Switching to Digital etc

[Lisa Hocking]

Further to my query about Broadband provision for residents … to which [interestingly] there were no comments …I have now costed [in draft form] what BT can provide for our 8 flats.
If we provide community broadband for the 8 residents & community room that will cost the charity around 5000.00 pounds per annum.
= 96.00 per week
= 12.00 per flat per week
If we increase the service charge by 3.00 to 15.00 pw
The charity will be paying 9.00 per flat per week for Broadband provision
= 3744.00 per annum
If you include the community room in calculation the amount per flat is reduced.
We have no broadband in community room currently.
BT is the only provider that will connect us using the existing cabling/trunking which we want to use so there are no outside cables being attached to the building.
Is there anyone who has a similar dilemma … really want to know if we are doing the right thing according to general consensus/ experiences?

[christian.noll]

Hello Lisa,
That sounds like an awful lot of money to spend, and I might be tempted to take a pragmatic approach, which is to provide a home-made solution. I assume you have a high-speed broadband connection which may be enough to power a number of flats, bearing in mind that our kind of tenants tend not to be the gamers who require huge bandwidth at all hours of the day.
I would therefore be inclined to do what hotels do, which is to install a mesh network originating from the router you have, and simply building out to all of the points where you wish to have a wireless network. There are many mesh networks on the market. Here is the newer version of one we have installed in our house and garden and it has been working faultlessly for many years: https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/deco/deco-m4/
Now what I don’t know is if there are any legal implications et cetera however, I assume that if you provide the service free of charge, you would not be deemed to be a reseller of bandwidth. It’s pretty well what hotels and restaurants do.
Happy to talk – 07401489832 (phone or whatsapp)
Christian
Lambourn Almshouses
PS. We do not have this installed at our almshouses, because our residents have not expressed any desire to go online!

[Lisa Hocking]

Hello Christian … thank you for your response … it is food for thought.
However we do not yet have broadband at all … I’m talking to BT about changing the analogue phone line already in situ to digital … doing it through them so we can use the existing trunking etc … no other company can use that apparently as it belongs to BT … so that solves the first issue of not wanting numerous cables attached to the exterior of the building.
I suppose the question of who/what to provide is the second issue once the BT digital connection is in place …
I’m thinking that if BT provide the digital connection to the house & then the ‘distribution’ modems [2 I think] to share the broadband width to all the 8 flats as & when they want to access it will be simplest … thinking aloud … & to help cover the additional costs increase the service charge a little…
The residents are chomping at the bit for wi-fi mostly so they can have digital channels on TV because most communication is via their mobile phones ???
Does my thinking make sense ???

[Liz Rivers]

Hi Lisa,
I’ve just read your enquiry.
We have 32 almshouses and all the residents sort out their own broadband.

[Lisa Hocking]

THANK YOU Liz … I think the way to go now looks like providing the digital phone line with hubs providing the residents access to broadband if they wish to pay for it … the conversation will continue a while longer I think.

[Lisa Hocking]

To add … the whole problem centres around keeping the building free of cables attaching to the exterior & using the existing trunking owned by BT to switch from analogue phone line to digital. BT have informed me they are the only company who can do this as they own the existing trunking. The compromise therefore would be for the charity to pay for the digital line provision , happy in the knowledge no cables will be attached to the building & IF the residents wish for Broadband … digital TV being of paramount importance … they will be able to have it via this line but presumably pay for the use of it themselves …

[CBarrett]

Hello

We have 62 properties, it is the responsibility of the resident to source and pay for their own broadband. We do provide it in our community hall, which they are free to use if they wish.

Charlotte Barrett
Administrator
The United Charities of Abel Collin
36 Collins Homes
Derby Road
Beeston
Nottingham
NG9 2TF
https://www.abelcollins.org.uk/

Tel: 01159224826
Mobile: 07737160424

Please note my working hours are Monday to Friday 0800 – 1600hrs

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