West Auckland will hopefully be broadband enabled by Sept 2004

One North East on the 23rd of January announced that most people living in the North East will have the opportunity of getting broadband by March 2005. Please find below a copy of the news bulletin issued by One North East.   It is believed that West Auckland will be completed by September 04.

West Auckland Web would like to thank, Mrs Sam Easton who, on behalf of the people of West Auckland, Evenwood, Ramshaw, Toft Hill, Etherley, Bolam and  Bildershaw volunteered to be the official BT registered campaign leader for the West Auckland Exchange. And campaign she did, West Auckland Web acknowledges all the time and effort she put in, from creating posters, visiting post offices to gather registrations, meeting various people in BT, publicizing the campaign in the local newspapers and much more. Her effort more than doubled the then number of registrations for broadband. So well done and thank you very much.  

Links

www.westauckland.wewantbroadband.co.uk  (Campaign Web Site)

www.flashingthings.co.uk/west/   Broadband Forum

Forum  provided by www.flashingthings.co.uk (A West Auckland Online Business)

Press From One North East

£10m broadband link into remaining North East communities

EVERY community within the North East will be hooked up to broadband by Spring next year in a pioneering £10m scheme unveiled today.

A total of 87 regional telephone exchanges will be upgraded with new technology making the North East the only region outside London where every telephone exchange has broadband capability.

The connection work – to be carried out by BT - will mean thousands more people and businesses across the North East from Berwick to Guisborough being able to access broadband for the first time.

After the project is completed in March 2005, 94.5% of the North East population will have access to high speed internet services.

One NorthEast has a strategic lead in the region for ICT and new technology development and identified a need for greater broadband provision in the North East – particularly in rural areas such as Tynedale, Weardale and Teesdale.

One NorthEast put out the contract for a regional broadband project to address these needs to competitive tender  – and appointed BT to carry out the work.

The ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) broadband equipment being installed will effectively turbo-charge local phone lines allowing people to surf the web at ten to 40 times the speed of a normal modem - and use the telephone at the same time.

The Regional Development Agency will contribute £4.7m to the project using its own cash and EU finance with BT funding the remainder of the £10m scheme.

Alongside the work carried out to upgrade telephone exchanges, miles of fibre optic cable will be laid to connect some of the exchanges back to the core internet network. Only the remotest, isolated rural properties will remain without a link to broadband.

One NorthEast will be looking to provide alternative broadband provision to these homes and businesses through measures such as deploying satellite systems

Margaret Fay, One NorthEast Chairman, said: “This scheme will mean the North East leads the country in terms of urban and rural broadband infrastructure, helping to break down the barriers faced by people currently outside the reach of broadband.

“It will allow people to successfully work from home in rural areas, potentially starting new businesses and bringing opportunity into areas previously unable to take advantage of high speed internet services.”

As part of its regional strategic lead on ICT, One NorthEast is:-

• Spending more per head of the population on broadband provision than any other region in the country
• Combining BT, cable and satellite technology to deliver the vision to give the North East one of the highest take-up growth rates of broadband in the country
• Focusing its efforts this year on getting the message to regional business that it can gain a competitive edge by using broadband

BT Group Chief Executive Ben Verwaayen said: “The vision that One NorthEast has shown with this groundbreaking project will see the North East lead the way in getting towards 100% availability of broadband.

“We’re very proud One NorthEast has chosen BT to deliver on that vision. The broadband story is not just about availability or entertainment – it’s about businesses knowing how it can help them compete more strongly; school pupils and students using it to help with their studies and people using it to develop their skills and find work.”   

Phil Hughes, Chairman of the Regional ICT Strategy Board, said: “This project is brilliant news for the North East and testament to an ability to work together to achieve outcomes that are really important to our future prosperity.

“I`m looking forward to the challenge of encouraging take-up of this technology so that we can lead the country in using it as well as being able to access it.`

Ruth Connorton, partner of law firm Eversheds who acted for One NorthEast on the tendering contract, said: `We are delighted to have worked with One NorthEast on this project - the scheme will bring about day to day practical improvements to services available to businesses and the public in the North East which can only be good for the region as a whole.`

James Burke, ICT strategy manager with the Northumberland Strategic Partnership which is co-ordinating the project in the county, said:  “It is essential that businesses in rural areas have access to high speed communications to help them remain competitive in an increasingly technological age.”

Durham County Council`s Head of E-government Alan Hodgson said: `This

project is very important for communities and businesses in County Durham.

“We have been involved in the development of this ground breaking

project right from the start and we will be prioritising the exchange upgrade programme in County Durham over the coming year.`

 Information

You may already have heard the term 'broadband' being used by your friends and colleagues and are wondering what all the fuss is about! Read on and find out more.

'Broadband' is the common term for a high bandwidth Internet connection. A Broadband service can be capable of transmitting data at up to 10 times the speed of a standard modem. Equally importantly, it is always 'on' - you don't need to dial up every time you want to 'log on'. Just sit down at your computer and the Internet is there - like electricity or tap water!

If you use a standard modem you may find yourself waiting several minutes for emails with large file attachments, while web pages with lots of pictures, complex graphics or animations appear very slowly. You may also find it difficult to view video on the web, or listen to music or sound.

If you want to receive these files quickly you will need a higher bandwidth connection. This is especially important for viewing web-casts or listening to internet radio, where it is vital to receive the information in a continuous stream.

Subscribe to a Broadband service and you will start to use the Internet in an entirely new way. You'll find you can move swiftly from website to website and page to page, all in a fraction of the time of a traditional dial-up connection.

In the home a Broadband connection can open up a wealth of entertainment and information resources, including video and music on demand, online game playing and the fast exchange of files with friends and family. At work it can vastly improve marketing and internal processes by allowing real-time interaction with customers and colleagues, permanent connection to online services and continuous access to your email account.

Benefits

• Always on connection ( no need to Dial Up)

• 10 times faster than normal modem.

• No need for second phone line.

• Friends can still phone you while you are on the internet.

• No more slow surfing.