Some people are sceptical about making the switch to full fibre broadband - busy filmmaker and parent Josh Newman isn't one of them.
Josh Newman is a busy person. In his many roles as film maker, lecturer, parish councillor, community volunteer and parent, he depends on his home broadband – and he’s not the only one.
“My wife is working for the NHS, doing a lot of video conferences, dealing with research in public health. So her Internet connection is vital for what she does. My children are obviously using the Internet for entertainment and also for schoolwork. So we’re a fairly high-usage family,” Josh told Vodafone UK News.
According to Josh’s usage statistics, from August 2023 to May 2024, the Newman household’s 18 connected devices downloaded just under 6.5TB and uploaded just over 1.5TB of data in total. While their previous fibre-to-the-cabinet connection with 80Mbps download and 18Mbps upload speeds greatly improved their online lives when it was first installed back in 2019, it no longer met the needs of Josh and his family.
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Upload speeds are a particular bottleneck for the Newman family and their online lives. “I’m a filmmaker and a film lecturer, so I deal with quite large files. But my upload speed at the moment tops out at 18Mbps. It just means that uploading cuts, uploading rushes, takes a really long time. And it really throttles the Internet for everyone in the house and there’s four of us”, says Josh.
Another issue was the range of the wireless signal provided by his old router. Josh explains: “It’s a very small house, so we’re never very far from the router, but it does sometimes struggle through these thick brick walls.
“There are definitely moments where I’m moving the computer around, trying to find a place where I can have a decent connection. I’ve definitely had video calls on the stairs, for example.”
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All of that is receding into the rear-view mirror of history as Josh and his family now have full fibre broadband, thanks to Vodafone and infrastructure partner CityFibre, with wireless signal provided by a Vodafone Pro II WiFi 6E router.
“The speeds we’re getting are pretty extraordinary – something like 1.3Gbps!” Josh told Vodafone UK News. In comparison to their old FTTC broadband connection, their new download and upload speeds are 1,500% and 7,000% faster.
Although Josh is planning to experiment with the placement of the provided Super WiFi 6E Booster to connect the furthest room of his house, the sternest critics of the household so far seem satisfied. “Neither of my daughters have complained, that’s for sure!”, Josh chuckled.
The Newmans had previously considered alternative broadband options such as satellite, but had discounted them due to concerns about their cost and performance.
Their previous, less advanced FTTC broadband connection was more than just a family resource – it was also a lifeline for other people living in their Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester, as well as some friends and family. “We’ve been a house that people have come to, to upload!” Josh explained. “We have one friend who comes to us from a neighbouring village whenever she needs to upload her children’s music.”
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While full fibre broadband is now available to around 57% of homes in the UK, only 28% of them have actually taken up such connections according to Ofcom figures published in December 2023. Vodafone is playing its part in equipping households, like the Newmans, with more capable home broadband connections by becoming the UK’s biggest full fibre provider through partnerships with both CityFibre and Openreach.
The new fibre optic cabling runs into the Newman’s home over telegraph poles. While the appearance of such infrastructure has elicited strong opposition in some communities, that apparently hasn’t been the case in Grantchester. “It’s one of those things where they’ve been there for so long that no one kind of really notices or thinks about them,” said Josh.
With the engagement of more forward-looking people like Josh, Vodafone can help bring the benefits of full fibre broadband to even more households and communities across the country.
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