Conservation work to support Cumbria's bees and other pollinators is being helped by a partnership between Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Fibrus broadband as part of their delivery of the Project Gigabit Contract with UK Government.

Read more here.

Project Gigabit delivery has commenced in Cumbria.  This £108m gigabit-capable broadband scheme will improve connectivity across our county.  Further details regarding deployment will be made available via the Hyperfast GB website where you are now able to check the status of your property using the ‘check availability’ tab and Hyperfast GB Facebook page. 

Alongside this, there is a strong commercial programme of works by a number of providers which will further enhance connectivity across our region.

To find out what is happening in your specific area, send your full postal address to info@connectingcumbria.org.uk

Whilst the team are unable to give any specific contractual advice, we are able to point readers in the direction of Ofcom support on this:

Ofcom accredited price comparison sites                          

Choosing the best Broadband provider

Broadband Speeds – What you need to know

Switching Broadband Provider

New Contract Checklist

Managing Broadband costs

We also urge readers to remember that social tariffs, which are cheaper broadband and phone packages for people claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits are available.  Some providers call them ‘essential’ or ‘basic’ broadband.  More information on these can be found here.

Mobile Network Operators and Government are working together to transform mobile coverage countywide through the UK Government Shared Rural Network mobile programme, which is seeking to deliver 95% geographical 4G coverage in the UK from at least one Mobile Network Operator by 2025.  The Connecting Cumbria team are committed to supporting this piece of work.  Keep up with all the latest developments on this here.

You can check current mobile connectivity in your area using the Ofcom mobile availability checker here.

Following the announcement that Borderlands has been named as one of the ten 5G Innovation Regions by UK Government, representatives from each of the five local authorities in England and Scotland which make up the Borderlands Partnership (Cumberland Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Northumberland County Council, Scottish Borders Council and Westmorland and Furness Council) continue to work to develop further the plan of works for five initial sites across the Borderlands area:

• Windermere 5G Ferry
• Kielder Castle and Forest
• Stranraer Marina
• The Sill @ Hadrian’s Wall
• Destination Tweed

These venues have been chosen because they can be delivered and replicated. The intention is to design into these use cases a range of options to ensure sustainability and encourage further commercialisation during delivery. Learning from these areas, especially with respect to commercial sustainability, will be used to demonstrate the benefits of the technology and support our strategy to roll out to more sites as part of our renewed Digital Infrastructure Strategy.

The full announcement can be read here.

The Howtown Hotel on Ullswater has access to some of the fastest broadband speeds in Cumbria, after engineers found a low-tech solution to link them up with fibre.

The tourist hotspot had previously proven beyond the reach of high-speed fibre broadband. However, engineers from Openreach came up with a solution by hanging a fibre optic cable from specially built telephone poles.

Watch the video to find out how the hotel are using their improved broadband service here.

Natural, handcrafted bath and self-care products lovingly made in Cumbria to help create some ‘me time’ is exactly what Cockermouth home-based ‘The Business of Bathtime’ makes available to customers near and far.

With an array of products available to purchase, this gem of a business really does provide something for everyone. We talked to Sarah Moore, the entrepreneur behind this business about how she uses her broadband service to support what she does.

Find out more here.

Are you a business in either the Westmorland and Furness or Cumberland areas using fixed line or mobile connectivity to support what you do?  We are really keen to talk to you about this with a view to creating our next case study story. Are you planning something special for Easter? We are particularly keen to feature visitor focused businesses in press activity for the easter school holidays.  

If you would like to get involved, benefiting from local and possible national publicity through our programme, then please contact the team at info@connectingcumbria.org.uk.  We look forward to hearing from you.