Rainow
Parish Council

Superfast broadband (SFB) has now been available to residents connected to the Stocks Lane telephone cabinet since September and those who have taken the opportunity to upgrade their broadband connection are now benefiting from much faster broadband speeds.This is particularly beneficial when using services such as i-Player or Skype or downloading large files. Residents who mainly use the internet for e-mail or searches have less need for SFB. However, if they are paying for a standard broadband tariff promising up to 8 mbps they may be disappointed that BT (and other suppliers ) rather than using the availability of a fibre optic supply to the village to deliver their promised broadband speed, have instead required that residents wishing to bet faster broadband have to upgrade their broadband service. Therefore to benefit from the faster broadband speeds available fron fibre optic you will need to contact your broadband provider to arrange connection of SFB to your property.This will require installation of new equipment and may require alteration of existing wiring. It is also likely that different broadband subscription rates will apply.

Unfortunately or, in view of the teething problems with the SFB upgrade, perhaps fortunately, residents connected to the cabinets on Carlofold Lane or the junction of Blaze Hill and Jumper Lane do not yet have the option to upgrade. The main reason for this is that, without public investment, BT do not consider that it is commercially viable to upgrade these cabinets As part of the Connecting Cheshire Project, Cheshire East Council is cautiously optimistic that these other parts of Rainow could be included in the publicly funded deployment of improved broadband. However, the timetable, the technology used and the areas to be upgraded are still to be agreed as part of discussion and negotiation with BT Openreach.