Gigawhat?

What is Gigabit broadband and why should I be interested in it?

The vast majority of homes and businesses in Kinross and Kinross-shire have what is known as part-fibre broadband. This means that your street cabinet has been upgraded with a fibre optic connection, but from the cabinet to your property is still copper. Part-fibre can give you broadband download speeds of up to 80 Mbps if you are very close to your cabinet; with speeds dropping off dramatically the further you are.

On average, download speeds in Ochil and South Perthshire (our constituency area) are just 30.8 Mbps. Upload speeds are just 0.8 Mbps for the slowest 20 per cent of homes and businesses, up to an average of just 7.2 Mbps. This level of broadband connectivity is not fit for the future.

As many people in Kinross-shire have noticed working from home and being at home more in 2020, part-fibre (copper) broadband can be very slow at peak times and can slow down (or worse) in bad weather.

Full-fibre takes a fibre optic connection all the way in to your property, delivering speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps (1 Gigabit per second) and capable of many times faster than this. Upload speeds can be just as fast, which is important for emailing or backing up large files, sharing photos and making high quality video calls. Not only is full-fibre faster, it is far more reliable and consistent than part-fibre (copper) broadband.

This UK Government video talks about full fibre and the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Note: the £2,500 business and £500 residential vouchers mentioned in the video have now increased to £3,500 for business (including self employed, sole traders) and £1,500 for residential homes.

Confused by all the schemes and voucher funding available?

Don’t know your superfast from your elbow and find all the schemes and funding confusing?

We have put together a flow diagram that will hopefully help you navigate your options. Download this PDF version to visit the links.

Short cuts to all the links above: