completed, giving multiple households and businesses access to broadband speeds of up to 900Mb/s through Freedom Fibre’s partnership with the UK’s third largest internet service provider, TalkTalk.
Already, Freedom Fibre have made their presence known in Whitchurch after attending the local Whitchurch Blackberry Fair and meeting with North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan to discuss the full-fibre rollout plans.
On Freedom Fibre’s planned build for the area, Helen Morgan MP said: "It’s great to see Freedom Fibre rolling out the full-fibre network in North Shropshire. So many residents and businesses in North Shropshire suffer from poor broadband, so I’m delighted to hear that lightning-fast broadband is right around the corner for local businesses and residents."
Freedom Fibre have been working tirelessly to convert the existing copper network to full fibre, actively working towards the UK government’s target of having Gigabit broadband available nationwide by 2030. Many providers in the sector tend to build networks in larger, more densely populated areas. However, Freedom Fibre believes wholeheartedly in its mission to make high-speed broadband available to everyone, no matter how rural the location.
The retirement of the old copper network has been a long time coming. The signal from copper deteriorates over distance and is affected by the environment, reducing speeds, and causing a weaker, unreliable connection. In comparison, full-fibre networks (FTTP) cut out copper and use fibreoptic technology that is delivered straight into your home or business, providing reliability and unrivalled speed.
With many areas in the UK still using copper, even via standard fibre (FTTC) networks, it is important that these are replaced with full-fibre technology that will futureproof homes and businesses when copper is phased out in the near future.
It's a sentiment shared by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) who are providing £210M worth of vouchers through their Gigabit Voucher Scheme to help connect households in rural areas who are currently experiencing slow broadband speeds. These vouchers help Freedom Fibre speed up the network build and ensure as many households as possible have access to lightning-fast, gigabit capable broadband.
Given many areas of Whitchurch currently experience average download speeds of only 18MB/s (broadbandcheck.co.uk, 2022), it’s no surprise that residents and businesses in Whitchurch are eligible to apply for the DCMS gigabit vouchers. The process of applying for these vouchers is taken care of by Freedom Fibre and there is no cost for residents who simply need to pledge their voucher to Freedom Fibre via an email from DCMS. To find out more about the Gigabit Voucher Scheme please visit the DCMS website (https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/).
To connect to the Freedom Fibre network, residents of Whitchurch can register their interest at www.freedomfibre.com/connect. Alternatively, if the network is not yet live on your street, registering your interest will allow Freedom Fibre to provide regular updates as the build progresses.
Network availability may vary in some areas. *Based on data from Ofcom ‘UK home broadband performance, measurement period November 2020’.
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