Broadband for home : Connecting Cumbria

Broadband for home

Skip main menu

Simultaneous use

With a slow internet connection you can have problems doing more than one thing at a time online. With faster broadband you and you family can tax your car, run a business from home, stay in touch with loved ones and study online � all at the same time.

Keep your files in the cloud

Store photos , documents, music and videos online in the cloud rather than on the computer at home. Your files will be kept safe and you can access them anywhere. Fast upstream speeds mean backing up files is done in the blink of an eye.

Stay in touch

Talk to family, friends and colleagues from around the world via video calling such as Skype or FaceTime, without any time delay or frozen screen.

Stream films and TV shows in seconds

With faster broadband you can download the latest blockbuster before the kettle has boiled or watch your favourite TV show online instantly.

Take an online learning course

With faster broadband you can study online with flexible hours and video tutorials that work immediately.

Work from home

Working from home can now be as fast and effective as working from the office. This could save you time and money, as well as helping you to achieve a better work life balance. With faster broadband you could even consider setting up your own business from home as you would have the world class connectivity that could give you the edge.

In real life

Ben Clark and Danielle Thompson, Cotehill, Carlisle

The Culley Family, Barrow

Caroline Briggs, Wetheral

Keith Reavey, Brampton

The Elliott Family, Allerdale

Tom Brocklebank, near Brampton

Kate Stark, Castle Carrock

Chloe Streams, Brampton

Ben: �I look at sports websites and we do our banking on the internet.�

Danielle: �I look for wedding information and we shop on ebay andTesco.�

Ben: �Our internet speed is really slow and cuts off.�

Danielle: �If we had superfast broadband, using the internet would be much quicker and more reliable.�

�We are a family of four, with my husband and I plus two adult children, and usually someone within the house is using the internet at any given time. We have a lot of devises on the go, including for a Smartphone for each person, laptops, tablets and three smart TVs.

�Before we had superfast broadband streaming was extremely slow. We would often see the �loading� symbol on one of our devices, and we would be asking each other if they could switch of their device so it didn�t interfere with what the other person was doing. We also had to reset the router now and again.

�Since switching to superfast broadband the difference in speed is unreal. We now have speeds of 42mb/s rather than the 6mb/s we had before. It wasn�t as expensive as I first thought either � we pay about �7.50 per month extra for the superfast service and it is absolutely worth every penny. Now having four people streaming online is not an issue at all and the videos we watch aren�t pixelated or blurry like they used to be. It has made a real difference within our household.�

Mum Kerry

�My whole family uses the internet. We watch internet television, films on Netflix and the BBC iPlayer as well as downloading movies and music. All our family runs gadgets and games � I work from home and our two sons, who are seven and eight, play games online. We�ve done what we can to improve the speed of our internet at home � we�ve put in routers and boosters � and we currently get 3Mbps, but it�s not enough for what we use. I think we would definitely benefit from superfast broadband. It will make a massive difference to us and our house is all geared up for it.�

�I use the internet for shopping online and banking as well as generally getting information � it�s very useful. I�m reasonably happy with my internet speed at present, but I think superfast broadband would give me a wider range of services and the reliability would be better as well. I want to see what the benefits are.�

Life prior to the arrival of Superfast fibre broadband services in their area meant that the Elliott household were struggling with the increasing demand for access to online services verses the minimal internet speeds they received. In their family this meant only one person at a time could access either on-line educational websites, gaming sites, video and music streaming and/or work from home. We talked to Gillian Elliott about her experience of upgrading from basic broadband to fibre broadband, and the improvements this has made in her household.

Gillian explained, �We have three young adults living in our household whose view of the world means they think digital access is an essential service. They require access to educational material online for their studies, whilst simultaneously streaming live music or films. They need to be able to undertake independent research and expect to go online to enjoy interactive games on their consoles while still operating their smart phones and tablets via Wifi�.

Gillian Elliott explains how the upgrade to superfast broadband in the Elliott household has improved life for them:

�The month of September saw the arrival of Superfast Broadband services in our rural village and to our household. We had previously struggled with very slow broadband speeds making even casual internet usage very challenging, particularly when more than one of us was trying to access services at the same time. We registered our interest in superfast broadband and received an email from the Connecting Cumbria team advising that fibre broadband services were available in our area�

�We then shopped around and found a great deal which fully met our needs, at a price which actually meant that superfast was going to save us money as it was less than we were currently paying�

Now the whole family can benefit from a faster connection, Gillian and her husband can now work more flexibly and the boys are not held back in terms of use of internet for education and leisure. They can keep in touch with friends, and access music and films previously unavailable to them.

Accessing services on-line has become much easier. Gillian explains �I regularly do an internet shop, use the internet to submit online forms, do online banking and keep in touch with friends and family living out of the county�.

Gillian�s advice to other families who are considering upgrading to fibre services is �shop around with a variety of internet service providers, we found there were some fantastic deals out there�.

Gillian Elliott

�Our family uses the internet a lot � for online shopping, playing computer games, getting information, booking holidays, social media and for Skype. My wife, Emma, is a teacher and uses the internet to help get information for lesson planning, and I use it when I�m working from home to access my work systems. Our internet speed wasn�t great when we moved to the area four years ago. They�ve improved steadily over the last 18 months � they�re not the worst and not the best. Superfast broadband will make life easier for us and we�ll be able to do more things on the internet.�

�We use the internet for all sorts of things � my older daughter Lucy uses it to search for information for her school homework, and we watch things on YouTube. Our internet speed is less than 2 Mbps, which makes it very difficult if more than one of us is on the internet at the same time. It can take two hours to download a 30 minute programme, which is frustrating. And when you�re watching something online, the picture can buffer and freeze. We have BT Vision but we don�t download any programmes or anything on the iPlayer because our internet is so slow. Superfast broadband will make it quicker and less frustrating to use the internet.�

�We get a lot of bookings for our guesthouse through the internet. I also do some online shopping and for keeping up with emails, and I use Skype and Facebook to keep in touch with friends, so it�s very important to me. My internet speed is quite slow at the moment, it�s not great. We have an old house with thick walls, which doesn�t help. I think getting superfast broadband here is massively important. Our guests like to keep in touch with their family while they�re away and they ask to upload photos and use Skype. We will be able to go forward with online bookings � at the moment, people send us an email and then we confirm. Superfast broadband will make a big difference to us.�