Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#1

Post by zantzinger » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 11:35 AM UTC

A community in Lancashire, England, has taken it upon themselves to dig, lay and build a complete 1 Gbps FTTH network. Members of the community have been able to buy shares to finance the project, and then they've mucked in to carry out all the leg-work themselves, with farmers digging trenches and other locals installing the technology. I find it very inspiring: especially given I live in London and still can't get FTTH. Business plan, videos and info on their website: http://b4rn.org.uk

EDIT: title changed from "...DIY Google Fiber project" to "...DIY 1Gbps fibre project"

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#2

Post by vitno » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 12:58 PM UTC

How is this "Google Fiber"? Can't we just call it fiber?

edit: title changed, thanks!

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#3

Post by Retric » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 1:10 PM UTC

vitno wrote: post #2

How is this "Google Fiber"? Can't we just call it fiber? edit: title changed, thanks!

I think they meant "Google Fiber" as "Google class Fiber" meaning that 1Gbps standard. But, I agree "1Gbps Fiber" is clearer.

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#4

Post by nemilar » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 1:37 PM UTC

This may actually be much easier in a rural area, as opposed to urban/suburban.

Rural landowners have large tracts of land, and the land is in fewer hands. You need less individuals to buy-in, since a single buy-in on the project can mean miles of line.

You don't need a jackhammer to dig up sidewalks and streets, and you (presumably) don't need as many (if any) permits; you don't need to take as much care not to disrupt existing utilities, and you don't need to worry so much about noise and other regulations.

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#5

Post by EliRivers » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 1:38 PM UTC

Here in the U.S., the local monopoly would have had the law changed to make this illegal :)

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#6

Post by alt_ » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 1:40 PM UTC

I helped build a couple in Finland back in 2003. The lack of bureaucracy and city infrastructure in rural areas likely helped, but the driving force was my uncle - a CS professor/farmer who retired from teaching and had to find something else to occupy his time ;)

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#7

Post by cyberdoyle » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 1:43 PM UTC

Power to the People!

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#8

Post by morphle » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 1:47 PM UTC

We run a couple of startups like B4RN, one in the US, one in Europe en one in South America. We build our own 10 GBps routers.

Come join us, we have room for extra founders. info at buurtnet dot org

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#9

Post by cheez » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 2:15 PM UTC

Haha, I just got a picture of "There Will Be Blood" 1Gbps version :)

Re: Rural residents' DIY 1Gbps fibre project

#10

Post by jiggy2011 » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 2:55 PM UTC

As someone who grew up in a rural part of the UK, I can empathise with how annoying it is to be limited to a 56k connection with daily timed limits (usually around 3 hours or so) to be connected when all of your city dwelling friends have 1mbps broadband.

I wonder if this is as much to do with property values as anything? It must be very difficult to sell a house with no option of fast internet and the modern internet must be basically unusable on 56k.