Remote Cumbrian Village Builds Own 20Mb Broadband

A remote Cumbrian village has hit the headlines after local residents decided to build their own next generation broadband network with speeds up to 20Mbps.
As reported in the Times, the tiny village of Alston Moor will soon have access to broadband speeds that are faster than some of the UK’s major towns.
Alston Moor is known as “England’s Last Wilderness” to those who live there, thanks to its place high up in the hills of Cumbria.
Like many remote areas in the UK it has struggled for years to get basic broadband access.

That all started to change back in 2002 when the residents created the UK’s first broadband co-operative known as ‘Cybermoor’.
With the help of local people, basic equipment was used to give residents broadband speeds up to 0.2Mb.
Since then, the locals, led by Daniel Heery, have dug their own trenches and laid down next generation cable in an effort to boost the broadband speeds achieved.
Commenting on ‘Cybermoor’, Daniel Heery said: “We hooked into the school’s broadband supply via microwave and we had children teaching their grannies how to use it. It costs about £350 per household for the equipment and £65 for the connection”.
Heery continued, “One remote farmhouse had been up for sale, but everybody who viewed it wanted broadband. It cost the owner £2,000 for us to make the connection, and the house was sold”.