Superfast Broadband in Ripon?
Andy Ryland over at Superfast Broadband North Yorkshire sent me the following advice after I'd been talking about broadband in Ripon.First thing to note is that Ripon is geared up for superfast broadband. If you live in Ripon and want it, ask your current supplier (or take the opportunity to shop around) and see what deals are to be had. I'm told it might not be much more expensive (and if you shop around, it might even end up being cheaper if you're on a pricey deal at the moment!). There's info on the various suppliers on the Superfast North Yorkshire website.
Broadband cutting out in Ripon
The main thing I wanted to flag up though is about some people in Ripon who have a problem with their broadband dropping out whenever their landline gets used for a phonecall. I remember some chatter on Twitter about this about 2 years ago, and got the impression this was a widespread problem locally at the time, but haven't heard people complain about it much since.Then, over the last couple of weeks, we've started to have the same problem at our home close to the centre of Ripon. Every time the landline gets used either to dial out, or to receive a phonecall, broadband disappears for a good few minutes. We've taken to never answering the phone in the evenings and just calling people back using our mobiles. If we ring BT, they confirm that there is "no fault". It looked like there was nothing we could so... but apparently there is.
If you have a similar problem, Andy advises the following:
The problem of cutting out has been experienced elsewhere.
In some villages the promotion of broadband has precipitated people making
comments about their phone lines and has resulted in BT relaying the telephone
lines. This is first time that the issue has been raised in a town and the team
were interested, if it's still a problem and how extensive it is. If it is still
a problem and is extensive they can take the issue up with the BT engineers.
If you can get people to send the comments to Carole Haywood-Pool at
info@superfastnorthyorkshire.com she will try and see if there is a pattern in
Ripon and if necessary make inquiries with the BT engineers.
Ripon was again raised as a town they would like to raise the number of people
signing up to superfast so they can hit the 20% target.
So there you have it. Please email info@superfastnorthyorkshire.com if you have this problem of broadband cutting out in Ripon and it might get sorted out. I must admit that the reliability of the actual phone line is one reason I've not been interested in exploring superfast broadband - if the infrastructure here couldn't cope with a phone call and a game of Candy Crush at the same time, I didn't hold out hope for a reliable superfast service!
So thanks to Andy for raising the issue with the Superfast Broadband team.
