B4YS progress pics: Jan/Feb 2015

The Yealands B4YS team have set the bar really high for Sivlerdale and Storth. Since Christmas they have taken duct under the M6, over the canal, under the West Coast Main Line and up to Yealand Village Hall. The village ‘hub’ has been installed too, where the networking equipment for the parish will live. That means that on our map, the red leg is almost complete (albeit on a slightly different route):


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The next job is to cross the A6 – a job for a specialist contractor who will drill under the road – to complete the run of ducting. After that the fibre can be blown all the way from Borwick to Yealand, and the final connections at the village hall can be made. Amazing progress!

You’ll see that Yealand team have begun the route using a contractor with a mole plough. Our plans have developed somewhat over the recent months, not least because our funding target from B4RN allowed us some budget for contractors in key places. That means our project can involve three types of digging:

  1. Volunteer digging: Network building the B4RN way. We’ve a considerable list of wonderful volunteers who have signed up to help build the network, both by hand and machine. These volunteers will not only help their community, but also earn shares in the broadband company (see below*)
  2. Landowner digging: Some landowners prefer to lay the fibre across their land themselves, and earn shares too (see below*).
  3. Contractor digging: used selectively where conditions and funds allow. Contractors will help us cross (or bore under) roads like the A6.

*Shares can be earned at a rate of £1.50 per meter (£1,500 shares per KM). Work equivalent to £1,500 entitles the recipient to free connection and free B4RN broadband for 1 year. More info here: http://goo.gl/6kVa2A

 

B4RN Demo Day: Pics, Audio & Video

On Sunday 18th January we held our B4RN demonstration day at the neighbouring Priest Hutton & Borwick Village Hall.

Priest Hutton & Borwick are already connected to B4RN – our B4YS connection joins onto theirs – so it was a great chance to get ‘hands on’ with a 1,000Mpbs internet connection. A first for many people!

On the day we used one single B4RN connection, the same as you’ll get at home, and we connected over 120 devices over the 2-hour demo. During the day we had 4k HD video streaming from YouTube to Ubertech’s Macs and iPlayer streaming BBC HD to a TV, whilst everyone else was using the internet too, with NO BUFFERING!

A fantastic turnout really showed us how much support there is in the B4YS area. We couldn’t have fitted more people (or cars!) at the hall!

There was a surprising number of people from nearby areas wanting to bring B4RN their way. We even had visitors from from Surrey, Derbyshire and Yorkshire. How far will B4RN go? There are already 800 people connected…B4RN is aiming for 2000 by the end of the year!

Photos:

There are more pictures on the B4RN Facebook page.

Listen again:

Tom kindly recorded the very interesting talks given by Keith & John so you can listen again or download it here:

 

Watch again:

And Chris Conder of B4RN kindly video’d the event too:

 

Barry Forde on BBC Radio 4’s PM

BBC Radio 4 interviewed Barry Forde – CEO of B4RN – on the popular ‘PM’ show recently.

Here’s the clip below. If you want to give your friends & neighbours a quick overview of B4RN, this is a great clip to share:

500km of fibre laid already, go B4RN!