Broadband Options for Rural Wales

According to the annual Ofcom report on the state of broadband in the United Kingdom the cost of construction of communications networks is significantly higher in Wales that the UK average. This is not a surprise considering topography and distribution of population. Building fibre optics infrastructure to deliver high speed broadband to rural and remote areas that are sparsely populated has to be expensive. And yet, what options do we have? 

Considering the post-pandemic reality lack of access to proper a good internet connection makes us less competitive. More and more people nowadays works from home and they need high speed broadband for their daily video calls and VPN connections. Businesses have to rely on Internet to connect with their customers and clients via ecommerce, emails or social media platforms. Being online is inevitable. 

Wales Broadband Coverage

According to Ofcom 97% of households in Wales have access to a decent fixed broadband connection. This is looks well but we need to remember that it means that around 45,000 households, including 40,000 in rural locations, doesn’t have that luck. Out of all areas Powys seems the worst, in respect to broadband access, with nearly three thousand premises without mobile or fixed line broadband provider. It’s 4% of all households. Ceredigion is not much further with 3%.

Mobile Broadband in Wales

For a while it seemed that 4G operators are the answer. Currently 90% of the country is covered by at least one operator and 60% of Wales is covered by all four operators and is expected to rise to a minimum of 80% in the coming years. In addition, all operators started their 5G rollouts with Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Porthcawl and Llandudno already connected. 5G is not an answer yet, the take up is slow though with less than 1 million active devices (1% of all active) for the UK. Anyway, mobile wireless coverage in Wales lags behind the rest of the country with only Northern Ireland being worse. 

Satellite Internet

Satellite broadband is another option for rural areas especially viable for areas outside of infrastructure development. There may be as many as 1 million households connected to high-speed internet via satellite dish although Ofcom’s estimations are much more conservative. In remote and very rural areas where infrastructure development may take years getting internet via satellite may be the only option as 4G or 5G still needs infrastructure to be build. With satellite access all the customer needs are a dish on a side of the house and clear view of the southern sky. The choice is not great though. Konnect Satellite Internet (sold mostly through their reseller Anywhere Broadband) is one with the highest speeds and unlimited data.  The monthly cost is comparable to standard broadband providers. There are older satellite plans still available on the market, often at quite cheap price, the problem with them is that they are usually capped at a very low data limit. Meaning once you use the allowed limit, often as low as 5GB, you have nothing! It is better to go with the newer systems and get unlimited data usage, often slower after priority data, but still usable. 

Rural Broadband ProvidersLiving in rural area may be challenging form broadband access perspective and although there are many broadband providers out there, not all of them are suitable for rural customers. They have offers, deals and probably coverage but what they lack is focus on rural customer and range of products that can be offered. This is why it is often better to skip the big ones and search for rural broadband providers that focus on rural customers, both domestic and business. What’s more, they usually have a range of offers. Rural broadband providers are not committed to a particular provider and as often they are paid commission for a customer who not only signs but stays they are more likely to offer something that will work and what the customer will be happy with. That saves money and time, rural customer doesn’t have to call all these different providers and try their offers. The easier way is to have someone else do it. Someone who understands the need, knows what needs to be done to boost the signal and, what is equally important, is paid per active customer. No happy customer, meaning customer cancels, no payment. That motivates to provide better service.