How connected was my valley?

Bronllys is a rural village located in the heart of the Black Mountains and overlooking the Brecon Beacons National Park. When the addition of a new housing estate threatened to stretch capacity for the existing copper connections in the village too far, a local resident, retired project manager, Brian Lloyd stepped in. 

At non-peak times, top speed in Bronllys was up to a just-usable 10 megabits per second (Mbps), at peak times the line regularly dropped out for most of the houses in the village. 

Having experienced the benefit of fibre broadband at a previous home, Brian searched online for similar schemes and eventually found details of the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme on the trade website, ISP Review. 

Brian liaised with Openreach and took on the role of community champion to obtain support for a broadband scheme from his neighbours. Timing was critical to ensure that the new gigabit-capable fibre cable could be installed whilst the trenches for new copper ducting were open. After circulating leaflets and door-knocking to get the required buy-in, some 30 houses agreed to apply for vouchers via Openreach. 

The system went live in early 2020 and final connections were completed in May. With a fibre broadband package available through BT, Bronllys is now enjoying more than 500 Mbps download speed and 75 Mbps upload. 

Brian commented: “This is the Rolls Royce of connections. My neighbours and I can now stream 4K Ultra-HD TV efficiently, whereas the connection used to buffer all the time. More importantly, my neighbour, who was being driven to the hospital several miles away several times a week, can now have remote check-ups with her doctors through video technology. Her husband has also been able to set up home working enabling him to look after his wife and run his business simultaneously. His previous copper connection only enabled late night working due to the unstable connection.”