A NEW ultrafast broadband service is to be installed in Newtown, and residents are being assured that disruption will be kept to a minimum.
Grain Connect says it will work on pavements rather than roads, and when complete it will bring speeds of up to 1Gbps for £30 a month.
The company is rolling out its full-fibre network to more than 50 towns and cities across the country as part of a £200 million investment, and reaching up to 400,000 homes and businesses.
Grain Connect says that it builds its own fibre optic network and homes don’t share fibres with their neighbours. Its broadband is fibre cables to every connected home, rather than the fibre to the cabinet that most telecommunications firms currently offer. This means it will compete with Virgin Media and Gigaclear for Reading’s broadband custom.
However, with prices starting at £17.99 per month for 100mpbs compared to Virgin Media’s £28, it could be a budget option for many homes. It pledges not to increase prices during a customer’s contract term, which is 12 months.
Roland Barzegar, CFO at Grain Connect, said: “This £200 million investment is a huge vote of confidence for our regional roll-out phases across the UK, and we can’t wait to bring super-fast, reliable, and affordable broadband packages to local communities.
“We recently introduced our Loyalty Price Promise, where at the end of their contract, we offer customers to renew on the same monthly price we advertise to new customers on their street.
“Once you take out a contract with Grain, you will always have access to great pricing and your loyalty won’t be exploited. This is especially important to us now, with customers being impacted by the rising cost of living.”
The firm also promises free routers and installs, and no hidden fees.
Work to install the fibre cables is due to begin soon, and Grain Connect have placed posters around Newtown with a QR code so residents can find more information.
A spokesperson told Reading Today: “Most of our works will be in the pavement, limiting disruption for residents.
“Although there is always some disruption involved in any construction project, we structure our designs to minimise the level of disruption and most of our works don’t require road closures. However, for the safety of residents, these are occasionally necessary if the local authority requires them.
“All our works are done under permits granted by the Local Authority and we always letter drop every resident before we start any works.”
It added that the works – which come weeks after many roads in Newtown were resurfaced – would be worth it in the longer term.
“We strongly believe that the benefits of any temporary disruption caused by the works will be balanced by the delivery of a high-speed, low-priced full-fibre broadband service to residents,” the spokesperson added.
“We offer prices around half the price of the major national providers, don’t charge for line rental and offer free installation.
“Our upload speeds are as fast as download speeds which is important for people working from home.”
CityFibre’s contractors have been working in West Reading to install ultrafast broadband, and the works have been subject to complaints from residents. Reading Borough Council has called the company in for a meeting on Thursday, July 7.
A spokesperson for the council said they cannot stop utility companies working within the public highway, as they have powers to install, adjust, maintain and remove apparatus within the public highway.
But it promised to monitor Grain Connect’s works to ensure it was completed to a “sufficiently high standard”.
They added: “We empathise with residents’ frustrations with more works in the area, and indeed understand their questions surrounding what, on-the-surface, appears to be a lack of coordination by the Council.
“However, Reading Borough Council is only able to co-ordinate activities known at the time, and Grain Connect’s programme of works was only announced to the Council subsequent to the completion of planned resurfacing in this area.”
They continued: “We are encouraging Grain Connect to undertake their works in a manner that minimises impact to residents and users of the area, but ultimately it is their responsibility to ensure safe working for all and appropriate traffic management.
“While it will mean some temporary impact to parking within Newtown, telecommunications works can be undertaken relatively swiftly compared to pipework installation.”
For more information, or to use the firm’s postcode checker, log on to: https://www.grainconnect.com/
